Player Selection & Formation

[stirred]

Been a lot of talk recently about player selection and which formation would best

I was one of many who wanted Knockaert and Freeman to start together. Well they did start together at Boro and they were very poor. I really don't know why we are not firing at the moment.

So then we need to fundamentally adopt a more adventurous approach

Psychological is the main problem, everyone in this league has something to give them confidence, 1 or 2 really good results, everyone except us

I think there's something in this. People are speaking like these draws are giving us some sort of base to build from, but it's wins that breed confidence. Did the players look happy as they left the pitch with a point from Rotherham? Or Derby?

Except we did have a psychological boost, from that last minute winner against Blackburn in Hughton's first match, we should have built on that. We could have taken a chance to follow it up with more wins, but we played safety first, against some of the weaker teams. We lost momentum, we're low on confidence now and playing like it.

We have a really tough run of fixtures coming up, and if we're not taking wins from these next few matches we could easily end that run in the relegation zone. That run ends 18 league matches in, 14 for Hughton, and mid December. We don't have young and hungry players, trying to earn their big contract or prove themselves. This summer we signed mostly experienced, i.e. financially secure, players who thought they were signing up for a promotion push, not a relegation fight. Our season depends on us getting wins, not draws, soon.