Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic admits the first-half performance he witnessed at Stockport County on Saturday fell well below the standards he expects, despite the team winning 1-0.
The City chief made some tactical tweaks at the interval to drop Matt Crooks deeper and make things a little bit narrower to stop the League One side from bossing the midfield, and it worked. City were the dominant force in the second period and scored what proved to be the winner 15 minutes from time when Mason Burstow thumped in a terrific header from Ryan Giles’ pinpoint cross.
Prior to that, however, City were slow and lacked any kind of control in the middle of the park with former Sheffield United ace Ollie Norwood dictating things. The Hatters passed up a couple of good chances in the first period while Ivor Pandur tipped a goal-bound effort onto the bar, though the visitors did create a gilt-edged chance when Giles crossed for Abu Kamara to blaze over unmarked at the back post.
Having witnessed a major improvement in the second half, City made it four wins from their last four friendlies ahead of the visit of newly-promoted Premier League side Sunderland on Tuesday night.
“It’s a big pressure on me,” joked the Bosnian in conversation with Hull Live after notching up a fourth straight victory. “In the first half, we had a lot of difficulties in the game. I’m not satisfied with some phases of our defence, in the middle block, how we pressed the ball, how we pressed their players around the ball.
“They played easily around us, and we had problems there, but we also missed a hundred percent chance. Yes, Kamara, it was a perfect cross from Gilo (Ryan Giles), he played to him.
“At half-time, we agreed that we must be narrow with the wingers inside to help Matt (Crooks) Crooks, Regan (Slater) Slater, Kasey (Palmer) Palmer, and Kyle (Joseph); they needed to split the pitch.
“They did that, and we were more compact than in the first half. When we changed and when Stockport changed, we were a better team with more ball possession. We created more chances and in the end, it was a very nice goal from (Mason) Burstow, so I’m happy for him.”
Even though Jakirovic was unhappy with the first-half performance, he says he’s pleased with the way his new group of players is responding to his demands.
“Yes (pleased with the players taking his instructions on board),” he continued. “The control of the ball, and then we can open the game. We have trained for this, but we need more time, which I think was OK after the first half.
“This is what I mentioned before, hungry players, ambitious players, young players, they want to prove on the pitch, and when you’re hungry, you give in every challenge one hundred percent and they have to be like this.”
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