The two interesting recruitment admissions Lee Johnson made in his post-match Sunderland assessments

His point being not to allow a good result to mask a poor performance too much, and vice versa.

So on Tuesday night he was relatively calm, clearly frustrated with soft goals conceded but pleased about elements of his team's performance.

There was also a clear message to his squad.

The head coach again insisted that his group are capable of winning promotion, and that there were some who had to be stronger in believing it themselves.

In some players, he wants to see more 'pitch personality'.

Johnson wants Sunderland to play with a swagger, one that is currently there only in patches.

In this there was also an interesting admission from the Black Cats boss, as he looks ahead to an inevitable summer rebuild regardless of whether this season ends in promotion or not.

Five months in the job has given a strong understanding of the demands that come with playing for Sunderland and Johnson hinted that this would be front and centre in his thoughts when it comes to recruitment.

"It was almost passive aggressive in the dressing room afterwards, 'believe in yourself and there's another 7% there," Johnson said.

"There's certain players that have got to trust that they're good enough to be here, I pick them because I trust them and we win games with them in the team.

"Sometimes it's like they don't feel like they should be here and that's something I've probably got to consider when I'm recruiting as well.

"It's that velocity and power of the club, it's something that needs to be handled to bring out your best performance nine times out fo ten."

There was a further insight into Johnson's future thinking for supporters in the post-match press conference, too.

The head coach has to be flexible in both his formations and selections in recent weeks, challenged by both a hectic schedule and a raft of defensive injuries.

Tuesday night's game saw Johnson revert to a 4-3-3 system for the first time since the 4-1 win over Doncaster Rovers in February, though Hull City's strength in the second half forced a slight reshuffle as Aiden O'Brien entered the fray.

The initial results were nevertheless encouraging and Johnson said moving forward, it's the shape that will guide his squad-building.

“I think that’s always the preferred shape," he said.

"I haven’t always been able to play that, but it’s what we’ll recruit to – a six, an eight and a ten.

"Sometimes, you play with two eights or two sixes and a ten, to whatever. But that version of 4-3-3 is what we’re well suited to.

"For whatever reason, sometimes this season we haven’t been able to do that. Mainly, it’s because we have five centre-halves out injured!"

Johnson will be part of a revamped recruitment operation this summer, set to be led by head of recruitment Stuart Harvey.

Harvey will report into Sporting Director Kristjaan Speakman, and will be tasked with identifying targets who fit the attributes Johnson wants for each position.

Johnson will then settle on targets with the pair, with Speakman insisting that the final say will belong to the head coach.

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