Head coach Leonid Slutsky has said that Hull City remain a work in progress following our two one defeat to Oxford United the other day.
Facing Oxford at the Estadio da Nora out in Portugal Hull had plenty of chances on the day but failed to find the net, but that wasn’t overly a concern for Slutsky given the relative training time that some players had had so far this summer.
Slutsky didn’t as expected make a raft of changes though at the half time break, a good number of the starting eleven got the full game which will obviously stand them in good stead moving forward.
Hull City First Half:
Allan McGregor, Brian Lenihan, Michael Dawson, Max Clark, Ola Aina, Kamil Grosicki, Sam Clucas, Markus Henriksen, Jarrod Bowen, Evandro, Abel Hernandez.
Hull City Second Half:
Eldin Jakupovic, Ahmed Elmohamady, Michael Dawson, Max Clark, Ola Aina, James Weir, Markus Henriksen, Sam Clucas (Greg Olley 84), Kamil Grosicki (Dan Batty 66), Evandro (Greg Luer 77), Adama Diomande.
Oxford United:
Scott Shearer, Canice Carroll, John Lundstram, Charlie Raglan, Robbie Hall, Wes Thomas, Marvin Johnson, Josh Ruffells, James Henry, Joe Rothwell, Faicre Kellerher.
Subs:
Jack Stevens, Simon Eastwood, Cristian Reibero, Curtis Nelson, Ryan Ledson, Kane Hemmings, Aaron Martin, James Roberts, Malachi Nappa, Shandow Baptiste.
Speaking to the Official Site following the game, Slutsky knew there was plenty of room for improvement but equally it’s very early days in our pre season programme.
‘It is not an easy time for us now because some players have trained for only four days, and some have trained for 12 days. We are not complete and are in different conditions, so it is difficult to play at the same level for all of the match.’
Turning attentions to the match itself, he went on to say.
‘We had a lot of chances in the first half and second half. We didn’t score from a minimum of five clear chances in the first half, but this is normal in this time because players like Hernandez and Grosicki have trained for only four days. You can score when in 100 per cent of form and fitness but, when you’re not, your concentration is not good and your condition is not good. It leads to missing those chances. Right now, we have a group of players but not a team that is ready in the same condition or tactically. My target as coach is to prepare everybody to their normal condition.’
Slutsky went on to say.
‘More important from the game was to start to build our physical condition and I hope we will play better in each match. Also, we have some holes in positions right now and I hope in the next few days some new players will arrive in the team.’
With fans travelling out for the game, he ended with words of praise for the supporters.
‘Thank you very much for the support. I have felt this support in every minute since I started working for Hull City. We now must try to deliver the emotional feeling for a win in our next matches.’
