Hull City head coach Ruben Selles talks tactics and Louie Barry impact
The 21-year-old’s arrival generated plenty of excitement last month
Hull City head coach Ruben Selles believes Louie Barry’s full debut against Norwich City offered plenty of encouraging signs of what’s to come over the remaining 14 games.
The Aston Villa loanee was handed a first start after two cameo appearances off the bench against Stoke City and Burnley and showed some moments of real quality in a first half which saw City lead 1-0 courtesy of Matt Crooks’ second Tigers goal before Josh Sargent levelled up early in the second.
Barry faded in the second half as he continues to find his feet in the Championship and his fitness after returning to Villa Park from his loan spell at Stockport County with an injury, and was replaced by Mason Burstow just shy of the hour mark
“He did really well, especially in the first half,” Selles told Hull Live. “We spoke about it in the press conference about how we can build them (up to fitness), and that kind of player like Louie with no experience in the Championship and coming back from the injury before he went back to Aston Villa.
“After 45 to 50 minutes of his performance, his physical levels dropped, and we cannot allow the team to have a player drop those physical levels, so he will be fine. He will continue evolving, and I think he did a good performance.
“He’s always a threat when he has the ball, and hopefully, that performance will transform into assists and goals, and he will be as good as any other in the league
“I expected it to take relative time, so I didn’t expect him to arrive and immediately smash the league. I know he’s a really good player.
“There’s going to be a moment when he’s going to get that movement right, and he’s going to get that finishing right, and that is going to unlock something. It always goes like that, but to arrive at that point, you sometimes need to suffer a little bit, and I think he will be fine, and he will be important for us.”
On the subject of his team selection overall, Selles says he was keen to freshen things up after the midweek trip to Burnley, bringing back Regan Slater and Joao Pedro, while handing that first start for Barry.
“We need to manage between the game every three days this week,” he continued. “Remember, we played on Wednesday night, we had one less day than them, and we wanted to have the team fresh.
“Joao started the game, and he didn’t start in midweek (at Burnley), and he gave us something different than Kyle (Joseph). In the midfield, Regan coming back to the line-up and getting Elliot (Matazo) in the second part of the game was always the plan.
“We have Louie Barry at home where we can find him as a threat in that winger position; that was the logic of the game plan.”
