'Positive' Grant McCann urges Hull City players to remember just how good they can be

His team has lost nine of their last 11 fixtures in all competitions since a 3-2 FA Cup success over League One Rotherham on January 4, a run that has seen them transformed from Championship play-off contenders to relegation candidates.

A good side, as the saying goes, doesn't turn into a bad one overnight, yet there is no denying the fact that Hull have never been the same since selling their two most influential players during the last transfer window.

And, while the departure of attacking duo Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki effectively ended the club's hopes of a top-six finish, McCann hasn't forgotten what it was that his team did to get themselves to within touching distance of a promotion berth.

"If you look at our season as a whole, I think you have seen our style of play come out right up until a certain point. In my opinion we were one of the best teams in the league," McCann said.

"Unfortunately, circumstances have happened that everyone knows about and we’ve gone on a bit of a dodgy run.

"We know we’re a good team. We know we’ve got good players and we know we can hurt teams in this league. It’s about time we went back to remembering that.

"It’s very easy to look back at the last nine or 10 games and say ‘this is Hull now’, but why does that have to be your destiny? Why can’t we look back at the good wins when we had everyone performing?

"That’s what we need to do and hopefully that starts Saturday. There are 10 games to go and my message to the players is 'how many we can win?.'

"I know people might say ‘hold on, you’ve not won for 10 games’ but, as I’ve said, that’s gone and we’re focusing on the next game which is Stoke City.

"We’re only looking forward. We’re looking to be as positive as we can. What’s gone has gone, it’s done and dusted."

Positive thinking on its own might not be enough to arrest City's awful recent run, and, in a bid to do "something different" ahead of Saturday's trip to the Potteries, McCann took his squad to train at St George's Park earlier this week.

"Psychologically, it is sometimes nice to take the group and do something different," the Northern Irishman said of the visit to the FA's national football centre.

"I’m really thankful that the club let us do that and go away for a few days, because these things aren’t cheap.

"It was good of them to help us out on that and the boys really enjoyed it. It was a bit of fun for the boys the first day and then back to work on Tuesday.

"It was just something different for them. We did a couple of different things down there, a few different tasks and it was good. It was a good opportunity."