Stoke City - Liverpool: Last time for Mark Hughes?

(Baonghean.vn) - Stoke City's performance this season is extremely poor, with 15th place in the 2017/2018 Premier League standings. Mark Hughes's coaching position is in serious jeopardy. With another defeat against Liverpool, the Welsh coach will likely be fired.

The 1-2 loss to bottom-placed Crystal Palace in the last round was the third consecutive time Stoke City failed to win (2 draws, 1 loss). After 13 rounds, the Britannia Stadium team only has 13 points, 3 points more than the relegation position (18th) held by West Ham.

If Stoke City continue to suffer disappointing results, they will find themselves in the relegation zone. The match against Liverpool is not only a chance for Shaqiri and his teammates to move up the table, but also a chance for manager Mark Hughes to temporarily retain his job.

According to information from the British press, Stoke City's board of directors is planning to fire the Welsh coach after the team's recent results. Under the leadership of coach Mark Hughes, Stoke City is gradually losing its offensive style of play.

Previously, the Britannia Stadium team was one of the teams that made giants like Man Utd, Man City, Arsenal... afraid every time they faced each other. During the period when coach Tony Pullis was in charge (2006 - 2013), the team nicknamed The Potters was considered a "specialty of the Premier League". But now, Stoke City no longer causes much trouble for their opponents.

Coach Mark Hughes is facing the risk of being fired. Photo: Internet

Coach Mark Hughes must be the one to take the main responsibility for these incidents. Stoke City's board of directors has every reason to fire the former Man City captain to help the team regain its identity and achieve better results.

A few days ago, coach Tony Pulis was fired by West Brom. Stoke City fans want their team to reunite with coach Tony Pulis. If coach Mark Hughes does not want to be "out of work" soon, the only way is for him to help the Britannia team return to winning ways. The first thing is to get points against their opponents Liverpool in this match.

However, this is an almost impossible task given what is happening at Stoke City and Liverpool. In terms of force, the "red brigade" is much better than the players currently in the hands of coach Mark Hughes. Mane, Coutinho, Firmino, Salah... are always rated much higher than Shaqiri, Fletcher, Allen, Choupo-Moting... of Stoke City.

The performance of coach Klopp and his team is also more impressive than the home team. The 2 draws against Sevilla (Champions League) and Chelsea (Premier League) were simply an accident for Salah and his teammates.

In the last 3 matches at Britania Stadium, Liverpool all got 3 points. Photo: Internet

Meeting Stoke City is an opportunity for Liverpool to make amends with their fans and continue to chase the teams above. The goal of coach Klopp and his team is nothing other than to take all 3 points away from the Britannia Stadium.

It seems that this task is not beyond The Kop's reach, because in the last 3 times they did it differently from Stoke City, Liverpool all came home as the winning team (Premier League 2015/2016 was a 1-0 victory, English League Cup 2015/2016 was also a 1-0 victory and Premier League 2016/2017 was a 2-1 victory).

Perhaps, the time of Coach Mark Hughes in charge of Stoke City has started counting down from now./.

Thanh Hung