Reaction from Mark Robins as Stoke City are beaten by a late goal in the FA Cup fourth round
17:05, 15 Feb 2026Updated 17:08, 15 Feb 2026
Mark Robins on the sidelines as Stoke City are beaten late against Fulham in the FA Cup.
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Mark Robins on the sidelines as Stoke City are beaten late against Fulham in the FA Cup.(Image: Nick Potts/PA Wire)
Mark Robins admitted he “needed to do something different” as he changed Stoke City’s system and gave Fulham a scare in the FA Cup.
Stoke have been using a 4-2-3-1 formation that served them well in the first half of the season but, having been rocked by an unprecedented injury list, Robins opted for a wing-back approach when he hosted Premier League Fulham in a fourth round tie.
It was Stoke who took the lead through Bae Junho at the bet365 Stadium and Lamine Cisse had a drive pushed onto the post before the visitors levelled through Kevin and then won it late on when Harrison Reed pounced on an error.
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Robins said: “I needed to do something different, the results have been poor. I think we can say that was a decent effort today but we’ve still come out on the wrong end of it.
“I want that to change over time – and it will. It’s just difficult when you’re going through it. I thought the players deserved a lot of credit from that performance.”
Stoke had gone six league games without a win since the third round victory over Coventry.
Robins was relatively pleased with a spirited performance against Fulham even if he was left still wanting more.
"I thought we were good,” he said. “You've got to remember the amount of players we have out. I'm not bleating about it but you've got a situation when we're taking on a Premier League team full of good players.
"We took part in the game. You don't want to sit back and just let them have the freedom of the park. That shouldn't happen. I thought we did that well. I thought we created bits of chances and had we used the ball a little bit better we would have had more. I don't think that's necessarily a confidence thing, it's just where we are at at the moment.
"It might be just a better first touch and then an execution, not be looking around, knowing where to pass it. Execution might be a little bit better."
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He added: "The goal we scored was outstanding. It was all of those things. High up the field, the ball comes into the penalty area, a nice pass, a good touch, great second touch and then you're 1-0 up. It was a nice goal, really well worked.
"I was pleased with a lot of elements. We defended pretty well to be fair when we had to. Once or twice we got a little bit fortunate and when Tommy was called upon he made some good saves. We dealt with their threat in the first half pretty well. They had a lot of the ball as you'd expect but we had a real good show of it.
"In the second half you look at tired legs and situations like Ben Pearson having been ill. I wasn't able to use him on Wednesday nor from the start today. I have to factor things like that into my selection and trying to get a coherent performance.
"That's pretty tough at the moment but players have stood up and made it easier today. I think they've been good. I think they've worked their socks off.
"I thought Smudger benefitted with Cisse, who I thought was outstanding. The two wing-backs were good, Rigo was good but ran out of steam. They were making changes with energy and quality, which can make a telling difference.
"When they got into the final bit they just tried to lift the ball into the area for oncoming players. Whether they got enough bodies into the box or not I don't know but we handled that pretty well. It was some poor delivery from them as well. But their rotations are good and they've got great quality.
"The first goal was a poor one to give away, the second one has to be a massive learning curve. I don't care if it goes out of the stadium to be honest, just put your foot right through it.
"But then he's got to be helped by a more experienced midfielder not coming straight down the line of the pass under pressure. Don't do that. We're trying to get them to play off their front press because that makes Tommy's mind up.
"We want to play football. I don't want to be back to front and smashing the ball but there are times when you have to play a little bit longer or get rid of it and ask questions later because you're on 84 or 85 minutes and there's no time to come back from that."
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