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INTERVIEW: Mark Robins shares verdict on Stoke City defeat

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Sky Blues boss Mark Robins has described his side's home defeat against Stoke City as a reality check.

Coventry fell to a 4-0 defeat on home soil on a bad day at the office for his side.

Speaking to the media at full-time, Robins offered an honest assessment on his team's performance.

On the scoreline and the performance:

"We played against a really good Stoke City side. We said yesterday, during the presser, that there is a team coming who will come after you and press you - and they have real quality too.

"They had better legs, better quality, and they made it tell, and we backed away.

"We could not get anything going. Consequently, the distance between the back lads and the front lads was far too big. We did not solve that problem and we got outworked. It was a long afternoon.

"It was a tough day and a reality check, because that is the level we have to get to. We are closer to that level, no doubt, but today we were miles off it."

On his side being two goals behind at the break:

"Yes, and they had another chance cleared off the line by Callum Doyle - and they had too much time on the ball.

"You cannot give those players time on the ball, too much quality.

"The first goal was about what happened previously. It put fear in us, we have not seen Luke [McNally] play like that until today.

"They got a ball in the box and tapped it in at the back post.

"Their fans got their tails up, they got their tails up, and came after us. That was what this week's training was about and, obviously, we did not have Viktor [Gyokeres] back with us until Friday.

"This defeat gives me food for thought and it shows me what we need to do in the not-too-distant future."

On the second half performance:

"It was better and we had more possession of the ball, and created some bits and pieces, but we still did not have that cutting edge.

"It looked like Vik was tired. In all fairness, we could not feed the strikers anyway. It was a tough day.

"When they had the ball, we dropped too deep. It became too easy for them and, in the end, they are a really good team.

"We were well-beaten today. We need to pick the bones out of it next week until we move on to the next game."

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