Sliding Doors: Hull City's 2016/17 Season

(Andy Robertson, Robert Snodgrass, Tom Huddlestone, Sam Clucas, Adama Diomande, David Meyler, Jake Livermore, Curtis Davies, Ahmed Elmohamady)

Hull City’s 2016/17 season is one of the most pivotal in the club’s history. With three major “sliding doors” moments, two during a catastrophic summer, a moment of Instagram infamy, an incredible start, the bleakest of mid-winters, a career-ending injury to the club’s record signing, their best ever League Cup run and victories over the biggest clubs in the country. There’s a book in this story but I haven’t got long enough to write it.

The Tigers went into the Championship Play-off Final at the end of May 2016 after three of the most successful and tumultuous years it had ever known. On the field, gaffer Steve Bruce had assembled an expensive and talented squad who had won promotion from the Championship in 2013, reached the FA Cup Final in 2014, played European football for the first time as a result, suffered relegation after two seasons in the top flight and then battled their way to Wembley to face Sheffield Wednesday for promotion back to the “promised land”.

Off it had come a battle to retain the club’s identity after the owners, the Allam family, attempted to change the club’s playing name to Hull Tigers and a supporter campaign, City Till We Die, was launched to call on the Football Association to reject any such notion. The change was rejected but the price of that victory for supporters was a spiteful response from the owners, who promised an end to any investment, put the club up for sale, removed the name “Hull City” from the badge, took concession prices away for children and seniors and saw further protests launched and attendances dwindle at a time as successful as any in the club’s then 112 year history.

City beat Wednesday 1-0 thanks to Mo Diame’s wonder-goal and it was widely believed that the outcome would lead to the sale of the club to consortium led by US-based businessman Peter Grieve for £100m. Sliding door number one closed when the sale never happened. The Allams greed post-play-off win put paid to any deal. In 2020, former City MD Nick Thompson told Hull Live that Peter Grieve’s words to him after he walked away were “They think I’m a chump.”

Steve Bruce’s relationship with Ehab Allam had been strained for a long time with the lack of investment in the squad in the summer of 2015, after the club had raised £25m in sales and lost a huge chunk off the wage bill, and again in January 2016 with the team primed for automatic promotion back to the Premier League causing huge division. In 2018 interviews, Bruce told media that the “trust” had gone from the relationship and that Ehab Allam wanted to do things “his way”. There’ll be some sympathy for the Allams over some of their decisions, given they’d invested hugely in the playing squad previously, but Bruce was caught in the crossfire of the promised lack of investment following the name-change debacle. On 22 July 2016, Bruce, comfortably the most successful manager in their history, stepped down as manager of Hull City. Sliding door number two slammed shut.

(Steve Bruce – interviewed by James Clark at Church Road – 16^th July 2016)

In late July, City were a shambles. Rarely has a newly promoted Premier League team been in such a state. Play-off final hero Mo Diame had left for Championship side Newcastle United, contracts had ended and there were injuries to key players, such as the dreadful knee injury that derailed Moses Odubajo’s promising career. With Mike Phelan in temporary charge and no new signings made, even the players left were taking the piss out of the situation. David Meyler posted a “squad photo” on Instagram of just nine senior players in front of the Alps on the club’s pre-season training camp.

The depleted Hull City squad would play the opening game of the Premier League season against reigning Champions Leicester City. Such was the state of the squad, Phelan didn’t make a substitution in the game. Such was the state of the place off the field, there were 4,500 empty seats in the KCOM Stadium. Remarkably, The Tigers beat the Champions 2-1 with an incredible double-bicycle kick from Abel Hernandez and Adama Diomande (who was the official scorer) and a Robert Snodgrass strike. A week later, they won again, 2-0 at Swansea with goals from Shaun Maloney and Hernandez in a “smash and grab” raid. Maloney was the only substitute used in either of the first two games. The win left City top of the Premier League and despite an injury-time defeat to Manchester United, Phelan was named the Premier League Manager of the Month for August.

Before the transfer deadline, Phelan’s squad was finally reinforced with the signings of goalkeeper David Marshall, midfielders Ryan Mason, James Weir and Markus Henriksen, strikers Will Keane and Dieumerci Mbokani at a cost of £18m, with Henriksen’s loan due to become permanent for £4.5m in January. Mason was the pick of the signings, having played 53 PL games for Spurs in the previous two seasons, picked up and England cap and costing a club record £13m, which still stands, while Scotland number one Marshall, who had top flight experience with Cardiff City, looked an astute buy.

A draw at Burnley, courtesy of a magnificent last gasp Robert Snodgrass free kick kept up The Tigers strong start before the realities of the Premier League, an inexperienced manager, a poorly prepared squad and dreadful transfer business would come to bite. City won only one more game in 2016 and suffered heavy defeats against Arsenal and Liverpool and an embarrassing 6-1 drubbing at Bournemouth wearing a lilac third kit. I had the misfortune of being at Dean Court that day, got to get that ground tick. And a good hiding. “Astute” signing David Marshall conceded 13 times in his first 3 league games. It wasn’t all his fault, the team was lacking quality and set up poorly but it was a disaster he’d never recover from.

When City lost at WBA in the first game of 2017, Phelan was done. His last victory had come against Southampton two months prior, and entertaining home draws against Palace (3-3) and Everton (2-2) in December were brief respite. Phelan was a good man who gave it his all but if City were to try to stay in the Premier League, they needed something completely different in terms of recruitment and management and they were about to get both.

Apparently, Ehab Allam had received the CV of Marco Silva in the summer after Steve Bruce left but felt he was too big a risk without prior experience in England. By January, he was desperate enough to take that risk and the former Estoril, Sporting Lisbon and Olympiacos manager arrived with his own trusted backroom staff and, via his links to Jorge Mendes, an array of signings from all over Europe. Silva brought in Polish winger Kamil Grosicki from Rennes for £7m, Brazilian maverick Evandro from Porto for an Undisclosed fee and five expensive loans with Egyptian full back Omar Elabdellaoui (Olympiacos), Italian central defender Andrea Rannochia (Inter), Serbian winger Lazar Markovic (Liverpool) and big Senagalese midfielder Alfred N’Diaye (Villareal) and striker Oumar Niasse (Everton) all arriving temporarily. The signings were funded by the controversial sales of Robert Snodgrass (West Ham) and Jake Livermore (WBA) for £20m.

It was a sign of the times that Silva’s first game in charge was a home FA Cup tie with Swansea, which fans were boycotting in the latest protest against the Allam family’s ownership. Only 6,608 fans saw Silva’s reign get off to a winning start but a good deal more (though still well short of a full house) saw the 3-1 win over Bournemouth in his first league game through an Abel Hernadez brace and an own goal. The change in the style of play was immediately obvious and, impressively, the XI who beat Bournemouth were all Phelan’s squad, with only subs Evandro and Niasse new additions.

Before anyone could get carried away, the season hit another low when, during a 2-0 defeat at Chelsea in January, record-signing Ryan Mason suffered a fractured skull in a sickening clash of heads. After a terrifying delay while he was treated on the pitch, he was eventually carried off on a stretcher and despite returning to training in late 2017, he’d never play again.

While Phelan’s side had struggled in the Premier League throughout Autumn, he had overseen wins over Exeter, Stoke and Bristol City to make the quarter-finals of the League Cup for the second successive season – equalling the club’s best ever performance in the competition. City beat Newcastle at home on penalties to set up a two-legged semi-final with his former-club Manchester United that Phelan would, sadly, not be around for. The 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford was to be expected for a team in the relegation zone but the second-leg was a different story with The Tigers winning 2-1 through Tom Huddlestone and Oumar Niasse but failing to overcome Paul Pogba’s goal for United. The game was remarkable. Silva’s side dominated United at times, playing a brand of possession football not previously seen in Hull, pinning United back in their half. That it was played before a crowd of just 16,831 due to ongoing off the field drama is a crying shame.

In the twelve games following the League Cup exit, Silva’s Hull City won five, drew two and lost five. The losses all came away, with only the capitulation at Everton a major disappointment, while the wins were all seen at the KCOM Stadium, suddenly a fortress. Showing home form the club would kill for these days, City edged past Swansea and West Ham, smashed Middlesbrough 4-2 in an attacking performance of flair and speed, turned over Watford 2-0 despite the sending off of Niasse – thanks to Sam Clucas’s world-class volley, and to kick it all off, beat the mighty Liverpool 2-0. The clinching goal against the Reds being scored by on-loan Everton striker Niasse meant the win was celebrated across the country.

With 4 games to go, Silva had City outside the relegation zone with a pivotal trip to Southampton and a home game with bottom side Sunderland to come. A brave performance at St Mary’s looked in vain when The Tigers conceded a last minute penalty but goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic dived to his left and saved Dusan Tadic’s kick to earn a vital point. I walked away from St. Mary’s convinced I’d just witnessed the biggest result in Silva’s great escape.

(Southampton away – 29^th April 2017)

“Sliding door” moment number three came on May 6^th. A win against already-relegated Sunderland and a result for Everton at Swansea would have seen City clear of the relegation zone. Instead, they lost at home for the first time under Silva with a meak performance that got what it deserved when Billy Jones and Jermaine Defore scored second half goals. Any chance of salvation disappeared a week later when Andrea Rannochia’s howler let in Crystal Palace to score after 2 minutes en route to a 4-0 humbling at Selhurst Park to condemn The Tigers.

Hull City’s last (to date) Premier League game would be the 1-7 home defeat to Spurs a week later. Already condemned to relegation and with Marco Silva set to leave having done his own reputation no harm despite ultimately failing, it was a suitably shambolic end to a shambolic 11 months in Hull City’s history.

The mistakes of the period between June 2016 and May 2017 would continue to be repeated. The lack of investment, despite selling £50m of talent the following summer alone, would cost any chance of bouncing back. Good managers left of their own accord rather than work under Ehab Allam. Recruitment continued to be scattergun, done too late and rarely produced players good enough. The years of aggravation between the owners and fans left a team playing in a half-empty KCOM Stadium and the result was the relegation to League One in 2020.

Despite the sale of the club since, the return of investment, improved attendances and renewed optimism, the club haven’t made the Championship play-offs in six attempts and won’t this season. Hull City are a long, long way from regaining a place in the Premier League that was surrendered before a ball was kicked in the summer of 2016.

Hull City 1 Bristol City 1. Quick thoughts on WALTERBALL act 1.

Great to be back at City yesterday. Great to see a crowd of 21k turn up after a tumultuous pre-season. Really is still a glorious ground when full of black and amber.

This was my first taste of Walterball after ignoring all of pre-season. I thought there were promising elements. The pressing and attempts to cause the "chaos" worked well and created chances. The fitness of the likes of Mehlem, Slater and Abdus, who barely stopped moving was impressive. Abdus is a wonderful player. I'd love to see us getting him involved more.

It was intriguing to see the positions been taken up when we had the ball. McLoughlin became an extra midfielder almost every time we had the ball, and then explore up the left wing too. Mehlem would drop to left back in possession, while Jacob would set off inside. I lost count of the number of times I heard "Why is .... there?" 

The zonal marking, with two near post, three and then three (or four if the short corner isn't taken) was interesting too. It'll need to be, as we look a small team. I've attached a pic of the set up.

I like Simons. He's a good footballer. He keeps things ticking over and sensed danger around the box. It was interesting that he wasn't asked to drop and receive the ball like Seri does. He stayed higher and left that space for the full backs or left backs to come inside.

That was the biggest negative. Whenever we had a goal kick, or just gained possession near our box, we looked absolutely atrocious. The triangle on the left of Giles, McLoughlin and Jacob needs a major upgrade. They must have lost the ball ten times between them in incredibly dangerous positions. Luckily, Bristol were pants. I like Jacob, he's another great lad from our academy, and he made some good challenges but he didn't want half the passes he was given in tight spaces and he was constantly caught out by making the runs asked only for us to cough up the ball. McLoughlin, for all some know alls liked to argue a couple of seasons ago, is miles and miles off Jacob Greaves. Hopefully the Man City kid is the real deal.

I've heard some negative stuff about Pandur but I thought he did a decent job. As a keeper, anyway. He's not a footballer and contributed to the nerves whenever we had the ball. I noted it was 2:02 in the clock when we had our first crowd unrest about playing in our own box. There were boos within the half. I've no idea how anyone thinks that will help. Seems like the equivalent of solving immigration by looting Greggs.

The stalwarts Jones and Coyle were rock steady, though not exempt from giving up possession. Oscar did a good job, while he's here, and was important to defending set pieces. Millar looks like he'll excite and frustrate in equal measure. Jarvis had an exciting introduction but still needs to get to grips with the strength and pace of the Championship. 

A reasonable start, I thought. We were just about worth the point. We certainly had the best openings. I was simultaneously shocked that we didn't get hammered and we weren't 3-0 up. The whole of pre-season has reminded me of Slutsky's introduction to the club. This game did too. I think we might be in for a crazy season.

(This was a quick post written on my phone. Apologies for errors)

Hull City 3 QPR 0: No dramas as The Tigers finally win at home

I don’t only bother with a match report when City win but it is a far more motivating and enjoyable to write about a victory which is why there have been so few for a team that have only won away from home in the last three and half months. 

City welcomed out of form QPR to the MKM Stadium but given two of the recent home draws have been against troubled Blackpool and Huddersfield – that was of little comfort.

City: Ingram, Christie, Elder, Jones, McLoughlin, Seri, Docherty, Slater, Tufan, Connolly, Estupiñán.

The headline team news was the absence of Jacob Greaves, expected since Liam Rosenior’s press conference, which ended a run of 110 consecutive league appearances. Losing our best defender was a blow, but Elder deputised brilliantly at left back while McLoughlin played very well, for the most part, at centre half.

The Tigers started the game well and looked confident despite the troubles at home in the last few months. Oscar, Connolly and Slater worked hard off the ball but pressed smartly, allowing QPR’s defenders to have the ball at times and dropping to deny the very quick front three – Lowe, Roberts and Adomah – and the brilliant Illias Chair any space in behind. While remaining committed to playing out from the back, there was a noticeable change in approach when short, forward passes weren’t on with McLoughlin and Ingram looking to go diagonal earlier and it was effective with Christie a particularly effective outball.

An early chance fell to Connolly as the ball broke of a long ball and his curling effort missed the far post by less than a yard. He’d barely got over the disappointment when Docherty found Christie, who stumbled through several chances and the last of them only diverted the ball to Connolly who opened his account for City with a good, if deflected, finish [1-0].

City didn’t kick on as they’d have liked but held the advantage. Ingram was practically a defensive midfielder at times as they controlled the game. They had great moments too. Seri produced a filfthy backheel to control and pass a ball dropping out of the air in one movement but Slater couldn’t slide through Oscar. A superb first touch from Connolly allowed him to release a rampaging Elder who found Docherty but he shot over. Christie fired another cross/shot that the keeper saved and the rebound was taken off Oscar’s toe.

Chair was quieter than usual but turned Christie inside out before his cross was headed down and into Ingram’s hands. He then took a free kick that looked for all the world was beating Ingram, who’d taken a step forward, only for a big fist to punch it over the bar. As QPR applied a bit of pressure, McLoughlin won three impressive and important headers in just a couple of minutes.

Rosenior picked a well balanced side. It was spearheaded by Oscar, accommodated Tufan, who might produce a moment of magic, was offered pace by Connolly’s inclusion and had the hard-working trio of Seri, Slater and Docherty at it’s heart. The back four, despite the absence of Greaves, were still huge, mobile and superbly organised. There has been some talk of leaving Slater out online in the last couple of weeks but decisions on “resting” players are made on huge amounts of data, not the old eye test, and his numbers are clearly excellent. His passing was pretty sloppy in the first half but you can’t argue with the amount of ground he covers and the amount of running he does at pace. The same is true of Docherty.

Three minutes were added for an injury to QPR’s left back, Paal. Though genuinely injured, he was sent back on by the physio, whereupon he immediately sat down to buy time for a sub to get ready. This is the sort of cynical nonsense that kills the game. He was lucky to escape a yellow card.

Half time: Hull City 1 QPR 0

QPR made changes at half-time with powerful youngster Sinclair Armstrong leading the line. They were on top for the first 15 mins or so of the half without doing much damage. McLoughlin got outmuscled on the City left but a ball across the middle found Jones perfectly positioned to clear. Otherwise the visitors dominated possession, with City happy to drop deep and without a way through.

Seri picked up an incredible amount of second balls throughout the game and just after the hour he fought for another one deep in their half, won it and slid through Connolly, looking a bit offside, who in turn found Tufan whose cross was smashed into his own net by Dickie [2-0].

Almost immediately, Seri launched a great ball over the top that sent Connolly racing away and he finished easily [3-0]. QPR defenders were left praying for offside again but Connolly’s electric pace had just done for them. It was a tremendous pass and run but if we’d conceded the goal, similar to the one Ross Stewart scored for Sunderland recently, we’d have been fuming!

City fans sang “You’re gonna cry in a minute” at the away fans. In the last seconds, with the QPR manager, Critchley, inexplicably fuming about a throw-in decision while 0-3 down, the song got another rendition in his direction. Funny.

A far post corner on 71 mins was headed towards goal by Dickie but stopped excellently by Ingram. As the ball was cleared downfield, Seri was chasing down the goalkeeper. He’s everywhere. A young lad in front of me suggested Ingram was “prime Manuel Neuer”. That might be taking it a bit far but he’s in excellent form and his distribution gets better and better. It’s harsh that he’s seemingly going to find himself behind another loanee if Karl Darlow joins from Newcastle.

Rosenior chucked on both Ryans, Woods and Longman, with fifteen minutes left and afforded himself the chance to rest Seri. Coyle, Smith and Simons came on later. City’s hunger to chase and shutdown the ball in the last ten minutes, despite the three goal cushion, was really impressive. The subs helped but no-one showed more sheer effort than Regan Slater. Rest, my arse.

Full time: Hull City 3 QPR 0

Hurrah! A home win! Also a really impressive performance for the fans at the MKM to enjoy. It’s been a long time coming. City have another chance next week against another out of form side in Cardiff City. Is momentum building or is this just an Indian, er, winter? Who knows but this game was certainly enjoyable.

Before that game, there’s the small matter of the transfer window to see out. It’s been a decent month so far with players going out as well as coming in. Some of the real dross signed in the last two summers have been binned. There’s likely to be more ins and outs before Tuesday but there’s not too much required. Ebiowei, Traore and Pelkas are close to fitness and Tetteh will be back in another couple of games. That’s four big additions to today’s squad. I’d like to see a left-back come in to challenge Elder, allowing Greaves to play centre-half. I’d have gone for a goalkeeper to back-up Ingram, but we clearly need one. I don’t think we require too much more given the squad is still hovering around 30 senior players.

You’d always take a player who’ll improve you at the top end of the pitch, where it matters. It looked for all the world today that in Aaron Connolly, The Tigers already have done.

Hull City 1 Reading 2: Tigers troubles feel familiar

It’s like déjà vu all over again. Hull City go into a Saturday afternoon home game off the back off an impressive win on the road, name an unchanged team playing a sturdy 4-4-1-1 and lose on our patch again. The only real difference was that Reading aren’t a patch on Blackburn and this was wholly avoidable.

Liam Rosenior understandably picked the same team who impressively brought home three points from Cardiff, with confirmation of Oscar Estupiñán’s three game ban making a change up front unlikely.

City: Baxter, Christie, Greaves, Jones, Figueiredo, Seri, Woods, Docherty, Longman, Slater, Pelkas.

The Tigers started brightly. Despite some fear in the crowd, I’d call it playing out from the back PTSD, they were determined to build play and Seri was involved much earlier in moves – solving a real problem from the Blackburn game. I know not everyone is a fan. Someone near me called it "too much messing about" while someone else cheered loudly when Figueiredo lumped a ball up to that traditional hulking number nine, Pelkas. There’s a real vocal minority who hate City trying to play football and always have. The fact is, all successful teams do it and have for a long time. They take risks, they draw teams out and they make spaces appear higher up the pitch. We need to get used to it and support the players in doing it, not create an atmosphere of trepidation. I understand that it’s crap when it goes wrong but that is the risk. The key to success is to be better at it, not to abandon your principals and lump balls forward. We were better at it today. Not much, but a bit.

In spite of all that, this was a game of three set pieces, and we got the first. A Seri corner on 7 was cleared, Woods headed it back into the box and Figueiredo should have scored but his header was pushed wide. The following corner was delayed due to Reading trying to infiltrate a crazy City huddle and the pretty inept referee getting his knickers in a twist about it. When the corner finally came in from Seri, the City huddle parted into numerous runs and Greaves’s was completely undetected as his headed home from close range [1-0]. It wasn’t the first we’d see of an innovative approach to set pieces.

It was wonderful to see Greaves score his first home goal in his 59^th game for City at the MKM Stadium. He’s one of the best centre-halves in the league but played left-back here and was almost immaculate. His confidence on the ball and timing of his thundering tackles is a joy to behold. You’ve got to take joy where you can at the moment.

City didn’t really capitalise on the goal. In fact, the next 15 minutes were pretty humdrum until Reading keeper Bouzanis raced from his goal and completely fluffed a clearance leaving Slater clean through with a defender struggling to recover and an open goal but Slater just couldn’t get the ball out of his feet and was eventually pushed wide and a huge chance went. City paid for it on the half hour. Baxter pushed a shot around the post after a blocked Ince shot caused mild panic. Figueiredo had a much better game and he’d headed everything but as the corner was delivered near post, for once City didn’t meet it first and Meite, grappling with Greaves, tapped it in [1-1].

Rosenior reacted by switching Longman from the left of midfield for Pelkas who’d been the “false nine”. Pelkas in either position has no effect on the game whatsoever. It wasn’t Longman’s day, more on that later, but he did give City a focal point, pressed well and was a target for some effective through balls in the second half. He was our best weapon. That’s not saying much.

On 39, Hendrick committed a horrendous foul on Woods, going over the ball in a 50/50. Everyone in the stadium could see it was a red card, except the man who mattered – he produced a yellow. I know all football fans complain about referees but I really feel City don’t get the rub of the green from them. Our players are constantly told to get up. I’ve no problem with that whatsoever if they’re going down easily but it isn’t the same the other way. There were two blatant pulls in the box that weren’t given. One from a corner was probably hard to spot. The other, on Tufan, wasn’t. It’s clear no-one is handing City anything they don’t earn this season.

Half time: Hull City 1 Reading 1

The opening 15 of the second half was a non-event sparking a triple sub from Rosenior. Tufan, Coyle and Sinik replaced Woods, Christie and Pelkas. The change did eventually bring City to life but it took a while and Tufan had little to do with it. His contribution here was worryingly sparse. Reading also made changes but it didn’t immediately help them either. Both keepers had little to do in truth. Ex-Tiger Shane Long had fewer touches than some fans did. It rarely felt like The Tigers would go on and win the game but nor were they ever in danger of losing it. Old foe Andy Carroll came on, oddly sporting the number two shirt, which did create a bit of nagging doubt but he was also ineffective. Ahem.

The starting positions for a second half Hull City corner!

On 68, a lovely City move saw Greaves deliver a good cross that evaded Longman at the far post. On 73, they worked the ball brilliantly out from the back via Figueiredo and Seri before Sinik smashed a crossfield ball with ridiculous technique out to Coyle whose cross led to the undetected pull on Tufan. Into the last 10 mins, Longman had a tame effort from distance and then met a Seri cross but without the force to trouble Bouzanis. With 2 to play, Seri burst into the box and went down under a challenge but the ref showed no interest. That one was probably spot on, in all honesty.

Football is a game of fine margins. When your luck is in, you win tight games. When it’s out, you get a boot in the teeth for your troubles. As City looked for a winner in the 91^st minute, Coyle delivered a cross for Longman but he was beaten to it by a defender who thrashed at the ball which could have gone anywhere but fell straight into the grateful arms of Bouzanis. A minute later, Docherty was harshly penalised for a good-looking challenge on our right. They chucked the ball into the box where Carroll rose and headed the ball down straight into Longman who could only ricochet the ball into our net [1-2].

There’s little to say to that. My 8 year-old had some wise words. “It’s just a game” she said “Losing isn’t going to affect your real life”. If anyone wants her, she’s where I left her at the MKM Stadium. Unless she’s started walking home.

Full time: Hull City 1 Reading 2

The unprecedented winter break for the World Cup is probably welcome at City. It will give Rosenior time to work with the players and get across his ideas. They’ll presumably play some behind closed doors friendlies to maintain fitness and it’ll be a bit of a bonus “pre-season”. It will allow key players to regain fitness. When she wasn’t belittling my lifelong football obsession today, my daughter did ask a good question about when we’re likely to see M’Hand. The same can be asked of Vale and Simons. We have an awful lot of players not doing anything and this period will allow Rosenior to rip things up and start again. Players who aren’t close to the first team need to go. Players with big reputations need to start earning them. Lads who give their all need a pick-me-up. Overall, the team still needs to find some identity and to learn to play with tempo, move the ball quicker, while taking the risks required, and harm teams rather than troubling only the Opta nerd counting the passes.

One swallow doesn’t make a summer. One hasn’t made our Autumn. I’m not as excited as I normally would be for the World Cup. But it probably beats watching City right now!

 

 

Hull City 0 Blackburn Rovers 1: Reality check for tame Tigers

After two impressive Hull City away wins under interim gaffer Andy Dawson, it was back to normal at home to promotion-chasing Blackburn Rovers at a subdued MKM Stadium.

Blackburn are flying under Jon Dahl Tomasson and showed their control, pace and movement to good effect in the first half and their doggedness and mastery of the dark arts in the last half an hour. We’ve been in the opposite position. February 2016 most memorably, going to Blackburn with no fear, watching The Tigers take three points and march towards the Premier League. It’s a good feeling. It was very much in reverse yesterday.

City: Baxter, Christie, Greaves, Jones, Figueiredo, Docherty, Slater, Seri, Woods, Pelkas, Longman.

I missed both away games due to girls’ football and an 8 year old’s martial arts themed birthday party (true story) and so my most recent experience of watching City is miserable and the first half did little to change that. City’s 4-4-1-1 with four grafting midfielders and a striker who’ll work and work without the ball was effective away from home but didn’t live up to the expectancy of playing in front of a good home crowd, who were never given any reason to be excited. They were incredibly easy to defend against, despite playing four central midfielders, there was never a pass on when Jones and Figueiredo were on the ball. Greaves, short, or Christie, in behind, were the only outball every time and Blackburn ate them up. Pelkas, playing off Longman, was the creative outlet and he was hard to find. At the other end, Blackburn had a bit of a donkey up front, in Gallagher, but had Brereton, Szmodics and little Dolan running off him which was much more effective.

City were warned on 13 mins of the danger when Szmodics got in between Figueiredo and Christie and Baxter saved well before an outstanding Seri challenge denied Brereton the rebound but within a minute, the same run and slid through pass found Szmodics again to finish superbly from a tighter angle [0-1]. It was a game of fine margins but City would not make a chance this good in the game. The closest they came in the first half came on 26 mins when Docherty found Slater, whose excellent left footed cross just evaded Longman as he slid in at the far post and connected with the woodwork and not the ball. City had plenty of the ball, a couple of corners and some half chances but were way off the level of the visitors.

Blackburn have a bit of everything. They’re a young, fit side who have disciplined and tactically aware players carrying out clear instructions. They’re a threat from the three playing off the striker and the full backs and they have a target man to hit if all else fails. They’ve got all the tricks of the trade down to a fine art. Ben Brereton, particularly, showed this. It’s a great story, his conversion into a South American footballer and as well as growing out his hair and beard and sticking “Diaz” on the end of his name, he’s buying fouls and going down “injured” like a 70s foreigner stereotype. Four times he went down in the game with no-one near him. Four times. He won a free-kick claiming a push off Pelkas, who is about 2 feet tall. It’d be impressive to watch if it wasn’t so frustrating.

Half time: Hull City 0 Blackburn Rovers 1

Dawson made two subs at the break with Fleming and Tufan replacing Jones and Seri and were much improved for them. They showed greater urgency in challenged and taking restarts and Fleming was a good outlet on the left. The second half became a basketball game for 15 minutes and was genuinely end-to-end. Pelkas delivered a fantastic near-post corner that Figueiredo somehow didn’t connect with. Baxter immediately produced a tremendous save with a strong left hand to deny Brereton on the counter. Docherty then cleared a header from a corner off the line before Docherty crossed brilliantly from our right and Pelkas arrived to head down into the turf and it bounced up and over the bar.

Tomasson reacted cleverly to the openness of the game and sent on several defensive minded subs, the most familiar and impressive being Daniel Ayala. He dictated the rest of their game, ripping into Carter late on for his sloppiness from a quick throw-in. Dawson made more subs, introducing Estupiñán, Sinik and then Coyle very late, but for all their endeavour, City couldn’t find the momentum to create clear chances and Blackburn killed the game with their unabashed time-wasting and cheap fouls, aided by some weak refereeing.

The cheap fouls are nothing new but my tolerance for them disappeared long ago and they are killing the game. Turn on your radio and you’ll hear that referees are “letting the game flow” and it’s bollocks. They kill games with their constant interference and the selectiveness of it winds fans up. Longman and Estupiñán both had their shirts pulled blatantly but the game didn’t stop. A defender cleared the ball and then caught Oscar, who was trying to block, and the game got pulled back 30 yards for a free kick that took a minute to take. Woods was booked for a real nothing challenge. A few minutes later, he committed a clear foul that wasn’t given at all. I’ll never justify our players going down easily but Slater did it twice and was (rightly) given nothing but Brereton going down like Pelkas is Eddie Hall is given.

To top it all off, they ran out the 6 minutes of added time by taking an age over every gal kick and throw in. The ref didn’t book anyone, instead he kept pointing at his arm in the air to indicate that he was going to add on all the time. When did he blow up? Exactly on the 6 minutes he indicated. Cheers mate.

Full time: Hull City 0 Blackburn Rovers 1

For all the frustrations caused by the officiating, City’s biggest problems are our own shortcomings. In this calendar year, we’ve found two ways to play effectively, though inconsistently. Arveladze had some success with three centre halves in a back five. Dawson got some results with two banks of four including four central midfielders. Neither have been effective at home aside from the results we’ve ground out. It feels like, League One apart, we’ve been grinding out results at home for four years now. Creating a team with an identity who can make home feel like a place City will turn teams over again is a big challenge for the new manager. There are potentially exciting attacking players in the squad but they’re not playing and we don’t play a style that looks likely to suit them either. It’s a quandary.

Will the new manager be Liam Rosenior? It seems like it. He doesn’t have much more experience than Andy Dawson in terms of first team games managed. But he’s an impressive, well-thought of young manager with his own ideas of how the game should be played. He feels like the sort of person we’d all be demanding should be part of our club under any other circumstances. My only concern is that Rosie is so well thought of here from his time as a player that I’d hate to see things go sour for him. I hope he gets the time and patience needed to build something here. For all the optimism of the early part of the season, this is clearly still a huge work in progress and will take another season at least to build a team as well-balanced as Blackburn Rovers.