Hull City have to go for broke
SLUMP HAS COME AT WORST POSSIBLE TIME
City’s winless run over the past six games has come at the worst possible time in the season, just as the Championship play-off race starts to take hold.
Four successive draws came on the back of three consecutive wins, but since the terrific 2-2 draw with then-leaders Leicester City before the extended international break, Liam Rosenior’s side have lost both their games over Easter to leave them six points adrift of the top six and down in 10th place, their lowest spot for some time.
City’s alarming slump has left many fans writing off the campaign and already preparing for next season, but Rosenior cannot allow that to be a thought in his mind, and with seven games left, he remains hopeful.
This weekend, the Tigers travel to take on Cardiff City who netted an impressive 2-1 win at play-offchasing Coventry City on Monday having been a goal down, before hosting Middlesbrough and QPR at the MKM Stadium in a pivotal three-game week.
Realistically, City must win five of their remaining seven games to have any genuine chance of overthrowing Norwich who sit six points ahead, and, as it stands, have a goal difference which is 11 better. The Tigers’ game in hand comes at Coventry who are seventh, two points ahead.
To win five is a big ask, given they’ve never won more than three on the spin under Rosenior and that came back in February in that blistering week which saw them secure 2-1 victories at Rotherham, Huddersfield and then so impressively at Southampton. But that is the kind of form they must now find. Momentum is no longer with them, they’re sinking down the table and to stop this campaign drifting into disappointment, they simply have to start winning games.
Draws are no good, and Rosenior knows it. Only wins will now do and if that means a slight change of tact from the manager in terms of how his team operate going forward then so be it, but the situation is pressing and their hopes are hanging by a thread.
Throughout the campaign, Rosenior’s side have been impressive but their lack of end product and ability to kill teams off has been a recurring theme. At Leeds on Monday, the East Yorkshire outfit were brilliant for much of the game and hauled themselves level after being a goal down, but didn’t turn their dominance into chances and then goals.
If City are to avoid seeing their campaign fizzle out, which would be a crying shame, they simply have to start finding the back of the next with some regularity. They have to win games of football and that has to start in South Wales before we can even think about solving the home conundrum.