Stoke vs Everton preview - Hughes hits back at Bruce comments

Posted Wednesday, March 04, 2015 by PA

Stoke boss Mark Hughes has accused his Hull counterpart Steve Bruce of trying to "defend the indefensible" over Maynor Figueroa's tackle on Stephen Ireland, who is facing two to three weeks out as a result of the challenge.

The incident in Saturday's Barclays Premier League clash, which prompted no action from the officials at the time, left Ireland with a huge gash in his calf that required "12 to 15 stitches" and keeps him out of Everton's visit to the Britannia Stadium on Wednesday.

Hughes claimed post-match that the tackle could have finished Ireland's career, said Tigers defender Figueroa should have been shown a straight red card, and was strongly critical of the game's referee Neil Swarbrick and his assistants.

Bruce subsequently hit back on Monday, suggesting that at the point the challenge was made Ireland should not have been on the pitch as he should have been sent off himself for earlier making "the worst challenge on the pitch" on David Meyler.

The Hull manager also suggested the Figueroa incident had not even warranted a free-kick, adding: "He kicked the ball and followed through and unfortunately has caught his (Ireland's) leg."

But Hughes said on Tuesday: "I think Steve has fallen into the trap of trying to defend the indefensible.

"I think everyone has seen the two challenges and I didn't think there was any comparison whatsoever.

"I don't think Steve did himself too much credit in terms of his observations of the events of the day."

Figueroa will not be facing any retrospective action from the Football Association over the matter after Swarbrick's match report said he had seen the incident at the time.

And Hughes added: "It is very easy to try to defend your players and most managers do it - I'm probably guilty of it as well sometimes.

"But on this occasion, it wasn't as if the lad was going to be suspended - which is another debate as well - so why didn't Steve just come out and say it was a terrible tackle and that it shouldn't have happened? To try to defend it I think was incorrect.

"I just thought Steve didn't need to do that. He needed to come out and say it like it was."

Regarding Ireland's condition for the Toffees' visit, Hughes said: "As you would imagine, he is unavailable. It is likely to be two to three weeks.

"He had to have internal stitches as well as external ones so, as a consequence of that, it is going to be a little longer than with a straightforward gash."

Roberto Martinez has dismissed Everton's run of poor results as a "negative statistic" which he and his players are paying no attention to.

The Toffees have won just one of their last 11 Premier League games, leaving them just six points above the relegation zone.

They currently have just 28 points and should they fail to win at Stoke on Wednesday it would be a new low after 28 Premier League matches.

You have to go back to 1926-27 to find a season when the club had a lower points total at the same stage.

However, Martinez insists statistics can be misleading - although he was keen to point out they have lost twice in 90 minutes in their last nine domestic matches, with another loss coming on penalties against West Ham in the FA Cup.

"We are not in a position to look back too much," he said.

"Yes we are not getting the results we all want but what we have now is a great opportunity to go into the last 11 games and create some momentum.

"That is the focus rather than highlighting a statistic because statistics can be used any way you want.

"We need to be able to perform well and overcome the small margins.

"Sometimes you can assess a performance through a scoreline, the black and white of a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal, but those who watched the game would have seen we were very close to getting a positive result in that game.

"It is a moment in the season when all that is needed is simplicity, which is preparing for the game ahead to make sure we get a positive result."

Asked if he had been tempted to make significant changes in order to kick-start a run of results Martinez added: "It is probably the opposite. It is being able to be consistent amid the emotion surrounding a negative stat.

"Looking at it domestically in the last nine games we only lost two - away at Arsenal and in a sad manner in the last minute against the league leaders (Chelsea).

"We feel we are getting very close to reaching momentum in the league.

"Our focus is concentrating on the next game and trying to bring an end of the season like we did last campaign when we went into a very good run of seven straight wins (between March to April)."