Stoke City boss Alex Neil believes there were plenty positives from his sides defeat to Brighton in the FA Cup. The former Sunderland boss will return to the Stadium of Light for the first time in the opposition dugout after leaving the Black Cats earlier this season.
Neil has struggled to find consistency with the Potters, but his side turned in an impressive display against a Premier League outfit in midweek. The Stoke City manager thought his side were excellent despite the defeat, but says they need to start making the most of their opportunities in front of goal.
"I was extremely proud of the players this evening, we put everything on the pitch," Neil said post-match. I thought we gave Brighton a really difficult game. The moment you switch off against that quality of opposition you're going to get punished and ultimately that's what happened in the game.
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"There's not many centre-backs at our level that can pick that pass out - timing of the run from Mitoma in behind and we got punished for that. I think it was the one time we switched off in the back line because I thought they were excellent.
"I thought we had some terrific performances across the team. Obviously we had some opportunities in the game but we didn't really make the most of it so that's probably an element of frustration.
"I thought we knicked the ball - my teams are high pressing teams, that's what we pride ourselves on. Getting our structure and understanding of how we're going to deploy it right.
"I thought we did it really well. Once they scored, we basically went double aggressive and went man for man all over the pitch. I think when you do that, you ask a lot of the players physically and mentally and they've got to switch on and make sure they're covering spaces.
"I thought they did it great. Like I said to them after the game, I've got absolutely no complaints, when somebody gives you everything you've got, you can't complain about anything and I thought they gave us everything they've got tonight.
"We had some good opportunities. That's been a frustration for us probably this season, in terms of when we get into good areas, there's that little bit of composure, bit of calmness, picking the right pass, making sure we hit the target. That's something we can certainly work on."
The Potters also welcomed back Manchester United loanee Axel Tuanzebe form injury against Brighton. The Red Devils loanee managed 76 minutes against the Premier League side.
"I thought he was excellent," Neil added. "I think you can see his physicality, his pace, reads the game well, double aggressive. I thought there was a lot of positives.
"I thought Ben Wilmot was sensational this evening, I thought he was excellent. Listen, there was a lot, a lot of good performances in there."
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