HINDSIGHT is a wonderful thing.

With hindsight, Owen Coyle probably wouldn’t have picked David Wheater at right back on Saturday.

The manager has had horrific luck with injuries, especially at right back. Joe Riley limped out of training in midweek, Dedryck Boyata failed a pre-match fitness test and, of course, there’s Sam Ricketts, who’s been out of action for what seems like an eternity.

Wheater is a solid centre half, but gifted on the ball he is not, so it was no surprise to see him lose control on 18 minutes and then desperately and needlessly lunge at Diniyar Bilyaletdinov to earn him his second red card of the season.

It was a setback, but not to worry, we had Gretar Steinsson on the bench – the out-of-favour right back, who should have been playing from the start. Coyle will bring him on now, I thought, and presumably sacrifice Kevin Davies up front. Ah, no. We’re going to play with a striker on the wing and a midfielder at full back. What do I know?

Coyle clearly has a major problem with Steinsson – it seems like he would rather pick anyone than start with the Icelander in the side.

We battled manfully for the remainder of the first half, and Nigel Reo-Coker did okay in defence, but just four minutes into the second, we conceded, from a break down Everton’s left wing. It was effectively game over.

Calls for Coyle’s head are premature, but he needs a break in the transfer window. He will be desperately hoping to sign a player who can make a similar impact to that of Daniel Sturridge last season.

His refusal to sell Gary Cahill in the summer, which would have freed up close to £13million, is now looking foolhardy.

We’ll be lucky to get double figures for our England international in January. Like I said, hindsight is a wonderful thing.