Glenn Whelan ready to skipper Stoke despite broken nose, says Mark Hughes
The Republic of Ireland international continued to skipper the Potters in Ryan Shawcross’ absence and played on despite suffering the injury last Saturday.
Hughes says the incident won’t put him at any risk of missing tonight’s evening’s fixture against Newcastle United.
“Glenn Whelan broke his nose, but knowing Glenn that won’t impact him at all and we fully expect him to be ready for the game,” said Hughes.
Meanwhile Steve McClaren has admitted his Newcastle team is the most frustrating with which he has worked as he tries to eradicate a major “character flaw” to avoid relegation.
The Magpies were trounced 5-1 at Chelsea last time out, just a week after turning in one of their better performances of a difficult campaign in victory over West Brom.
They have had 18 days since to lick their wounds, and return to action at Stoke this evening with head coach McClaren fully aware that a Jekyll and Hyde approach to their battle for Barclays Premier League survival is unlikely to prove successful.
He said: “This is probably the most frustrating team I’ve worked with. After West Brom, good football, showing their ability, showing their talent, good teamwork, fantastic performance appreciated by the crowd, and then the next performance is 5-1 – and it could be nine or 10.
“We go from one extreme to the other. We’ve talked a lot about character, about fight and about attitude and about realising the situation that we are in before it’s too late.
“The team did that last season. We have just said, ‘Don’t leave it until the last game’, and we are talking about everybody at the club, not just the players, the fans, the people who work here around the club, in the offices. We’re in a scrap, we’re in a fight and we’ve got to start joining in.”
Newcastle head for the Potteries having endured a miserable campaign on the road to date, with only seven goals and as many points - two wins and a single draw - to their name.
They have capitulated horrifically on more than one occasion, conceding six at Manchester City and five at both Stamford Bridge and Crystal Palace, and that fragility as much as anything is responsible for their continued presence in the bottom three.
McClaren said: “Everybody at the club, the players included but especially myself, the staff, the fans, see fantastic performances from individuals one week and you think, ‘That’s what they can do’ and the next week, it’s the polar opposite. We go from looking as if we can beat the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea on our day and then lose by five or six goals the next week.
“That is inconsistent and that is a character flaw which we have got to come to terms with and put right.”
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