If there's one player who epitomises the lack of motivation that seems to be prevalent in the Hull City squad, it's Bernard Mendy.
Mendy is supertalented. He's also immeasurably frustrating. Sometimes he looks a world beater when set free on the right flank yet too often he simply doesn't show it. He has an air to him that fits a Gallic stereotype about offering a shrug of the shoulders and alleging by doing so that it doesn't matter.
Mendy is one big contradiction when he plays. Too many times he has been absent when the going has toughened and been unable or unwilling to reach for his terrific attacking talent when given the opportunity. He is a mega disappointment. But then he spends far longer after games applauding the supporters, as if he is trying to show how much he knows the pain and passion we feel.
If only his consideration for our feelings extended to the time the football match in question is actually going on, then we'd begin to get somewhere. Evidence exists in plentiful form of Mendy's capacity to destroy full backs - Liverpool away last season remains the yardstick, and yet he wasn't even on the bench for this season's visit to Anfield - but so far this season it simply doesn't wish to put in an appearance.
There were rumours about Mendy's future over the summer but the lack of substance, direct quotation or comment from the club suggested that the only source for these stories was Mendy himself, suggesting he wasn't happy. There was a family issue in France prior to the defeat to Tottenham Hotspur at the KC which meant he could only arrive at the game in time to sit on the bench, but other than that the impression remained that Mendy seemed happy.
And when he is on form, nobody looks happier than Mendy himself. His treatment of Andrea Dossena at Liverpool was one of the outstanding individual displays of Hull City's maiden Premier League season, and only injury to Paul McShane and consequent repositioning of Mendy prevented him from continuing this beyond the half hour mark. The Tigers were 4-1 down and heading for a serious thumping at Old Trafford when Mendy came on as a substitute, wearing club shop gloves with his kit, and promptly scored one goal and earned the penalty for another. Manchester United ended the match by kicking the ball in panic high into the crowd to waste time and hold on to their advantage.
Phil Brown seems to want to play Mendy but it's obvious that with the arrival of Kamel Ghilas, a fast-paced centre forward who can spread wide, he is beginning to lose patience with the Frenchman's brainstorms and is seeking a proper alternative. The Tiger Nation could enjoy Mendy's moments of madness last season as the campaign, until the post-New Year period at least, felt like a dream holiday and so his obtuse dive at Blackburn Rovers and his unsubtle assistance of Kieran Richardson's departure from the field at home to Sunderland raised belly laughs.
No such humour exists this season. It's serious business, and Mendy's absence from responsibility and negligible contribution thus far suggests he no longer wishes to take anything seriously. Perhaps the extra-long applause he offers City fans is now just in case he is sent off on loan somewhere the next day, never to return.
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