Hull City Fan View: The Tigers must keep heads up after frustrating draw

For the last few weeks now, I have stressed how our squad’s inability to score goals and put away chances is the only real part of Hull City’s performance which Marco Silva hasn’t improved. Once again, this weakness was highlighted against a Burnley side that had only won one point away from home all season up until Saturday.

However, despite surely being the worst performance of Silva’s short reign, taking a point against a decent Burnley side and watching our point tally continue to tick over is the positive Hull City fans must take away from Saturday’s game. With, what is on paper, a kinder Premier League run-in than most of the other teams around us, the Tigers must remain positive and trust that results will follow.

After impressive performances during an incredibly tough spell of Premier League games, which saw the Tigers admirably pick up four points from consecutive matches against Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, as I said in my last blog, for the first time all season I had started to believe we could avoid the drop this season. Despite a wave of negative comments on social media following Saturday’s 1-1 result with Burnley, I still believe this is the case.

Okay, without a shadow of a doubt this result can be seen as a missed opportunity for the Tigers, especially when considering Burnley’s woeful away form this season. However, looking at the state of play more realistically, when Marco Silva took over from Mike Phelan during the first weeks of January, fans would have killed to be in the position we are in now. To be just one point away from safety with only two of the so-called ‘big six’ left to play, including Spurs on the final day of the season when it is likely our fate will have already been decided, this is certainly no time for fans or players to feel despondent.

With Leicester City, a club in turmoil following the unpopular sacking of Claudio Ranieri earlier this week, as well as fellow strugglers Swansea City providing the opposition for City’s next two Premier League games, a point against a seemingly mid-table Burnley side may look a good one come the end of the season. Interestingly, former Tigers striker Peter Swan made a point of saying Marco Silva’s men must take seven points from the games against Burnley, Leicester and Swansea, in last week’s local newspaper. While Saturday’s result may not have been the perfect start to this run of games, I am still very confident City can achieve Swan’s point tally.

What has come as surprise, to me at least, has been Marco Silva’s tinkering of his starting line-up in recent weeks. Saturday’s clash with Burnley saw rare starts for Shaun Maloney and the misfiring Dieumerci Mbokani, while last season’s top goalscorer Abel Hernandez and January signing Oumar Niasse both started on the bench. While I am not questioning Silva’s selection, after all, I do not see the players train on a day-to-day basis, I must admit I was surprised with these left-field choices and will be interested to see what he does in terms of selection next weekend. I must have said it a million times on this blog, but for my money, Silva must play two strikers in the so-called winnable games.

Our biggest problem throughout this season, both under Mike Phelan’s stewardship as well as Silva’s, has been our lack of goals. With the far more expansive and fluid style of football, Marco Silva has instilled into our squad, the prospect of playing two strikers against the likes of a shaky Leicester City and defensively frail Swansea is highly appetising, and I for one am praying Silva agrees before next weekend.

Either way, Marco Silva has certainly shown Hull City fans, as well as the rest of the Premier League, that he is the real deal. As recently as January Hull City were as good as relegated according to the pundits and, if we are brutally honest, also in the minds of many Tigers fans. Yes, Saturday’s draw at the KCOM was disappointing and yes, it probably was the worst performance of Silva’s short reign as Hull City manager. However, looking at the bigger picture, the result really wasn’t as bad as some fans will have you believe. As I have said, Hull City are just one point from safety with a kind run-in ahead of us. If both the playing staff and fans stay positive and place just a little bit of trust into Marco Silva, I am confident results will soon follow and come May, Hull City will be labelled ‘the worse prepared Premier league team in history …. to avoid relegation’.