Hull City's summer transfer window was turbulent, but January matched it
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Hull City have never known a January quite like the one that ended last night. Both for players signed and those allowed to leave, the turnover of personnel has been without precedent at the KCOM Stadium.
The opening month of 2017 began promising only minor alterations yet ended up as an overhaul. Out went Mike Phelan, his backroom staff and five first-team players. In came Marco Silva and a whole host of new faces.
Only when the Premier League season concludes on May 24 will it become clear if City's radical changes were worthwhile but Silva is already willing to stand by his own decisions in the transfer market.
Ahead of the deadline at 11pm last night, City's head coach suggested he had no choice but to rip things up and start again with the first of 16 decisive games coming away to Manchester United this evening.
"It is not normal for a club to have so many problems like Hull City since the beginning of the season," he said.
"It's not normal when one squad does not have one winger. In 25 players we don't have one winger. We only had only one right-back (Ahmed Elmohamady) and he was playing in the African Nations. That's not normal. When we came we saw these things.
"I understand it is better when you only do one or two signings, that's best for the coach, the players and the club, but in Hull City that was impossible in this moment. You have to understand that. We had a lot of problems with a lot of positions where we don't have players."
So, has Silva encountered more problems than he anticipated when agreeing to become Phelan's successor on January 5?
"At this moment it is not important to talk about this," added the City boss. "It is important that we keep our focus and look forward in this moment.
"What is important is preparing for the next game. I don't want to find excuses to talk about all the situations. My focus and my players' focus is to stay in the Premier League."
January ended up being as turbulent as the summer that preceded this season. The sacking of Phelan, replaced by Silva within 48 hours, sent the winds of change blowing through the KCOM Stadium before City's squad underwent much more than the fine-tuning vice chairman had suggested at the start of the month.
Oumar Niasse arrived from Everton on loan to add firepower, with ex-Porto man Evandro offering creativity, before Omar Elabdellauoi became the solution to a long-standing right-back problem on a loan deal from Olympiakos.
Liverpool's Lazar Markovic was another intriguing addition but in amongst it all were the sales to undermine positivity.
Cashing in on Jake Livermore and Robert Snodgrass left two gaping holes in Silva's squad and the late business done last night, with Poland international winger Kamil Grosicki and Alfred N'Diaye on loan from Villarreal joining Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia in the City fold, brings no guarantees the club's most consistent players will not be missed.
Silva insists City's squad is now more "complete" for the business done in January but he would not be drawn on whether City are now better equipped to survive the drop.
"I prefer to talk about the 25 days we have here," he said. "Not only about transfers but also about our performance.
"This is the most important thing for me, to see how our team improves. For me it's important that we've had six games and won three. Of course I want more but I've seen good things in our squad when we've not had a lot of time for training. There has been a lot of games in a row. After they recover they play again without a lot of time to pass on our ideas.
"I am happy. When I came we tried not to lose any players but we lost two players (from the first team) and had a bad injury to Mason. That's a big problem for us. I hope we can still finish well but I believe we are more complete in this squad."
City fans will debate the rights and wrongs of January. For all the Tigers appear weaker without Snodgrass and Livermore, they now have a head coach that every player suggests believes in survival. Life will not get any easier when facing Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal in the next week but Silva will remain bullish.
"I am confident for the next four months," he said. "It's not easy when you see players leave the club because we tried to keep these players. But I am still confident in this moment of keeping our goal. We will fight until the last day of the season."
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