Liam Rosenior has urged his team to seize the moment and encouraged fans to create an environment that matches the anticipation surrounding a possible run for a Wembley play-off final. There are nine games that separate City from the opportunity to compete in the play-offs and earn a spot back in the Premier League.
After a week-long training vacation to Antalya, City has returned to England and is hard at work getting ready for their Friday afternoon visit from Stoke City and its Easter Monday matchup at Elland Road against Leeds United.
From there, City’s nine-game mini-league schedule including at least five clubs vying for a play-off spot will see them play Cardiff, QPR, Middlesbrough, Watford, Coventry City, Ipswich Town, and Plymouth Argyle on the last day.
The Tigers are entering the final phases of the season with a chance to be promoted to the Premier League for the first time since City was promoted from the Championship in 2015–16.
As a former member of Steve Bruce’s promotion-winning team, Rosenior feels the players should be happy with their current situation and encouraged the MKM Stadium crowd to create an environment that reflects that.
It’s been nice and refocused and reenergized (during the break), and I’m really excited now, this is the exciting part of the season,” Rosenior stated to Hull Live. We’re in a wonderful place; it was lovely to see our foreign players back today and, yeah, to be back at work and doing what we love. It was everything we had hoped for.
Together, the players enjoyed some quite enjoyable moments. We had some excellent, candid talks that went beyond football.
The world-class facilities and outstanding training were provided in Antalya. It seemed like a change and the weather was amazing. I believe that our time there was ideal as well. After five days, which I believe was more than enough, we were eager to return and begin what promises to be an extremely thrilling finale to the season.
In actuality, Rosenior’s team should have won that thrilling 2-2 draw with Leicester in their most recent match. On Friday afternoon, when City takes on a struggling Potters team, their players will once again have the support of a sell-out crowd.
“It feels like three years, let’s get back to it,” he replied. “Being a manager is challenging because sometimes you have to take these three-week getaways. Indeed, striking a balance between training players at the appropriate level and enjoying breaks is important, but there’s a point at which this lack of focus leads to an excessive amount of analysis of everything. I’m really excited for the games to start up again.
I can’t wait for Friday—a packed audience, fantastic atmosphere, and two teams battling for disparate objectives. Now that we’ve got it going, let’s try to reach our destination.
“These are the moments in football that you play for. I’ve participated in a lot of relegation fights, and they’re quite tough. In my two seasons as a player, as well as the previous season, we were aware of our safety. We were aware that we would never completely reach our goals or the places we all desired to be. This year is entirely distinct. It’s thrilling. I’m thrilled.
Nobody knows what will happen, including me. That’s the reason football exists. We love football because of this, and all I want is for the players and everyone associated with the club to have fun. Let’s not get too high or too low, I say. We have constructed everything around it.
“We’re not going to the playoffs, even if we defeat Stoke. We will still make the playoffs even if we lose against Stoke; it’s just a matter of perspective.
It’s a nine-game league, actually. There is still plenty of football to be played if we win our remaining game and tie the playoffs in points. That is all you can ask for; let’s just savour each moment and try our hardest.
