saintant

I hadn't bargained for last night's crazy team selection - don't think anyone other than RM would have.

Picking the right team will help towards that.

To be fair to Stu I think he looked bad because of the starting line up and what he had been asked to do. I've never seen him in that role before - at times in the shambolic first half he was almost playing as an auxiliary centre forward and, not surprisingly, looked like a fish out of water.

In the first half we clearly couldn't get to grips with their aggressive press. We continually tried to pass it around at the back - it was a case of ever decreasing circles and time after time a player had no options and had to pass back to Baz who then had no option other than a hopeful punt forward. We should not be painting ourselves into a corner like that. RM should have spotted this very early and made changes/adjustments - that is a big part of his remit as a coach and, if he is not capable of pro-action, he has a huge gap in his CV.

That doesn't excuse the team selection. None of the players who came on looked as though they wouldn't have done a job from the start.

Some sensible points here and I absolutely agree that RM should have made changes after 20 minutes when it was crystal clear that his car-crash team selection was not and would not work. That would have shown the bravery he himself always demands but he bottled it.

Exactly this. If a team sets up like Hull with an obvious intent to press the hell out of us when we pass it around at the back there must be an alternative play. It's up to RM and his staff to work out what that is but with the numbers Hull committed to the press they must have left gaps and a shortage of bodies in other areas which we should have been smart enough to exploit. Possibly we should have been playing quick hard passes into our midfield and they should have been receiving these on the half turn to launch counter attacks to two wingers hugging the touchlines and a forward through the middle. Also more low trajectory balls form Baz over the top to the flanks to two wide men. There simply must be space to exploit when a side presses like Hull did. Unfortunately RM didn't help himself with his team selection. In what world do he and his coaches sit down and decide that our starting midfield was good enough to cope against Hull? It's bonkers.

Every game at this stage of the season is precious so today was not the time for RM to do what he did. He joked in the press conference that they weigh up every option, consider every possibility then put the names in a tombola box and draw out 11 - maybe he wasn't joking after that first half line-up and the shit show that ensued.

The starting line up didn't seem wrong it was wrong as many predicted before kick-off. RM should have realised within the first 20 minutes and made 3 subs.

Ah well, we can relax now and coast to the play-offs with no pressure.

We have more important games to worry about than Liverpool in the cup.

RM at fault today. Second half proved he got the starting line up completely wrong. Not sure what the thought process was but it was woeful.

looks a bad one for KWP.

Nor in the play-offs with Hull in the mix.

Very damaging not least because these will be in the play-offs with us.

It's not that it's down to team selection today.

That was nothing short of embarrassing and it's all on RM's stupid midfield selection. He should have seen it was totally wrong and changed it after 20 minutes but now the damage is done. With zero bite or cover in midfield we have made them look like prime Man City while we are left chasing shadows. Don't think there's any way back into this because they are no mugs and have us well sussed.

I agree, Smallbone, Rothwell and Stu Armstrong are all good individual players. However, it is how they knit together and form an effective midfield that counts. We'll soon see.

Wouldn't have minded seeing Stephens keep his place at left back. Like many others Manning worries me.

As you are perfectly entitled to do - it's all about opinions and perception at the end of the day. I didn't think Mara was perfect against West Brom and would certainly like to see him become a bit more aggressive and harder to knock off the ball but the signs are there that he has something about him. Maybe he'll be a slow burner and there is much more to come.

Yeah, you'd have to think they'll want him back as one of their squad because he is a very talented player. Let's enjoy him while he's here and hope he helps us to one of the automatic promotion spots.

He was neither dreadful nor out of his depth. In reality he did quite well without looking overly threatening to their goal. Mara needs games to sharpen his understanding of his role and to build a rapport with his team mates. It's a tricky situation because every game is crucial now so it will be interesting to see how RM handles the situation. I think he'll be given another start tonight and asked to give it a real go with Adams waiting on the bench as and when needed.

Hoping Leicester beat Leeds and we win our two home games. That will leave us 4 points clear of them with 12 games left meaning the pressure will ramp up on them as they try to catch us. Ipswich remain a threat so we need to better their results. It's going to be an exciting and tense run-in.

Horrendous challenge and a well deserved red card, I'm sure Chris Wilder is well chuffed with Holgate.

Leicester to do a Devon Loch 🙂