New Hull City boss says "sometimes miracles happen"
Marco Silva was asked about the chances of him keeping the Tigers in the Premier League.
Hull City's new head coach Marco Silva says he will need to strengthen his squad if he is to perform `"a miracle'' and keep the club in the Premier League.
Silva, 39, is under no illusions as to the size of his task, with Hull winning only three league games this season since winning promotion back to the top flight in May.
But the confident former Sporting Lisbon and Olympiakos coach, dubbed the 'new Jose Mourinho' in Portugal and installed as the sacked Mike Phelan's successor on Thursday, stressed he would not have taken on the job if he did not think it was possible.
> If I don't believe it I would not say it. I know many, many people to talk about the Premier League and they say you need a lot of luck, you need a miracle to remain in the Premier League.'
Silva told his first news conference at the University of Hull training ground that he does have targets for the January transfer window, but said that now is not the time to talk about that. But after only having 15 players available for tomorrow's FA Cup game against Swansea, he says the lack of players is an "irritation":
> "When I spoke with the owners, and they know what we need, what is important for our team. First of all I have confidence in our players, but it's clear we need to improve our roster. Because we have one, two, three problems and for the game tomorrow we have 14, 15 players".
And he says keeping the Tigers up is a "differnt challenge" for him:
> "I played in Champions League, I fight to win titles. It is a different challenge for me, but it is the Premier League - the best in the world".