The under-pressure former Manchester United assistant knows he cannot afford a defeat on Tuesday.
Hull City boss Mike Phelan has told The Chronicle that he expects counterpart Rafael Benitez to pick his strongest possible side for their EFL Cup quarter-final clash on Tuesday.
There is no shortage of motivation for both sides to progress to the final four, with the Tigers hoping for a glamorous distraction for their difficulties in the league while Newcastle have not reached the semi-finals of any domestic competition since the 2005 FA Cup.
Benitez has been criticised in some quarters for resting a number of his key men, including Dwight Gayle (below), Yoan Gouffran and Jamaal Lascelles, for Saturday’s home defeat to Blackburn, and Phelan admits he will be fielding a full strength side to face their rejuvenated visitors in midweek.
“I’ll field a team that will be really, really competitive. It would be wrong of me to treat this lightly,” Phelan told reporters in quotes reported by The Chronicle.
“We’ve come so far in this competition that we deserve to give the game it’s just desserts. If we didn’t want to be in it, then we would have gone out earlier.
“We’re in it so I’ll pick as strong a team as I possibly can. We have a few players who need a few minutes but I won’t be making wholesale changes.
“I’m sure Newcastle will be strong because they’ll see this as a big opportunity to progress.”
While Tuesday’s visitors have endured 11 long years since their most recent semi-final appearance in a domestic competition, Hull’s wait is even more pronounced.
After all, only Arsenal stood in their way of battling it out against Huddersfield Town for FA Cup glory – all the way back in 1930.
And a win at the KCom Stadium this week could go some way to getting the feel-good factor flowing back to Humberside, with Hull’s attendances dwindling in the top flight.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
