Midfield trio praised for ‘outstanding’ displays for resurgent Tigers
Midfield trio George Honeyman, Richie Smallwood and Greg Docherty have been praised by their manager for their “outstanding” performances that have driven Hull City to take maximum points from their last three games.
The resurgent Tigers tore up the form book to beat Barnsley, Birmingham City, and Cardiff City in consecutive matches to end a dismal run and climb out of the relegation zone in the Sky Bet Championship.
City now lie in 19th place and look a much tougher proposition for tenth-place Millwall, who visit the MKM Stadium tomorrow.
At a pre-match press conference today, boss Grant McCann was asked about the influence of fit-again Honeyman, who has not only put in tireless performances, but also got on the scoresheet in the victories over Barnsley and Birmingham.
McCann said: “George is a very, very important player for us, both on the pitch, off the pitch. I think the way the midfield three have structured over the last three, four games, they’ve got better and better and better, and they’ve been obviously used to playing with each other a lot last season.
“They’re the heartbeat of everything of what we do, in and out of possession, and obviously George has added to that now, and he’s feeling stronger, feeling fitter, feeling sharper. George is very influential in terms of what we do.”
He added: “ Richie [Smallwood], Greg Docherty, George Honeyman, I think they’ve been outstanding over the last three, four games, their performance levels have gone up a notch.
“You’ve got to remember this is Greg Docherty’s first time playing at this level. Richie was obviously deemed probably not at the level when he was at Blackburn, hence why we got him in League One, but I think Richie’s showing everybody that he is at this level, and George is just, you know, George is top-class, and showing everybody what he’s about.
“So the performance levels of those three have definitely helped us in terms of the performances and the results over the last three games.”
He said of the experienced Millwall side they face on Saturday: “It’s another tough game for us, but it’s one that we’re looking forward to; we want to try and keep the momentum going, and we want to also make sure we stick to what we’ve shown over the last three games; defensively strong and sound.”
Asked if he felt vindicated for sticking to his principles, after criticism for much of the season, McCann said: “Yeah, I mean we’re very strong and we always stick to our beliefs here.
“There’s always a lot of talk around formations, but our style of play will always stay the same in terms of how we want to play, and how we want to build from the back and play through the thirds and try and create opportunities, play on the front foot.
“You know I’ve always stayed strong to myself and to the team; that the results will come if we continue to keep learning and improving. I think a lot of players are adapting to the level now.
“I’ve played at this level many years myself and it’s tough, it’s a tough division.”
City have no new injury worries. “Everybody who was with us at Cardiff; everybody will be available again on Saturday,” McCann said.