Hull City head coach Ruben Selles has admitted he was happy with his team’s performance against Watford on Wednesday but is targeting an improvement against Coventry City tomorrow.
The 41-year-old was named as Tim Walters successor last week, joining the Tigers from League One outfit Reading. Selles had attracted attention from a host of Championship clubs after helping the Royals find some on-field stability in the midst of constant off-field uncertainty.
Hull have endured a dreadful season thus far. After narrowly missing out on a place in the play-offs, owner Acun Illicali made the shock decision to part company with Liam Rosenior, bringing in German coach Walter as his replacement. This proved disastrous, and the 49-year-old was dismissed at the end of last month with the club sitting in the relegation places.
Selles Earns Points In First Outing
By the time Selles was appointed, Hull had moved to the bottom of the table. His first game saw Watford visit the MKM Stadium on Wednesday, and he looked on course to secure the club’s first win since October 1st when Chris Bedia gave his side the lead in the 82nd minute. However, the Hornets hit back through Rocco Vata to earn a share of the spoils.
Speaking to Hull Live ahead of tomorrow’s trip to Coventry, Selles has revealed he was pleased with what he saw just 48 hours after taking over, but is targeting an improvement at the CBS Arena.
“What we usually do after the game, during the next hours – and it can be before we sleep or after – we take the time to watch it individually, and then we put the ideas together. I think the game expressed a lot of ideas of what we want from the team, and obviously, we knew that not everything was perfect; it’s some of the points that we will try to improve for the next game, but we will try to coach this in the long term, we cannot expect that after a couple of days, everything will be perfect, but it was a good expression.
“I think it’s always important, especially in the conditions that we came in with that short period, the way that you deliver the information and the way that the people – because it’s not only about myself or the technical staff delivering the information – take the information on board. I think we found a group that was ready to go and get new ideas. Also, the technical staff worked really hard to simplify those ideas into the game.
“I was very pleased with the effort, and I know it was a big effort from everyone trying to make things happen, and hopefully we can keep that spirit.”
Writer’s View
There’s a reason that Selles is so highly rated, and he is definitely the right man to turn things around at Hull. However, patience will be key, especially with the fixtures coming thick and fast during the upcoming festive period. Tomorrow’s meeting with Coventry will be an interesting one. The Sky Blues have also endured a difficult season and are still getting used to a new manager of their own in Frank Lampard.
