Hull City’s 2-2 draw with Ipswich Town on Saturday drew praise from two former Premier League players, who both admit to being impressed by Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers.
City came from a goal down to lead 2-1 thanks to Tim Iroegbunam and Oli McBurnie, before a fine Enciso strike secured a point for the Tractor Boys, who came up from the Championship with the Tigers.
The home side showed their fighting spirit in coming back from a half-time deficit, with both Danny Murphy and Stephen Warnock feeling like the two clubs have shown promise early on.
While City have not won since a 1-0 success at Coventry City in late August, Jakirovic’s men have drawn their last two matches and have lost just twice in their first nine games.
The East Yorkshire side head to leaders and reigning champions Arsenal, on Saturday, but they’ll go there with confidence after a positive start to life in the top flight.
Make sure you never miss the latest Hull City news and opinion by making Hull Live one of your Google preferred sources.
No team in the last 16 years has been relegated after notching up 11 points from their first nine games, with both the Tigers and Tractor Boys sitting on that figure with one game left before the final international break until March.
Ex-Liverpool midfielder Murphy and defender Warnock say they’ve been impressed by the way City have approached life in the Premier League, with their organisation and discipline.
Particularly Warnock, a former defender, says the Tigers’ defensive record has impressed him, though Jakirovic will want to tighten things up having not kept a clean sheet since the 0-0 draw with Aston Villa back in early September.
“There’s lots to admire about both, isn’t there? There really is,” Murphy told the BBC. “I think with Ipswich, they’re trying to play the right way; their resilience as well. They’ve scored lots of late goals to get points back in games to either draw or win games, and that means they’ve obviously got a strong mentality, good togetherness, fitness is good, good, good bench. He’s doing a terrific job, and there’s lots to admire about Hull as well, isn’t there?
“I look at the defensive record for them: 10 goals against. When you come into the Premier League, that’s an organisation, that’s how you’re together as a team, how difficult you are to play against. They got a lot of draws, which is positive as well, because when you go into a game, then, you know you’re an organised team.”
Here at Hull Live , we are dedicated to bringing you the best Hull City coverage and analysis. Make sure you don’t miss out on the latest City news by joining our free WhatsApp group.
You can get all the breaking news and best analysis sent straight to your phone by clicking here to subscribe. You can also subscribe to our free newsletter service. Click here to be sent all the day’s biggest stories.