The Tigers face one last season’s Premier League relegated sides at the MKM Stadium on Saturday
Dean Holden admits it’s been a slow start for Hull City in the early weeks of the Championship, and says there remains plenty to improve on as the Tigers target a first win in four against Southampton this weekend.
Holden, who arrived at the MKM Stadium in the summer to join Sergej Jakirovic’s new-look coaching setup, is bullish in his belief that City can and will rise up the table once they find their feet.
Last Saturday’s deserved 2-2 draw at Swansea City, having twice come from behind to haul themselves level, should see the squad go into their first home outing in almost a month full of confidence, and with some momentum at their backs after suffering successive defeats before the international break.
The Tigers, despite being forced to work under transfer restrictions, have been able to add some real quality to their squad over the summer, which has encouraged Holden.
“I’ve loved it, loved every second I’ve been here,” Holden told Hull Live as he deputised for Jakirovic on pre-match media duties. As I said then (in conversation with Hull Live in Turkey), I got a really early feel for the club, great people behind the scenes, really good squad to work with.
“We’ve added despite the challenges that we experienced throughout the summer, which have been well documented. I think we’ve added some real good quality to the squad. It’s probably been a slow start in terms of results and lots to improve on, but enjoying working every day with the group.
“We’ve worked hard to bring this quality to the group. We’re all here for one reason, and that’s to try and get the club back to where it was only in recent times.
“You’ve got to remember, it’s a wonderful football club with a rich history, so it’s not always a difficult selling point from that point of view. Of course, players coming in want to know our ambitions inside the club. I agree that we’ve brought some really good players and now it’s just about adapting them.”
The season is only five league games old, and Jakirovic, coupled with 12 new signings along with some injury setbacks, means City haven’t quiet found their rhythm just yet.
Going forward, City have looked good, but going the other way, they’ve conceded at least two goals in each of their games since the goalless draw at Coventry on opening day, and Holden is keen to see an improvement defensively.
“We’re only five games into a season, new squad, new management, but you’ve got to hit the ground running, haven’t you, which we did at Coventry, to be fair, we had a really good point if you look at the results they went on after we got that good point in the first game,” he continued.
“Then we’ve had a fantastic end to the game against Oxford, real good energy inside the stadium, which we’re looking for again this weekend, and then a couple of poor performances it has to be said, and difficult results We needed to strengthen ourselves defensively, which we did at Swansea last week and, in my opinion, got a deserved point.
“We’ve done it a couple of times, haven’t we (scored late)? We did it with Oli’s (McBurnie) winner against Oxford, we weren’t able to capitalise in the Blackburn game on that with a couple of challenges that we faced in the week, not excuses, it’s just where we were at.
“Charlie (Hughes) was missing as well with a concussion in that game. For us, we analyse every game, and it was important, having watched that Bristol City game, they pulled us apart too easily; our defensive structure was not as it should have been.
“The distances between units were too big, and Bristol capitalised on that, and goals change games. If we’d have gone in at 2-1 at half-time, who knows? We concede a poor third right on the stroke of half-time, and it changes everything. Then you’re throwing punches in the second half, trying to get back into it.
“We had to take it on the chin and then of course we had a two week break then to stew on that, and we had a lot of work to do and it was important as I just touched on that, that going into the Swansea game that, that we, we saw some shoots of what we’ve been working on which was making ourselves really difficult to beat.
“You’ve got to do that against any team, particularly against Southampton, who’ve got real firepower in the forward line. We are disappointed with the two goals we conceded at Swansea.
“The first one (Zan) Vipotnik does what he does really well, got between the lines, the lines weren’t huge, but he’s managed to find the space, opened us up and scored. The second one’s a counter-attack. We’re looking to go and score at one end, and we didn’t quite get that transition right.
“Overall, it was a much stronger defensive display. They had two shots on our goal, obviously took both of their chances, so from that point of view, there was an improvement for sure.”
The assistant boss is also keen to see his side be a bit smarter in certain aspects of the game, especially the way Swansea were able to cut through for their second goal when the Tigers were dominant.
“There were opportunities to stop their momentum, to stop the game. Man City under (Pep) Guardiola have done that probably better than anyone in recent times, something we need to improve on,” he explained.
“We’re seeing teams doing that to us and getting away with little ones, so it’s something we can look to keep improving on, in terms of our game management. When you look at the end result, he’s (Ronald) got too much time in our box to score the goal. However, the response was fantastic. We’ve had big chances at Bristol City as well, which are all ifs and maybes; we’ve had big chances at the weekend.
“And as I say, we deserved it. It might have been the least we deserved was an equaliser and take home a point from Swansea, and who’d have thought it’d be John Egan to get that, I thought it was going to be Reegs (Regan Slater) with his volley from the box, exactly where we want him to be.
“The rest was excellent on that occasion. We’re pushing the button, we’re throwing numbers forward, equally behind the ball, we were well set to pick up and have waves of attack and credit to the players that came into the game as well.”
City’s substitutes in South Wales made a difference, and they’ll prove to be particularly important in the next couple of weeks with a hectic schedule to come before the October international break.
“We spend a huge amount of time and emphasis on that group because every time the gaffer picks a team, there’s always going to be disappointment, and that’s what you want, of course,” Holden continued. “What’s important is they go out and they use that in the right manner, be the best teammate they can be.
“Pre-game, half-time, and then when you get your chance, go on and take it and want to take that shirt off the guy that that’s got it in the first place.
“Probably coming up in the next couple of weeks, we’ll see with the three-game week, Watford, Preston, Sheffield United, the guys know that they’re all going to be needed, so there were a lot of positives from that on the back of a really disappointing Bristol City performance.”
Click here to listen to the full pre-match interview with Dean Holden
You can also join our City WhatsApp community and get the latest news from the MKM Stadium straight to your mobile device. Click here to sign up. If you don’t like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you’re curious, you can read our Privacy Notice .