Liam Delap, a striker for Hull City, is still recovering from a three-month knee injury, so head coach Liam Rosenior advises him to go cautiously.
Given that the Tigers know that just three points would keep their fragile play-off ambitions alive, there may be an incentive to start Delap at Coventry on Wednesday night after his two cameos off the bench against Watford and QPR gave City something new in the top third of the park.
The Manchester City loanee has been a huge loss for the Tigers, but Rosenior acknowledges that he needs to exercise caution with the 21-year-old and not put him in danger with another game coming up at home against Ipswich on Saturday night.
The night before the journey to the Midlands, he told Hull Live, “That’s a decision that we’ll make in the next few days because I’m bearing in mind that we need to win every game we play.” “I need to balance things out since we play on Wednesday and Saturday (against Ipswich Town).
“Since he hasn’t played the entire 90 minutes in three months, his speed and pace off the bench have a significant influence. He may also pose serious issues when defenses are worn out. I don’t want to insert him too soon in case he runs into a wall or because there is an extremely high chance that he will get hurt.
“I have to build him in the correct way to get the maximum out of him, and definitely, in the last two games he’s come on, he’s affected the game in an outstanding way, and normally you can affect games at the end of games, you can win games.”
Due to Delap’s potent off-the-shelf play, Rosenior says he is not intending for any weariness to show during Wednesday night’s match. This is in contrast to Coventry’s FA Cup achievements against Manchester United on Saturday in the semi-final at Wembley.
“I’m not planning on that; all I’m planning for is where we think we can win the game and our strengths and weaknesses against the opposition.
“Coventry has an incredibly talented team. They demonstrated their ability to rotate by having the substitutes enter the game and have such an influence. Mark is a really good group leader. It occurs to me that they may have played in extra time or in a semifinal, but that doesn’t really matter; what matters is who plays on that particular day.”
Given the significance of the game, Rosenior may have been excused for considering packing his bench with Delap, Aaron Connolly, Noah Ohio, and Billy Sharp, but he insists he must maintain composure.
He clarified, “It doesn’t work that way.” “My responsibility is to increase our chances of winning a game. What are the odds that we will win this game? How likely is it that we’ll lag behind, considering the multitude of variables involved? There may be one or two players who are dealing with minor discomfort for whom you need specific bench coverage. Let’s simply leave eight strikers on the bench because there are so many other things that those players could be doing correctly and we need to win.
“It doesn’t work that way. I’ll get Tyrell Sellers-Fleming up, I’ll get all the attacking players.” You must maintain your composure. To win a football game, you have to have faith in your working method and choose the team you believe to be the greatest.
“There are numerous methods to emerge victorious. It takes more than just putting individuals on the field and hope for the best. It’s my job, yet it’s quite challenging. If it were so simple, anyone could do it.
“A game can be won by coming from behind or by being one nil-up and having to see it through. A game can be won three to nil if you are in total control of it. There are a plethora of methods to win, but they are all connected. There are other factors that contribute to a game’s outcome; it’s not simply one thing.”
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