Both sides played out a 0-0 draw at the MKM Stadium in the first leg on Friday
Sergej Jakirovic will aim to reach the play-off final on Monday night (Image: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock)
Hull City have no fresh injury concerns for Monday’s huge play-off semi-final second leg against Millwall on Monday night, though Sergej Jakirovic could make changes to freshen things up.
Jakirovic is acutely aware that the side he picks will almost certainly not be the one that finishes at The Den, especially if the tie goes all the way to extra time and penalties.
The Tigers will still be without Cody Drameh, Toby Collyer and Amir Hadziahmetovic, with Eliot Matazo recovering from surgery on his latest ACL injury.
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Should City progress past the Lions in the capital on Monday, however, then Drameh, Amir and Collyer could all be in contention for the final on May 23, which will come as a huge boost to the trio and Jakirovic.
“I’m very excited, very excited, we can’t wait because it’s very tight,” Jakirovic told Hull Live on the eve of the second leg at a sold-out Den.
“We didn’t do anything in these past two days, just recovery, and this may be the key; whoever recovers better will have an advantage, but no, it’s 90 minutes plus maybe extra time.
“We analysed them again through our game. Tomorrow (Monday), we will have one more meeting, then we will decide who will play because it’s another 24 hours after the first game, and at the moment, they’re still tight and stiff. We have no injuries, just tiredness, so we will decide tomorrow (Monday).
“We’ve had a lot of players who came from injuries, but we don’t have any more time. We will put everything that is best right now, but we also have Plan B, something we need there to put more risk or more defending. We will see how we will go.
“In this case, you have extra time, you have penalties, so everything is on the table. We are similar teams; maybe they shoot more often than we do. For example, we didn’t have a corner (in the first leg). I didn’t notice this. We must shoot towards the goal because there are a lot of opportunities to shoot at goal, but we always try to find one extra touch, one extra man, maybe too wide, maybe we have to be too vertical sometimes. OK, this is something that we have to improve.”
City’s squad has no shortage of experience and boasts more play-off know-how than the Lions, and those big-game players will be crucial on the biggest of big nights.
“It’s very important (the experience). We have a lot of players who have experience, a lot of players who have played in the play-offs before. Like I said before the first game, it’s who will handle the pressure.
“We have a good mix,” Jakirovic continued. “We have young players, we have experienced players, leaders, we have everything. It’s very important how they perform, so that they help the team. We have to stick to the tactical plan, and we have to believe in ourselves that we can play even better than the first leg, so we will try to perform better than the first leg.”
City’s 3-1 win at The Den in December was a deserved victory, but the Tigers started slowly and needed Ivor Pandur to keep them on terms before Kyle Joseph’s brace put them in control, and Oli McBurnie finished it off after the hosts threatened a comeback despite Femi Azeez’s sending off for kicking out at Joseph. Jakirovic knows his side must start well, and weather what will be a lively opening from the hosts.
“It can give us an advantage or experience,” the Croatian continued. “We know their style is to start strong, to search for a quick goal, but no matter what happens, you have time to equalise, or you can score as well. For example, if (Mo) Belloumi scored this chance in the second minute (on Friday), it would be the same.
“We didn’t start well there in the last game, but we scored our first two chances through Kyle Joseph, 2-0, then everything’s different, but all 90 minutes it will be very interesting, this is my opinion. It will be very interesting, no matter who scores the goal or concedes the goal. If you concede, you will take more risk than the other team.”
Keeping their discipline will also be absolutely crucial, and not giving up cards cheaply and then running the risk of players being sent off in a high-octane environment.
“Just concentrate, concentrate on the ball, the opponent,” was Jakirovic’s advice. “Maybe it’s one time in your life that you are in this stage. You never know what will happen. Maybe if you are not successful, you will be in the league next season. You never, you never know that. Football is a very interesting game.
“If you compare now to this time and last season, who would bet on you that you will be in this position? Even now we are underdogs, which is normal for me. This is always one team that’s better, maybe they’re thinking, but we have to improve on the pitch and show that we are a better team.”
City have opted against spending time on the training ground practising penalties, should it go that far. The superstitious Jakirovic doesn’t watch shoot-outs, and didn’t in the Carabao Cup defeat at Wrexham, or FA Cup success against Blackburn Rovers. The manager’s decision, he says, is because you cannot replicate the environment, so he trusts his players to deliver in the pressure moment.
“No, because it’s not the same environment,” he explained. “The players are also in these penalties relaxed (in training), but if you will shoot a penalty tomorrow night in a full stadium (it’s different). We have had two experiences, Wrexham away and Blackburn, and we didn’t practice for those either. God knows who will be on the pitch. This is the biggest question mark: who will be on the pitch? We don’t know that.”
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