WHEN Steve Bruce reflects on Hull City's 1-0 defeat at Burnley, he will feel let down both as a person and a manager by players he has entrusted with a lot of his faith.
The Tigers boss brought in players like Curtis Davies, Tom Huddlestone, Jake Livermore and Robbie Brady because he knows the high standards they are capable of reaching.
Unfortunately, not one of those reached the levels which would be expected of them in the Turf Moor defeat and Bruce will have told them in no uncertain terms how much they have let him down.
The same goes for the other players too because not many could walk off the field and claim to have had a good game.
It doesn't take an expert to realise City were second best in every department. They were a yard off the pace in mind and body, and that lack of application was badly exposed by a hard-working Burnley side.
Man for man, the Tigers have far more superior players than the Clarets, but if they are not willing to apply themselves it means nothing.
Having said that, City's display was not embarrassing and saying so would be a bit disrespectful to Burnley, who are at a similar stage to the Tigers two seasons ago.
Whilst Sean Dyche's squad does not have a host of household names, what they do have is spirit, effort and belief in the way they play the game. And, as every City fan will know, that can take you far.
Bruce needs to remind his players of that fact and ensure they don't forget it from now until the end of the season.
You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't work hard, you will not get the rewards.
At the minute, Huddlestone is a great example of that. He has been out of sorts for a few weeks now and I'm surprised he has not been dropped yet.
When he and Livermore first arrived at City from Tottenham, the quality of their performances made the players around them better. I'm not sure that's the case anymore.
If they do keep their places against Spurs in a fortnight, they both need to get back to the levels everyone knows they are capable of.
The key thing for Bruce now is to find a way to bring out their best again. If not, they should be dropped for players who will put in the hard graft.
Back in my playing days, we would all have been told to get on the team bus back to Hull following a defeat like that, regardless of any plans we had made, to remind us of our on-the-field responsibilities.
But I saw several City players getting in their own cars in the car park afterwards at Turf Moor and maybe more of an iron fist is needed to prevent complacency setting in.
You could argue that going in for training on yesterday morning was punishment enough, but players need to be aware that putting in 110 per cent effort is required as a minimum.
As for the game itself, the less said about it the better. City were second best all over the park and never really had a meaningful shot on goal.
Even when the winner arrived from the head of Ashley Barnes, it was preceded by a catalogue of errors from experienced players. Curtis Davies, who had another off day, was out of position, James Chester got too much underneath the ball to do anything about it and Ahmed Elmohamady did not provide enough back post cover.
Let's hope it turns out to be a one-off because more of the same and City can forget about improving on the 16th place they secured last season.
