Stoke City manager Alex Neil has aimed a subtle dig at Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray following his side's meeting with Middlesbrough last night.

Neil led the Potters to a spectacular victory over his former club earlier this month at the Stadium of Light.

Despite only having 44% of the ball in this fixture, Stoke managed to find the back of the net on five occasions in this fixture.

After Sunderland's triumph over Norwich City on Sunday, Mowbray decided to make a claim about Stoke's tactical approach.

Speaking to Sky Sports (as cited by the Stoke Sentinel), Mowbray said: "This is the Championship.

"One week you play against a team [Stoke] who are not really interested in the ball.

"They play a mid-block, they know how we play, they wait for us to try to not pass through them because we've got no Ross Stewart to play over the top, we've got no blistering speed to turn them around.

"They wait, they wait, they stick it to their three strikers who are all diving forward and we lost a couple of goals from set plays and so we lost five goals.

"It doesn't change anything for me.

"We knew we were playing against a football team (this weekend) who were going to be good with the ball."

Stoke backed up their recent victories over Blackburn Rovers and Sunderland by securing a point in their meeting clash with Boro yesterday.

After Middlesbrough opened the scoring via a strike from Chuba Akpom, Ki-Jana Hoever levelled proceedings for the Potters on the stroke of half-time.

Neil's side were denied on two separate occasions by goalkeeper Zack Steffen following the break as the game ended in a draw.

Following this fixture, Neil decided to deliver an indirect response to Mowbray's recent comments.

In an interview conducted with Sky Sports, the Potters boss said: "I think a lot of the work we have done, I think we had five loans start this evening, do you know what I mean?

"A lot of the guys weren't here until the end of January, a lot of our business was done literally on the last day.

"But I think you can now start to see how I want our team to play.

"I think, for me, we look a good side and not bad for a team that plays without the ball, are we?"

The Verdict

Stoke have seemingly now turned a corner with Neil at the helm as they have started to pick up positive results on a regular basis in the Championship.

The Potters have accumulated 13 points from their last seven league games and have scored an impressive total of 15 goals over this particular period.

Given that teams can achieve success at this level by using a variety of different formations and play styles, it is hardly a surprise that Neil has decided to share a tongue in cheek response to Mowbray.

By sticking by his principles, Neil could potentially lead the Potters to a top-half finish in the Championship later this year.