Steven Schumacher wants his key players to accept responsibility to do more after a frustrating defeat and performance at Oxford.
Stoke never got going in their first match back after the international break and ended up falling 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium, with Schumacher admitting his side got what they deserved.
It was the opposite kind of display to Stoke’s previous two games away, at Plymouth and Middlesbrough, against a team that left less space to hit on the break, but Schumacher was not impressed with how they handled the challenge.
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The head coach said: “(Oxford) are not as open in how they set up and you don’t get as many counter attacking opportunities, but there are still chances there to do better and I felt there were too many people who were not on top of their game. There are a few exceptions who can come away with their head held high but there are a few who can look back at this and say they didn’t play up to the standard we have been seeing. We got what we deserved.”
The Championship can throw up different challenges from week to week and Schumacher has to find a way that his new-look squad can take on all of them.
He said: “We’ve got to do better in the games. I’ve just said to the players and the coaching staff, what we prepared for with Watford and everything we spoke about happened.
“The outcomes were there. Sometimes a team can surprise you and you have to adjust and you can understand how they might have got the better of you but today was exactly what we prepared for and still in the second half Oxford landed on second balls better than we did, played with more energy, the goal changed the game, gave them something to hold onto. When we attacked we didn’t show enough quality and we ran out of ideas in the end.”
Schumacher was frustrated too in how his side conceded the only goal just after half-time, particularly because at that stage of a congested contest it was looking likely that the first goal was going to be the winner.
He said: “In these games at this level that tends to be the case. We’re disappointed. It was a poor goal. We’ve tried to keep the throw-in and inadvertently given it to their player to cut back and someone is unmarked in the box. It’s a disappointing goal from our point of view and a disappointing day all round.”