Mark Hughes once again rued his Stoke City side's lack of ruthlessness as they fell to their fourth straight Premier League defeat at home to Liverpool on Saturday afternoon.

The Potters had led 1-0 at half-time through Jonathan Walters' near-post header but the introductions of Philippe Coutinho and Roberto Firmino turned the game on its head.

The pair were both on the scoresheet, Coutinho drilling a low finish into the bottom corner before a world-class looping finish over Lee Grant put Liverpool 2-1 up having trailed just two minutes earlier.

Saido Berahino had an excellent opportunity to restore parity again immediately up the other end but Simon Mignolet, stretching his left leg to keep out the striker's effort.

Defeat sees Stoke slip to 13th in the league standings though they remain eight points clear of the relegation zone, but Hughes acknowledged the need to arrest their slide.

Hughes boss bemoans Stoke's lacklustre finishing

He told his post-match press conference: "I felt certainly first-half, we put in a really good performance, 1-0 to the good, I felt we were good value for that to be perfectly honest."

"Liverpool created very little of note against us and it could've been a bigger margin, in my view, in the first-half. As it was, 1-0 to the good, we were in a good position.

"Clearly they were always going to make a change at half-time and bring a couple of the more accomplished and more regular starters and as a consequence they got the ascendancy of the game and were dominant for 10-15 minutes or so. During that time, that's when unfortunately we've conceded and it's hard to take.

"At 1-0 we had a huge opportunity to get the second and we had about three of our guys in the six-yard box and one them just needed to take responsibility and smash it into the roof of the net. In comparison they get their equaliser from a ball dropping in a similar area and they dispatch it.

"That was the difference. You've got to be clinical, you've got to be clear and cool-minded. At times, not just today but a little bit in mid-week as well, it was a similar story where the opposition didn't make too many clear-cut chances, we made more, but we find ourselves on the back of a defeat.

"It's a little bit hard to take. In fairness, if Saido scores the goal then that changes the game completely again but you have to give the goalkeeper credit, it was an outstanding save I have to say.

"You need those to go in and at the moment, it's not quite happening. Performance-wise, first-half was okay, second-half maybe there was a little bit of anxiety because obviously they had a little bit more quality at the top end.

"We needed to just keep on doing what we were doing in the first-half and see it through but during that period, that's when they scored the goals and that's hard to take."

"We need to get the job done and finish the season correctly"

Stoke face the danger of being dragged into the relegation battle unless their form improves between now and the end of the season, and Hughes insists they must start with the visit of Hull City next weekend.

The Welsh boss continued: "We need more points on the board, that's clear. We've got a huge game next week, here again. We need to get the job done.

"We've just come through a difficult period in terms of the fixtures, playing Man City, Chelsea, Leicester, Burnley away with their home record and Liverpool today, that's a tough run of fixtures. We knew we had to get through this period and hopefully get a decent return.

"We haven't quite managed that but for the most part, the performances have been okay. The details are where we're falling down at the moment. Next weekend, we need to get the job done and finish the season correctly."