Hull City's alarming start to the season will be testing Acun Ilicali's patience

-Credit: (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images))
-Credit: (Image: Robbie Jay Barratt - AMA/Getty Images))


Hull City's dispiriting start to the season continued on Friday night with a second successive 2-0 Yorkshire derby defeat with Sheffield United rocking up to the MKM Stadium and winning with relative ease.

Another display that left fans confused saw City concede once in each half with both goals coming from their own attacking corners, and in truth, United barely broke a sweat and could, and should, have had more.

City hit the bar late on but in truth, this was another game where Tim Walter's side rarely looked like scoring a goal and at the other end, looked in perilous danger every time the Blades ventured past the halfway line.

READ MORE:'A bit misguided' - Curtis Davies gives damning Hull City assessment after Sheffield United loss

READ MORE:Chris Wilder reveals the Hull City weakness which Sheffield United exploited

The Tigers are now six games in league and cup without a win and have yet to taste victory in any game since Walter took charge. They now have a week to prepare for the trip to Stoke City next Friday night where they can ill-afford another loss.

Here, we look at the big talking points from last night...

Patience is required - but will it come?

Acun Ilicali reiterated his backing for Walter when he did his latest impromptu Q&A on Thursday evening, but his patience will start to wear thin if this continues. The next two games you feel against Stoke and Cardiff are pivotal. Lose both of those and there could be trouble brewing. He needs a result, and he needs one quickly.

That said, everybody knew this would take time. Walter's system doesn't look up to the standard of Championship football based on what we've seen so far, but, the big caveat remains the fact the hand he was dealt was tough to say the very least. He inherited a weak squad and replaced a manager who did a very good job in a short space of time and ultimately, made City tough to beat, something they are not now. Essentially, he started his job with at least one arm tied behind his back, and in the Championship, that's not a good place to be because you will get found out, as we're seeing now.

For most of pre-season, he's had to work with a small group of senior players and a bunch of kids who are now nowhere near the first team setup, and 15 players have since been sent his way, most of which have all come in the space of a month, so knitting all that together is tough, especially when you're doing it in the full glare of the supporters and on the pitch. It's not easy, but football management isn't, and ultimately, he has to start getting some results. Is 10 games a good yardstick of where they are? Maybe, but it's not too dramatic to suggest any kind of win feels a long way off just now.

Otherwise, those boos of frustration we heard at half-time and full-time will grow louder by the week and they will be heard loud and clear in the chairman's lounge. It might only be five games, but very quickly that can become six, then seven and so on, and before you know it, you're 10 without a win. And right now, as I've said previously, I genuinely don't see where this team wins a game given what we've seen thus far. They're not looking like scoring a goal, and at the other end, are conceding with regularity. It's not a good recipe, is it?

Where are the goals coming from?

We talked a lot in the summer about the squad losing 63 of last season's 68 league goals, and that came from a team that didn't score a huge amount with only Preston scoring fewer in the top 10. All their goal-scorers have gone and based on what we've seen so far, they've not been replaced. This isn't a squad blessed with goals, and for that reason, this feels like a season of struggle unless something clicks soon, and we pray that it will.

There were some positive moments, again, but just two shots on target in the game is nowhere near enough. Mehlem should have scored with his header that hit the bar, however, their only two attempts on target came from Omur's dipping first half free-kick and then Belloumi's curling effort from 20 yards out late on.

As Chris Wilder pointed out afterwards, football is quite simple. It's about keeping the ball out of your net at one end and sticking it in the one at the other end, and just now, and since Walter took charge, they haven't been able to do either yet. City overcomplicate so much of what they do, and it just feels unnecessary.

Walter's touchline behaviour

Each manager has their own way of doing things; some are reserved and give little away on the touchline while others make it absolutely clear what they're thinking.

In Walter's case, some of his actions don't look particularly great on the touchline. He's a manager who clearly wears his heart on his sleeve, and that's fine, but throwing your arms in the air in frustration, and turning around in anger when one of your own players makes a mistake isn't a great look, it can't be a massive confidence boost.

It does make you wonder what message the players are getting when they see that behaviour on the touchline, especially when things are not going well at all.

What are City actually trying to do?

The only two players in the Championship this season to carry the ball 1,000+ metres are Lewie Coyle (1,034m) and Alfie Jones (1,003m), prior to Friday's game, but what are they getting out of it, as we've mentioned before in these post-match notes?

Ivor Pandur had plenty of touches in the first half, as did Jones and Sean McLoughlin, but for what reason? Apart from giving the ball away incessantly inside their own final third, what was the positive outcome of all that unnecessary faffing? Watching City is hard work. it's confusing, and much of what they do feels completely pointless and a waste of time. Genuinely, it doesn't look like the players are confident or at ease with what they're being asked to do.

Every now and then there will be a good passage of play, but that's more down to individual skill and brilliance rather than a pattern of play you see replicated all over the pitch with consistency. So much of it looks messy and over-complicated and ultimately, is hampering them.

Where are the home comforts?

City have largely been poor at home since promotion season in League One when there were no fans present. Their form at the MKM Stadium last season was average and so far under Walter, nothing has changed. A drab 1-1 draw on the opening day courtesy of stoppage time penalty, defeat to Sheffield Wednesday's reserves in the Carabao Cup, a tepid 0-0 stalemate against Millwall and now this.

More than 20,000 home fans turned out on a Friday night when the game was on the television and they went home frustrated by another game without a goal and another defeat.

These home supporters don't have a huge amount to cheer about, and unless things start to turn, you could forgive a few for not coming back in a hurry because the football is just not much fun.