His side battled well against a Manchester City side led for the first time by Pep Guardiola.
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The former Shrewsbury player has made 347 appearances for City, winning two Premier League titles, an FA Cup, two League Cups and 63 England caps, but Guardiola opted to start with Willy Caballero.
But Guardiola is happy with the attitude of the players and says their future inclusion in the side is not out of the question, although he would not guarantee a return for anyone.
The 2-1 win by City was the nightcap of a seven-fixture opening day for the Premier League season, the highlight of which had to be from the very first match.
Injuries had left caretaker boss Mike Phelan with only 13 senior players in his squad, but Hull somehow overcame the odds to stun Claudio Ranieri’s champions.
“I have a lot of respect for Joe”. I saw many good things about the spirit of the team. “I want them to build on what they did last season and do better than that but that can’t be done in two weeks”. But at the end I have a squad and I decide what I see. It’s not about tactics, it’s not about anything, and I decided today for this line-up.
With 37 more games to go, Guardiola’s learning curve in the EPL will certainly be a steep one. Willy had more training sessions than Joe.
Speaking to the Chronicle, he admitted the result was “gutwrenching” and explained that his side “did a great job in containing them as best we could”, because they “had a gameplan, we knew we weren’t going to have an bad lot of the ball and we had just about done the job – but “just about” is not enough”.
“It does not mean that Joe or Yaya or Mangala can not play again”.
City needed a late own goal from Sunderland’s Paddy McNair to secure a 2-1 victory in their opening Premier League match of the season, but Stones was encouraged by the performance.
Defoe then equalised with 20 minutes to go – scoring for the 16th successive season – but Jesus Navas’s cross rebounded off the head of McNair to give City the win.
Asked how England global Hart, 29, took the news of his omission, Guardiola said: “He reacted well”.
“We are short in several areas, we’ll do everything we can to improve the team”.
Sunderland made a much better start to the second half, but City remained on top and began to look more of a threat than they had in the first.
Rodwell’s throughball was played perfectly into Defoe’s path just inside the area in a central position, and he slotted his low finish past Caballero.
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MF Lynden Gooch, 8 – The American son of former England cricketer Graham Gooch, he was involved in most of the good things Moyes saw, whether beating his man or pumping risky crosses into the City box. Tigers midfielder Tom Huddlestone may not be going out with Taylor Swift, but will be hoping he gets The Right Manager in the KCOM Stadium soon, as there were still banners from the fans about the way the club is being run by owner Assam Allam.
