Hull City head coach Leonid Slutsky has said consistency is the aim this weekend as the side face Norwich City.
With a poor to mixed start to life back in the Championship in 2017/18 so far, Hull sparked into life in the game against Birmingham City ahead of the October international break, taking a six one victory, and Slutsky wants more of the same this weekend as we go in search of our first back to back victories of the year.
Speaking to the Official Site as he met with the media yesterday for his pre game press conference, the Russian knew ‘consistency’ was the watchword.
‘It is really very important that our results become more consistent. We must win some matches in a row. So far, we have only won one at a time and that is nothing in this league. There is a gap between us and the teams at the top of the league at the moment, and we must move very quickly to make this gap smaller.’
He went on to say.
‘The way to do this is to win some games in a row. I think we are at a different and better level now when it comes to our physical condition compared to when we came back from the last international break. But we must also show lots of character and the motivation to show our best quality.’
With players off on international duty, there is naturally some disruption on the training pitch but he felt that valuable work had been done with those who remained the last fortnight.
‘We’ve done some very hard work and some very good work on the training ground. Some players also played a match for our U23s at the start of this week like Jarrod Bowen, Jon Toral, Ondrej Mazuch, Brian Lenihan and Adama Diomande. That was very good for them, especially for Bowen and Toral who started our last serious game against Birmingham as it kept the momentum going. Young players never get tired and it was a chance for them to get more match practice.’
In terms of team news, Stephen Kingsley has been ruled out whilst Fraizer Campbell is rated as 50/50 and will have to be assessed late on.
Left back Kingsley underwent bilateral groin surgery earlier this week to repair damage sustained during the Preston North End game, but a timescale hasn’t yet been put on him when it comes to a return date.
Expectations are after the November international break.
‘Stephen had an operation in Munich on Wednesday and he maybe needs four weeks to recover. He will only come back after the international break in November.’
As for Campbell, he added.
‘We are waiting and doing our research with Fraizer because he got an injury in our last match against Birmingham. It is not a serious one, but he is 50-50 to play against Norwich on Saturday.’
As for midfielder Evandro, he has recovered from the hamstring tendon issue he had that delayed his start to the season but he’s battling with a quad muscle problem, so remains out of contention for now.
‘It’s a really difficult situation with Evandro because now he has a muscle problem and now the doctors must discuss what is the best plan for him – to either join training with the group or continue with an individual training programme.’
