Hull City v Blackburn Rovers: More games the merrier for Tigers

Do not expect Hull City’s Grant McCann and Sean McLoughlin to be joining the chorus, though.

The Tigers are back in action at home to Blackburn Rovers tonight after a chastening defeat in front of the television cameras at home to Stoke City on Sunday lunchtime. The game – controversially postponed at two hours’ notice on Boxing Day because of illness in the home squad – is relegation-threatened Hull’s second of three in seven days.

Head coach McCann thinks that can be good for them as they look to rediscover the form lost in December.

“We showed a lot last season when we had game after game after game, we seemed better when we had that sort of lead-in to games,” argued the Northern Irishman, whose side won the League One title in 2020-21. “I think the players here prefer the games coming thick and fast.

“We rescheduled the Blackburn game as quickly as we could. Hopefully at the end of this month we’ll be saying that was a good idea.

“We want to try and play the games as quickly as we can.”

Centre-back McLoughlin is certainly thinking along similar lines. The 25-year-old did not make his first start of the season until late November but has been a permanent fixture in the middle of a back three since. Until then his only consecutive starts for the club he joined in 2019 were a three- and two-match sequence in early 2020.

So having been made to wait so long for regular first-team football in East Yorkshire, he wants as much as he can get now.

“When I see there’s three games in a week I’m absolutely buzzing,” he said. “There’s three opportunities to go out and show what you’re capable of. I’ve got the attitude the more games the merrier.”

A busy fixture list will only be of benefit if Hull can get back to winning ways, though. They enjoyed four straight victories in November but have not won any of the six matches since. In many cases, they argued their performances deserved better and morale does not seem to have been too badly, but that was not the case on Sunday.

When you are as close to the relegation zone as they are, there is only so long you can take solace when you are not taking points.

McLoughlin has benefitted from the number of opportunities available to young players at Hull in recent seasons, and it will be interesting to see if that changes should Acun Ilicali’s drawn-out takeover finally be completed, as it is hoped it soon will be.

Part of the reason behind that has been financial, with the Allam family unwilling to invest heavily in a club they have wanted to sell since 2014, thus creating gaps in the squad. Ilicali seems certain to take a different attitude if he can get the keys with enough of the transfer window left to make an impact but the clock is ticking on that.

The other factor is McCann’s attitude towards young players, and the noises coming from him do not engender much optimism that he will keep his job if there is a regime change above.

“We’ve got a quite a few injuries and a lot of the younger players like Will Jarvis, Josh Hinds, Jevon Mills and Tom Nixon training very well up here, which is good for them,” said McCann.

“Olly Green’s impressing every day in training. I feel over this month and next there’s going to be real opportunities for the young boys to make their print on it.

“There always is a pathway here. We’ve rejected a few loan offers for our young boys because we want to keep them together in and around the group, just like we did with a lot of them last season. We feel they could make the step into the first team.”

That McCann has trusted McLoughlin to play in a back three which with Jacob Greaves and Di’Shon Bernard has just 145 combined starts in England league football gives him confidence.

“The gaffer always puts trust in young players and he’s not afraid to take a risk,” said McLoughlin. “I think we’ve seen the rewards he gets for doing it. The back three have been doing well, Keane (Lewis-Potter) is flying at the minute. We have a young squad but I think the potential and the quality we have is paying off.

“As a back three we’re new to the Championship and on the younger side but we’re all learning on the job and I think we’ve all proved we’re good enough.The longer we play together, the better our relationship can be.”

Last six games: Hull City LLLLDD; Blackburn Rovers WLDWWW

Referee: T Bramall (Sheffield)

Last time: Hull City 0 Blackburn Rovers 1, August 20, 2019, Championship