‘We win or lose together but we need to get the basics right’: Lewie Coyle
‘WE NEED THE FANS TO STAND BY US’: Captain Lewie Coyle, pictured in action during the 3-0 defeat to Stoke. Picture by Hull City
By Simon Bristow
Captain Lewie Coyle has refused to blame individual errors for the poor run of form that has seen Hull City slump to 20th place in the Sky Bet Championship, and said his side needs to get back to doing “the basics” right.
Coyle also urged fans to keep backing the players as the Tigers look to get their season back on track in the home game against Luton Town on Friday night.
City head into the fixture on a dismal run of form that has seen them lose their last four games in the Sky Bet Championship, also having failed to score since August.
After a bright start to the new campaign, the Tigers have been in freefall, dropping to near the foot of the table, with many fans and pundits blaming costly individual mistakes.
The results, and the manner of the defeats, have also led to speculation about the future of manager Shota Arveladze. But speaking at an online press conference today, Coyle said that was not for the players to get dragged into as they looked to refocus on their own performance after the international break.
Asked how the players had been since City’s last outing, a 3-0 defeat at Swansea, Coyle said: “As a group we’re disappointed. We’re an honest group. We know the standards in recent weeks have been nowhere where we want to be. [It’s] something we’ve not took lightly. We’ve looked at a lot of things where we can improve and it’s something we want to put right quickly, sooner rather than later.
“But with any team in bad form or struggling, [there’s] all sorts of speculation but that’s not for us boys to worry about, in terms of the players. We have a job in hand. We’re the ones on the pitch who ultimately have to perform week in, week out. I think it’s easy sometimes to look at managers, look at staff, and think of the reasons why things are going wrong, but ultimately we’re the lads who go on the pitch week in, week out, so we know as a group we have to be better and that’s exactly what we’re looking at doing on Friday.”
Asked about individual errors that have proved so costly for the Tigers in recent weeks, Coyle refused to single any players out.
He said: “We score goals as a team and we concede goals as a team, and I think we’re not a group that’s going to start digging out individuals. At the end of the day it’s a collective. Collectively, not individually, we need to be better, and that’s exactly what we’re focused on doing.”
The defender instead blamed the poor run on the side not doing “the basics”, in contrast to earlier in the season.
“I just think at the start of the season, when we had all them good results, I think we did the basics very well and I think that can sometimes be overlooked in football,” he said. “I think we did all the basic things that you need to initially be in a football match, and ultimately at the end of a game to win a football match. I think we did them superbly well in that first run of fixtures, and I feel as a team we’ve just gone away from that.
“So I feel we get back to that, and we get back to doing the things what we’re good at, and we’ll kick on again.”
Coyle said that despite recent results there was still a strong team spirit in the camp.
He said: “One thing that we have in this group is a great togetherness. Of course after the results we’ve had in recent weeks it’s disappointing - there’s that real sense of disappointment around the room - and if there wasn’t that would annoy me and upset me, because it would mean lads didn’t care, and we don’t have that in this group.
“We have a group in which, after every bad result we want to bounce back. Unfortunately, in recent weeks we haven’t been able to do so, which is even more disappointing. One thing we haven’t got is a lack of spirit, a lack of togetherness. We’re all pulling in the right direction, everybody’s on the same wavelength, and again, we’ll turn it around and we’ll come good again.”
Attendances, meanwhile, have steadily increased this season under the tenure of new owner Acun Ilıcalı, with the string of defeats including a crowd of more than 20,000 to watch the Yorkshire derby against Sheffield United.
Asked how important the fans were in helping City get back to winning ways, Coyle said: “Of course, any professional football player would say when you have the crowd behind you, and when you have them all on side, is certainly a massive help. We feel that as players, and they’ve been fantastic, all during my time at the club.
“Obviously, numbers are creeping up and up, heading in the right direction, which is great to see and great to see so many faces in the stadium, and we need that, we need that to continue. Good results breed positivity, they build numbers and get people coming back week in, week out, which is down to us to do that and repay them with results, ultimately.
“But yes, it’s massive, and we’ll need that again on Friday night. [It’s] a good team in Luton, very well organised, hard-working team and we’ll have to match them for that, so yeah, we’ll need everybody on side, Friday.”
City have 11 points from their opening ten matches, with Friday’s visitors, who are only two points better off, sitting more comfortably in 11th.