Phelan remains positive despite Hull slump
Caretaker boss Mike Phelan is refusing to press the panic button just yet despite seeing his Hull City side ship nine goals and suffer two heavy defeats back-to-back in the Premier League.
After starting the season with wins against defending champions Leicester City followed by Swansea City, Hull have now gone four without a win in the Premier League.
A last-gasp loss against Manchester United was followed by a draw with Burnley and then a 4-1 hammering by Arsenal and a 5-1 mauling by Liverpool last weekend.
Despite Hull’s recent slump in form, caretaker boss Phelan has been offered the Tigers’ role on a full-time basis.
And the former Manchester United midfielder insists spirit and morale are both still very high at Hull as they look to write the wrongs of recent defeats.
Photo by Mark Runnacles/Getty Images
“The last two scorelines suggest that we have played against two decent teams who are going to be challenging for different things to what we are looking to achieve,” said Phelan.
“Liverpool have a different method of playing now under Jurgen Klopp and they are flying at the moment.
“We’re competing at different ends of the scale and I’m pleased at times with the players and disappointed at times with the players.
“We have to learn some harsh lessons from the last two league games and we’ve got another difficult one coming up next weekend against Chelsea.
“On Saturday I wanted us to rise to the challenge and be competitive against a very good side. Unfortunately we didn’t keep eleven men on the field – there are no complaints, it was the correct decision from the referee.
“That changed everything in terms of what we had prepared for and it happened after only 25 minutes.
“You then go into a sort of survival mode, but we have to learn lessons more quickly than we are doing at the moment, especially in terms of our decision-making at times.
“However, I don’t want to chastise the players too much because they have been terrific and I think they will become more competitive because of the lessons learned in the last two games.”
