City face play-off hopefuls West Brom in front of the television cameras this Friday night.
Hull City need to be braver on the ball and need to offer more threat in the attacking third of the pitch, according to on-loan Newcastle United goalkeeper Karl Darlow.
Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Bristol City saw the Tigers fail to score for the sixth time in 16 games under Liam Rosenior, managing just one attempt on target in a performance that left the City boss visibly frustrated.
That defeat made it four games without a win for City, who had closed to within four points of the top six after successive home victories before taking just two points from a possible twelve in games with Stoke City, Norwich City, Preston and Bristol City.
Rosenior’s men will have the chance to return to winning ways on Friday night when they host West Brom at the MKM Stadium, and Darlow has called on his new colleagues to raise their levels if they’re to regain the momentum they built up at the turn of last month.
“We need to play with more tempo, play the ball quicker and be braver on the ball,” said the 32-year-old.
“I don’t think you could fault the way we defended the box, bodies on the line and the lads helping each other and those who might have made mistakes by making big blocks.
“We were good defensively, it was just getting hold of the ball and doing something in an attacking manner to threaten. We never seemed to get that.”
Darlow says only work on the training ground which is then taken into games can be the recipe to solve their current malaise. “I think that’s work on the training ground. We need to make sure we’re more of a threat going forward by keeping the same discipline at the back, and that’s a hard balance to get.
“Going forward we can offer more, but having said that, they help out and muck out at the back as well when we’re defending the box. There has to be a responsibility on every single player given the way we play, to move the ball and push the team up the pitch.
“If that’s the way we’re going to play then we need to carry on being brave but pass the ball with more tempo and movement off the ball.”