tim sherwood’s comments on jakirović look different now after hull’s impressive start 👀
There are some football opinions that disappear almost as quickly as they are made.
Then there are the ones that suddenly become interesting months later.
For Hull City supporters, the rise of Sergej Jakirović has created exactly that kind of situation.
When Jakirović arrived at Hull City in June 2025, there was no guarantee that his appointment would work. The Bosnian coach was stepping into English football for the first time, taking charge of a club that had endured a difficult period and was desperately trying to find some stability.
The expectations were not exactly enormous.
In fact, looking back at the situation now, it is remarkable how different the conversation surrounding Jakirović and Hull City has become.
And that is why old comments and assessments from pundits such as Tim Sherwood suddenly look far more interesting.
Jakirović was not arriving at Hull as a manager with a huge reputation in English football. He had work to do before supporters, pundits and the wider football public could completely trust him.
But rather than allowing the pressure to overwhelm him, he gradually built a team that competed.
Hull eventually finished sixth in the Championship and reached the play-offs. That achievement alone represented a significant turnaround, considering the uncertainty surrounding the club before and during the campaign. (Wikipedia)
The biggest twist came afterwards.
Hull did not simply survive the play-offs.
They won them.
And suddenly Jakirović had taken Hull City from a club facing serious questions to a Premier League side.
That was when the expectations changed.
The Premier League is a completely different challenge.
Hull were promoted as underdogs, and several preseason assessments predicted that they would struggle badly against England’s elite clubs. FourFourTwo even described the task of staying up as an extremely difficult challenge. (FourFourTwo)
Yet Jakirović’s players appeared to have received the memo and decided to ignore it.
Hull opened their Premier League campaign by producing one of the biggest surprises of the opening weekend.
They beat Manchester United 2–0.
It was not a lucky victory where Hull simply survived for 90 minutes.
They were organised, aggressive and extremely difficult to break down.
The result was even more significant because it was Hull’s first league victory over Manchester United in 52 years. (Reuters)
Suddenly, the conversation around Jakirović began changing.
The manager who had entered the club without the reputation of a Premier League heavyweight was now being discussed as one of the most intriguing coaches in the division.
And Hull were not finished.
They followed the Manchester United victory with another win over Coventry City before holding Aston Villa to a goalless draw.
That meant Hull had seven points from their first three Premier League matches without conceding a single goal. (The Guardian)
Then came Chelsea.
If anyone thought the early results were simply a honeymoon period, Jakirović’s team produced another statement.
Hull travelled to Stamford Bridge and twice found themselves in front.
Mohamed Belloumi scored twice as the visitors stunned Chelsea, before João Pedro eventually rescued a 2–2 draw for the home side.
Even though Hull did not win, the result was another major achievement for a newly promoted team that many expected to struggle.
Reuters reported that Hull’s unbeaten start had reached eight points from four matches, while Jakirović praised the result as a significant achievement. (Reuters)
That is where the old pundit conversations suddenly become fascinating.
Football is full of predictions.
Managers are judged before they have had enough time to build their teams.
Players are written off after a few poor performances.
Clubs are predicted to struggle before the first ball is kicked.
And sometimes those predictions are completely understandable.
But Jakirović has given Hull supporters something much more valuable than a few good results.
He has given them evidence.
His team has developed an identity.
They are organised.
They are difficult to play against.
They are willing to suffer without the ball.
They can attack quickly when opportunities appear.
And, most importantly, the players appear to believe in the manager’s system.
That last point may be the biggest reason for Hull’s remarkable beginning.
Against Manchester United, Hull were not intimidated.
Against Aston Villa, they remained disciplined.
Against Chelsea, they showed enough attacking quality to score twice at Stamford Bridge.
Those performances suggest that Jakirović has created a team that understands what it needs to do.
And that makes the manager’s journey even more impressive.
When he arrived in 2025, he did not have the luxury of being treated like a proven Premier League manager.
He had to earn everything.
He had to convince his players.
He had to convince the supporters.
He had to convince the club.
And eventually, he had to convince the doubters.
Now Hull are sitting among the early Premier League surprise packages.
The contrast is difficult to ignore.
A club many expected to fight for survival is unbeaten after four matches.
A manager many outside Hull barely knew is now being discussed alongside some of the biggest names in the Premier League.
And the same coach who was trying to establish himself in English football last season has already won the Premier League Manager of the Month award in this campaign, according to the league’s current listings. (Premier League)
That is a remarkable change in status.
Of course, nobody at Hull should be getting carried away yet.
There are still dozens of matches to play.
The Premier League eventually exposes weaknesses.
Injuries will arrive.
Bad runs will happen.
Opponents will study Hull more carefully.
The pressure will increase.
But that does not mean supporters cannot enjoy what is happening right now.
Football is about moments.
And Hull City are currently living through one of their most unexpected moments in years.
The most interesting part is that Jakirović has not achieved this by trying to imitate the biggest clubs.
He has built a team that understands its own strengths.
Hull can defend.
They can counterattack.
They can compete physically.
They can punish mistakes.
And they have shown they are not afraid of reputations.
Manchester United’s name did not scare them.
Aston Villa’s quality did not break them.
Chelsea’s Stamford Bridge did not overwhelm them.
That mentality comes from somewhere.
And increasingly, it looks like Jakirović deserves much of the credit.
This is why any previous assessment from a pundit such as Tim Sherwood becomes interesting now.
Not because every prediction must eventually be proven wrong.
Not because pundits should never criticise managers.
But because football gives everyone the opportunity to change their opinion.
And Jakirović has certainly given Sherwood and other pundits something new to consider.
The Hull manager has gone from being an unfamiliar name arriving in the Championship to leading a newly promoted Premier League side that has started the season without defeat.
That is quite a transformation.
For Hull supporters, there is probably an even more enjoyable element to all of this.
Every time the Tigers produce another result, they create another opportunity to revisit the predictions that were made about them.
Every clean sheet makes the doubters look again.
Every victory makes the survival predictions less convincing.
And every impressive performance gives Jakirović another reason to believe that his methods can work at this level.
The draw at Chelsea is the latest example.
Hull were supposed to be the team hanging on.
Instead, they went to Stamford Bridge, scored twice and left with a point.
They even had moments when they could have won the match.
That is not the behaviour of a team simply hoping to survive.
It is the behaviour of a team that believes it belongs.
And perhaps that is the biggest change of all.
Hull City are no longer simply the newly promoted club.
They are becoming a serious problem for Premier League opponents.
Jakirović deserves enormous credit for that.
His journey is still in its early stages, but the story has already changed dramatically.
The manager who arrived with questions surrounding him is now giving Hull fans something they have been desperate for: belief.
And as the season continues, those old pundit assessments will become even more interesting.
Because if Jakirović keeps producing results like these, there will come a point when nobody will be asking whether he belongs in the Premier League.
They will be asking just how far he can take Hull City.
For now, the numbers tell their own story.
Four Premier League matches.
Eight points.
Unbeaten.
Manchester United beaten.
Aston Villa held.
Chelsea held at Stamford Bridge.
And Hull sitting among the early surprises of the Premier League season. (Reuters)
Whatever was said about Jakirović before he had the opportunity to prove himself, the manager now has something every coach wants.
Results.
And those results are making people look at him very differently.