Steve Bruce hopes that the bar for Premier League survival will be freakishly low this season, as the Hull City manager admits his team are unlikely to reach the number of victories usually regarded as the minimum needed to avoid relegation.
This defeat at Southampton was Hull’s third in a row and plunged them deeper into peril with fearsome assignments ahead. Of all the teams still threatened by relegation, Hull have the most daunting set of fixtures, with four of their six remaining matches against sides in the top seven. They have yet to beat a team in the top half of the table this season.
“We have won six games [so far] and we have drawn 10,” said Bruce. “I have always said you probably have to win 10, and that might be out of our reach, so we’re hoping that eight or nine might be enough. But I said at the start, we have to target 10 games and we haven’t got near that.”
Bruce maintains that his team are good enough to survive and believes Hull supporters retain their faith in him. “We are Hull City, we have only been in the top league for four years of our history. If we thought it was going to be easy … I think we are not naive enough to think that. From what I can grasp of the city, they have been right behind me. Of course, when things go against you, you are going to get a few people who are shouting for the manager. The crowd came in their droves again [to Southampton] so everybody is up for the challenge. I am convinced we will do it.”
At Southampton it briefly seemed that Hull could achieve a result to arrest their slide. The visitors had the better of a first half in which the hosts were uncharacteristically sloppy. “It was strange to see; I didn’t recognise my team,” said Southampton’s manager, Ronald Koeman, who explained that for the first time this season he had to berate his players in the St Mary’s dressing room at half-time. The lecture worked and one of his substitutes, James Ward-Prowse, opened the scoring from the penalty spot in the 56th minute following a reckless foul on Shane Long by Alex Bruce.
Graziano Pellè confirmed victory with his first league goal since December. Hull, meanwhile, failed to score for the 14th time in 24 games. “We gave as good as we got, got ourselves into wonderful positions, but we needed to score,” said Bruce. “And unfortunately, it’s a recurring part; we are not scoring enough.”
Man of the match Graziano Pellè (Southampton)
