Unlike many of their rivals in the Premier League, Hull City boss Sergej Jakirovic has welcomed back all his international players without any issues.
While rival bosses have been counting the cost of injuries, with the likes of Alex Scott, Aleksander Isak and Cody Gakpo all nursing injuries sustained on the three-week injury break, that’s not the case at City.
Jakirovic watched nervously as some of his key players, including Konstantinos Tzolakis, Semi Ajayi, Nobel Mendy, Oli McBurnie, Sorba Thomas and Mo Belloumi, all played significant minutes for their respective nations, but all have returned without any issue, aside from a little tiredness.
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Not only that, Tim Iroegbunam is back ahead of schedule after recovering from a knee injury he picked up at Newcastle United, with City fearing he could have damaged his ACL, while fellow summer arrivals Morita and Brooke Norton-Cuffy are expected to be involved, having returned to training this week. Matt Targett will miss the game after sustaining a twisted ankle, joining Charlie Hughes, Jack Butland and Ilias Ansah in being unavailable. Mohamed-Ali Cho is a doubt, but it’s hoped he will be available.
“For me it was excellent because I was at home for seven days, plus three days after Sheffield United, so 10 days which is good,” Jakirovic said as he prepares to face unbeaten Everton at the MKM Stadium in front of the televison cameras on Sunday afternoon.
“It’s a long, long break. We had 10 players in the building, a lot of players away on international duties, and thank God they came back healthy. They are good, and they played a lot of games, so we will see. We now have one day (Saturday to prepare). Finally, today (Thursday), we were all together, and we did one training session. Tomorrow (Saturday), we have another one, then I have to choose the right 11 players for this game on Sunday.”
Without a host of first-team players, Jakirovic and his staff were unable to do any real tactical work with the group, but used the time to build the fitness of those members of the squad that desperately needed it, including playing in a behind-closed-doors game against Sheffield United, which they won 2-0.
“Intensity, mostly intensity,” he said of how training looked during the new-look break which many managers have criticised. “We also used Under-21 academy players, so we have at least 16 players so we can create a training session with. We used this period for players who have played less minutes, which is what we did in the game against Sheffield United. The game we played was good, and now that we are all together, we can do more tactics.”
Jakirovic has always said that international breaks make him nervous about the potential of injuries, and given City’s recent woes, it’s perhaps unsurprising that this was no different, especially with so many key performers jetting all over the world and playing so many games in such a short space of time. The Croatian, though, says having more than 10 members of his squad representing their countries is something that should be celebrated by the club,
“I can’t control this. We are very proud because we have international players, but these are the pros and cons,” he continued. “They are not with us. They cannot rest good, and they played a lot of games, a lot of minutes, mostly, so we will see. Now they have to shift their focus to the Premier League, and we have to continue as we have done until now.
“We will see on Sunday. I have a few doubts because some players, you’ll see they lack energy. It’s normal, it’s mental and sometimes mental fatigue, but we are all professionals, so it’s my responsibility that I have to choose the right ones.”
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