Stoke City boss Michael O'Neill has admitted he is heading into the Championship season with concerns over his side.
The Potters were defeated for the third time in four matches yesterday when Scottish side Hearts were 2-1 victors over O'Neill's side.
That result followed defeats in recent weeks to Bristol Rovers and Accrington Stanley.
Speaking after the match, O'Neill admitted his side would be in denial if they didn't admit they had plenty of work to do.
"I think we have a few concerns," O'Neill told StokeonTrentLive.
"We've conceded poor goals; today we were a little bit passive.
"It’s not an excuse, but we’ve played away from home in every game in pre-season, so we've played a little bit like that. But we created four good chances in the game and missed good chances at good times in the game, and we lost poor goals.
"I have to say I was impressed by Hearts; I thought they played well, I thought they handled the ball better than we did, if I'm honest. And at this minute in time, we've still got a week to go, and we need to do a lot this week because we’ll have a tough game away at Millwall.
"I think when that game comes, we'll be ready for it because that's the nature of it. But equally, we would be a little bit in denial if we say we haven't got a lot of work to do."
Stoke City get their 2022/23 campaign underway with an away match against Millwall next Saturday.
Kick off in the match is set for 3pm at The Den on Saturday 30th July.
The Verdict
This is certainly concerning to hear from Michael O'Neill so close to the beginning of the season.
At this stage, generally, managers are optimistic about their chances for the season ahead, but it sounds as though there have been more negatives to take than positives so far this off-season for Stoke.
Whilst results in pre-season do not matter in the slightest, negative trends do appear, and it is now up to O'Neill to address these.
It will certainly be interesting to see how the Potters get on up against Millwall next Saturday in what will be a really tough test away from home.