Sunderland and Burnley could be next to exploit Hull City flaw evident in Norwich City loss: View | OneFootball

The Tigers' upcoming opponents could be rubbing their hands together based off City's performance at Carrow Road

Hull City were given a reality check on Saturday lunchtime as Norwich City ran riot with a 4-0 success at Carrow Road.

Although confidence was at its highest since Tim Walter's appointment with three successive victories against Stoke City, Cardiff City and Queens Park Rangers, the trip to East Anglia provided a stern benchmark as to how the Tigers would compete against a side in a similar vein of form.

And, in truth, the scoreline was flattering as far as City were concerned, with the hosts missing further chances to add further gloss on proceedings.

Of course, the upcoming international break provides Walter's men with a chance to reconfigure and start a similar run of form to what had gone before the encounter in Norfolk, but their two upcoming opponents will be rubbing their hands together as numerous flaws were exploited by a side of real quality across the park.

Hull City were majorly exposed by Norwich City

Despite winning 3-1 away at Loftus Road days before, Hull were more than reliant on Ivor Pandur to keep them in the contest prior to Cody Drameh's strike, which set them on their way to another three points.

Once again, the Croat was in the thick of the early action at Carrow Road, but unlike against Marti Cifuentes' men, another sluggish start set the tone of what was to follow, with Norwich allowed acres of space and time to break with pace, numbers and quality.

Borja Sainz should've opened the scoring in that exact manner, as large gaps in both defence and midfield allowed the Spaniard to go one-on-one with Pandur before somehow squandering his effort, before Marcelino Nunez was given ample time to pick his spot and give Johannes Hoff Thorup's side a deserved lead.

Of course, the fact Walter is willing to continue probing with his style can be commended to an extent, as Hull recorded two more final-third entries and just three fewer attempts than a rampant Canaries side, but that counts for very little in the overall picture of the encounter.

Oscar Zambrano and Marvin Mehlem made strong contributions to City's midfield in the prior victory, but their selection alongside Regan Slater led to an extremely unbalanced trio in the middle of the park, with huge gaps appearing between each other and next to no defensive protection - a key facet behind Norwich's second goal as Sainz was given continued freedom to pick out Josh Sargent.

Like plenty of other Championship sides, Hull aren't afraid to play themselves out of trouble and take a vast amount of risks, but the two second-half goals that followed Sargent's failed attempt from 12 yards summed up how sides can brutally exploit a side clearly far from comfortable when doing so.

The unfortunate timing of Charlie Hughes' error on debut presented Kaide Gordon with an unmissable opportunity, whilst the simplest of long balls from Callum Doyle once again caught City's defence cold as Sainz nonchalantly rounded off proceedings, bringing Hull right back down to earth.

"First of all, congratulations to the opposition, they deserved to win, because we did too many easy mistakes," was Walter's honest post-game verdict to Hull Live, and Hull can ill-afford to gift Sunderland and Burnley those opportunities on home turf after the international break.

Norwich gave a fine example to the trio of Hull's opponents that came before them on how to dismantle a side that continues to invite pressure in games.

City have conceded 70 chances in their last four encounters, and with a tenth of those finding the net, it's far from sustainable for Walter's defence to be put under such demands.

Sunderland and Burnley have averaged numbers of 13 and 10.9 attempts at goal across the first nine games, scoring 32 goals between them so far, and it's fair to say the respective sides' attacking armoury could more than benefit from the cracks which have continuously appeared in the Tigers rearguard.

The Black Cats possess such a dynamic outfit, meaning the likes of Jobe Bellingham, Dan Neil, and Chris Rigg could find several moments of joy when driving forward from midfield, as well as Patrick Roberts and Romaine Mundle having the potential to cause major issues out wide.

Surprisingly, City sit in between Burnley and Sunderland's numbers in terms of the number of times possession has been lost so far this season, but like Regis Le Bris' outfit, the Clarets' own creative sparks only need the slightest invitation to cause major issues.

This includes Josh Brownhill, who continues to act as a metronome in Scott Parker's midfield with four goals, one assist, and 55.4 touches per game so far this season, making him Burnley's standout performer by some distance.

Of course, a training camp in Turkey will give Hull plenty to ponder ahead of the upcoming double-header, but if any tactical adjustments aren't made, the East Yorkshire outfit are at risk of once again being outplayed and out-thought by two of the early-season pace-setters.