Head coach Leonid Slutsky has called on Hull City to change their mentality as we go into the game against Birmingham City this weekend.
We go into the match without a win in our last five games and the last two matches have seen goals conceded late on as points were lost, and with a tendency to start games slowly as well in recent weeks, Slutsky has demanded change as we look to get our season back on track.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media to preview the game, Slutsky explained.
‘It is a true situation and maybe the reason why we haven’t started games better is because when you concede a late goal, you start the next game a little bit frustrated. You end up thinking more about defence than you do about attack and it is a mentality problem, and when you haven’t won for a long time you lose confidence.’
Slutsky went on to say.
‘When that happens, you sometimes don’t start to play until you have conceded a goal. We have had this situation against Sunderland, against Burton, against Preston and really we have to change this mentality. That is my job as the coach and it is a difficult one. A good result will help with doing this, but at the moment we have no choice other than to come out with maximum activity and aggression against Birmingham on Saturday. I am sorry again to our supporters but we are trying very hard to change this situation.’
Looking to Birmingham he was looking for a far better balance in our play across the 90 minutes.
‘We are looking for the right balance between attack and defence. Stability in results can come when we find stability with our quality of performances. It is a very serious test for all of us and we must change the situation as quickly as possible.’
In teams of team news, Stephen Kingsley has been ruled out of the game following the injury he picked up against Preston North End. He suffered an adductor muscle problem.
‘Stephen is a new injury that we have and he won’t be ready to play on Saturday. We have Max Clark to come in who now has experience in this league and he played very well after coming on for Stephen on Tuesday night, even though it isn’t always easy to come into a game during the first half. It is one of the strengths that we have, that we have some players from our Academy that can play well at this level like Max Clark and Jarrod Bowen.’
