Baggies can burst Hull City bubble

By mpanter

SATURDAY'S defeat at the hands of Manchester United is one that the Albion players have to put firmly to the back of their mind.

Ultimately it was a bit of a mauling but when you are up against players of the quality of Ronaldo and Berbatov, those kind of results have to be expected at times.

And certainly when you have a player in the form that Wayne Rooney is in, United can be really hard to deal with.

I thought Albion did well in the first half and can take heart from that.

They capitulated a bit after the goal but they weren't expected to get anything from the game at the end of the day.

You go to Old Trafford and nine times out of ten you will lose the match. That's not just Albion – it's most teams in the Premiership.

Once out of ten you might scrape a draw or, if you are incredibly lucky, you might pull off a shock.

Albion have far more important games to focus on and that includes this weekend against Hull City.

In games against the teams who are likely to be around them in the table at the end of the season, Albion have picked up results.

And they need to do the same against a Hull side who have had a cracking start to the campaign.

Hull are another one of my former clubs and I always felt they had the potential to be a big club and they are now fulfilling that potential.

In fact, because they don't really have much in the way of a rival club geographically, they have the potential to be as big as the top four in terms of support.

Phil Brown has done a terrific job so far and they are already halfway to safety.

But when I look at their squad I still feel that sooner or later the bubble will burst and hopefully that will be on Saturday.

It's a game that Albion will feel they need to win otherwise Hull will be well clear.

The Baggies could be boosted by the return of Filipe Teixeira. Whether he will be risked yet I'm not sure but his return will be a massive boost to the squad – like a new player if you like.

He's capable of scoring goals and creating chances, like the rest of the midfield, and that's what the Baggies will need in the coming weeks.