The tide may just be turning at Hull City. With a fresh look after the appointment of new manager Marco Silva and the arrival of six new additions to the playing squad, the Tigers have progressed from looking doomed to Championship football next season to being just a point away from the safety zone.
Central defender Harry Maguire believes that new signings Omar Elabdellaoui, Andrea Ranocchia, Alfred N'Diaye, Evandro, Kamil Grosicki and Oumar Niasse will have a big part to play in Hull's survival hopes this season.
Ranocchia impresses in opening two matches
Maguire formed a partnership in the heart of Hull's defence with Andrea Ranocchia against Liverpool last weekend and was extremely impressed with the Italian who was a late replacement for the injured Michael Dawson. Maguire explained “it’s like he has been here for months. As a defender, it’s never nice when you’re not down to start and then all of a sudden you have to do a quick warm-up and play from the start as Andrea had to do against Liverpool." Before saying, "But he put in a great performance, very composed, and he didn’t put a foot wrong".
The former Sheffield United defender added “he was brilliant against Manchester United last week when he came on and he has settled in nicely", with Ranocchia playing a part in two consecutive clean sheets for the Tigers.
N'Diaye and Grosicki leading by example
Maguire was also impressed by the workrate of new signings N'Diaye and Grosicki. He explained “you look at the two who made their debuts at the weekend and they put in two great shifts for the team." He went on to say, "N’Diaye also got the first goal but both of them put in performances that thoroughly merited being on the winning team".
He was particularly encouraged by how the duo have adapted to Silva's tactics, mentioning, “they both must have covered many miles during the game and that is what we need. All of the new arrivals have bought into what the manager wants to do and we have to keep taking that in with us, game by game".
Maguire now firmly believes Hull are capable of avoiding relegation. “We all know that the main aim is to stay in the Premier League and with the improvements that we’ve shown in recent weeks, there is no reason why we can’t achieve that," added the defender.