Stoke City lost 1-0 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in the FA Cup fifth round last night.
Stoke City welcomed Premier League side Brighton to the bet365 Stadium last night. The Potters put in a good performance but lost the game 1-0, thanks to an Evan Ferguson goal in the first half.
But Alex Neil’s players did him proud and after the game he held praise for his side, in particular for Manchester United’s Axel Tuanzebe who made his first start for Stoke City after joining on loan last month.
Neil said of the 25-year-old:
“I thought he was excellent. You can see his physicality, his pace, he reads the game well, double aggressive.”
Tuanzebe started in the middle of defence alongside Ben Wilmot, who Neil said had a good game as well last night:
“I thought there were a lot of positives, I thought Ben Wilmot was sensational this evening as well.”
Up next…
Next up for Stoke City is a trip to Sunderland this weekend, and it’s a return to the Stadium of Light for Neil who is bound to get a hostile reception, after leaving Sunderland for Stoke City earlier in the campaign.
But Neil will be buoyed by the debut of Tuanzebe – the Manchester United man was a last minute replacement for Harry Souttar and he’ll be happy to finally get his first start, and he looked good too.
Like Neil says, Tuanzebe will bring a degree of physicality to the Stoke back-line and alongside Wilmot, the Potters could have a fearsome centre-pairing for the remainder of the season.
Saturday’s game v Sunderland kicks off at 3pm.
