Hull City won’t let detractors sway them away from the process as they welcome Coventry City to the MKM Stadium

Grant McCann remained in a bullish mood as Hull City look to put a run of disappointing results behind them when they take on Coventry City this weekend.

While sitting 22nd in the Championship, being propped up by Derby County’s 12-point deduction, Hull have won only two games this season with solitary wins both home and away. An encouraging win before the international break against Middlesbrough hasn’t ignited the spark into City’s season that many had hoped for.

A united front is providing some hope for supporters that despite the discontent away from the stadium, the club is still working hard together to turn three successive defeats around and ensure Championship survival over the season.

McCann has assured the fans that ‘no one is overreacting inside the football club’ and that they are working hard to get back on the winning trail.

“There’s no one overreacting inside this football club. The media can make their own stories in terms of how they see it and the fans will make their judgement and that’s fine. I understand that. That’s the way football works. 

“We’re just about making sure that we produce football players. We’re making sure our players are developing, which they certainly are, and we’re just making sure the team plays an attractive style of football and an attractive brand.

“Ultimately, yes we want to win, but it may take a bit longer than what we’re probably seeing at this present time.”

Callum Elder also felt that there wasn’t too much wrong going on the pitch and that City had been unfortunate in recent performances. The full-back offered caution however that they have to adapt sooner rather than later to demands in the Championship.

“I would say that my judgement from watching from being involved is that in the critical moments in these games, we haven’t shown the quality to either stay in the game, progress ourselves in the game by taking a lead or getting back in the game.

“That’s what’s been the most frustrating thing, and I truly believe it’s been fine margins. But in saying that, the fine margins now need to change in our favour. We need to start showing the quality in key moments whether it’s in our box, or whether it’s a key part of defending that keeps the ball out of the net.

“These are critical moments in the game where we’ve stepped up a division. And it’s a lot easier to get punished in this division because there’s no denying the level and quality rises and rises again.”

Despite the positive outlook from within, sections from the fanbase are not buying that there are improvements. Still, according to statistics (SofaScore.com), they back up both what the manager and Elder are saying regarding performance levels and fine margins.

In all 14 of Hull’s Championship games this season, the average player rating is 6.77, suggesting that performances are nudging towards higher than average. In comparison to Nottingham Forest, whose mini resurgence has taken them into midtable, they average 6.79 per player. Blackburn Rovers, who sit 12th in the table currently have an average of 6.84.

There is certainly an argument there for performance levels of fine margins between the bottom and midtable teams.

City are not being dominated with the ball and are enjoying just shy of 50% possession in games. Accurate passes in games are relatively high at 79%, but that dips to 65% accuracy in the opponent half, and this is where the cracks really begin to appear.

What won’t be of any surprise to the management staff, squad or supporters is that crossing accuracy is at just 21% with their goal conversion rate standing currently on a measly 9%. Hull sit joint bottom of the table with Barnsley in terms of goals scored with just nine goals apiece.

In terms of competing in games, City are winning exactly 50% of their duals per game (51% in ground duals won and 48% in aerial duals won).

McCann has always been a manager that demands performances from his team and has implemented that from the get-go at the Tigers.

“I’m big on performance, and we’re big on performance at this football club. We know that the more we perform, and the more we continue to work on the process of how we want to play, things will change and that’s the way we approach everything.”

City’s two most experienced Championship players in Richie Smallwood (7.02) and Tom Huddlestone (7.00) top the player ratings.

This possibly points towards know-how counts in the division, something that City are still working on in terms of getting minutes under players belts that have plied their trade in the lower leagues.

With the City fan base divided in terms of the manager, McCann spoke of his desire to see abusive fans on social media, banned from attending games and that his players had received a talk from Police about the perils of being active in platforms.

Away from social media, City fans had attended an open training session in midweek during half-term which McCann had been delighted about its success.

“We’ve seen about 1500-2000 fans or so at that at ground. They all came up, they were all happy, smiling, and laughing. It was a really good day for the fans seeing the players train on the football pitch and then getting an autograph signed.”

“It was nothing but a positive day. But we understand that you’re going to see people send in their frustrations through social media when things aren’t going their way but that’s just football; that’s the way the world is at present.”

Given the recent criticism around results and the inevitable pressure that has brought, McCann continued to back his players and remained adamant that his squad have overcome barriers before to good effect.

“We have to get back on the horse and go again. We’ve got a really good group here. Regardless of what people want to say from the outside (of the club), we had the same thing happen last season early on.”

Much improved Coventry will pose another difficult challenge, but disappointing results on the road will be an area that Mark Robins’ side will be looking to improve upon.

It wasn’t too long ago themselves that Coventry were fighting off the threat of relegation themselves and should be the blueprint for clubs coming through the lower leagues and now getting a foothold in the division.

Hull City have not been cut adrift yet this season but results have to come sooner or later if they are to survive in the Championship.

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