There was one moment after Hull City’s defeat to Newcastle United that immediately caught the attention of football supporters.
It was not another goal.
It was not the missed penalty.
It was not even Mohamed-Ali Cho’s second-half strike that gave the Tigers hope of completing another remarkable comeback.
Instead, it was a short message aimed at Hull City manager Sergej Jakirović.
And the wording was brutally simple.
“This is so surprising, how and why this. You can do better I trust your tactics.”
The post, attributed to Piers Morgan, quickly became part of the conversation surrounding Hull’s 2–1 defeat at St James’ Park.
And perhaps the most interesting part was not the criticism itself.
It was the fact that the message appeared to acknowledge just how unexpected Hull’s difficult opening period had been.
Because this was not the Hull City supporters had become accustomed to seeing during the opening weeks of the Premier League season.
Hull’s unbeaten run finally ends
Before travelling to Newcastle, Hull had been one of the surprise stories of the new Premier League campaign.
The Tigers had gone through their opening four league matches without defeat.
They had already collected eight points.
They had beaten Manchester United.
They had beaten Coventry City.
They had taken points against Aston Villa and Chelsea.
And under Jakirović, Hull had developed a reputation for being extremely difficult to break down.
That is why Saturday’s opening seven minutes were so surprising.
Newcastle needed a response after their heavy defeat to Leeds United.
They got exactly that.
Joe Willock opened the scoring after only three minutes.
Four minutes later, Lewis Hall doubled Newcastle’s advantage.
Suddenly, Hull were 2–0 down.
And the reaction was immediate.
Questions began appearing online about how a team that had looked so organised during the opening weeks could find itself two goals behind so quickly.
“This is so surprising…”
That is where the Piers Morgan post became particularly interesting.
The opening words were blunt:
“This is so surprising…”
For supporters who had watched Hull’s early-season performances, the sentiment was understandable.
Jakirović had transformed Hull into a competitive Premier League team.
The Bosnian coach had created belief within the squad and had helped establish a defensive structure that had allowed the newly promoted side to compete against teams with significantly greater resources.
Yet against Newcastle, the structure initially fell apart.
Hull struggled to deal with the spaces between defence and midfield.
Newcastle exploited those gaps.
Harvey Barnes played a major role in both early goals, creating the opening for Willock before supplying Lewis Hall for the second.
Jakirović himself later acknowledged that Hull had failed to defend those spaces properly during the first half.
That made the criticism of the first-half performance difficult to ignore.
“How and why this?”
The next part of the message was even more direct:
“How and why this.”
It was essentially the question being asked by supporters watching the opening stages.
How had Hull gone from looking so difficult to beat to conceding twice before the match had even settled?
And why had Newcastle been allowed to find so much space so early?
Those questions became even more significant because Hull had demonstrated during the first four matches that they could defend against Premier League opposition.
The defeat did not erase that progress.
But it exposed something Jakirović himself admitted after the match.
Hull had not performed well enough in the first half.
The manager said after the game that his team had done “everything that we shouldn’t have” during that opening period and specifically highlighted the spaces between defence and midfield.
That admission gave extra context to the criticism surrounding the match.
But Jakirović had a response
There was another side to the story.
Hull did not collapse after going two goals down.
They fought back.
That is something Jakirović was extremely proud of.
Speaking after the match, he praised his players for their mentality and character.
And the second half certainly gave him something to point towards.
Hull became more aggressive.
They started creating more problems.
Newcastle began retreating.
Then came the moment that changed the atmosphere completely.
Mohamed-Ali Cho pulled one goal back.
Suddenly, the match was alive again.
Newcastle had dominated the opening stages.
But Hull were now pushing for an equaliser.
The comeback that almost happened
The final stages were completely different from the opening seven minutes.
Hull were no longer simply trying to survive.
They were attacking.
They were forcing Newcastle to defend.
And St James’ Park suddenly became nervous.
Newcastle had opportunities to put the game beyond doubt.
Yoane Wissa had already missed a penalty before half-time, meaning the Magpies had failed to take advantage of one of their biggest opportunities to extend their lead.
Hull eventually found their goal through Cho.
And after that, the Tigers continued to believe.
The statistics also reflected how much the momentum shifted.
Hull finished with more shots than Newcastle, according to post-match data, despite having been two goals behind inside seven minutes.
The result therefore felt very different from the opening stages.
Newcastle had the points.
Hull had the late pressure.
“You can do better”
The final part of the message attributed to Morgan was perhaps the most significant:
“You can do better I trust your tactics.”
That wording changes the tone.
It is not simply an attack on Jakirović.
It suggests that the criticism comes from an expectation that Hull can perform better.
And that is important when discussing a manager who had already guided Hull through an impressive opening to their Premier League campaign.
Jakirović’s tactics had not suddenly become ineffective because of one defeat.
In fact, his system had helped Hull take eight points from their first four games.
The Newcastle match simply showed that there were areas still requiring improvement.
And the manager himself essentially said the same thing.
He admitted that Hull’s first-half performance was where the game was lost, while praising the response after the break.
Hull supporters will understand the frustration
For Hull supporters, the defeat was disappointing.
But it was not necessarily a reason to panic.
The Tigers had entered the game unbeaten.
They had gone to St James’ Park against a Newcastle side desperate for a reaction.
They conceded twice almost immediately.
And they still managed to make Newcastle fight until the final whistle.
That is not the profile of a team that has suddenly lost its identity.
It is the profile of a newly promoted team learning what life in the Premier League looks like.
There will be days when everything works.
There will also be days when a slow start is punished.
Newcastle had enough quality to exploit Hull’s mistakes.
And once Willock and Hall had put the home side 2–0 ahead, the Tigers were forced to chase the game.
Newcastle needed this result
There is another side to the story.
Newcastle were under pressure themselves.
The Magpies had suffered a heavy 4–1 defeat against Leeds in their previous league match.
They were also dealing with a significant injury list.
A victory over Hull was therefore extremely important for Matthias Jaissle’s side.
And Newcastle got it.
The first-half performance was exactly what the home supporters wanted to see.
The second half was much more uncomfortable.
But Newcastle held on.
The Guardian described the result as ending Hull’s unbeaten Premier League start, while noting Hull’s strong second-half response.
The post has now added another layer to the story
That is why the alleged Morgan message has generated interest.
It takes what was already a fascinating match and turns it into a wider discussion about Jakirović’s tactical decisions.
The question is not whether Hull are suddenly a bad team.
They are not.
The question is whether the Newcastle defeat exposed weaknesses that Premier League opponents could attempt to exploit in future matches.
Jakirović will now have the international break to work on those problems.
The defensive positioning.
The spaces between the lines.
The concentration during the opening minutes.
And, perhaps most importantly, how Hull respond when an opponent starts aggressively.
The bigger picture remains positive
One defeat does not erase everything Hull achieved during their first four matches.
Eight points remain on the board.
The victories over Manchester United and Coventry remain.
The draws against Aston Villa and Chelsea remain.
And the belief created inside the squad remains.
Jakirović has already shown that he can organise this team and make them competitive.
Now comes another challenge.
Can he make sure the lessons from Newcastle are absorbed?
Can Hull prevent another opponent from exploiting the same weaknesses?
Can they start matches with the same confidence they have shown after half-time?
Those are the questions that matter.
And perhaps that is why the final line of the post attributed to Morgan has attracted so much attention.
“I trust your tactics.”
For a manager who has already surprised much of English football this season, that may be more interesting than the criticism itself.
Because expectations have changed.
A few weeks ago, Hull were simply trying to prove they belonged in the Premier League.
Now, after taking points against some of the division’s established clubs, supporters are asking whether this team can do even more.
The Newcastle defeat was a setback.
But it was also a reminder.
Hull cannot afford slow starts.
They cannot give Premier League opponents two-goal advantages.
And they cannot expect their second-half fightback to rescue them every time.
Jakirović knows that.
His players know it.
And if the reaction surrounding the Morgan post is anything to go by, plenty of supporters are already demanding a response.
The next match will show whether Newcastle was simply a difficult afternoon — or the beginning of a tactical lesson that Hull City can use to become even stronger.