‘We owe it to the fans to start winning at home’: Shota Arveladze
‘THE FANS GIVE US ENERGY’: Shota Arveladze. Picture credit: Hull City
Hull City boss Shota Arveladze says he is desperate to beat Luton on Saturday in front of what could be the MKM Stadium’s biggest crowd of the season.
After defeating Swansea in the perfect start to his managerial reign back in January, the Tigers failed to win again in front of their home fans, losing all four of the following home fixtures.
But they are buoyed by an impressive 2-0 at Coventry last time out, and go into tomorrow’s clash with the high-flying Hatters with their tails up.
At an online press conference today, Arveladze was asked how important it was to give the fans something to cheer about going into the international break.
He said: “Whatever we do, we’ll still get this question until we win a game. I feel, myself, we owe it to the supporters because they want to come, they want to see [us winning] so much, a full house, they travel so far with us, giving us a lot of energy.
FIRST ENGLAND U-21s CALL-UP: Keane Lewis-Potter. Picture credit: Hull City
“And it’s fantastic to see the boys after the game going close to them, some of them of course throwing the shirts.”
He added: “We will do again our best to show the best performance to win the game. We owe them, of course, and I don’t want to get too much pressure on the players, so I will take it on my side.”
He said Luton were “ very tough opponents” , however, describing the visitors as “very organised, very physical, very direct” who were also on a good run.
The City manager also said he was very proud to hear that rising star Keane Lewis-Potter had received his first call-up to the England Under-21s squad, which was announced this morning.
Arveladze said: “I think for all of us it’s quite an honour. It’s good motivation for every young boy. He will grow with this, you know, he will be a better player, he will be a more experienced player at this young age. This is a very important thing.
“Of course we are proud and probably the supporters are proud. This is good. This is something that you get back what you give.”
‘WE’VE GOT OUR MOJO BACK’: Jacob Greaves. Picture credit: Hull City
Defender Jacob Greaves, another Hull-born first-teamer with a growing reputation, said Lewis-Potter was “buzzing” about his call-up, and he and some of the other players might make the trip to Bournemouth to watch the Young Lions against Andorra.
Looking ahead to the more pressing matter of Saturday’s match in the context of City’s form, Greaves said: “We go into every game exactly the same, there’s no changes or anything like that.
“It has been such a weird one, that we’ve been fairly decent away from home, and at home we’ve kind of struggled for form and goals.
“But I feel like coming in off the back of two clean sheets, a good second half against West Brom [2-0 home defeat] in fairness for the team, where we’ve created a little bit, we’ve kind of got a little bit of momentum, we’ve got a bit of kind of the mojo back going forward, obviously scoring two goals the other night and creating quite a few chances.
“So hopefully we can maybe try and score a few goals in front of the fans and try and get three points, because I know it’s been long coming.”
The Tigers are in 19th place in the league with 41 points from 38 matches. Luton are fifth with 60 points from 37 matches.