The Tigers are leaving no stone unturned in their bid to claim the marginal gains
Hull City are working with set-piece expert Stuart Reid in a bid to improve their attacking and defensive output from dead-ball situations, and the impact is already being felt.
The Tigers have brought in the analyst on a consultancy basis, and it was his input that helped Kyle Joseph bag the second goal in the recent 3-2 win over Portsmouth from Joe Gelhardt’s precise corner kick, and they’ll hope it can help them bounce back to winning ways against Ipswich Town on Tuesday, following Saturday’s loss at QPR.
Reid’s work will be no stranger to winger Liam Millar, given he works with the Canadian Men’s National Team, as well as Bradford City and German outfit FC Kaiserslautern, among others.
In recent times, the emphasis on set-pieces at elite level football has seemingly grown with long throws, free-kicks and corners back in vogue, and City are keen to tap into a huge area of opportunity.
City boss Sergej Jakirovic says he will use every little detail in order to try and gain a competitive advantage, though he admits that you can do all the preparation in the world, but it still requires players to deliver, something they struggled with at times on Saturday.
“We have one advisor. He is not with us (permanently), but he sent us some ideas,” Jakirovic told Hull Live. “He thinks about that all the time, so he can see some weak points of the opponent.
“We are also doing that (with the current coaching staff), and altogether we are trying to find the best solution for our team in the phase of defence and in the phase of attack. This is the target for us. If we can improve this moment of the play, we will do everything to improve that.
“We scored the second goal against Portsmouth, so this is good already. We are trying with the small details that we try to improve because set pieces are real.
“The small details that you have responsibility for in every zone, if you are man-marking. Sometimes the opponent also has the quality to punish you. It’s fifty-fifty, so there is no recipe or formula that you have to do, and we will be successful; no, it’s always human error.”
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