‘A Solid Start’ – The Mood Around The Tigers
- Leicester City face Hull City in the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday
- The match at King Power Stadium has a 3pm BST kick-off
- Hull have seven points from their opening four games this season
- Reaching the play-offs will be the aim, says The Hull Daily Mail's Barry Cooper
The fantastic start to the 2023/24 campaign continues to roll on for the Foxes, who made it six wins from six after beating Tranmere Rovers 2-0 in the second round of the Carabao Cup at Prenton Park.
They’ll look to extend their lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship on Saturday when they welcome eighth-placed Hull City to Filbert Way, who have two league wins so far this season.
“It’s been a solid start to the season, not spectacular but competent,” Cooper explained to LCFC.com. “The first game against Norwich City was tough losing in the 97th minute, but that’s the nature of the Championship – as Leicester will find out, you don’t have the luxury of VAR at this level.
“That was followed up by a Carabao Cup defeat to Doncaster, so two losses to start the season off and that led to some negativity by the fans, but that was followed by a good score as they thumped Sheffield Wednesday.
“It was a 4-2 scoreline that flattered Wednesday; it should’ve been six or seven. They had 10 men for most of the game, but it was still a big victory.
“Bristol City on Friday night was one of those games where we started well, and Ozan Tufan scored his fourth goal of the season, but we ended up settling for a point. So, a steady start, and four points from the opening four games is decent.
Turkish midfielder Tufan has scored four goals so far this campaign, putting him as the joint-top goalscorer in the Championship, and the Hull Daily Mail reporter believes his focus has now aligned to the Tigers’ ambition.
Cooper added: “Tufan has scored goals, including a good hat-trick against Wednesday, he is a good player, he’s had to settle into it because he had a spell at Watford which didn’t go well, but he came back and got himself fitter and, on his day, he’s probably as good as anyone in the Championship.
“He’s played a lot of times for his country and in the UEFA Champions League with Fenerbahçe, so technically he’s very good, but it was always about his desire to play football for us, and he’s started to show his talent.”
Liam Rosenior resides in the dugout for Hull City and has done since he joined the East Yorkshire side following a spell at Derby County.
Becoming a fan favourite since inspiring Hull’s ambition to rejoin the top flight of English football, Cooper explained how he has had to put the work in after inheriting a struggling side in late 2022.
“The manager has had to make some big decisions since he came in,” the journalist continued. “He inherited a group that were talented but unfit. They had one of the worst defensive records when he came in and turned things around – they only lost six out of 20 games.
“The issue they had was they didn’t win as many games because they didn’t score goals. But he’s been preparing to be a manager for a long time. He’s good with the media, the players respect him, and he’s got a defined way of playing where he sticks to his principles.
“There’s no doubt he’ll have a good career in management. He was assistant manager under Wayne Rooney at Derby and became interim manager when he left, so he’s done his apprenticeship if you like.”
Since winning Sky Bet League 1 in 2021, the Tigers have experienced two bottom-half finishes in the Championship, but ambitious signings such as Aaron Connolly from Brighton & Hove Albion and Liam Delap on loan from Manchester City have inspired hope around MKM Stadium.
“A month ago, our ambitions were to be competitive and see where we could go,” Cooper told us. “Given the transfer window they’ve had, top six is the bare minimum now. If you’re going to be spending significant sums of money on players, then you expect play-offs.
“The Championship is so ridiculous and competitive, and you might have Southampton and Leicester that will be the standout two, but everyone else can beat each other.
“Anyone who is in the top eight come the turn of the new year will fancy a charge for the play-offs, which you saw with Coventry last year as they were bottom at one point before ending up being just a game away from the Premier League.
“That gives teams hope, and so much can happen, but without a doubt they want play-offs, and they feel the group is strong enough to make a push for promotion.”