Midfielder Tom Huddlestone has said that confidence in the Hull City camp is as high as ever despite defeat to Arsenal at the weekend.
Speaking to the Official Site with the players back in training with a new week with us, Huddlestone knows that with an FA Cup break now ahead of Burnley on February 25, head coach Marco Silva will certainly have plenty of time to get more of his message over given recent improvements.
‘We`ve had a tough run of fixtures recently, but now we have games coming up against teams in and around us in the table. It`s still all to play for and we`re confident going into those games. Everybody is buying into the manager`s ideas. The main thing you can see now is our organisation both with and without the ball. We have the confidence to be a bit braver in possession and I think that has been seen in recent performances.’
Huddlestone went on to say about four points taken from Manchester United and Liverpool prior to Arsenal.
‘We`ve taken four points from this recent run of hard games when people were probably saying we didn`t have a chance of taking anything, and the two games that we lost against Chelsea and Arsenal we have actually played well in. However, some of the teams around us have also been picking up points when they weren`t necessarily expected to, so we need to be picking up points against those teams when we come up against them in the next few weeks.’
Turning thoughts to Arsenal itself.
‘I don`t think we started great, but I thought we played ourselves into the game and especially so after half time. We had our fair share of the ball in the second half and were probably unlucky to lose 2-0 at the end of the day, but they hit us on the break at the end when we were looking for an equaliser. With the first goal, the referee has obviously missed the handball but if he doesn`t see it, he can`t give it and we can`t be too critical. It`s disappointing, but we had enough chances to get something out of the match.’
Defender Harry Maguire was also speaking briefly this week and for him the disappointment at the full time whistle shows just how far Hull have come in recent weeks under Silva.
‘He has been brilliant since he came in. I think we needed fine-tuning, as under Mike Phelan we were playing some really good football, but not getting the results. We were conceding sloppy goals, but he has come in and is very organised. He`s very thorough in what he does. He works tirelessly on the opposition and comes up with good game plans.’
Maguire went on to say.
‘Maybe three months ago, we would have gone to places like Arsenal and you would have heard it would be an easy victory. Now, though, everyone at Arsenal was saying beforehand they would have to play well to beat us. That is the change and we now have a lot of belief in this squad that we can stay in this league.’
