Cardiff City boss Mick McCarthy said he opted to play five centre-backs against West Brom because his side were in desperate need of a clean sheet following their 5-1 drubbing up at Blackburn Rovers last weekend.
When the team news dropped one hour before kick-off on Tuesday night, they was a collective jaw drop from the Bluebirds fan base, both in the stadium and the vocal contingent on social media.
It was clear McCarthy had set his stall out with that selection. He had gone all out to try to stop the Baggies from scoring - opting for Mark McGuinness, Sean Morrison, Aden Flint, Curtis Nelson and Ciaron Brown in the back line - at the expense of offering an attacking threat further up the pitch.
For many, the team selection was baffling. While Cardiff have shipped too many goals, they have been nowhere near effective enough at the top end of the pitch this season and there was a hope that McCarthy might rip up the playbook and stop employing a back five and go with something more exciting and progressive.
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Instead, he doubled down and opted for an even more defensive team, at home, for the visit of West Brom, and this was what he said when asked if it had backfired on him.
"I don't think it backfired in terms of the performances of Ciaron Brown and Mark McGuinness, because I thought they were very good to be quite honest with you," McCarthy said.
"But we weren't going to shore it up or make a difference... we needed a clean sheet [after Saturday].
"It was just a bad start, within five minutes, it's an unbelievable strike five minutes in. Could we have got a block? Probably.
"But Mark McGuinness and Ciaron Brown have done themselves proud. I was delighted with their performances."
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The other concern was that Kieffer Moore, Cardiff's focal point and most potent goal threat, was benched for the clash.
Moore has looked a little out of sorts, having scored only one goal so far this term, but the service he has been getting has been nothing short of abysmal, Ryan Giles apart.
And when asked whether Moore's omission was down to giving him a rest or whether it was a tactical decision to select James Collins, McCarthy replied: "Mainly the first bit, to be honest with you.
"He's not been the Kieffer Moore of last season, for whatever reason. The time he has missed and the Covid he has had.
"It was to give James a game, that was the reason."
McCarthy was probed on team selection, fans' booing, jeering and chanting, the mounting pressure and just how he plans to get his side out of this run of woeful results.
As ever, he answered with measured responses, vowing to put in all the graft he possibly can ahead of what is now a crucial match against Reading at home again on Saturday.
But the players, too, must take responsibility. They have not been good enough these last few weeks and while the buck ultimately stops with the manager, there have been too many woeful team displays.
McCarthy, however, said that, behind closed doors at least, the players are taking some of the responsibility.
"I've just been asked what I've said to them, I'll share some of what was said in there, that it's not good enough and that they are responsible," he said.
"I come here and I take the responsibility for it and I always will because it's my team and my tactics, the way we do it, but they are very aware and very honest about it as well.
"Quite a few of them are saying the same things, that they need to take the responsibility or certainly a part of it, that's for sure."
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