BECAUSE I’M HAPPY
Marco Silva is making his name with his heroics at Hull.. but the man with the Mourinho touch says he won’t be lured away
MARCO SILVA says he is “happy” bossing Hull in the Premier League – but bristles at the “mini-Mourinho” tag.
The Portuguese gaffer, sure to be in demand this summer when his short-term contract is up, has led the Tigers to 19 points from 21 at the KCOM Stadium since he took over, and this was their best win yet.
Silva once again tweaked his team at half-time to set up a win despite playing with just 10 men for 65 minutes once Oumar Niasse had been harshly sent off.
His tireless men were led by the brilliant Sam Clucas (above), who covered 11.73km and volleyed in his “best goal in professional football”.
Asked about his future, Silva said: “I don’t think about these situations. I am happy here. I am here to do my best to keep this club in the Premier League.
“You never know what will happen in the future but I am happy, happy to go to work every day. This is the thing most important to me. I enjoy the Premier League. It has always been my goal to manage here.
“I enjoy it but it is impossible for a manager not to enjoy the Premier League!”
Asked about comparisons with Manchester United manager and compatriot Jose Mourinho, he said: “He is a big friend and a big manager but I need to do it my way.”
Silva reckons that, to seal survival, Hull need to replicate their home form on the road. “It is impossible to say how many points we will need to stay up but we need to win one away now,” he said.
Hull were brilliant, patiently soaking up meek Watford attacks before piling forward. Alfred N’Daiye covered a remarkable 11.8km but it was the equally energetic Clucas who caught the eye with his passing and his volleyed goal that added to Lazar Markovic’s 62nd-minute opener.
Clucas said: “I’ve been waiting for one of them all season. That’s my position – at the edge of the box, waiting to have a dig.
“It came at a good time because we were under a bit of pressure so it was nice for the ball to fly in the net.
“As soon as I hit it I knew it was going in. I used to play up front when I was younger and scored a few decent goals but that’s certainly my best as a professional, especially to do it in the Premier League at such an important time. It’s not like we were 4-0 up and it was irrelevant.”
Clucas says Hull’s spirit comes from their early-season troubles when they had a squad of just 12 players.
He added: “All the pundits and papers were saying we were guaranteed to go down. That definitely got into the players and we had that incentive to prove people wrong.
“We knew we weren’t a bad team and we proved that on the opening day of the season, beating the champions at home. “We’ve definitely got character.” And Clucas said Silva has taught his team how to cope when a man down.
“We practise it in training all week,” he said. “We have overloads and the other team has an extra man so this was nothing new to us.”