Alfie Jones wants Hull City to focus on being more resilient, but insists they have enough leaders

The Tigers suffered a fourth defeat in five matches, 3-0 at home to Stoke City, on Tuesday night.

With the majority of the summer's 16 signings attack-minded, theirs was a squad built to entertain and it began the campaign with three straight home wins but things have clearly gone awry.

Jones is clear how they must wrestle them back, starting with Saturday's trip to Swansea City.

"To concede three goals in the manner we conceded them is nowhere near good enough at this level," he reflected. "We got punished and I think we deserved it because we were too naive.

"The times we conceded were criminal as well - to concede one just before half-time killed us.

"It's frustrating, especially being a defender.

"First and foremost we need to be harder to beat. That should be our platform to play our football, then we have the players to build off that."

Only Stoke had a better defensive record of the teams outside the top ten last season.

"That's the basics in this league," insisted Jones. "We need to be a lot harder to beat because Swansea create a lot of chances.

"There's been a lot of changes and we're still a new team so we need to start gelling quickly.

"We've set the bar that high (in the first three home games) the expectation is there. We need to get back to be more resilient.

"We've got a lot of creative players but we need to start with the basics of being more aggressive around players, being tighter, shutting gaps so teams can't play through us.

"Lads are working hard but we just need to be smarter and more clever with our positioning, maybe not pressing as much but finding that base."

Some have questioned if there are enough leaders in the team after the departures of captain Richie Smallwood and his deputy, George Honeyman.

"If you were in the changing room after you would have heard everyone wants the best for everyone and there's no way we want to be getting beaten like that," said Jones. "A few home truths were said.

"There are enough leaders in that dressing room and enough experience."