The Tigers’ devastating injury curse continues to grip the promotion hopefuls
Sergej Jakirovic has been hampered by injuries all season (Image: Anna Gowthorpe/Shutterstock)
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic says there has been no chance to celebrate the club winning a first FA Cup game in six years and setting up a mouthwatering tie with Liam Rosenior’s Chelsea, because of the crushing injury situation.
This week alone, the Tigers have seen Matt Crooks struggling, Darko Gyabi ruled out for at least the next three months due to groin surgery, and Cody Drameh expected to miss as many as the next 10 weeks.
Add to that Eliot Matazo is expected to be another six weeks away from a return, and it paints a pretty desperate picture for the frustrated Tigers boss.
As it stands, City expect to be without as many as 11 players for Saturday’s trip to Southampton, with Joe Gelhardt and John Lundstram nearing returns, but the game will come too soon for those two.
Lundstram has missed more than three months with calf and knee injuries, respectively, playing for just 20 minutes at Stoke City at the back end of November, and will be in desperate need of match sharpness.
Ryan Giles is still two weeks away, and Mo Belloumi and Brandon Williams remain out, while Semi Ajayi is away with Nigeria at the Africa Cup of Nations.
So depleted were the Tigers on Thursday, they drafted in 15 Under-21 players to take part in training ahead of the trip to the South Coast.
“It’s been terrible, a disaster,” the Croatian told Hull Live. “We lost three players. We lost three players after this game: Darko and Cody. Darko will be out for three months. I think he needs to go and have surgery.
“Cody is out for around six weeks with his quad. Crooksy felt something Zero B. The players joke that this is a dead leg, but I don’t want to take a risk, and we will see now for Southampton if he will be in the squad.
“We have a lot of problems, especially before this game. We invited 15 Under-21 players because we have just 11 senior players, so we must fix something for Saturday.
“It’s never been like this with so many players out. Especially in some positions, you don’t have a solution, so we now need to change something, I don’t know what, but I must figure something out between now and Saturday.”
Jakirovic dealt with the obvious frustrations with his typical humour, joking to sporting director Jared Dublin that he wasn’t sold a job managing the Under-21s, but he does believe it presents a chance for the youngsters to make their mark, as we’ve seen with Cathal McCarthy this term.
“Yes, it’s frustrating what I can do?” he questioned. “I must be positive, of course. I always believe. OK, we don’t have a lot of players, but also, there is a chance for other players, so take it, grab your chance.
“Maybe you never know. Someone like Cathal McCarthy has. Now you can put Macca on the pitch because he’s a good player, a young player. He’s powerful and energetic. He has already shown that you can count on him, and this is good, but we miss a lot of players. You cannot replace all those players.”
The Tigers chief will still have Oli McBurnie, Liam Millar and Kyle Joseph in his ranks at St Mary’s, players that are proven matchwinners, and though McBurnie and Millar have struggled over Christmas in their own respective returns from injury, he says he will continue to count on them.
“They are struggling in some situations on the pitch because they have had injuries and are now struggling with form,” he explained. “It’s ups and downs. They have our support, of course. They are very good players, and I’m always counting on them to help the team. Sometimes, I may need to make the subs, and I’m always waiting five minutes or more, maybe Oli will score. Right now, we don’t have numbers, and this is the biggest problem for us.”
The City boss, meanwhile, was pipped to Manager of the Month for the second time. After seeing Frank Lampard beat him in October, Kieran McKenna at Ipswich Town has claimed the crown for December.
Jakirovic hopes the impressive form after the defeat to Boro at the start of the month can be maintained going into what’s become an even busier February, with the FA Cup to look forward to, and a rearranged Watford clash.
“It’s not bad at all,” he said of his nomination. “Thanks to my players because without them, nothing happened, and they are the main actors, and we had a nice December.
“We have to continue like this. That was in December (the Boro defeat)? It’s a lot of games. (After Middlesbrough). It was very important to get back on track, and they responded excellently. I can say this, and we have. We had four victories and one draw in Sheffield on Boxing Day after Christmas. OK, it’s nice that you see you can create something with your team, that you can achieve good results, and I hope that we can repeat again and win a lot of points; this is the main thing.”
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