Norwich City midfielder Anthony Pilkington labelled as 'crazy' speculation surrounding Chris Hughton's future prior to the Canaries' 1-0 Premier League success at Stoke.

City's patchy league form had seen Hughton come in for intense scrutiny ahead of picking up their first top flight away win of the season.

Pilkington insists it will take time for Hughton to integrate seven new summer signings and pointed to Sunderland's recent decision to fire Paolo Di Canio as evidence that is a commodity in short supply.

'It's crazy,' he said. 'I wrote on Twitter asking if it was too early for Paolo Di Canio to go, given we're only five or six games into the season.

'We have brought a lot of new players in and it takes time for them to gel. But you have seen at Stoke what we can do.'

Pilkington impressed on his first Premier League start of the season at the Britannia after an injury-hit start to the latest campaign due to a knee injury detected on the club's US tour. The 25-year-old, named in the Republic of Ireland's provisional squad on Monday along with club mate Wes Hoolahan for upcoming World Cup qualifiers, is determined to keep his place in the City starting line up after a landmark win in the Potteries.

'I've not been in the team recently. I've had to wait for my chance. I had a few niggles in pre-season but I'm over that now, and hopefully I can keep my place,' Pilkington told the Press Association. 'I thought we could have had more goals. We had a game plan where we wanted to press high and get in their faces, win the ball up high and create chances from there, and I think we did that. But it's all about winning games at this level and picking up the three points, especially away from home. It is a massive win for us.

• Pilkington's Norwich team mate, Luciano Becchio, has been the subject of a loan enquiry from his old club Leeds, according to Whites' boss Brian McDermott.

The Elland Road chief revealed on Monday he had been rebuffed in his attempts to bring Becchio back to Yorkshire on a short-term deal. The 29-year-old has made nine appearances for the Canaries since moving to Norfolk in January 2013 after a prolific spell at Leeds. McDermott had identified Becchio and Arsenal's young German midfielder Serge Gnabry to bolster a squad which has now lost their last four games in all competitions.

'You'll always have calls for new players. That's how it works,' he told his club's official site. 'I made an enquiry to Chris Hughton regarding Luciano Becchio and he wasn't available. Will it change? Who knows? Things do. I made an enquiry for a couple of young players at Arsenal as well - Gnabry who scored their first goal on Saturday was one of them. I wouldn't think they will let him out now. It's a tricky situation because Premier League clubs can't just go out and loan anyone – they want better players too if they are strengthening - so they don't want to be left short in their own squads.'