Boateng disappointed with defending

Midfielder George Boateng says he's disappointed with his sides defending in the defeat against Manchester United. "You cannot give two goals away from set-pieces because to come back from that takes a lot of running and a lot of energy," said Boateng. "To concede for them to go 3-1 up at half time was very painful. That killed our game plan.

"We showed them too much respect in the first half, but that was because of the way they played, they have a very good team.

"You look at their front line of Rooney, Berbatov and Ronaldo. That is worth around £170million.

"So you have to show them respect, but we did that too much in the first half. It is the first time we've done that this season, but they are not (just) a top four team, we're talking about the Premier League and European champions.

"In the second half we went 4-4-2 which made it more one-on-one. We basically said 'come on then, let's see how good you are'.

"You can't do that for 90 minutes because it costs too much energy. But when we changed in the second half, they didn't know what to do. They had problems tactically and we started to use the ball better.

"Before the game, their manager said he was surprised by our position, but if he looks at the tape I think he will find that Hull City are a better team than he thinks."

"It is always a great honour when the manager asks you to lead the team. But as the captain, I would have liked to have got something from the game.

"Regardless of whether we're playing Manchester United or Bolton, you want to get points for your team.

"But 'Ash' is back next week and he will now take the pressure of the job back."