Saturday's 2-0 defeat at ten-man Sheffield Wednesday means it's now no win in eight matches for Stoke and boss Narcis Pelach.
"It's a hard one to take. You expect to win when they are down to 10 men," Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke.
"We defended badly (on both goals) – we shot ourselves in the foot. We have to be much more aggressive because we have more numbers than them in the box, it cannot end in a goal, it's unacceptable.
"In the first half I think we were more pragmatic, aggressive, won many more duels and second balls which is what I demand from the team.