The big vulnerabilities Sunderland could exploit against Hull City despite Liam Rosenior's arrival

New Hull boss Liam Rosenior has taken charge of four matches since his appointment last month, including goalless draws against Millwall and Watford, a win at Cardiff and defeat against Reading.

To find out more we caught up with Nathaniel Whittingham from The To Hull & Back Podcast on the latest episode of The Roar Podcast

You can listen to the full episode here

How would you assess Hull’s start to the season?

NW: “We always thought it was going to be tough because we signed, I can’t remember the exact number but it was almost comparable to what Nottingham Forest did signing all those players in the summer.

“We actually won the first few matches and then went on a very bad run and sacked Shota Arveladze much earlier than we thought because he had a very good relationship with the owner.

“They brought in Liam Rosenior and hopefully during the World Cup break he’s been able to train the players to defend set-pieces especially and play out from the back better. Those are the two things we need to do much better.

“We still have a lot of players injured and shouldn’t really be as low as we are.

“I think the second half of the season should be a lot better with the new manager and getting our players back fit.”

What have supporters made of Rosenior’s appointment?

NW: “He was part of the club at our best moment getting to the FA Cup final and getting promoted to the Premier League.

“We want to give him a bit of time, longer than Shota Arveladze, because he is an inexperienced manager and has only managed at League One level with Derby as an interim before us.

“I think the two goalless draws may seem boring at first but we’ve struggled so much to defend and keep clean sheets. We’ve only had three clean sheets this season and two of them have come under him.

“Hopefully we can also get our home form much better because his one win was away at Cardiff.”

Who are Hull’s key players?

NW: “It’s good to have Oscar Estupinan back from suspension after he received a red card against Millwall.

“He is the second highest scorer in the Championship with eight, but seven of those have come in just three games – a hat-trick and two braces.

“Dimitrios Pelkas has just been ruled out injured for three months so Dogukan Sinik might come back in. He’s one of the big-money signings and we haven’t seen the best of him yet.

“The players in form attacking-wise are Regan Slater, who we got for £50,000 from Sheffield United and has probably been our best player this year.

What system will they play?

NW” It’s basically the same 4-2-3-1 formation Shota Arveladze played but the main difference has been we are playing out from the back a lot more.

“We are keeping the ball, it’s slow possession and it was quite nervy to watch really because we’re not quite as good at it as we should be.

“We are trying to build from the back and play forward and will be playing like that.”