Stoke must stop Palace counter-attacks, says Hughes

LONDON (Reuters) - Stoke City must stop Crystal Palace from imposing their counter-attacking style of play in Saturday's Premier League game, manager Mark Hughes has said.

Stoke must stop Palace counter-attacks, says Hughes

(Reuters)





The Potters, who are 11th in the table, head into the match knowing a win over sixth-placed Palace could lift them to seventh.

"We need to be vigilant and make sure we don't over-commit. We have to be in the majority and not the minority when they look to break," Hughes told reporters on Friday.

"They can soak up pressure, which they are very good at, and then they have pace and a real threat going the other way.

"There's no coincidence to their record. With the team and the weapons they have, it lends itself better to playing away."

The Potters are the lowest scoring team, along with bottom side Aston Villa, in the league, having netted 13 times in 16 games, but the 52-year-old remains optimistic his side can regain their killer instinct in front of goal.

"We're now ahead of where we thought we'd be. That's encouraging considering we didn't win any of the first six games," Hughes said.

"We could have scored any number of goals against Manchester City and West Ham (United). We feel we are close to being able to resolve that."

Hughes also dismissed reports that influential playmaker Bojan Krkic will leave the club.

"He (Bojan) is happy here, his people are happy too and we wouldn't encourage any interest in him," the former Manchester City manager said.





(Reporting by Shravanth Vijayakumar in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)


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