The Tigers paid the price for their slow start in Newcastle
Hull City manager Sergej Jakirovic during the Premier League match at St James’ Park, Newcastle(Image: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire)
Sergej Jakirovic isn’t concerned by his Hull City side’s slow start against Newcastle United at St James’ Park .
The Tigers were beaten 2-1 by Matthias Jaissle’s Newcastle on Saturday afternoon with the home side scoring both of their goals inside the opening seven minutes of the contest. City struggled with the intensity of the Magpies in the opening stages and Joe Willock and Lewis Hall found the net to punish the visitors for errors at the back.
Ultimately, despite scoring through Mohamed-Ali Cho in the second half and going close to an equaliser, City couldn’t quite recover from their poor start.
The Tigers conceded early in the game against Chelsea last week too, with Morgan Rogers scoring after seven minutes, but Jakirovic isn’t concerned by that.
“This is a high level, they will use every mistake,” Jakirovic said, addressing the slow start. “We used their mistake for the first goal, we stole the ball and we immediately scored.
“This is the level, it’s a very high level of players and they have individual quality to punish you.”
The Croatian added on the contest: “I’m very proud of how we play especially in the second half. I’m aware that maybe we lose this game in the first half, in the first 10 minutes.
“That was not our plan, we did some mistakes, especially the first goal, we are in full defence there so we can control the space better. Second goal is a clear mistake is a clear mistake because they’re just waiting, it was a trigger to play in midfield, they press you and they’re very clinical in counter attack.
“At half-time, we agree that we will push more, more pressing, more front foot, also to win first and second ball in challenges because we were very poor in the first half. I think the substitutions brought a lot of energy and quality and we had some nice chances but we couldn’t put it in the net.”
That heart and grit in the second half very nearly pulled City level, but Jakirovic is confident that his side won’t go far wrong with similar showings this season.
“In one year and a couple of months we showed we will never surrender, we have a good mentality, a good character and we will play to the end. Unfortunately we just miss the goals,” he added.