Swansea City v Hull City: Why Sergej Jakirovic is losing no sleep despite big defeats
Swansea City v Hull City Sergej Jakirovic went into the international break with the unusual feeling of losing back-to-back matches, yet Hull City's coach is now insisting: "I'm sleeping better."
His positivity comes not from the big defeats to Blackburn Rovers and Bristol City, where he was scathing about his players, but the knowledge he can do something about it.
Amir Hadziahmetovic, Darko Gyabi and Enis Destan are available to make debuts at Swansea City – the first two after signing on deadline day, the striker after recovering from the knee injury which stopped him starting the campaign.
Akin Famewo is available for a first start after falling prey to illness and injury after two substitute appearances. Captain Lewie Coyle could play for the first time in 2025-26 after a pre-season injury.
So for all that August ended badly, Jakirovic comes into September's schedule with renewed optimism.
"We now have two defeats in a row," he said. "I'm not used to it but this is a completely different league.
"You always analyse everything. I analyse myself as well but sometimes we didn't have the right solutions in some positions. Now it's a completely different story.
"With Amir and Darko we have more options, Coyley's back so it (the pool) is a little bit wider. We're waiting on (Semi) Ajayi and Crooksy (Matt Crooksy) but Mo (Belloumi) is in full training, (Liam) Millar is in full training. There's much more quality in those positions."
Whoever plays has work to do.
"We need to change these two defeats in a row, for sure," added Jakirovic. "Swansea is a very demanding match for us, they're a very good team, good on the ball, a lot of automation in their play and we need to be much more focussed on our defensive play, especially in the boxes, control players better.
"Maybe Bristol had more intensity (against Hull, which they won 4-2), more tough challenges for 50-50 balls and we need to improve that. Swansea like to play.
"If you are not tough in challenges, if you are afraid to go into challenges or you don't have the will to go into challenges you will have problems. This is the key in every game.
"We need to be more compact, better in defence, braver in challenges and brave on the ball as well.
"At Bristol I turned off my laptop after 30 minutes because it was unbelievable. I don't think we had more than two or three sucessful passes. Unbelievable. It was very poor.
"When we conceded a goal we lose our head. At Bristol we gave up our principles, it cannot happen. We should continue to play our game."