Sergej Jakirovic's English is pretty good but the Bosnian coach's description of last week's 3-0 defeat at home to Blackburn Rovers as a "nice" lesson might raise more than a few eyebrows.

His point is that early in his tenure the defeat – influenced in part by a virus which compounded injury problems – can be an important learning experience. He will find out at Bristol City what his players have taken on board.

"It was not my team, what I saw in previous matches," said Jakirovic, who has captain Lewie Coyle available for the first time in the Championship but still Matt Crooks, Semi Ajayi, Akin Famewo and James Furlong injured.

"We couldn't show our 100 per cent power, strength, intensity. You could see we had problems immediately, our body language was very poor. Blackburn punished our every mistake.

"This is a nice lesson that without running, without fighting – everything we showed in previous games – we cannot do anything."

The Robins, who have begun well under former Barnsley coach Gerhard Struber, will test a team now clear of last week's virus.

"They play a high press, very vertical, especially if you lose the ball around midfield, they play immediately forward and they're sprinting a lot," said Jakirovic.

The challenges go beyond the pitch with a transfer deadline on Monday and Coventry City's interest in centre-back Charlie Hughes and Middlesbrough's in Ivor Pandur refusing to go away.

LESSONS: Hull City coach Sergej Jakirovic (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

placeholder image — LESSONS: Hull City coach Sergej Jakirovic (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

Coventry reportedly had a £10m bid – their third – for Hughes knocked back and Boro have been linked with a £5m offer but Jakirovic expects both to stay.

Under any circumstances losing them would hurt but Hull's make it tougher. Fee restrictions mean they can only replace players with free transfers and free loans, and Football League permission is not as straight-forward as it would normally be, adding an extra time-consuming hurdle.

"We have to be ready for this scenario," said the coach. "We have lists for every position but you must agree everything with the player, the agent."

At the time of going to press, a week in Spain has not been long enough for Abu Kamara to complete a loan to Getafe, holding up the arrival of Amir Hadziahmetovic, who has been training individually at Cottingham.

INTEREST: Hull City's Charlie Hughes (left), who has recovered from a virus (Image: Scott Heppell/PA Wire)

Gustavo Puerta has gone back to Bayer Leverkusen with Hull unable to make his loan permanent. They are negotiating for Reda Laalaoui to join on loan from Rabat, as opposed to the purchase planned before the restrictions.