Mark Hughes: Liverpool not worth £80m difference

Mark Hughes' Stoke endured a late defeat to Liverpool

MARK HUGHES says Stoke matched up to Liverpool at the Britannia today - despite the Reds spending £80million more on transfers.

 

Philippe Coutinho scored late on to gave the Reds, who had four debutants in the starting XI, a 1-0 victory.

Liverpool have spent upwards of £90m on players this season (offset in part by Raheem Sterling's £49m sale to Manchester City) while Stoke have forked out less than £10m.

 

But Hughes insists the gulf between the sides is not as great as the figures suggest.

"I do not think any team deserved the win, a draw would have been the fair result," he told Sky Sports.

 

"Liverpool have invested a lot of money this summer but I did not see £80m worth of difference between the teams.

"We are at a good level without going into the transfer market too much.

"We will get stronger and be more creative. In terms of the performance as this is the first day of the season I am quietly confident we can go on from this point."