Hull City will look to get a move on after recently hiring young manager Marco Silva. The Portuguese certainly comes with a lot of talk and people have also compared him to Jose Mourinho which is obviously a bit far-fetched at the moment. However, he has shown in his two spells at Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos that he has what it takes to build a good team with solid foundations.
It’s easy to wilt under the expectations certain comparisons draw and Andre Villas-Boas has the first-hand experience of that. His all-conquering Porto side were too good a team and that showed as he struggled to stamp his authority at Chelsea, Tottenham and Zenit. Silva will hope to avoid that same path but his job is already a lot harder as he’s taken over the reins of a side who have struggled to get their season going.
Silva’s first task will be to add more depth and balance to the team which seldom looked like a Premier league outfit in the first half of the season. Hull’s predicament is further thickened by the fact that they are playing in as many as three competitions. Although they are likely to be knocked out of the League Cup and the same could happen in the FA Cup, it’s still two extra fixtures in what is a crucial phase for the team.
In a bid to add more strength and depth to their team, the Tigers have been linked with FC Porto midfielder Evandro Goebel. The Brazilian has had a decent two-year spell at the Dragao after moving from Estoril, a club where Silva had previously managed.
It’s pretty safe to say he hasn’t replicated the same impact that he had at Estoril where he managed 11 goals and nine assists in the 2013-14 season and earned a move to a bigger club. His main problem has been the absence of consistent game time at the club. Last season, he managed to play in just 11 games and of which just one was a start. At 30, he can’t hang around and warm the bench, so Hull could be a good destination.
Evandro has a keen eye for a pass which was highlighted by his number of assists while at Estoril and he is a good contributor of goals from the attacking midfield position as well. He might take some time to acclimatise to the foreign league but could definitely add more creative punch to Hull’s blunt attack.
