Steve Morison issued some tough love when he took Max Watters off in the first half as Cardiff beat Coventry. Watters had Cardiff's best chances in the early stages of the game but he was finding it difficult to impose himself on a game that Coventry were bossing.
Morison subbed Watters, who sat forlorned in the stand at half time, and brought on Jordan Hugill and it turned out to be the right decision however hard that might be on Watters.
Morison is focussed on winning and not just getting a ribbon for everyone and will have to man-manage Max to bring him back a better player. He did it with Isaak Davies already and if Watters responds he will soon forget the early hook on Tuesday night.
Steve Morison: "I've just got to use my words correctly this time or I will get annihilated - [Watters] just wasn't good enough. Is he upset? Yes. Do I want him to be upset? Yes. Does he need to realise what it takes to be a Championship striker? Yes. Will we go through it with him and talk about it again? Yes. You can't play up front in this team, any team in the Championship, and not have a physical edge to your game. The ball can't keep coming back.
"Within all that, he could have had two goals. He could have scored a header in the first minute, I thought it was a goal as soon as it went to him. Then when he goes through, I'd already planned to take him off, but then I was like 'Oh what am I going to do now, he is going to score!' Because he is a goalscorer. But I think you could see the difference as soon as Jordan [Hugill] come on."
Mark Robins: "The fact for us was we were below par in terms of energy levels. This game was fitted in because of Covid in the Cardiff camp earlier on in the season. That played then would have been a different story. Us at full tilt and full energy is a different story. We didn't do enough even though we had a lot of possession in the first half. There was nothing really in the game or goalmouth opportunities.
"We knew we were below par in terms of energy in the second half but there wasn't a great deal we could do because those are the numbers of players available to us. That's the frustration. We were a goal down when our big chance came. Viktor Gyokeres did everything right in heading it down and the goalkeeper just catches it with his foot. Bad luck, good luck, you have to take the chances. We conceded again before the end, but we just didn't do enough."