Hull City's Liam Rosenior led by gut instinct over statistics as he plans squad rotation

The Pilgrims will test a fourth-placed side who have won only once – against Sheffield Wednesday – at home this season. But trips to Ipswich Town on the Tuesday and Millwall the following Saturday will not be a stroll in the park either.

So a coach who has been able to build a deep squad will have to think carefully about who plays at the weekend, and who is kept fresh.

Rosenior will have reams of data at his disposal – far more than his managers had, even though he was still playing professionally as recently as 2018 – but the biggest influence will still be gut feeling.

"Every year there's new data," said Rosenior, who confirmed Sean McLoughlin will come in for the suspended Jacob Greaves.

"But the values of football are the same. My job is to have a feel. On the training pitch and in a game it's to sense how they're doing, it's having human interactions with them.

"The science and data is moving forward but at the end of the day, people play football, people make mistakes and improve and learn."

It is something the son of ex-Bristol City, Torquay United and Brentford manager Leroy was born to do.

"I changed the team against Stoke and raised a few eyebrows – win and you're a genius but if we'd lost I'm a helmet," he reflects.

"It probably was a huge gamble changing the goalkeeper (against Leeds United) but I went with my intuition and so far Ryan (Allsop)'s been outstanding. These are decisions I have to make ahead of time and the reasons why you get the abuse when it doesn't go your way.

"I'm not going to be arrogant when I say I've prepared for this a long time. My dad was a manager, I've worked my whole life to be a manager.

"I am young but I've trained really hard to make the most educated decisions I possibly can."

After a bang which rolled his ankle on Tuesday, the decision on Jason Lokilo's availability will be more in the hand of the medics but with Lewie Coyle training again after a facial injury and Ozan Tufan's fitness improving, Rosenior has no fresh concerns to make his decisions any easier.