Hull City are the visitors for Paul Warne's Rotherham United at the ASSEAL New York Stadium on Tuesday night in the SkyBet Championship. We take a look at who the Millers will be facing in our opposition analysis...
In the Dugout
Nigel Adkins will take up position in the away dugout on Tuesday night in his role as Head Coach for the visitors. As a player, he was a goalkeeper who came through the Liverpool youth system. He represented Tranmere Rovers, Wigan Athletic and Bangor City, making over 300 career appearances, before retiring at the age of 31. He was player-manager of Bangor City in 1993 and won back-to-back League of Wales titles from 1993/94 season and the 1994/95 season.
After retiring, Adkins graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Physiotherapy and joined the medical team at Scunthorpe United. This led to him taking over Scunthorpe United as caretaker initially in November 2006 before making it permanent in December 2006. At Scunthorpe, Adkins won two promotions from League One, one winning the league and the other via the play-offs, following one season in the Championship. He joined Southampton in September 2010 after a compensation fee was agreed and guided them from League One to the Premier League in two seasons before parting company with the South coast-club in January 2013.
He then joined Reading in March 2013, but could not stop the club falling to relegation from the Premier League and was sacked in December 2014, after Reading found themselves 10 points away from a play-off place. He joined Sheffield United in June 2015 but his tenure at Bramall Lane was shortlived. Following 18 months out of the game, he joined Hull City in December 2017, following Leonid Slutsky's departure, and he kept the Tigers up in the Championship last season.
Stats
Hull City come into the game in the relegation places, collecting one point from a possible nine. An opening day defeat at the hands of Aston Villa (1-3) was followed up by a 1-1 draw away at Sheffield Wednesday. After progressing in the Carabao Cup on penalties 5-4, after a 1-1 draw with Sheffield United, they were beaten last time out 1-0 at home against Blackburn Rovers.
Head to Head
This is the 71st competitive fixture between these sides with the Millers prevailing 27 times. There have been 18 draws and the Tigers have won 25 times. The Millers have a good home record against the Tigers, with Hull winning only once in their last eight trips to Rotherham, with that victory being in 1999. The last time these teams faced was in May 2016, where Hull won 5-1 at the KC Stadium. A 16 minute opener by Lee Frecklington was quickly cancelled out by a Jake Livermore brace, plus further strikes from Robert Snodgrass, Abel Hernández and Mo Diamè.
The last time the Millers won against Hull was in December 2015. A 2-0 home victory sealed the three points in the Sky Bet Championship for Rotherham following a penalty from Frecklington and a goal from Joe Newell.
Ones to Watch
Our ones to watch start with experienced goalkeeper David Marshall. Starting at Celtic, he won the Scottish Premier League, the Scottish Cup twice and the Scottish League Cup, before he earned a move to Norwich. He's more known for his spell at Cardiff, leading the side into the Premier League for the first time. He won Cardiff's Player of the Year award for the season they were in the Premier League. After moving to Hull, he became understudy last season to Allan McGregor but has become the new number one at City, producing a MOTM performance against Blackburn Rovers.
In defence, Dutch defender Jordy De Wijs is one of the six new faces signed by Adkins over the summer. The 23-year-old has appeared for the Netherlands youth squads from the U17's to the U21's and has represented PSV in the UEFA Champions League. Known to take a good free-kick, he could partner either fellow summer signing Reece Burke, or former Barnsley captain Angus MacDonald in defence on Tuesday night.
In midfield, former Brazil U20 international Evandro is the creative spark. Representing Porto in the UEFA Champions League, the midfielder's spell with Hull has been plagued by injuries but has started all three league games for the Tigers this season, scoring in the opening fixture against Aston Villa. He is partnered with new club captain Markus Henriksen. The Norwegian international initially joined the Tigers on loan in 2016 before making the move permanent in January 2017 from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar.
Upfront, striker Frazier Campbell is the main attacking threat. Scoring in the 1-1 draw against Sheffield Wednesday this season, the 30 year old is looking to provide the goals this season. Wingers Jarrod Bowen and Kamil Grosicki were both lively for City last season but haven't recreated the same form like last season, where they scored 15 and nine goals respectively.