Stoke City boss Mark Hughes has backed Glenn Whelan's blast for his teammates after their FA Cup defeat at Blackburn Rovers.
Whelan slammed Stoke's players after the loss.
"Glenn was the skipper on the day and was disappointed," said Hughes, "as the rest of us were.
"He was probably emotional in what he said, but it was understandable because we let ourselves down and let everybody down. He was the spokesman for the group and I didn't have a problem with it.
"Players express themselves in different ways. Some are diplomatic, others like Glenn will say how they see it.
"I haven't got a problem at all with it.
"I think people needed to know that we as a group understood that we had let people down.
"It's a passionate game. Why would you want to take the passion out of it?"
