Stoke manager comes out fighting with job under threat

 

Mark Hughes has denied Stoke are in crisis following their poor start to the season and the Potters are not interested in making any quick decisions about his future, reports The Daily Telegraph.

 

Stoke have only won one of their last eight competitive matches and are only outside the relegation zone in the Premier League thanks to their marginally better goal difference over Everton.

 

The Potters followed up a humiliating 7-2 defeat against Manchester City with a 2-1 loss at home to Bournemouth on Saturday but Hughes is adamant the club are not in freefall.

 

“It’s not a crisis in my view,” The Daily Telegraph quote Hughes as saying. “We are in a situation in terms of league position, but we do have good games coming up. We’ll be fine.

 

“We are very rarely in the bottom three when the season finishes and we always judge out season on what happens at the end of 38 games rather than eight or nine games.

 

“The fans have a management team that has been in these situations before and been successfully so I don’t think they need to worry. It’s about letting good people get on with their jobs and coming through these periods.”

 

Stoke face clubs in the bottom half of the Premier League table in four of their next six matches and Hughes will likely be judged where the Potters are after that period.

 

The 53-year-old has spent the last four years as Stoke manager and was hired in an attempt to move the club away from their old style of football under Tony Pulis.

 

Stoke manager comes out fighting with job under threat

 

While Hughes deserves huge credit for the calibre of player Stoke have managed to attract in recent years, the results have largely been inconsistent and sometimes very underwhelming.

 

In his 186 matches in charge, which is the longest run in his managerial career, Hughes has only won 37.6% of them.