McCann confident of landing new striker before Bournemouth clash

UPBEAT: Grant McCann. Picture by Hull City

Grant McCann is confident Hull City will have a new striker before the visit of Bournemouth to the MKM Stadium on Saturday.

The Tigers are looking for their first home win of the season after suffering three straight losses in the Sky Bet Championship since the opening day win at Preston.

Worringly, they have failed to find the net in each of those defeats.

There is speculation that Sheffield United forward Tyler Smith is the man McCann and his staff are targeting to boost City’s firepower.

McCann has previously said he expected a deal for a new forward with a “real instinct” for the No 9 position to be completed this week.

Asked about the situation with Smith at an online press conference today, McCann said: “Well, nothing at the moment. Obviously, like I say, we do want to strengthen at the top end of the pitch.

“We do want to bring something different in to what we’ve got. I don’t ever speculate on speculation, or comment on it. We are looking in that area.”

The reporter, Gwilym Lloyd, of BBC Radio Humberside, then asked: “Well, I won’t press you on it, but could you see something happening before the weekend?”

“Yes,” McCann replied.

The Tigers boss also said City’s performances had been better than the results suggest.

“It might look bad on paper; it hasn’t been that bad, you know?” he said. “If we can continue to work on what we’re good at, continue to try and take the game to people, then we’ll be fine, and I’m sure we’ll be nice and competitive in this division.”

McCann briefly summarised the league campaign so far, saying City were “excellent” at Preston; “quite good” against QPR; “just poor” against Derby; and “very competitive” at Fulham, “given the fact we went there with five or six players missing”.

The City boss also suggested striker Ryan Longman had gone into the QPR game without telling staff he had a tight groin, which saw him substituted early on and miss subsequent matches.

McCann said: “He knows himself, Ryan, that he should have been honest and said ‘Look, I don’t feel too good’, because it doesn’t help Ryan and it doesn’t help the team.

“But he’s better now, he’s had a good week’s training. He’s looking sharp, he looks back to himself, which is only a plus because he’s a very good player.”

He added: “He’s a young lad, he doesn’t want to let anybody down, but our policy here at the football club has always been we have to be open and honest with each other.

“Ryan will learn from this. He’s a young lad, he’s a great kid, he just didn’t want to let anybody down that day.”

City currently lie 19th in the division, with this weekend’s visitors in seventh place.