Michael O’Neill praised the effectiveness of Stoke’s strikeforce after their 4-3 win over Huddersfield.
Carel Eiting volleyed Huddersfield ahead after 24 minutes before Tyrese Campbell gave Stoke the lead with a quickfire brace.
Isaac Mbenza levelled in the 40th minute before Richard Stearman’s own goal saw Stoke lead at half-time.
Sam Clucas made it four with a brilliant individual goal in the 57th minutes before Naby Sarr gave Huddersfield hope on the hour mark but could not find the equaliser.
“Tyrese Campbell was terrific,” said O’Neill. “We know what he is capable of.
“He showed pace, power and quality as well as creating chances for team-mates.
“He was playing slightly wider and he likes to play in that area of the pitch. He had a good day all around.
“Tyrese is an explosive player and he put the miles in. We are working on his fitness and that is something that he will benefit from.
“You can’t take away the pace and quality he has. With more and more games, he will improve his durability.
“The link-up between him and Steven Fletcher was excellent. Fletcher has brought link-up play and a great level of play since he joined us that has improved us as a team.
“Fletcher brings plenty to the table. He has brought a real presence on and off the pitch, he’s been really positive to the club.
“Nick Powell also did a brilliant job in nullifying them, which helped us create plenty of chances.
“We have got a good dressing room and a nice mix of youth, experience and players that have done it and are keen to see out their career at the highest level they can.”
Huddersfield head coach Carlos Corberan admitted his side need to defend better.
“To win games, you need to compete well and in some moments today, we needed to find better solutions to situations,” he said.
“That’s why we played well, but leave with nothing. We have to avoid their first three goals.
“We performed well in some parts of the game but didn’t get a positive result.
“We know how strong Stoke can be at set-pieces and we didn’t defend the second ball well enough.
“We made two mistakes playing out from the back and we cannot lose our concentration.
“We need to be thinking about the consequences of what we do. It was a lack of understanding of what happens in that moment.
“We want to perform well, we think if we do that we have enough to win the game. We need to know how to manage moments so we can compete better and solve the situations we are faced with.
“We need to analyse the game. It is one thing to perform well but we have to compete well as well to get the points.
“Our target is to add points. Our target is to try and perform to deserve the points. We need to learn fast and learn from our mistakes.”
