City will look to return to winning ways against Pompey this weekend
Hull City head coach admits his hard-working squad are feeling the pinch of being without some of their key players, as he looks to bounce back on Saturday at home to Portsmouth.
City‘s six-game winning run was ended at Derby County on Tuesday night, after a defensive error gifted the hosts a late winner in the Pride Park rain.
Joel Ndala had equalised for City five minutes into the second half to cancel out Carlton Morris’ header midway through the first half, but Lars-Jorgen Salvesen struck into an empty net to seal a 2-1 win for the hosts, who made it four straight wins and moved to within two points of the Tigers.
The Tigers’ well-documented struggles with injury caught up with them in the East Midlands, and now Jakirovic will hope to get through the weekend and then see some light at the end of the tunnel.
At Pride Park, where City now remain winless since 2016, the Tigers were without Oli McBurnie, John Lundstram, Kasey Palmer, Liam Millar and Mo Belloumi, and it’s hoped at least two of them will be fit enough to return at QPR after the international break.
“Yes, of course (it’s about how we respond). At the beginning of this season, we also had lots of disappointment, so we will try to continue like this because I think that we have quality,” the Croatian said. “Now, on Saturday against Portsmouth, we will try to take three points. After the international break, I am expecting two or three players to return to the pitch. We have missed five very high-quality players.
“It’s not about the names, it’s about their quality on the pitch. They are national team players. OK, this is something that every club in this league has, and I hope that we will have a much wider team after the international break.”
The Tigers boss also explained what happened at full-time when he was seen in a heated discussion with Danny Batth and Dion Sanderson, over something involving Enis Destan.
“I tried to split Enis,” Jakirovic explained. “This is football, yes, but there was nothing, everything is OK. See you in Hull, congratulations and all the best.”
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