Tuesday 23 December 2014 12:46, UK
Mark Hughes called conceding an early goal to Chelsea "the worst-case scenario" as his Stoke side lost 2-0 on Monday Night Football.
John Terry headed the visitors in front with just two minutes on the clock and a second-half goal from Cesc Fabregas sealed the points for Chelsea, who moved three points clear of Manchester City in the Premier League.
Hughes, who complained to the referee on several occasions about Chelsea players wasting time, believed the experience of Jose Mourinho's men in how to slow the game down and hit his team on the counter attack was a key reason why Stoke failed to get back into the game.
"They are very good at killing the game," said Hughes.
"When you've got momentum, you want to sustain it but they are very good at taking the sting out of the game. That's experienced play and a team that understands what's required. We found that difficult.
"You know that Chelsea can play the counter-attack game, they've done it for many years and are very adept at it. They can kill the game, keep the ball away from you and make it very difficult for you. But we gave it a real go under difficult circumstances.
"It's the worst-case scenario, conceding that early. But we got on the ball and asked real questions of them. For 50-60 minutes, we gave a good account of ourselves given the fact we were susceptible if we lost possession as they can commit people to counter attacks."
Hughes also thought Chelsea striker Diego Costa, who was booed off the pitch by Stoke fans after a physical battle with Ryan Shawcross, used foul play to get ahead in the game.
However, Hughes, speaking from his experiences playing as a centre-forward, did not think Costa's antics were necessarily a bad thing.
"He's a good player and come for significant amounts of money, so you'd expect him to have quality," he said.
"He's quite prepared to protect himself and look after himself - sometimes fairly, sometimes not. I wasn't adverse to that myself so you can't criticise that too much."
