DAVID Meyler wants a new year to bring a return to the good old days as Hull City bid to revive their fortunes at the KC Stadium.
Although the Tigers' home staged memorable fixtures in the FA Cup and Europa League during 2014, just three wins in 18 Premier League games have gradually turned it into a barren hunting ground for Steve Bruce's men. That was never more apparent than in the final three home games of the calendar year. After a 0-0 draw with West Brom came 1-0 defeats against Swansea and Leicester to leave the 2-0 victory over Crystal Palace on October 4 as City's only home win of the season.
The statistics are in stark contrast to 2013. In a year that spanned promotion from the Championship and a return to the top flight, City claimed 10 wins from 19 games and were beaten only four times. At the halfway mark of last season they had already secured 18 points at home.
Meyler has witnessed the decline first hand and, beginning with today's visit of Everton, he wants City's home form back to its former glories.
"At home, you feel you should be winning every game against teams around us," said Meyler.
"Away, people are happy not to get beaten. Expectations are different.
"Maybe we need to revert back to the ruthlessness we had in the Championship and then last season in the Premier League. We were shutting up shop at the back, not conceding and then nicking games 1-0."
Asked to account for the slump, Meyler added: "I don't know what's changed to be honest.
"You can hear the fans moaning at us a few times when we try to keep the ball. We don't want to just pump it forward.
"It might be hard for them to see what we're trying to do sometimes, getting the ball out to the wings and keeping it moving.
"When the ball goes out to Brady and Elmo they have the ability to go by players and create chances.
"That's what we did and it's just frustrating that we weren't able to take them against Leicester."
The final fixture of 2014 leaves City seeking a reaction as 2015 begins against Everton.
Allowing bottom-of-the-table Leicester to claim a first win in 13 games, a 1-0 loss against Nigel Pearson's men undid much of the positive work that had come in a 3-1 victory over Sunderland on Boxing Day.
City remain out of the bottom three, albeit on goal difference, at the halfway stage and a third defeat in four games has kept them in trouble.
Meyler, though, has no fears of this season ending badly.
He added: "We should have a lot more points than we do. There's been a lot of times when we're in front and then conceded late in the games.
"That's disappointing but we're only at the halfway mark. There's another 19 games to come and we'll be fine.
"I'm confident we'll be in this division next season, no question.
"The ability we have, the players we have and the manager we have, it'll be no problem. Everyone's in it together. I don't know why people are going on about relegation so much, we'll be fine. The Leicester game was a disappointing result, especially after Sunderland.
"It's frustrating we've been beaten by a side below us. They probably had one big chance on target and we had six or seven glorious chances.
"On another day, we could have drawn or we could have won it."
