Hull City's Ruben Selles seeing benefit of extra day off to prepare for Championship relegation game
Ruben Selles' response to Hull City blowing their chance to secure safety last week was to give his players an extra day off, and he believes he can see the benefit already.
Victory over Derby County would have made the final day of the season irrelevant but instead they travel to Portsmouth for Saturday's game in the Championship relegation zone. The good news is with Stoke City at Derby, a win will again bank their place in the division for next season but this really is the last chance.
Those from the old school may have blanched at players being "rewarded" for last week, when they outplayed the Rams but rarely threatened to score and conceded a set piece. Those who felt whipping the players through the streets of Hull a tad extreme might have expected an extra training session.
The coach sees things differently.
"I decided to give them an extra day off in the week," revealed Selles. "I've been living those stressful situations before and sometimes you need space to digest a result like last Saturday.
"The boys have been brilliant in the two training sessions we've had, the positive environment, so everyone is ready to go, and wishing to we could play today, not tomorrow.
"The most important thing I learnt in my time at Reading and Southampton is when some events like the game on Saturday happen or some events at Reading when we had a points deduction, people need time to take those things (in).
"I thought three days would be enough to prepare.
"They had time to reflect a little bit and time to position themselves with how they are going to approach the next game.
"The tradition or the (prevailing view) 20, 30, 40 years ago would be bring everyone in, have an extra day, work on it, but modern society demands more space. That's what I do.
"They have been training really well in the last two sessions and the extra day off gave them extra time to change mentality from that dramatic loss at home to, 'What's next?'"
It might be tempting to say Hull had their own "Reading-style" situation this week, with players wages delayed, but it is a million miles from the problems which have dogged the Berkshire club, where the Spaniard began this season.
Due their wages on Monday, cashflow issues delayed them until Wednesday but they were later, not late, with players contractually obliged to be paid by the end of the month, as they still did.
Meanwhile, Selles has had his antennae working on the reactions to the disappointment against Derby.
"My position demands I pay attention to the people around – not just players, but technical staff – because the reality is different for everyone," he said.
"Everyone understands the position, from players out of contract in the summer to players who arrived six months ago and players like Gustavo Puerta who effectively just signed (making his loan permanent last month), to the technical staff.
"My position demands I pay attention to that and the big picture but also who could be affected by the situation but to be fair almost none of the players are in the situation where I doubt if they can compete.”
But not to do anything out of the ordinary in his team talk.
"The most important thing in this position is to make the basics brilliant, whether it's your passing, your control or a pep talk,” he argued. “When you start to overdo things you change the way you approach games.
"Sometimes it's good to make an impact, but not too much."
Although in most respects only needing a draw to stay up – which could still be the case if Luton Town lose at West Bromwich Albion, Preston North End at play-off-chasing Bristol City or Derby by a three or more goal margin to Stoke – is obviously better, going in with the mindset they have to win can be less troublesome psychologically.
"I think it is," said Selles. "It's also the last game of the season, people want to go on their holidays and feel good with their family, their wife, their relatives, and people want to be fully invested in that.
"We know what we need to. It's better than speculating.
"You always prefer to have some platform in case but there is no platform so let's go and do it.
"If we do it we will feel really good after that, and for a long period."
Selles will be told if events at the Hawthorns, Ashton Gate or Pride Park change the equation.
"Someone is going to be aware and is going to inform me if something big changes,” he said.
"The only mistake I don't want to make is being level and we're safe on goal difference then speculating to keep the result and then at the end they equalise or we concede.
"But I need to be aware. I think that's the responsible thing to do."
All games kick off at 12.30pm.