Head coach Leonid Slutsky and Michael Dawson have been giving their thoughts following Hull City’s third straight loss to Sheffield United this weekend.
Making the trip to Bramall Lane to face off against the hugely in form League One champions, Hull fell to a four one loss on the day and Slutsky’s own future continues to be in doubt.
With some comments along the lines of he’d understand if he was sacked, the Hull Daily Mail have him quoted post game as saying that he’s not worried about his future because all he can do is try and improve results.
‘I never worry. If I worry about myself, I can`t then work properly. I have to really enjoy training sessions and the relationship with players. I never work just thinking about my contract. For me, that is nothing. Only a positive result can change my mood and the mood in the team. We can think a lot about the situation but we must do something, not just think about it.’
Questioned on whether he’d spoken to vice chairman Ehab Allam, he added.
‘Each match can change situations but we spoke before and he supported me. Very important and I am thankful to him for that. But now the pressure is what I put on myself.’
Reflecting on the performance, he could find some positives.
‘How we played in the first 55 minutes was okay. But I now don`t have the answer why we are two different teams. The first 55 minutes and the second 35 were different. This is not the first time we have been in this situation. For me, it is very difficult to understand. We have only worked together for three months I don`t have a lot of information about how they react to a stressful time. But now we have a diagnosis but we don`t have a medicine. We will find it.’
Normally defending his players, fans will have noticed a change after this game though as he was far more critical.
‘We spoke about the situation and have tried to change. But, really, we don`t have a strong mentality and we don`t have a team spirit. This is very bad, terrible. I am very angry because it is very difficult to predict. There is an unbelievable difference, like two completely different teams playing. It is a question for me. We have changed the system, changed the formation but it is difficult to change the process in between the games. We must keep the faith.’
In his own post game interview with the Official Site Dawson explained that second half simply wasn’t good enough and the players deserved the blame not the manager.
‘As soon as we conceded one goal that was it and it’s not acceptable to concede four goals in one half. When a goal goes in against us you can see that our confidence is shot to pieces, especially away from home. After two defeats at the KCOM, I was hoping that maybe it would be a bit of a release to play away but once their first goal went in it just became opportunity after opportunity for them to score more.’
Dawson went on to say.
‘Losing a football match can happen to any side. Sometimes you can be lucky, sometimes you can be unlucky but we didn’t even test their goalkeeper in the second half. Sheffield United pressed us, they moved the ball around better than we did and it was game over as soon as we conceded the equaliser. Any energy and confidence we had at that point drained away. I really feel for the young lads that have come into the team because me and the other senior lads are not performing when we should be helping these young players.’
Adding.
‘I’ve been in that position when I was a young player and it’s hard. Sheffield United are a good team, credit to them, but it was a bad day and there were absolutely no positives that we could take from the day. All we can do now as a group of players and as a club is stick together. The only people who can get us out of this trouble is the squad of players that goes out onto the pitch.’
