Stoke City boss Alex Neil admits deep frustration but takes responsibility too

News from Clayton Wood as Stoke City prepare for Championship away day at Plymouth Argyle

Stoke City have to take responsibility for their own fortunes no matter what happens around them, says Alex Neil.

Stoke were left licking their wounds when they lost 4-2 at Queens Park Rangers in mid-week in a match that was littered by controversial moments. QPR were awarded a contested penalty, Enda Stevens was harshly sent off and Stoke were denied a penalty of their own as referee James Linington came under fire.

Neil, who is now preparing for a long Championship trip to Plymouth Argyle this weekend, isn’t going to meekly accept decisions he doesn’t think are right – but there is an appreciation that Stoke can still help themselves more than they did in the closing stages at Loftus Road.

He said at his pre-match press conference this afternoon: “I think there’s a balance to be struck. Even after the game with the players, yes there were poor decisions from the referee, yes we were at a disadvantage because of that, but there are still elements of the game we need to do better. That’s the balance.

“You can’t just proportion all the blame on the referee. There is still the rest of the game to be played. We scored a goal when we had 10 men. We actually looked quite comfortable for long spells in that period. There are still things we have to do better.

“Yes, I was extremely frustrated by some of the decisions but equally I was frustrated with some of the things we did towards the end of the game. It’s game management and doing the things we needed to do better in that spell.”

Linington wasn’t the first referee who Stoke thought had dealt them a bad hand this season and Neil could highlight other pivotal moments which swung tight games against his team.

It has left Stoke sitting in the wrong half of a congested league table with five games to go before Christmas and a lot to do to make sure they are pulling up to get near to where they want to be.

The manager said: “I’m a solid seven or eight out of 10 (in terms of frustration with the season). There have been games when we could easily have won, there have either been key moments when we haven’t been clinical enough or we’ve made a silly mistake. There have been decisions that haven’t gone our way.

“I’m pretty sure that every manager at every club will feel the same way but I’ve done this often enough now, I’ve been at enough clubs and been in this situation enough, to feel that this season in particular that the rub of the green hasn’t gone our way on more than one occasion.”