Kasey Palmer keen to see Hull City spark into life and correct damaging trait
Kasey Palmer says it’s imperative Hull City cut out the mistakes that have blighted their poor start to the Championship season, culminating in a second successive league defeat against Sheffield United last time out.
And he believes if they can do that quickly, they will soon move up the table and away from the drop zone as they look for a first win of the campaign at Stoke City on Friday night.
The Tigers have been their own worst enemy so far, conceding poor goals and only having one goal from open play in their first five games, raising concerns amongst supporters who saw their side concede twice against Sheffield United last Friday from their own attacking corners.
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Palmer, speaking to the media for the first time following his deadline day move from Coventry City, is bullish about the Tigers' quality, but says standards at both ends must improve.
"I think obviously it's massive. The first three points of the season will be massive. If we play well, take care of playing well, being clinical and not making mistakes, which I think has cost us and we've actually played quite well in the two games that I've seen. It's been costly mistakes against big teams that are clinical at the top (end of the pitch) are going to cost us, so if we cut out all that stuff, hopefully we can get the three points.
"I think I said that to the gaffer when I caught up with him this week, I said, like, you're not going to play against teams like that every week or hopefully not ones are that clinical like that take their chances like (Gustavo) Hamer did or (Joel) Piroe did at Elland Road - they are the two top teams that are likely to be in the top six.
"Me looking at it personally, I don't think the two games are going to cost us our goal of getting into the play-offs, but it's the three games before that that have cost us, and it's how we've lost the games in the last two could have easily been draws or wins.
"I think a lot of it's like we've done in the analysis stuff, it's mistakes that we could cut out, but then they're being clinical and we're not at the other end. We're getting chances and we need to put chances away and turn them into goals. It can't be, 'oh, we played well, but we didn't score or we've conceded goals every game. It's got to turn into, 'Oh, we played well and we won.'
"All of a sudden, the good performances are even better performances because, at the end of the day, it's about winning games and getting points on the table."
Palmer came off the bench in the second half against the Blades but heard the half-time jeers loud and clear, as well as the chorus of boos which greeted the full-time whistle, something he understands, but says if Walter's side could haul themselves in front for the first time since Coventry away in April, it would help ease those frustrations, especially given fans haven't seen their side victorious since beating Palmer's former club almost 150 days ago.
"That was my first home game (against Sheffield Unite), so I could obviously sense the vibe of the crowd at the end was a bit of frustration, but it's for us to excite the fans and give them something to cheer about at the end of the day," he said of those jeers after the Blades game.
"We can't look at the fans and be like, 'why are you booing?' They're coming to watch us win games and if we're not winning games, they're going to be frustrated. So for us, or for me anyway, playing in the Championship for a number of years, I can understand the frustration. We've got to turn it around in the next game. We've got to go out and perform on Friday and get the three points ultimately."
While Stoke were beaten at Oxford last weekend, they've since sacked Steven Schumacher and appointed Norwich City first team coach Narcis Pelach, though Palmer says what's going on there has little relevance to City, and they must focus on getting their end of the bargain right.
"We could look at the opposition and say 'oh, they didn't get a good result last week', but we've got to take care of what we need to take care of and I think it's goes up to the same point of cutting out the mistakes that we've made and being clinical ultimately and scoring goals.
"I think if we go one nil up in a game, it's a totally different feel. At the minute it seems like we're always kind of chasing, so w're behind in the game, so then we make more mistakes and we're constantly playing catch up, so it'll be nice if we can go there and obviously start the game well, go one nil up and get a whole different feel for it.
"Especially with the style of player we have, it will be a lot different if we one nil up. You won't get as frustrated if we're keeping it on the back and it's one nil or two nil.
"At the minute, unfortunately, we're a goal down and we're keeping the ball, so then the frustration builds. If we lose the ball, then it's the anxiousness and you can kind of feel it in the stadium or you can feel it amongst the players. Hopefully, we can change that and we'll be one nil up or hopefully, two nil up at Stoke and it'll be a whole different feel and then we can express ourselves a bit more."