Mark Hughes gave all the credit to Bristol City after seeing his Stoke side dumped out of the Carabao Cup at Ashton Gate.
After the 2-0 defeat at Ashton Gate put the Championship side into the last 16 of the competition, the Stoke boss said: "We were poor and they played very well.
"They will have a good season playing like that, but we have to be much better.
"I am very disappointed because this is a competition we wanted to do well in. Maybe I got the changes wrong, but I was expecting a lot more from my players.