Stoke City boss Narcis Pelach has defended his latest change in tactics following the Boxing Day home defeat to Leeds United after seeing the Potters extend their winless run to nine matches.

Four points from a possible 27 is the club’s worst run without a win in the league since taking just two points from their first 10 games at the start of the 2019-20 season under Nathan Jones – and they were booed by a significant number of fans. still left in the ground at the final whistle.

The plummeting Potters now sit 19th in the Championship ahead of Sunday’s home game against Sunderland – just three points clear of the relegation zone.

And Pelach, who has won just three of his 18 league matches since taking over from the sacked Steven Schumacher in September, has been criticized by fans and local media for simply making too many changes.

After deciding to operate with a five-man defense to counter Leeds’ attacking threat, Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke: “We chose the formation that we thought would work best.

“It’s a tough game and we prepared the team to try and be resilient. A lot of teams that played with a four-man defense against them got knocked out early.

“They make you defend a lot. They have a lot of ball possession. And then if you press them high and go late, they beat the press and they have an open goal. But then if you sit back it seems that you’re not trying and it’s hard.

“We tried in the first seven or eight minutes, and we were more there. We created a big chance with Lewis Koumas, which could have changed the evening.

“That’s what we need. In these small moments you have to punish to beat Leeds. That’s why not many teams are close to beating Leeds.

“It went down because of how good Leeds were. You have ideas and try to implement them, but at the end of the day when the ball is there and there’s a player in front of you waiting for you to make a move and then find a free game, it knocks you out.”