'We will try to' - Hull City boss identifies current Portsmouth weakness that could be their downfall at MKM Stadium
Pompey head to Hull today with six of their 14 points to date collected on the road.
Sergej Jakirovic believes the ‘stress of negative results’ could be Pompey’s downfall when they travel to the MKM Stadium to face Hull on Saturday.
And that’s something the Tigers boss will be hoping to explot when he goes head to head with John Mousinho’s side at 12,30pm today.
The Blues make the 540-mile round trip without a win in five Championship games, with a three-match losing streak ended by Wednesday night’s goalless draw against Wrexham at Fratton Park.
Recent results and six league defeats in total leave them 20th in the table and five points above the relegation. They also find themselves eight points off worse off than their hosts who are eighth in the standings and chasing promotion back to the Premier League after last season’s 21st-place finish under the now departed Ruben Selles.
Former Bosnia international centre-back Jakirovic has been given most of the credit for that impressive turnaround, with their midweek defeat against Derby their first in seven outings.
And as he targets a seventh league win of the season in front of what is expected to be Hull’s biggest crowd of the season, he believes he knows what to target.
Despite being impressed with the ‘pragmatic’ way they approached their draw with Wrexham, the former CSKA Sofia players believes the stress Mousinho & Co currently find themselves under could prove to be their unravelling.
Sergej Jakirovic reveals plan for beating Pompey
Speaking on Thursday, Jakirovic said: ‘If you watch yesterday (Wednesday) against Wrexham, they played a little bit pragmatic. They played 5 behind, 5-4-1, especially when they are in the home half, low zone, they are with 5, and they try to press normally 4-3-3.
‘But they have a good team. Because I watched the game against Leicester and they played an equal game. So I expect maybe a more pragmatic game on Saturday.
‘But it's always my opinion, it's always concentration on us, how we will be. Because we are playing at home and they are under pressure for sure. And we will try to use their stress of negative results to beat them. Because we are playing at home and we will try, we will do everything to take three points.’