Stoke City midfielder Joe Allen has emphatically dismissed the idea that the squad are not behind Nathan Jones after the weekend win over Swansea.

The Potters, who were without a league win all season, went to the leaders and won 2-1, despite trailing after just a minute to an Andre Ayew goal. Despite that, Jones' men remain bottom of the division but they have closed the gap on those above them.

And, Allen indicated that could be a turning point and slammed those who had been suggesting that the group weren't performing for the boss when speaking to the official site.

"When a team is suffering so much rubbish is talked, so many people who are clueless really want to give their verdict. At no point have the lads not been behind the manager. The manager and his staff deserve that win today as much as anyone else.

"It’s only one win, but hopefully – and although we’ve said it before – this can really be the catalyst for us to go and get more and get ourselves out of this mess we find ourselves in."

The Staffordshire side are back in action at home to Fulham after the international break.

The verdict

Picking up three points on Saturday in the way they did will have been a massive relief for Jones and the entire Stoke squad.

As Allen says, when you are struggling then everyone comes in for criticism and they clearly feel some of the recent reports have been unfair.

It's good to see the midfielder, who was excellent against the Swans, recognises that there is still a lot of work to do and it's now about building on that moving forward.

Thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

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