Head coach Mike Phelan has spoken of his disappointment following the loss to Sunderland last weekend.
Travelling to the Stadium of Light for the encounter, Hull were on the wrong end of a three nil battering when it came to the scoreline, but Phelan knew there were plenty of positives from the performance itself, and not only did our attacking display mean it felt unlucky to not get a point, he felt that with better defending we could’ve taken the win.
Speaking to the Official Site in his post game media interviews, a frustrated Phelan explained.
‘I`m disappointed and there are two sides to it really. Attacking-wise we were quite good at times and yet our defending was quite poor at times. That is where we are as a side at the moment and we know we have to be more clinical at the attacking end of the field. Yes we`re short in that area but we created quite a few chances in this game and had we taken one of those early on it might have given us a bit more confidence.’
He went on to say that obviously not taking those chances and getting the advantage in the game always means it can go wrong at the other end as a match ebbs and flows.
‘When you don`t take those chances, the likelihood is that you`re going to come under pressure and we succumbed to that. Our approach to the game was positive and I thought, particularly in the first half, we were on the front foot. We went in at half time 1-0 down through a mistake where we`ve lost our defensive shape to let a master finisher (Defoe) take his opportunity. We still felt as though we were in the game at that point and continued to have opportunities but, again, if you can`t take them you come under pressure. We then conceded two poor goals from our point of view.’
Phelan also gave a quick update ahead of the game that I hadn’t spotted, about Andy Robertson.
With the Scottish left back out since mid October following a calf problem he sustained in the defeat to Bournemouth, Phelan said he was now back in outside training and would probably come into his thoughts in around a fortnight.
‘Andy is back outside now. He`s doing work and preparation for being fit probably in two weeks` time. We have to be a little bit careful because calf injuries have a habit of reoccurring. They can sometimes lead you down the garden path a little bit thinking everything is great and then let you down, so we will be cautious. But he`s willing and working hard, and we should have him back soon.’
In a secondary interview following the game, Phelan focused in on chance creation and our need to take them on a far more regular basis.
‘It`s difficult to stand here and talk about what we did positively in the game given the end result. But we did do some things positively. We created opportunities – we didn`t score from them and end up on the end of a 3-0 defeat. We didn`t give ourselves a chance when those opportunities came around. If we score from those and take control of the game, it gives us the momentum to push on. When you miss those chances, you`re vulnerable to the pressures a home team can put on you.’
He went on to add.
‘The players know we have to do much, much more at both ends of the field. Our defending was ragged at times and possibly that comes from the frustration of what happened at the other end of the field. We should at least have been on a par with Sunderland on Saturday, but our finishing has let us down at one end and at the other, our control of the game has let us down as well.’
