Hull City: Tim Walter's damning Leeds United verdict highlights current issue - View | OneFootball

Walter's comments regarding sectors of his team's performance highlight their current problems

It would be fair to say that Tim Walter's tenure in charge of Hull City hasn't got off to the most ideal of starts.

Losing an abundance of star quality from last season's side that finished seventh under Liam Rosenior and replacing it with sufficient quality and depth meant that Walter's maiden venture into the English game was always going to be one of steady initial progress, with 20 outgoings and 15 new recruits being the total amount of player turnover at the MKM Stadium.

It's obvious that Walter's high-octane style - described as "Heart Attack Football" by Henrik Jacobs, who covers the 48-year-old's previous employers, Hamburg SV - was always going to be a heavy shift from Rosenior's prior ideologies that left City supporters frustrated, particularly in home encounters last campaign.

However, no one cut a more frustrated figure than Walter in his post-match assessment of Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Leeds United.

And, whilst it is Hull's first blot of the season in the 'L' column, the German's damning verdict highlights some potential shortcomings which could come to the fore if not addressed as soon as possible.

Many would have predicted City's Yorkshire rivals to prove a step too far at Elland Road, and that proved to be the case as Mateo Joseph opened the scoring on 63 minutes, before Joel Piroe rounded off proceedings nine minutes from time.

Of course, United may have lost stars of their own in the form of Crysencio Summerville, Georginio Rutter and Archie Gray, but the acquisitions of Tottenham's Manor Solomon - who was a thorn in Hull's side and Ao Tanaka among the retention of other key assets, proved the difference in quality on paper and on the pitch between the two sides, which was brutally issued by Walter in his post-match verdict to official club media.

"Their quality (was the difference). At the end of it, it's the quality," Walter stated.

"They scored the first goal, and then the game was over. That's it," he added.

"I think we need more courage to win over here. For 60 minutes we did a good job. But at the end, if you have more conviction, you can win here.

"In this moment, it may not be possible, and at the end it's disappointing because we've lost the game.

"We tried to play and drive forward, but in many situations we turned back too often, just like last week (vs Millwall)," Walter stated, when asked about what impressed him prior to Joseph's opening goal.

Hull City need to improve in front of goal

The Tigers' frontline is all change from what it looked like last season, especially with the new additions of Liam Millar, Mason Burstow and Chris Bedia, as well as Deadline Day signings Abu Kamara and Mohamed Belloumi, who are in contention to make their maiden appearances for the club when the international break concludes.

Hull sit 19th in the table after four games, and it's also their position in the xG table, as per Fbref, with a tally of 3.7, which in reality has been massively underperformed, when putting into context that Oscar Estupinan's last-gasp penalty against Bristol City had an xG of 0.79.

Walter's frustrations regarding a lack of cutting edge are more than justified too, with City creating a total of 58 openings across the encounters with Bristol City, Plymouth, Millwall and Leeds, but seeing only 13 of those hit the target.

To the 48-year-old's annoyance, none came in LS11 after the interval either, with Bedia and Millar responsible for the Black and Amber outfit's best chances on yet another frustrating afternoon.

Hull will possess strong wide quality when one of Belloumi and Kamara alongside Millar are all utilised out wide, having created 21 big chances between them for their respective sides last term, providing adequate quality for the Union Berlin loanee and Burstow to get off the mark in City colours as soon as possible.

There is, however, an argument that Walter's side have left themselves short on numbers as far as natural centre-forwards are concerned, which would create a whole new dilemma if one of the aforementioned duo suffered an injury lay-off.