The recently installed head coach of Hull City, Nigel Adkins, has today fielded questions from the media ahead of the fixture between Leeds United and his charges tomorrow.
In his pre-match press conference at the University of Hull Training Ground, Hull City head coach Nigel Adkins responded to questions from the assembled press ahead of his team's match away to Leeds United tomorrow afternoon.
Adkins, who managed Bangor City, Scunthorpe United, Southampton, Reading and Sheffield United prior to his arrival at the KCOM Stadium earlier in the month, has presided over two matches as Hull head coach after succeeding Leonid Slutsky in the role; Adkins' new charges were 3-2 victors over Brentford at the KCOM in his first fixture in charge, before succumbing to a narrow 1-0 defeat away to Cardiff City last weekend.
Tomorrow's match shall be his third, and the 52-year-old - who made more than 300 career appearances as a goalkeeper prior to entering management - was today at pains to make known that he and his players had been painstaking in their preparation for the match throughout the week.
A near-capacity crowd is anticipated to be in attendance for what will be Leeds' last home fixture of the year, and, when speaking to Hull's official website, Adkins acknowledged the effect that a rancorous crowd of more than 30,000 spectators may come to have on the match.
"The atmosphere is going to be phenomenal tomorrow and it’s Christmas week so everybody will be in a jovial spirit, and it’s a great game for the players to be involved in," remarked Adkins.
"I’ve said to the players that they’re not going to be able to hear themselves talk on the pitch tomorrow.
Adkins continued: "It’s a challenging game because Leeds are a good side. We have to go there and give ourselves every opportunity. I’ve had some good experiences there as a manager and it’s a game that we’re all relishing."
"We’ve done a lot of work in the analysis room and on the training pitch, as well as work on ‘what if’ scenarios.
"Of course we look at communicating and talking on the field, but we’ve done a lot of silent football as well because you can’t always hear each other on occasions like this. Checking over your shoulder, looking at distances to the man in front, the man behind, the man to the side both in and out of possession," he concluded.
Hull currently occupy 19th position in the Championship table and trail Leeds - who occupy seventh position - by 14 points. The last meeting between the two teams finished in a 2-2 draw at Hull's KCOM Stadium in April 2016; Chris Wood and Stuart Dallas were the United scorers that day.