Mark Hughes has told Bojan Krkic, Giannelli Imbula and the rest of his underperforming stars to 'get their acts together' if Stoke City are to get their season back on track.
The Potters' hopes of staging another domestic cup run came to a disappointing end on Saturday afternoon, as they lost 2-0 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers in the third round of the FA Cup.
Hughes restored both Krkic and Imbula to his starting lineup after leaving the duo, as well as Xherdan Shaqiri, out of the side to face Watford last time out - a 2-0 victory for City ending a run of five games without a win.
Both players were hauled off midway through the defeat to Wolves at the bet365 Stadium, however, with Hughes offering a frank explanation behind his decision when probed after the match.
"We lost the game on the first half - the strength of the XI we put out should have been capable of getting a result this afternoon," he told reporters. "We wanted a cup run, sadly that's not the case and that's disappointing.
"We need to pick up and get our act together next week now. You can read into Bojan and Imbula. They weren't making an impact and we needed to change things.
"That's the top and bottom of it. You need luck, their keeper made several saves, but ultimately we weren't good enough on the day and we have to give them credit."
Bojan has featured 11 times for Stoke this season in all competitions, while Imbula - a club-record signing from Porto last year - has been used 12 times.
Daniel Lewis
