Tim Walter must read the room as Hull City worries grow after Luton Town loss

It was the same old story for Hull City and beleagured head coach Tim Walter on Saturday after suffering a 1-0 defeat at Luton Town who leapfrogged them to leave the Tigers back in the relegation zone.

A first-half Mark McGuinness strike from one of Luton's ten corners was enough to seal all three points, though City were deserving of something from a game they dominated and passed up two gilt-edged chances through Joao Pedro, one in each half.

The result leaves City 22nd in the Championship with 15 points from their 16 games and a run of eight games without victory, and Walter yet again heckled by the away supporters, who are becoming increasingly fed up, and worried about their team's slide back down the table.

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Here, Tigers reporter Barry Cooper tries to make sense of a third straight Championship loss....

There were reasons for optimism, to a point

Make no mistake about it, City were worthy of something from a game in which they dominated. Luton offered very little, but once they grasped the lead in the first half, they were able to hang on and grit it out, a trait fans would love to see from the Tigers. For all their dominance, Walter's men still struggled to fashion clear openings, bar the two for Joao Pedro, which he should have buried.

It took until Kasey Palmer's effort in the 75th minute for them to have a shot on target, so for all that dominance, Thomas Kaminski was still a relative bystander until the closing stages, and that's not good enough.

They got into plenty of good areas only for the final decision to let them down and cost them the chance of a goal, and that will be down to a lack of confidence over quality, I suspect.

It was good to see them mix it up a bit, and try to play a bit longer at times when needed, rather then endless reams of pointless passes between their goalkeeper and two central defenders, and perhaps that's the way to operate moving forward because it did bring them some joy.

Read the room, Tim

It's probably fair to say Tim Walter and Hull City's supporters have not really bonded since his arrival in July with the relationship becoming increasingly strained in recent weeks. His comments after the Portsmouth draw didn't go down at all well, and since then, City have lost all three games with those supporters calling on him to leave, probably most vociferously at Oxford United.

Suggesting he didn't go over to the supporters at Kenilworth Road to applaud their excellent backing because he was wet will not do him any more favours with a fanbase who are clamouring for his exit. That's the second away game where he's been jeered off the pitch by the away fans, and citing the weather as a reason is poor form and shows a lack of respect for the people you should be trying to get on side and are the lifeblood of the football club.

Those same fans will have given up a whole day, some will have taken time off work and paid an awful lot of money to travel to Bedfordshire and stand in the cold and wet, and watch their side beaten, again. The least he should have done was made the effort to go and thank them, like the majority of his players did, and they were warmly recieved.

Fans are also concerned about the trajectory the season is taking on, and rightly so. Sitting 22nd in the league after 16 games is enough reason to be concerned about how things are going, so to suggest there's no worry from the manager is missing the point. Yes, he will want to portray a calm persona, but you cannot be blind or naive about the current predicament and just brush it off as unimportant.

Paying for their shortcomings

Yet again, City are paying for their inability to sign a proven forward in January. Joao Pedro has shown some promise since coming in, scoring a couple of good goals and getting into some useful positions. At Kenilworth Road, he missed two sitters which would have seen his team win the game, and that can happen.

The issue here is that City are basically relying on a 32-year-old free transfer to score the goals to get them out of trouble, and that's a problem they shouldn't be in.

Over the last few years, the Tigers have shown their capability to make some very good signings, and they did that at points during the summer just gone, but ultimately, the failure to sign a frontman of real quality is costing them a big, big way.

It's a relegation battle

This wasn't a bad performance by any stretch, certainly compared to some we've seen this season, but it was the same old story. They dominated the ball, created some openings, couldn't take them and then, at the other end, a lapse in concentration decided the game.

I said in these notes before that City have all the hallmarks of a team in trouble, one that plays OK in parts but continually comes away with nothing, and that's not changing.

In any game, when that moment comes, it has to be taken and for Joao Pedro, he had two glorious chances - one in each half - and was unable to hit the target with either, and that was hugely costly. City are back in the bottom three, and not for the first time this season. The table doesn't make for good reading, and it may well get worse before it gets better.

There needs to be some realisation from the manager that City are in a difficult predicament, and simply saying it'll get better isn't enough.

Wednesday on Tuesday looms large

City must now turn their attention to the visit of Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night, and with just four home games left in 2024, it's high time the Tigers gave their fans some home cheer. Just three wins at home (in 20 games) in the calendar year is an absolute disgrace, and it's no wonder the supporters have become tired and fed up. If you were paying a good amount of money, giving up your time to travel to watch your team play, and they churn out some of the dross they have this year, you can understand why they booed the results against Portsmouth and West Brom.

Watching City at home this year has been an abject chore, and to be frank, we're done with the excuses, the mitigation and any such other reason as to why they've been so poor, it's now about doing. Go out there, play better and win the game. Walter has already been embarrassed by Danny Rohl this season, when his reserve team beat City in the Carabao Cup, so he and his players must respond.

Wednesday are nothing special, they're absolutely beatable and anything less than three points will not be good enough, it's as simple as that, particulalry after three straight defeats and no win in eight games.