Saturday 14 October 2017 19:14, UK
Mark Hughes has called Kevin De Bruyne a "world class player" after his performance helped Manchester City thrash Stoke 7-2 on Saturday.
The Belgium international provided two assists at the Etihad along with plenty of other attacking passes during the Premier League rout, which has seen Stoke slip down into 15th spot.
But despite the loss, Hughes was full of praise for De Bruyne and admitted that it was a tough day for his side.
"It was difficult from our point of view clearly," Hughes told Sky Sports. "You don't want to concede the amount of goals we did although some of them were top class and with De Bruyne, you've got a genuine, world-class player in their ranks.
"We found it very difficult to stop his influence on the game and he was a big factor in them being able to take the game away from us.
"We got back into the game at 3-2, although if we're honest, I think it flattered us at 3-2 but very quickly, we made a few mistakes and they took the game away from us. In the end, we were grateful for the referee's whistle.
"You have to be right on top of your game and get the maximum out of your players in terms of performance levels. You need eights or nines across the board but unfortunately, we didn't get too many of them today."
Hughes, was full of compliments for his former side Manchester City, but said Stoke's season will not be defined by the defeat.
"They're a very accomplished side. They have power, pace, they anticipate situations very, very quickly and their guile and personality on the ball is as good as any," he added.
"We were better in the opening period of the second half, which we had to be because we were poor in the first half. We went up a gear and they went up three or four gears so that's the quality and capacity they've got.
"It's disappointing for us, we wanted to come here and do a lot better than we've been able to do but this won't be about stopping Man City. Our season will be defined by the types of teams we are going up against in the coming weeks."
