City can make it two wins from two against out-of-form Rovers on Saturday
Hull City head coach Sergej Jakirovic says the return of Mohamed Belloumi will make a big difference to his Tigers squad as he prepares to welcome back the wing wizard against Blackburn Rovers on Saturday afternoon.
Belloumi will be on the bench for the visit of Rovers and could get a taste of action for the first time since limping out of the 1-0 loss at Oxford United on November 5 with an ACL injury.
Nine months on, the Algerian will likely get a huge reception from the home crowd if he’s introduced at some point. And Jakirovic says his return has lifted everyone at City.
“Yes, for sure (it’s great to see him back),” the Bosnian told Hull Live. “You will see in the training that he has very high quality in every moment with the ball and without the ball, so it will be a very big improvement for us.”
Ordinarily, players would be gradually brought back into the fold having clocked up valuable minutes in action for the Under-23s, but Jakirovic insists that after such an injury, he didn’t want to take any risks.
“I think there is a very big danger for him to play with the Under-23s in this league,” he explained. “I don’t know, bad pitches, opponents’ motivation. Somebody can kick you as well. You know, if you’re standing next to Mo Belloumi, you try to prove yourself, and it’s dangerous for the contact for sure. My opinion is that he will be better with us, so if he stays with us, we will try to load a minutes with us.”
On the game itself, Jakirovic is keen to avoid a damp squib affair after the joyous scenes of last Sunday when Oli McBurnie fired in a 93rd-minute winner to see off Oxford United 3-2 to spark unforgettable scenes at the MKM Stadium. Rovers have lost both league games and went out of the Carabao Cup to Bradford City amid growing fan unrest.
Jakirovic said: “Yes, it’s a difficult time for them for sure because after these two rounds in the Championship, they have zero points, but they will be dangerous because they will fight for sure. The last game was a little bit unlucky for them because they lost the game in additional time.
“I expect a tough game for sure. For me, every game will be 50-50 in this league. You must play till the end, this for sure, but I expect them to be difficult, aggressive, and they will try to take something.”
City will also welcome back a club stalwart on Saturday. Sean McLoughlin spent six years at the MKM Stadium before leaving the club’s pre-season training camp in Turkey last month to seal a move to Ewood Park.
“What I told him in Istanbul was that I would see you in the third round,” he said. “Sean was here almost six years, I think, and we are grateful for everything that he did here, but now he plays for Blackburn, and we will see Saturday.
“We will try to change because last season we took less points at home. It’s very strange, but we want to change this with the winning mentality. The opponent knows that we will be tough opponents here. It’s not easy to take something, and I hope we will continue like this.”
City have taken four points from their first six, and in what is their final home game for almost a month with two long away games either side of the international break at Bristol City and then Swansea City.
Jakirovic, though, says he has set points targets for his side, though he naturally wouldn’t divulge what they are. “This is the schedule,” he said. “We will try to take three points on Saturday. It will not be easy.
“I have my calculations (on points targets), but OK, this is my calculation. We need to deserve everything on the pitch, so we will try to take something. This is just my wish. I always have some calculations, so we will see. I will not tell you how many points I wish, but we are very near. We are very near to this. If the next two rounds continue with this level of performance, we will take what I had in my calculations.”
The popular Bosnian is keen for his side to keep the momentum last Sunday’s victory has given them, and the growing groundswell of support from fans keen to back the new manager and his exciting approach.
“This is one more example of how we must continue our journey,” he said. “When I first came here, in my first press conference, I told the fans that we would play with energy, with intensity, always until the end. I said we would change some things in our play, and so far, so good, so we must continue.
“There is still a lot of improvement and things that we can improve, so there is space to do that, and we will see what happens in the future.”
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