The Tigers have no shortage of options at Ewood Park despite injury crisis
Barry Cooper Hull City correspondent
12:00, 30 Jan 2026Updated 12:16, 30 Jan 2026
Sergej Jakirovic has decisions to make this weekend
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Sergej Jakirovic has decisions to make this weekend (Image: Lee Keuneke/PA Wire)
Hull City will go to Blackburn Rovers this weekend on a run of three successive wins and with a flurry of new arrivals in their squad after a busy final week in the transfer market.
While City boss Sergej Jakirovic will be unable to call upon Matt Crooks and Ryan Giles, amongst others, the Croatian will have new signings Paddy McNair, Toby Collyer and Lewis Koumas available for the first time.
That presents Jakirovic with a fairly large problem when it comes to picking his team, and more importantly, his squad. Only five loanees can be named in a matchday squad, and the Tigers now have seven.
Assuming all are fit and available, then two of City's seven will be left out, which naturally presents the man in charge with a difficult decision, and one that will not be universally popular.
Two of those loanees are almost certain to keep their places after last week's win over Swansea City. Amir Hadziahmetovic has found his best form in recent weeks, while Joe Gelhardt returned to the starting XI for the first time since early December and remains a pivotal figure.
Yu Hirakawa showed more promise off the bench, while Kieran Dowell made his Tigers debut in the closing stages, further boosting Jakirovic's options in reserve, and the additions of Collyer, Koumas and McNair will only add to that.
All those players will be required in the coming weeks, with City having a flurry of games in the next month, and the race for promotion hotting up, but it won't make Jakirovic's job of picking his squad this weekend any easier.
That said, it's hard to imagine him making too many changes to the side that performed impressively in the first half of the win over the Swans, even if they ran out of steam in the second period at the end of a busy three-game week, and that's something he'll need to be mindful of with Watford and Bristol City to come after the trip to Ewood.
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City's starting XI: Pandur, Famewo, Hughes, Egan, Coyle, Amir, Slater, Millar, Joseph, Gelhardt, McBurnie.
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