Curtis Davies believes the positivity injected into Hull City's starting line-up from the likes of Kasey Palmer had a key impact on their ability to win 3-1 at Stoke City on Friday night, after delivering a Man of the Match display in his first start for the Tigers.
Pressure had been mounting on City after a poor start to the season under new boss Tim Walter, and after being a goal down at the break against the Potters, it looked like a damaging third successive loss would follow.
Liam Millar's arrival at half-time and Regan Slater's shortly after that sparked City into life and they ended up winning convincingly, with Palmer playing a key role, scoring one and having a big hand in the third, either side of Slater's thumping drive.
READ MORE: Kasey Palmer keen to use Coventry City experience to help revive Hull City
A much-improved second half display was a far cry from the home defeat to Sheffield United a week earlier, which saw City booed off and Davies highlight his concerns.
"We did the game on the Friday night against Sheffield United and I've always said possession is brilliant. I like teams to have possession, it gives you the best chance of having a structure to win the game, but if you're not effective with it then it's worth nothing," he told the 1904 Club podcast.
"I found that throughout that Sheffield United game, there were concerns with how City approached it, but I was more concerned with the manager's post-match interview if I'm being totally honest.
"The fact he was quite defiant, was quite pleased with the performance and blamed the defeat on mistakes, and yes, they were mistakes on the counter-attack, they weren't the only two. There were another couple, there was one with Kieffer Moore where he should have scored, another couple of opportunities where they could have scored on the break again, so as much as it's mistakes, there's also a level of naivety in the way they played.
"Having watched the highlights of the Stoke game, the first half seemed pretty similar. From the centre (kick-off), they nearly conceded a goal from giving the ball away in front of our box and from there, you start worrying again.
"Fortunately, second half was a lot better. The positivity of players like Kasey Palmer in the team - I played with Kasey, I know what he's like. He's fearless, he'll take the risks and play balls through the lines which which is what was lacking against Sheffield United.
"We saw in the Sheffield United game, it was pass, pass pass which was all lovely, but the best chance City had was from a cross (Lewie Coyle) just thrown into the box and (Marvin) Mehlem hit the bar, so I think, if you're going to take negativity, I was on that road but more out of frustration. The possession's good but there needs to be more substance to it."
You can listen to the latest episode of the 1904 Club via the links below or further up this article...
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