Stoke City 0-3 Leeds United: Championship leaders pile more pressure on Nathan Jones
- Published
Nathan Jones has won just four of his 27 games since taking charge of Stoke in January
Stoke City boss Nathan Jones questioned the mentality of his players after seeing his side suffer a fourth defeat of the Championship season at home to leaders Leeds United, who continued their unbeaten start to the campaign.
Goals after the break from Ezgjan Alioski and Patrick Bamford added to Stuart Dallas' first-half strike to give Leeds their fourth win from five games and leave the Potters bottom of the second tier, with a solitary point.
"I'm a brave manager and we believe we will turn it around but the players have to show responsibility as well," said Jones.
"It seems when something goes against them they mentally go. When the first goal went in we seemed to lose all the belief that we tried to instil in them."
Stoke finished 16th last season following their relegation from the Premier League in 2017-18, and are now winless in 11 league games stretching back to April.
Former Luton manager Jones. meanwhile, has won just four of his 27 games in all competitions since taking charge at the Bet365 Stadium in January.
"Last year the start here cost one manager [Gary Rowett] his job," the Welshman added.
"It might cost me mine, you never know. It's not for the want of trying but something has to change, whether that's the manager or the mentality of the players."
Asked whether he has the support of the owners, Jones added: "Yeah, as far as I'm aware.
"I've got a good relationship with them, they see the work we are doing but that won't continue forever. I know that."
Jones dropped England goalkeeper Jack Butland as he made six changes to the starting XI beaten at Preston in midweek, and handed the captain's armband to 18-year-old defender Nathan Collins.
"Some are not performing and regardless of stature we have to be fair. I felt I was fair today," said the 46-year-old.
"There's rationale behind everything we do. If anyone disagrees with anything, I would love to hear their reasons.
"It was the right decision to make [to replace Butland with Adam Federici]. You have to go with your gut feeling."
'We have a long season to play' - Bielsa
Stoke competed well in the first half but went behind three minutes before the break when right-back Stuart Dallas latched on to a through ball from Pablo Hernandez to finish off a fine team move.
The visitors doubled their advantage five minutes after the restart when Patrick Bamford squared to give left-back Ezgjan Alioski a tap-in from close range, and striker Bamford lashed in a third after Federici palmed an Alioski shot into his path.
Leeds lost in the play-off semi-finals last season having missed out on automatic promotion, but Marcelo Bielsa's men look set to challenge at the top of the table again - after scoring 10 goals and conceding just twice in five games.
However, former Argentina boss Bielsa says it is "very difficult to predict what will happen" over the course of the Championship season.
"We are playing with the same ideas as last year, but we are losing the ball less and suffering less from counter-attacks," he added.
"One of the most important things, one of the keys, is that we do not have a lot of injuries and, of course, the positive results affect the ongoing performance of the team.
"We have a long season to play and we will see if the squad we have created is enough, or not enough."
After seeing Bamford net his fourth goal of the season Stoke eventually had their first effort on target in the 76th minute through Tom Ince, who saw his low shot from range saved by visiting keeper Kiko Casilla.
The margin of victory could have been even greater, but Federici kept the score down in the latter stages by keeping out efforts from Helder Costa and Adam Forshaw.
Macedonia international Ezgjan Alioski (centre) gave Leeds breathing space with his second-half tap-in
Leeds striker Patrick Bamford (centre) has scored four goals in five Championship appearances this season