Legend rips into 'embarrassing' Stoke City amid away goal famine

Teams might lose one or two centre-halves at the same time but Stoke came into this game without four senior centre-halves, then the stand-in got injured and then the last one standing went down. Steven Nzonzi might have been used in defence too but he also picked up an injury in the week.

Good luck to Pijus Otegbayo being thrown into the closing stages for his debut in a back line next to left winger Sorba Thomas at right-back, attacking left-back Eric Bocat at centre-half and right winger Jesurun Rak-Sakyi at left-back.

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Mike Pejic: I was embarrassed

The Stoke legend, watching on from the press box, said: “For starters I can’t understand getting Thomas to play at right-back when he’s our main threat. It would never have been asked of Bobby Charlton, Eden Hazard or Mo Salah. Shift him and you end up having to shift Million Manhoef too and bring back Bae Junho without him earning a recall.

“We had an 18-year-old right-back on the bench. It’s not like we’ve been winning away games. It’s a missed opportunity to see a bit more of Syd Agina at this level and keeping as much else the same as possible. Just what have we gained from not doing that?

“But never mind who was picked, the only word I can find to sum the whole thing up is embarrassing. Wrexham worked hard off the ball when Stoke lacked the discipline, concentration or fight to do so. Where was the spirit or the pride? I was embarrassed.”

Two dreadful goals

For a large part of this season, Stoke have had the best or one of the best defensive records in the Championship.

What a difference, to the second one, in the second half when Robert Bozenik pounced on a miskick from Danny Ward and left Dan Scarr grounded – but Scarr had a teammate or two absolutely sprinting across to make sure that he was covered.

Plus a lack of a goal threat

Lamine Cisse hit the bar late on but Ward could have been sitting in a deckchair for much of the afternoon. Stoke have looked like scoring in recent home matches but they have looked nothing like it on the road. They have scored twice in the last seven away games.

Robins said: "There are times when players make, for me, inexplicable decisions. They make movements at the wrong time. A player might not be able to deliver it but we make the run and then when he can deliver it we've already made the run. Then it breaks down. It's those bits. The link between those players is just missing at the moment.

"That can also be because there have been so many changes behind it. Players have found themselves in different positions on the pitch so their job is slightly different and it changes during game. We've changed personnel during games and haven't been able to deal with a couple of attacks. We've given them two goals and not created anything at all.

"The cynic looks at who is out of contract. Are they giving everything? Who is carry something? Are they giving everything? You just want honesty and you just want desire. There were one or two performances out there that were dubious, really."

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