As the Tigers face a big fitness setback for their trip to Stoke City, Liam Rosenior makes fun of a Hull City player.
The Tigers and Potters will face off at lunchtime on Sunday in Staffordshire.
Lewie Coyle will miss Sunday’s trip to Stoke City because he injured his face during the draw with Leeds United on Wednesday.
Coyle and teammate Jacob Greaves collided severely, and the Hull City captain suffered a broken nose as a result. According to head coach Liam Rosenior and the FA’s concussion guidelines, the seasoned right-back will undergo facial remediation and will be unable to travel to Staffordshire.
However, with Cyrus Christie back in the starting lineup for the first time this year, Rosenior claims he has options to replace Coyle, who played left-back against Leeds.
READ MORE: Leeds United’s assessment of Hull City is positive, saying that “it felt like a proper club again.”
Ruben Vinagre was benched for the Leeds match while Rosenior might switch Greaves to left-back and call up Sean McLoughlin to partner Alfie Jones. Rosenior also has James Furlong, the Brighton player who was signed on the final day of the transfer window but has yet to make an appearance in a squad.
Due to concussion regulations, he won’t be able to play on Sunday. He’s having his nose examined, and the poor guy probably has to have it straightened.
It’s one of those unfortunate things that happens, and it was his mate Greavesy that did it. I think the last time Coyley did it (his nose) it was his mate Callum Elder that did it, he’s got some great friends,” Rosenior joked in conversation with Hull Live ahead of the trip to the Potteries.
“It’s really unfortunate and he’ll be gutted to miss the game on Sunday but that’s why we have a squad. Coyley’s been magnificent, not just at the start of last season but toward the end of last season. He’s my captain, and he’s a leader, we’ll miss him for the game but hopefully he recovers really quickly.”
“I’ve got three options,” Rosenior said. “I’ve got Ruben, I’ve got James, I can put Macca in at centre-half and move Jacob can do what he’s done really well for me and play at left-back. We have analysed Stoke and we’ll make a decision on that tomorrow (Saturday).”
Rosenior was understandably coy when asked where his mind was going for Stoke, but remains keen to not change too much and disrupt the fluency he feels his side is building.
“You’ll see, I’m not giving anything away, absolutely no chance! It’s a difficult balance. I’ve been really consistent in my team selections, maybe one or two changes maximum so far and it’s given us that bedrock to be honest. When you bring new players to the club, they’ve got to develop that chemistry, their own relationships and I don’t want to break that up. We’ve got a lot of analysis to do. It’s our first three-game week and you’ll see on Sunday what my decision is.
“Do you know what it comes down to as a manager? It comes down to winning. If you rotated the team and you win, it’s a great decision, if you rotate and you lose, you shouldn’t have rotated. If you keep the same team and you lose, you should have rotated. If you keep the same team and win, you’re a genius. It comes down to making the right decisions to give your team the best chance to win a game of football against what I think is a great squad at Stoke, a very good manager and it’s not going to be an easy game, and not one we’re going to take lightly.”
Ozan Tufan returned after a two-game absence on Wednesday night, coming off the bench as City looked to find a winner. Rosenior, though, admits a start for the Turkish international may be too much to ask after recovering from his thigh problem.
“It was great to see Ozan back out on the pitch for half-an-hour but we need to build his fitness,” he continued. “It shows what I think of him because I think he had three sessions in three weeks and I put him in because I thought he could change the game, he’s a key player for us.
“Is he ready to start with that amount of gametime and that amount of minutes in training, I’m not sure. I don’t want to leave him out because he’s an outstanding player.
“Again, I’ve got a lot of decisions to make, but at the same time, no new injuries, everyone’s come back (fine) apart from Coyley with his nose.”
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