As Stoke City manager Mark Hughes and his team head south to London for Sundays match against Arsenal at the Emirates the Potters boss has hit out over claims that his side are a bunch of bullies.
Hughes complained about the remarks that were made after the match against Arsenal in the Britannia Stadium that Stoke won 3-2 when it was claimed Stoke only won by using intimidation tactics.
Much of the bad blood between the clubs stems from a tackle five years ago in which Ryan Shawcross broke Aaron Ramsey’s leg.
“The rivalry raises its head every time we play Arsenal and I’m sick of it,” said Hughes. “It all goes back to an incident five years ago.
“Goodness me – a lot of water’s passed under the bridge since then. There are other angles that can be emphasised.
“The last time we met we played exceptionally well. But some people after the game would use certain terms to explain why we beat them on the day.
“Terms like intimidation, and that we ‘bullied’ them out of the result. That wasn’t the case, for the first 60 or 70 minutes we played them off the park.
“We were the ones that played the best football – that means getting the ball down, pass and move, and create chances. That wasn’t really reflected.
“Bully’s the wrong word, it’s a lazy term. It’s the easy one to label us with. It has other connotations. I’d use ‘competitive’, there’s a difference. People have seen that we have a Plan A and a Plan B.”
