New manager has followed the successful blueprint from his time in Portugal and Greece as Hull prepare to take on Liverpool

Meticulous, methodical and, above all, measured, Marco Silva is not an obvious high‑stakes gambler but behind the controlled facade lurks a risk-taker with a penchant for retrieving supposedly lost causes.

In other words dysfunctional Hull City could not be a better fit for the bright young coach dubbed the new José Mourinho. Allied to a devotion to sports science, data analysis and micro-managed training sessions, the 39-year-old’s willingness to specialise in saving the careers of players perceived as damaged goods by peers brought him surprising success in Lisbon and Athens.

Now he is attempting to pull off a similar, if infinitely tougher, feat in East Yorkshire where relegation-threatened Hull have just accrued £20m from the sale of Robert Snodgrass – their star winger – and Jake Livermore while importing seven, mainly loan, signings from abroad.

Hull City remain a club pockmarked by rancour under Allams’ ownership | David Conn Read more

Undeterred by Snodgrass’s defection, Mike Phelan’s successor has responded by returning to the template of recruiting gifted but significantly underachieving players that served him so well at Estoril, Sporting Lisbon and Olympiakos. On Wednesday his side drew 0-0 at Manchester United and they entertain Liverpool on Saturday in optimistic mood.

The arrivals include Evandro, an attacking midfielder whose career seemingly hung by a thread when Silva brought him to Estoril following a disastrous stint at Red Star Belgrade and was transformed into a star of Portuguese football. Then there is Lazar Markovic, a winger signed on loan from Liverpool, and Oumar Niasse, the Senegal striker borrowed from Everton. That pair cost the Merseyside clubs a combined £33.5m before quickly being marginalised but they already appear to be responding to Silva’s excellent man-management and communication skills.

It helps that having made a concerted effort to learn English during his title‑winning season at Olympiakos he is now fluent and Tom Huddlestone is relishing his message. Sidelined and apparently disillusioned under Phelan, the former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder appears a principal beneficiary of the regime change. “The new manager’s been on the training pitch every day, putting a lot of tactical information into us,” he says.

“Wherever the ball is on the pitch and whatever system we play we know exactly what is and what isn’t required of us, with and without the ball. With the amount of information he’s put into us there are no excuses. If you don’t do well now it’s down to a loss of concentration because we know exactly where he wants us to be and when. The lads have bought into that and it’s showing on the pitch. He’s also quite offensive in the way he likes us to play and his gameplans are very good.”

Like many of the game’s deep‑thinking coaches, Silva had a modest playing career. Born and bred in Lisbon, he played right‑back for Portuguese second and third division clubs including Trofense, Rio Ave, Salgueiros and Estoril. Part of greater Lisbon, Estoril had mostly been most notable for its attractive setting alongside the Atlantic resort of Cascais.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Manchester United manager José Mourinho and Marco Silva after the midweek draw. Photograph: Phil Noble/Reuters

After retiring at the age of 34, Silva initially became its director of football. With the team struggling, he soon switched roles to coach, proceeding to startle almost everyone by claiming the second tier title with two unheralded signings, Vagner and Lica, excelling.

They were part of a group of discards, free transfers and apparent oddballs who, to wholesale astonishment, proceeded to help Estoril to fifth place in the Portugal’s top division and into Europe. The following season, with Evandro outstanding, they finished fourth.

In Portugal and Greece, Silva’s approach involved his sides cultivating chameleon personalities, enabling them to seamlessly switch systems mid-game and alternate being playing on the counter and forcing the tempo.

It was no surprise when, three years ago, Silva was poached by Sporting Lisbon and the Taca de Portugal soon arrived. It was followed by his first setback when Sporting brazenly seized an opportunity to hire Jorge Jesus, the former Benfica coach, by producing a 400‑page document detailing a series of apparent disciplinary breaches on Silva’s part including not wearing the club’s official suit on the touchline.

Manchester United fall short of José Mourinho’s demands in goalless draw Read more

Greece beckoned and he led Olympiakos to a 43rd title, winning 28 of their 30 games, losing once, and finishing 30 points ahead of Panathinaikos, their main rivals. Typically, certain players improved radically under his charge with the winger Kostas Fortounis perhaps the prime example.

There was considerable disappointment when Silva resigned last summer and Carlos Goncalves, his representative, began working his contacts available to him at Portugal’s ProEleven agency as he attempted to relocate his client to England. It did not hurt that Hull’s manager is also a friend of Jorge Mendes, the super agent, but all the indications are he can offer much more than merely having friends in all the right places.

“I feel I’m going to keep improving under Marco Silva,” says Andrew Robertson, Hull’s left‑back and the subject of rejected £10m transfer deadline bids.

“He told us we’d have no days off and he’s not been wrong but the boys are happy going in every day because we’re all learning a lot under him. All the new boys are hungry and have points to prove and we’re fighting for our lives now. I’m really glad I’m still here and working with this manager.”