Rosenior: ‘I respect what Michael’s done at Boro, but we have no fear’
‘MIDDLESBROUGH ARE WHERE WE WANT TO BE’: Liam Rosenior. Picture by Hull City
By Simon Bristow
Hull City have been given a timely fitness boost with fit-again forward Ryan Longman available for selection for the match at promotion-chasing Middlesbrough on Wednesday night.
The Tigers head to the Riverside Stadium on a five-match unbeaten run, a record that will be sternly tested against fourth-placed Boro, who have undergone a remarkable transformation since Michael Carrick took over as manager in October.
The clash will also pit two of the brightest young managers in the game against each other.
City head coach Liam Rosenior said his side will go into the game with “no fear” in what he is regarding as a “benchmark” fixture because their opponents are “where we want to be” next season.
Speaking at a press conference this morning at City’s Cottingham training ground, Rosenior said: “We go there with no fear at all. I’m giving a lot of respect to Michael and his team but at the same time I know that he’s going to be respecting what we’ve been doing, especially in recent weeks.”
He added: “It’s a massive benchmark for us because I have said to the players, make no bones about next season, Middlesbrough are where we want to be, so why are we not bench-marking our performance against them?”
Rosenior said Boro were the second-best team in the division since Carrick took over, when the club were 21st in the table.
He said: “Michael is someone who I really respect as a person. I first came into contact with him – he probably doesn’t remember me – [when] I was 17-years-old at West Ham, training with their first-team, and I could see then, what a player he is.
“And to be honest I wrote an article about him, probably five or six years ago, saying why he was my favourite English player, with his intelligence on the pitch, the way that he played the game. I thought he was a Rolls Royce of a player.
“I think he’s taken that intelligence into his management because they’re a very, very good team.”
Asked about Longman, Rosenior said: “Yes, he’ll be available. That is positive because Ryan came on against Millwall [City won 1-0] and made a real difference to us. He comes on at half-time and then he’s got a dead leg after half-an-hour, and that seems to be the way it’s gone. But he’s available and we’ll see how he is today in training.”
Defender Alfie Jones is out for tomorrow but is a “possible” for the home game against Watford on Saturday, Rosenior said.
There are no such concerns about Club Captain Lewie Coyle, however, despite the defender carrying a rib injury since the home defeat to league leaders Burnley a month ago.
Asked about Coyle’s fitness, Rosenior said: “He is Lewie Coyle, man, he’s a warrior. He’s been fantastic for us. He’s a leader in our dressing room and he’s available for tomorrow.”
Although Rosenior has had a positive impact on the Tigers since taking charge in November, steering them away from relegation danger and instilling his ball-playing philosophy throughout the club, he said he still regards the season with some frustration as results have not always matched performances.
“I’m frustrated in a way because we could be right up there,” he said. “In terms of our performances from the time I’ve come we could have been right up there, and that’s something that we need to address in the next few games , because I want to make a statement, I want to go to Middlesbrough and win the game, because our performances have deserved more points than what we’ve got.”
Rosenior said statistics showed City’s last outing at Blackburn was their highest performance this season in terms of intensity and distance covered, and he was demanding those standards are maintained.
He said: “The data guys work really hard to give me all the information as quickly as possible. I showed the lads in the team meeting yesterday how hard they worked for each other – that has to be the standard for when I’m at this football club.
“I want to play football, I want to play out from the back, I want to dominate possession, [but] in football you have to run. And we’re going to need to do that tomorrow against a very good Middlesbrough team.”