Match Report: "Fur coat and no knickers" an EFL Pundit makes a harsh statement about Hull City.

EFL pundit Ali Maxwell of the ‘Not The Top 20 Podcast’ has issued a damning verdict on Hull City’s slow start to the Championship campaign.p

The Tigers have seen a mass overhaul of players since Tim Walter took over the reins in East Yorkshire, with 15 new signings brought in to fill the large void left by 20 outgoings which included Jacob Greaves, Jaden Philogene and Jean Michael Seri among many others.

After replacing Liam Rosenior, it would always take ample time for the crop of players at the German’s disposal to adapt to his high-octane style-of-play, but many would have also anticipated that City would have accumulated more points and been more of a threat in the opening quartet of second tier fixtures than what their performances and current points tally currently showcase.

EFL expert issues verdict on Hull City’s start to the season

After starting the campaign with three successive draws against Bristol City, Plymouth Argyle and Millwall, the Tigers’ first serious test on paper came against Leeds United on Saturday afternoon.

Not many predicted City’s first victory of the campaign to come at the expense of their Yorkshire rivals, and the masses were proven right as Daniel Farke’s side ended up 2-0 victors at Elland Road through second half goals from Mateo Joseph and Joel Piroe.

Hull rarely laid a glove on United’s back-line in truth, with their best chances coming in the first half through Chris Bedia and Liam Millar, creating an xG of just 0.49 throughout the 90 minutes, with only two of their nine efforts on target.

This led Maxwell to issue a brutal verdict on the Tigers’ start to the season in the latest edition of the ‘NTT20 podcast’ after the latest round of EFL fixtures.

“We’re still yet to see what Hull are about,” he began. “You can say that it’s fine to be patient, but I’m feeling really underwhelmed and let down, and I’m not sure if they’ll ever amount to anything at this rate.”

“It’s very early to say that,” Maxwell stated.

“They left their business late. Five of the six midfielders and attackers (that played against Leeds) were new signings. It’s fair to be patient and expect a period of gelling, but it’s just wasted time for me,” he continued.

Hull City – 2024 Summer Signings
Player Name	Signed From	Loan/Permanent
Ryan Giles	Luton Town	Permanent
Cody Drameh	Leeds United	Permanent
Marvin Mehlem	SV Darmstadt	Permanent
Anthony Racioppi	Young Boys	Permanent
Liam Millar	FC Basel	Permanent
Finley Burns	Man City	Loan
Mason Burstow	Chelsea	Permanent
Charlie Hughes	Wigan Athletic	Permanent
Oscar Zambrano	L.D.U Quito	Loan
Chris Bedia	Union Berlin	Loan
Gustavo Puerta	Bayer Leverkusen	Loan
Carl Rushworth	Brighton	Loan
Kasey Palmer	Coventry City	Permanent
Mohamed Belloumi	Farense	Permanent
Abu Kamara	Norwich City	Permanent

“This is why you can’t convince me that the people running the club, and the man with the big ideas and the cash (Acun Ilicali) at the top of the club, really know how to run a Championship club smartly to give it the best chance to win.”

“I feel that the decisions he’s made – some of them managerial, a lot of them in terms of the squad building and recruitment, as well as the nature and timing of it – the phrase ‘fur coat and no knickers’ springs to mind,” the pundit added.

Maxwell concluded: “There’s all these players who have been churning every single window up to this point, and they still don’t look like a particularly strong team, or the team that we’re led to believe that they want to be.”

Hull City need to get it right over the International break

Maxwell’s assessment of Hull’s predicament does ring true in some quarters, which is why it’s vital that the week-and-a-half period between now and next Friday’s clash with Sheffield United at the MKM is used by Walter to express his ideologies for an uninterrupted length of time.

Five of his new additions, including Charlie Hughes who joined in mid-August, are yet to make their debuts for the club.

The forthcoming period also allows for the German to assess at length exactly where he, Gustavo Puerta and the Deadline Day acquisitions of Carl Rushworth, Abu Kamara and Mohamed Belloumi can slot into a starting XI that has struggled for consistency so far across the pitch, as well as lacking any sort of creative spark besides the occasional moment from the likes of Liam Millar and Will Jarvis.

Defender Alfie Jones has stated that the gap between the two fixtures is a “crucial two weeks.”

“There’s a lot of movement in the back four and it’s about building that into the midfield and attackers. He likes the back four to move and get the ball forward and the midfield to stay away and move off the back of the others,” he continued.

“There’s been situations in all the games where we’ve created opportunities from the movement so the lads definitely have faith.”

Of course, we have seen Hull fly out of the traps to an extent in previous seasons, such as the 2022/23 season, where Shota Arveladze’s team accumulated eight points from their first four games and sat second in the table, before the Georgian was sacked just a month later after a string of five defeats in the six games that followed.

It’s clear that the squad believe they can transform their early-season struggles as soon as possible, but a failure to do so when returning to action later in the month could crank the pressure up on Walter and those in the boardroom after such a pivotal summer decision.