Gary O’Neil says Hull City deserve credit for the way in which they’ve gone about adapting to life in the Premier League, as the Ipswich Town boss prepares to tackle the Tigers on Halloween.
City are unbeaten at the MKM Stadium and sit two places above the Tractor Boys, with both newly-promoted clubs sitting on an impressive 10 points from their first eight games.
Despite their impressive start, City have drawn some criticism for their approach, just as they did last season in the Championship, but O’Neil is full of respect for the job Sergej Jakirovic has, and continues to do with the Tigers.
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“I have a lot of respect for Hull and what they’re doing,” O’Neil said on the eve of the trip to East Yorkshire. “They have a way that they do it, and I don’t think it matters what way that is.
“They’re very, very good at it. You don’t get nine games into a season and 46 games through a Championship season getting away with stuff. They have a style that causes teams problems. They’ve caused almost every team problems. I’ve watched all of their games now this season, and they’ve caused every team problems.
“They’re direct, they’re hardworking, they win loads of duels. They use (Oli) McBurnie a lot. They defend with a lot of numbers, so it’s going to be a tough game.
“It’s a Premier League game. I don’t care that they’ve just been promoted. I don’t care that they were promoted through the play-offs. They’re in the Premier League. They’ve signed a lot of players, a lot of good players, and it will be a really tough test for us away from home. The Premier League is tough.”
Like City, Ipswich have started the season well on their return to the Premier League, but O’Neil scoffed at suggestions his side should roll into the MKM Stadium and dictate play, dominating from start to finish and imposing their possession-based style.
“I’m expecting us to go there and perform really, really well and show what we are, but I think trying to make it into a, ‘Oh, let’s go and showcase how good we are with the ball and let’s dominate possession,’ I mean, we’re not PSG or Man City,” he said. “We’re Ipswich, we’re newly promoted.
“We’re gonna go there, we’re going to be us. We’re going to have a right go at trying to win the football match, put Hull under a lot of pressure, and see if we can come away with another big result.
“No one in this league is going to give us a thing, so it honestly doesn’t matter whether we’re playing Hull or Manchester City. This team is prepped to go and compete, to put in a good performance and to respect the opposition and what they can bring. Anyone that doesn’t respect Hull and what they’re doing at this moment needs to have a good look at where they are, what they’ve produced over the last 55 league games.
“Unbelievable success. That’s no fluke. They definitely shouldn’t be underestimated by anyone. To talk about them in any way apart from a good Premier League team that are sat in the middle of the league would be doing them a disservice. I think they’ve started unbelievably well and we respect that. But we also have big belief in what we can do.”
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