The Manager Says!-Hull 2-0 Clarets

Steve Cotterill had the following to say to BBC Sport about the 2:0 defeat at Hull.

'We had enough chances but are not taking them at the moment and are probably lacking some belief.

'Confidence in players can drain away and that seems to be happening.

'We are giving enough effort, we just need something to drop. Not much is falling for us but if we'd taken our chances we could have won the game.'

What do you think of these remarks? I have heard some grumbles recently from fans that Steve is making far too many excuses and that the fault lies with the tactical decisions that he is making.

There is also a strong lobby questioning why Mahon is not an automatic choice in the team especially after recent results. Strong doubts about Thomas also remain and there is still it would appear some concern as to why Garreth O' Connor and Spicer do not seem to feature enough in a team that has now only managed 6 points out of a possible 30 in the last ten matches.

There were many that also questioned the rationale of dropping Lafferty from the starting line-up yesterday. A decision that seemed to backfire after going 2 down in under 25 minutes. Steve Cotterill to his credit did act on 30 mins with the double substitution bringing Lafferty on for James O'Connor and McGreal for Foster but by then it was maybe too late and maybe supports the original theory by some that the starting line-up was a tactical error.

Steve is quoted as saying on the Official Site

'I always said when Kyle came into the side that the first few games wouldn't be the problem. I felt it might come three, four or five (games) further down the line, where he hasn't had those consistent run of games.

'We just thought we would try Steve and see if we could get a different spark that way.

'Hull changed their team because they thought he would play left wing and we thought they might do that because he had a good game against them at Turf Moor.

'We hoped to catch them with that one, but Steve was probably one of our most disappointing players.

'He has been a revelation this season, but he looks the tired one for me.'

So what do you make of Steve's tactics and rationale? Do you think he is now blaming his players instead of himself? Jones gets the criticism on this occasion.

Lots of interesting points here for the pro and anti-Cotterill camps to debate! Over to you

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.