Tony Pulis bemoans 'one of the worst performances' during his time at Stoke City following 5-0 thrashing against Bolton Wanderers

Trotters thrashing one to forget for the Potters boss as he sees his side lose twice on the bounce in the Premier League following goal glut at the Reebok Stadium

6 Nov 2011 18:30:00

By Sam Bisby at the Reebok Stadium

More On :  Bolton Wanderers, Stoke City, Tony Pulis, Bolton Wanderers vs Stoke City

Stoke City manager Tony Pulis has branded his team’s 5-0 thrashing at the hands of Bolton Wanderers as "one of the worst performances" he has seen in over eight years at the club.

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Braces from Chris Eagles and Ivan Klasnic helped the Trotters on their way to their first home victory of the season, after skipper Kevin Davies cheekily grabbed the opener following a quick free kick after a back-pass collection from Potters goalkeeper Asmir Begovic.

Pulis refused to shy away from his side’s poor display and ranks it amongst the worst of his Stoke career.

He told reporters: “I’ve managed the club now for over eight years and over 200 games and that’s one of the worst performances I’ve ever managed this football club in, in respect of being competitive and doing the basics properly.

“We were very, very poor, I don’t think we competed. Whether the first goal was a back-pass or not makes absolutely no difference, we had 90 odd minutes to put it right and that one incident doesn’t determine the game. We just didn’t compete, Bolton were better than us all over the pitch.”

The Potters manager believed his side were still in the game at half-time despite being two goals down and insisted to his players at the break that one of their own could change the course of the game.

Asked how he felt about the performance, he added: “Disappointed, really disappointed. We said at half-time at 2-0 down, ‘if we got a goal it’d be a different game’, but we give such a poor goal away for the third, but take nothing away from Bolton, we’ve had our day at Wembley, they’ve had their day today.”

Questioned on whether Stoke’s European exploits had hindered their display, Pulis replied: “That’s no excuse for what we’ve done today.”

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