Dismiss this if you like but I think it's going to be key as this season develops. I think the number one thing a team needs when preparing for a season in the Championship is very high levels of fitness.
Both MON and NP built teams on the principle of fitness first, work ethic being key. And it worked. Others such as Allen and Taylor decided to back the talents of the players over fitness and we know where that left us.
We've already heard numerous players talk about how different training is under Sousa and how much less difficult it is. It is also worth noting that a number of the performance/sports science staff employed by Pearson have followed him to Hull without replacement. Sousa is clearly from the school believing in 'possession of the ball' and 'letting the ball do the work' etc. I fully support these principles if you've got the players to deliver it.
We haven't and it's looking like the squad is not about to be flooded with wonderkids from overseas who can deliver this style.
I still expect to see a lot of misplaced passes and giving away possession as we saw last season. However, this time round we won't be as fit to get the ball back. This is likely to lead to us conceding lots of late goals in games.
This is the main reason why, as things stand, I think we're in for a very disappointing season.