Barmby - We need away wins

Tigers veteran calls for improvements on the road

Last updated: 1st March 2010   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Barmby - We need away wins

Barmby: Confident of survival

We need to go into every game bang at it and if that's the case we stand a very good chance at staying up.

Nick Barmby.
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

Also see

Hull City midfielder Nick Barmby believes the Tigers need to get physical as they search for their first away win of the season.

The Premier League strugglers travel to Goodison Park on Saturday to face Everton - over a year after their last victory on the road.

Phil Brown's side won't be helped by the added pressure of falling into the relegation zone over the weekend, after their postponed clash with Carling Cup finalists Aston Villa saw them helpless to prevent their drop in position.

Barmby is confident the Tigers are capable of ensuring their presence in the top flight next season, but he admits they need to get tougher away from the KC Stadium.

"Our home form has been pretty good but we know we haven't picked up enough points away from home," Barmby told The Hull Daily Mail.

"We need to be harder to beat. Sometimes we've been a little gung-ho and left ourselves open. That's not something we can afford to do against Everton.

Good chance

"We have to be compact and make life difficult for them.

"We have to stop them from having time on the ball. When we play well we get right into the faces of our opposition.

"We need to go into every game bang at it and if that's the case we stand a very good chance at staying up."

City's confidence on the road took a further knock in their last two outings - which saw the Tigers suffer back-to-back defeats at Blackburn and West Ham.

The results marked a disappointing end to the month for the East Yorkshire club, who opened February with a draw again Chelsea and a win over Manchester City in front of their home crowd.

"The last two results have been disappointing, especially when you consider the results before that," said Barmby.

"We didn't really come to terms with the physicality of Blackburn - which is not like us - and then at West Ham we were always on the back foot after conceding early on.

Challenge

"They were two defeats where we never really imposed ourselves on the game or got in the opposition's faces.

"We're still looking forward to the challenge of the next 11 games. We know that if we play like we know we can, we'll be fine."

A weekend without a game in the Premier League allowed the Tigers to head to Galway for a friendly, which saw Barmby score the winning goal in their 1-0 victory.

The former England star, who hasn't started a game for his home-town club since their defeat at Manchester City in January, could be in line for a return following the suspension of Craig Fagan.

"I train the way I play so the manager knows I'm around," said Barmby.

"I've still got that ambition and desire to be in the starting line-up but if that's not the case I'll do everything I can to help the lads off the pitch."