2 weeks Ago By [email protected] (Barry Cooper)
Ruben Selles has laid down his biggest challenge yet to his Hull City players as they prepare to take on two of their final four Championship games over the course of the Easter weekend. The travelling Tigers will arrive in South Wales for their bout against in-form Swansea City with a three-point gap over the Swans' bitter rivals Cardiff City. City can all but seal their survival this weekend, if they can achieve something they've been unable to do since the end of September, and that's win successive games, a task they've found impossible under the Spaniard, but now would be the perfect time to do it.
Victory against the Swans at what will be an almost sold-out Swansea.com Stadium and then at the MKM Stadium on Easter Monday would move the Tigers onto 51 points and, depending on what those below them do, potentially mathematically safe. Selles wants his side to grasp the moment in the principality and set up the chance to finish the job against Preston North End on Monday afternoon and, therefore, take away any potential stress when they host Derby County next weekend or go to Portsmouth on the final day.
" It's going to be a very intense weekend , on Friday and Monday," Selles said. "That's what it is; we have one game away and one game home. It's a quick turnover, and then we can hopefully have a good Easter and then get the points that we need.
"Of course, I think it's there (the chance to secure safety). If we can get a good result on Friday, then it will be in our hands to finish the job on Monday, but, again, I am just focusing on Friday because it's really what we can affect right now." Swansea have had a bonkers season, one that started with Luke Williams as head coach and a brief flirtation with the top six when they arrived at the MKM Stadium just before Christmas , and provided City with their first win under Selles.
Since then, Williams has gone, and Alan Sheehan has taken caretaker charge. After serious relegation concerns, three straight wins over Derby County, Plymouth Argyle and Sunderland have moved them well clear of danger and into the safety of mid-table. And for good measure, Real Madrid star Luka Modric has joined the board of directors.
"They are a different team now," the Tigers boss explained. "They were a different team one month ago. They were a different team in December when we played them, and they were just trying to arrive in the play-offs.
They were very close at that moment, and we managed to compete really well against them. "They have different moments. I think since they changed the manager, they have had five victories, and the team has changed a little bit.
They've changed their identity, and they're a very aggressive team with some very clear moments in the game. It's going to be a difficult game, a difficult team to beat and a good challenge. "The first thing that we need to do well is just to manage the tempo of the game because I think it's going to be a high-tempo game from both sides, so we need to manage the tempo of the game and play the tempo that we want to play, be as effective as we can in possession and attacking the spaces that we are preparing for the game, and then try to control defensively the moments of the spaces that we think they can use to create goals.
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