Justifying faith: How Eldin Jakupovic hopes to repay new Hull City chief

IF any one Hull City player has particularly benefited so far following the arrival of Marco Silva, it is Eldin Jakupovic.

That the Bosnian-born Swiss lined up in Hull’s recent cup encounters with Swansea City and Manchester United may have not necessarily been a big surprise, with the experienced goalkeeper largely utilised in knockout games this term.

But the fact that new Tigers chief Silva kept faith in Jakupovic for Saturday’s huge Premier League game with Bournemouth and handed him a first league start since September 17 was rather more significant for the 32-year-old.

Jakupovic justified that faith with a solid performance in the 3-1 win over the Cherries, with previous first-choice David Marshall on the bench.

It is some transformation for Jakupovic, who was being monitored by several Championship clubs, including Fulham, in the autumn, with his thoughts potentially drifting to moving onto pastures new after being dropped following a 4-1 loss to Arsenal.

Seeking to repay the support of Silva, Jakupovic said: “I have always given my best when I have played and the manager has given me my chance in the last three games.

“I think I have done okay and I am going to keep giving my best. Sometimes you have a good game and sometimes you have a bad game, but I will always try for the team.

“It is good for my confidence (to be playing). The manager has given me my chance and now I have to pay him back. Against Bournemouth, I think I gave him something, so let us go to the next game. It will be difficult, but that is football in the Premier League.”

Jakupovic’s usage of the word ‘difficult’ is a wise one with Hull taking on a Chelsea side on Sunday who have not lost at Stamford Bridge since September 16 – the Blues having won all eight matches on home soil since.

Difficult is also the word which would describe Hull’s subsequent three league engagements with Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, which heightened the need to win against Bournemouth on Saturday.

Jakupovic added: “Sunderland and Swansea both lost, so it was a big three points for us. Now we are up against the big teams so it was a big, big, big victory for us.

“In football, everything is possible, we know that, but it was important for us to get the three points against Bournemouth.

“Even after going down 1-0 after three minutes, we came back and kept the confidence that the coach has given us.”

Despite the Tigers’ daunting run of fixtures, last week’s first win in the top-flight in 10 matches has at least lifted spirits, moreso given the fact that they did it the hard way after trailing 1-0 early on and playing poorly in the opening 30 minutes.

That Hull rallied and assumed second-half dominance also said plenty about the tactical wherewithal and mentality of Silva, with Jakupovic acknowledging his impact.

He said: “He gives us confidence. I remember Swansea at half-time that he told us to believe in ourselves and if we had confidence everything would be okay – and it was.

“He is doing a good job and the players have been doing a good job.

“It is difficult to say what he is doing differently because it has only been 10 days or so and three games in that time.

“That’s not been easy, but we know what he wants and we try our best to do that in training and in the games.”