Pearson eyes fresh approach

The Tigers dropped to within a point of the Championship relegation zone on Tuesday night after losing 1-0 at home to Sheffield United.

Club owner Russell Bartlett is in talks with two rival bidders over investment that could help the club slash its 22m debts.

One is a locally-based Eygptian businessman Assem Allam and the other has links to an American bank.

But Pearson, who took over in the summer following relegation from the Premier League, says off-the-field uncertainty is no excuse for the team's performances.

He has also hinted that he will shake things up this weekend when the Tigers host Portsmouth at the KC Stadium.

"The takeover has no bearing on it (results)," he said. "It doesn't affect us on a day-to-day basis whatsoever and it's not in my mind at all. We have to be taking responsibility more out on the field.

"At the minute, for whatever reason, we are not producing and that's something that needs to be rectified.

"I am concerned about the league position but I can't keep talking about us trying to stay in touch (with the promotion race). We have got to make things happen, we have got to score more goals – that's the bottom line.

"Maybe I will have to change personnel?" he said. "I will be looking to see how I can freshen it up now for the weekend because at the moment I am not particularly enamoured with how we have gone about it."

The Tigers suffered their first home defeat of the season against the Blades, losing 1-0 thanks to a goal from former loan signing Mark Yeates.

Pearson was unhappy with various aspects of his side's display which prompted jeers from home supporters at the final whistle.

"It was a bad goal to give away and I'm getting a bit tired of saying the same things and us being negative in possession, turning down crossing opportunities, its something we have got to solve," he added.

"To lose a game like that, where they have not really come to be over-expansive is a bit of a sucker punch. But I don't feel we were unlucky. I have no excuses. We have got to be better than that. I am not going to try and dress it up any other way.

"We are not consistent enough and we don't have enough players who are making their position their own. That's my responsibility - but we will keep working until we get it right," added Pearson.

Sheffield United manager Gary Speed, meanwhile, has challenged his players to build on Tuesday's result by securing back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

The Blades visit South Yorkshire rivals Doncaster Rovers on Saturday, who are only one point better off in the table.

Speed said: "It's easy to talk about reaching a 'turning point' but its actually doing it that counts.

"We have not had 'back-to-back' wins yet so we need to go to Doncaster in the same frame of mind as we showed in the second half against Hull.

"I was really pleased with the performance, we looked solid," he said. "But, on the ball, we need to believe in ourselves more. Sometimes I don't think we do ourselves justice and we are better than we think we are.

"It's my job to instill that belief," he admitted.

""I see it every day in training. Now we have to transfer it to games."

Midfielder Nick Montgomery was absent at the KC Stadium and will also miss the Doncaster game after having injections to tackle tendonitis.

Defender Stephen Jordan, meanwhile, strained a hamstring against Hull but has not yet been ruled out of the trip to the Keepmoat Stadium.