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Peter Swan at Hull Daily Mail |
Fulham (1) 4-1 (0) Hull City FAC Rnd04
Hull City looked disinterested at Fulham and got what they deserved.
Off the field with the sale of two of his best players and injuries to others, it's been a difficult time for new Hull City head coach Marco Silva, writes Peter Swan.
You'd probably not be able to tell judging by the performances his side have given since he arrived. That is until they headed to Craven Cottage.
At Fulham City were simply awful and what's worrying is that many of the players looked like they didn't want to know.
Handing a start to two new signings Lazar Markovic and Omar Elabdellaoui, Silva will have wanted the pair to show how they're going to be good additions and how despite all the worries of departures, his new arrivals were up to the task in hand.
That certainly didn't look the case at Fulham. Markovic didn't look interested at all and did his chances of staying in the side at Manchester United on Wednesday no help at all.
I'm not just picking on those two, Adama Diomande, Abel Hernnadez, in fact pretty much the whole team were rubbish and looked disinterested.
I know there's an argument that Premier League survival is all that matters, but I don't buy into it for one minute this match didn't matter.
Winning games breeds confidence and heading to Old Trafford on Wednesday night there'll be little of that going around the club after such a poor display.
The fact Silva has brought four new players in, plus we could see just as many more arrive before the transfer window closes, only increases the need to have a cup run.
If the Fulham game showed anything, it's that the new City signings are not up to speed yet and need time to gel – time City don't have.
An FA Cup fifth-round match would provide another opportunity to let the team bed in while playing a competitive and important game, not a training exercise.
There's also the fact that the draw could open up and City could have gone far in this competition, so to say it doesn't matter about going out doesn't wash with me.
What we saw at Fulham was the manager again trying to find out what works best for him.
His squad is evolving all the time with players leaving and new faces coming in, and for the new head coach he's trying to find out what works best.
It's far from ideal given the tricky situation the team are in. He's done well so far, but this is certainly Silva's first test and while they're not expected to pick anything up at Old Trafford, it's all about the nature of the performance and how City bounce back on Wednesday.
There's some very big games coming up and a similar type of effort that we saw at Fulham will bring many more similar results.
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