Stoke City dressing room mood revealed after ‘killed ourselves’ admission
Latest Stoke City news from StokeonTrentLive as Ben Wilmot says display at Blackburn Rovers as ‘not acceptable’
A visibly dejected Ben Wilmot admitted the Stoke City dressing room was “frustrated, angry, disappointed” after a demoralising defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
The Potters were beaten in 37 first-half minutes at Ewood Park, goals from Tyrhys Dolan (2) and Sammie Szmodics prompting the central defender to admit “we killed ourselves”.
Stoke’s travelling fans reacted with fury to their side’s first-half meltdown against a Rovers team who were without a win in eight going into the game, an abject run leading to the departure of manager Jon Dahl Tomasson on Friday.
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But with new boss, former Stoke captain John Eustace, looking on, they coasted home to register a first league win since December. As Wilmot later admitted, the visitors’ performance “was not acceptable”
He said: “We are very disappointed again. Obviously, we killed ourselves in the first half. I thought we played better in the second and gave it a good go, but we lost the game in the first half. It was not acceptable – the way we defended, the way we worked, three easy goals conceded.”
Stoke are now 20th in the Championship table, just three points clear of the drop zone, after a run of two wins in 17 games. Defeat at Blackburn came after a 5-0 hammering by leaders Leicester at the bet365 Stadium last week, a 3-1 loss at Sunderland the week before and a 2-1 home defeat to fellow strugglers Birmingham City.
One of the few bright spots for the Potters at Blackburn was a debut goal from January recruit Niall Ennis, but they even tarnished that when Daniel Johnson saw his weak penalty saved just after half-time. The honeymoon period for new head coach Steven Schumacher is well and truly over.
Wilmot added: “It was a good finish from Niall Ennis to get us back in the game, but overall it was the same, the same type of game as it’s been for the last three games really.
“It’s not a great dressing room at the moment – frustrated, angry, disappointed – but we know that everyone’s going to have to get with each other, that we’ve got to pull through as a team. Obviously we stand no chance if we’re not going to work together as a team.
