Football League World
·14 de novembro de 2024
Football League World
·14 de novembro de 2024
FLW's City fan pundit tells us what he thinks is the club's biggest issue right now
This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more…
Pressure has continued to mount on Hull City boss Tim Walter after his first 15 games in charge.
The German's side are currently one of the three-most out-of-form sides in the Championship at this moment in time, with all of the Tigers, Norwich City and Queens Park Rangers accumulating a figure of just three points from the last 18 available.
This was compounded with a 2-1 home defeat to West Bromwich Albion in the final game before the current November international break - a result which saw City's winless run stretch to seven encounters, with Walter the subject of even further criticism after also failing to see off the newly-promoted duo of Portsmouth and Oxford beforehand.
With that being said, Football League World quizzed one of our Hull fan pundits, Ryan Frankish, as to what he believes is the number one issue surrounding the East Yorkshire outfit at present.
Despite the criticism which has come Walter's way, with many feeling that the 49-year-old is yet to live up to the billing in terms of an exciting brand of football promised by Turkish owner Acun Ilicali, Frankish believes those within the squad are also to blame for the recent regression.
"I'd say the biggest issue at the club at the minute is the players not wanting to play for the manager," Frankish stated.
"Because, fair enough, there's a lot of people speaking negatively about the managers tactics," he added. "And, me travelling week in, week out to watch City play and not get the results we want. Not all of it can be put on the manager because we do play some slick football, we do pass the ball around a bit."
"Sometimes it is a little bit slow and a little bit jarring," he said "But, it can't all be put on Tim Walter."
"In the Oxford game, we absolutely battered them," Frankish continued. "West Brom, that was a very, very strong performance."
"If we'd have won that game, we'd have seen it as an unbelievable performance. But, it's just the little mistakes at the back."
The fan pundit declared : "I'd say at the minute, more than anything, it's (down to) the players, in my opinion."
He concluded: "The players look negative, they look disheartened, they don't look like they're buying into what the manager's saying, and they don't look like they're playing for him."
At times, Hull have displayed how Walter's brand of football can work and the damage they can cause opponents when on the front-foot, particularly in their three victories against Stoke City, Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers.
However, after going winless in seven and only keeping one clean sheet thus far, many would argue that the buck has to stop with the German head coach, with reports circulating at the beginning of the week that Ilicali and the Tigers hierarchy would be holding talks over the direction they want the club to go in for the short and possibly, long-term future.
The performance against West Brom did show the occasional glimpse of improvement. But, as Frankish alluded to, City continued to shoot themselves in the foot defensively, which is echoed by the fact that seven errors have led to opposition shots, whilst three have directly led to a concession.
Regardless, Walter remained in full support for his squad after the defeat to Carlos Corberan's side, stating : "I'm so convinced that they want it, and that they can show they can beat teams like West Brom, and I know they will do it."