Hull City v Aston Villa: Juggling squad holds no fears for Sergej Jakirovic
Sergej Jakirovic says it will not be a problem for him to gel a Hull City squad with more players than he is allowed to use.
A frantic transfer deadline day which featured five signings after 10pm took the number of players added to the squad to 18.
With 34 senior players on their books, the Tigers took the decision not to register David Akintola and Kieran Dowell, the injured pair of Darko Gyabi and Eliot Matazo, or summer signing Oscar Zambrano to play in the rest of 2026. Lucas Herrington, Christos Mouzakitis, Robinio Vaz and Jens Hjerto-Dahl were exempt from the 25-man list because of their age.
Jakirovic says integrating players will not be difficult, and it is Saturday's visitors Aston Villa who are having more problems adjusting to new circumstances.
Where Hull are played two, won two, Villa – who lost Emiliano Martinez, Ezri Konsa, Lucas Digne Youri Tielemans, Morgan Rogers and Oli Watkins – have lost their first two matches without a shot on target.
Not since Sam Allardyce's Bolton Wanderers in 2001-02 has a newly-promoted Premier League team won its first three games.
"So you put pressure on me already?" smiled Jakirovic, who signed a new two-yar contract on Friday. "Never good enough, eh?
"I'm joking. It's a great start of the league for us."
Jakirovic says last season's players have been important to his team's much smoother transition.
"When I arrived (last summer), we had a lot of players," argued the former Bosnia player. "Even last season with a transfer embargo (they had restrictions limiting them to free transfers and loans rather than an outright ban on bringing players in) we changed.
"We lost 12 (players), plus some (who had been) on loan. This is now my job to find a good balance between new arrivals and old players.
"We are always trying to bring better players than we have, because this is everything about quality."
Jakirovic played down just how last-minute Hull's business was.
"Three of the six, we worked on them the last two months," he was keen to stress. "But we need to look forward now."
Matt Crooks, Regan Slater, Oli McBurnie, Mohamed Belloumi, Charlie Hughes and John Egan all signed new contracts on Thursday. All bar the injured Hughes and Crooks, who missed the win over Coventry, featured in both league wins. The importance of last season's group is not lost on Jakirovic.
"I can say a (2-0 opening-day) victory against Man United is a surprise," admitted Jakirovic. "If you offer me one point before the game, I will accept this. But it's fully deserved that we won this game.
"It's also a great signal for us that we have to continue like this. Our team spirit is very high, which is very important. For these new players, as soon as possible, it is important that we have this unit in the team.
"This is why players from last season are extremely important, because they know this feeling."
It feels a good time to play Villa, though Jakirovic was never going to fall into the trap of saying that.
"It's a very difficult game for us,” he said. "They lost seven excellent players and maybe need more time. But no matter if they have zero or six points, they will be a difficult opponent. Also, I expect that they will play better than the first two rounds. They need time because they signed ten new players. Excellent players left. But they are still dangerous, especially players like (John) McGinn."
Crooks and Joe Gelhardt are back in training and available.