Hull City 2 Bristol City 1 - The 2022/23 season opener!

New kit. New sponsor. New faces. New, and old, fans. New season. New hope. New Hull City.

Bristol City were the first visitors to the MKM Stadium after Acun ilicali’s summer evolution and with so many new players to integrate into Shota Arveladze’s squad and mixed results in pre-season, there was much anticipation rather than expectation amongst the majority of the 16,667 in attendance.

Hull City fans walk to the MKM Stadium in the July drizzle.

 

City: Ingram, Coyle, Jones, Figueiredo, Greaves, Sayyadmanesh (Elder), Seri, Slater, Tufan (Docherty), Estupiñán (Tetteh), T. Smith (Covil).

An injury to Brandon Fleming and Callum Elder being unwell meant a start at left-wing back for striker Allahyar Sayyadmanesh. I’ve no idea how familiar he is with the role but he was great. He conceded about 150 free-kicks and struggled to deliver anything on his left foot but he ran all day, made dozens of tackles and whipped in some useful balls when he could cut in on his right. Hopefully the calf injury that ended his afternoon isn’t too serious because the electric Iranian is popular for a reason amongst the City support. 

City eventually grew into the game but were struggling early on. Our high defensive line was exploited with excellent long passes and great movement from Weimann, in particular. The Tigers conceded numerous free-kicks with just-too-late challenges. An early set piece was cleared but when the ball was returned into the box, James headed powerfully towards the bottom right-hand corner only to be denied by a superb hand from Ingram. City established a foothold as the half went on enjoying plenty of possession but not really harming the visitors being slow to pass the ball forward and lacking options in midfield. Regan Slater was clearly hanging out much wider than he normally would to protect Allahyar at wing-back and it left Seri as the only outlet most of the time.

Seri’s a tremendous player, as his pedigree suggests. The chairman suggested he’s Barcelona quality in the press conference yesterday and he’s certainly got some Barca qualities. He was on the edge of the 18-yard line with a man up his arse telling Ingram he’d happily have the ball. He’s always looking for it, moves it quickly and effectively and moves to get it back. His range of passing didn’t always come off but the array of things he tried was spectacular – and this is just the first game. His set-piece delivery, corners particularly, wasn’t great but that’s all you could criticise him for. This was some first impression.

Greaves went charging into their box to connect with a throw-in, was nudged and went down looking for a foul. The ref waved it away but from the clearance, the ball was swung in towards Estupiñán who got a clear push in the back and went down but the ref didn’t want to know again. He didn’t want to know quite often throughout the half and it felt like we weren’t getting the rub of the green. A feel exacerbated when a soft free-kick awarded against an over-eager Seri was swung in, evaded several flailing defenders and was headed back across for Weimann to score [0-1].

City responded well to going behind and were building up a head of steam before half time. Estupiñán had a decent chance, but the keeper smothered his left footed shot after Seri slid him in and then a Greaves knockdown was scrambled away for a corner. A goalmouth scramble from the subsequent delivery ended the half.

Estupiñán, and Tyler Smith, had little of the ball, but both made numerous intelligent runs that either weren’t spotted or weren’t found. The Colombian ran the right channel and held the ball up well at times but runners from midfield weren’t forthcoming. He did well though and looked far more dangerous than the, admittedly meaningless, appearances in pre-season.

Half-time: City 0 Bristol City 1

The second half was a completely different story as City established not just possession but a level of control. Bristol City are a well-drilled, typically Nigel Pearson, side who have plenty of threatening players and are good enough to find them. But they reverted to type after the break an showed no ambition whatsoever. Their rare forays forward were halted by the head of Figueiredo and some sensational tackles by the magnificent Jacob Greaves.

Ten minutes in, Alfie Jones turned up on the right and cut the ball back, Seri stepped over it and Ozan Tufan curled a beautiful shot from the edge of the box against the outside of the post. A terrific effort from City’s first ever Turkish signing who looked much, much better for the recent friendly outings. He looked more mobile, hungrier for the ball and showed glimpses of his ability to link play and his goal threat.

If the ref had favoured the visitors, that started to swing as first Dasilva and then Weimann were left complaining that they hadn’t been given free-kicks for strong but fair challenges. City’s decision making in the final third let them down but the play generally was much better, quicker and forward thinking. Just when you wondered if the momentum would go anywhere, skipper Lewie Coyle lofted a cross to the far post and substitute Benjamin Tetteh took it on his chest, cut inside, had another touch that foxed a defender and was clipped before he went down about three weeks later. Regardless, it was a foul and even this ref gave the penalty. He did then take an absolute age to allow Tufan to take it, fussing over the spotting of the ball and the players gathered on the edge of the box. Tension grew in the crowd, but Tufan was utterly nerveless smashing the ball high into the net beyond the despairing dive of Daniel Bentley. [1-1].

Greg Docherty and Callum Elder were stripped and ready to come on before the penalty award. If it had been a couple of minutes later and Tufan wouldn’t have been on to take it, so the timing was fortuitous. Bristol City suddenly found some ambition after the equaliser and their impressive left-back Dasilva had a good strike across goal before Weimann forced a decent save from Ingram at his near post. It looked for all the world a game that neither team wanted to lose and was petering out as Nigel Pearson brough on Timm Klose at centre-half just before the six added minutes went up on the board.

Tetteh then won a throw-in on the left-hand side. Elder lobbed it into the box, Klose headed clear and Seri took it down before hitting a good strike that took a massive deflection and looped over Bentley and into the top corner evoking a monstrous reaction from the home crowd, packed in behind both goals [2-1]. There was no coming back from that and everyone knew it.

Full-time: City 2 Bristol City 1

It’s only the first game but it was a great turnout from the home support and a fantastic atmosphere. The players striding around the pitch afterwards socked in the adulation. Seri stood, adored by the packed North Stand and “I can’t help falling in love” blared out. The hurt is over.

It was, obviously, a great opening day win for a side that looked like it had a LOT of work to do in the warm-up games. Going in with a striker at left wing-back just compounded that. But there were positives all over, aside from the three points. We looked as solid as we did last season. Figueiredo is basically a hooligan and Chris Martin is still looking for one of his ankles, but he’ll head anything and controlled possession. Greaves and Jones were excellent either side. Jones’ contribution wasn’t as obvious as Greaves who makes covering round and taking everything an artform, but we are a much better team with Jones in it. McLoughlin is a very capable fourth option but he’s not as good as some try to tell us and this is definitely the best three.

Tufan’s performance will have cheered everyone who was worried that he was another Bullard and he linked well at times with the indefatigable Seri. Slater took one for the team today but also used the ball incredibly well in the second half. Young Vaughn Covil, who came in as an U21 signing from Forest Green this summer, got an unexpected debut off the bench but he’s impressed everyone in the training camps and it won’t be a one-off.

Tyler Smith had a quiet day, as he often does when he starts, but he put in a lot of unseen work. He’s a proper striker and on another day, his constant movement would have got some reward. Big Tetteh looks a bit clumsy. My 8 year old said he looks like  basketball player and she’s not wrong. But he showed good composure to win the penalty and the throw-in that led to the inner so he was a very effective substitute. The forward options certainly look much better with Longman and Sinik still to come back and more signings sought. There are goals in this team. That was a big worry beforehand.

I can barely recall the last occasion as great as this one at the MKM Stadium. I’d have to go back to the height of Marco Silva’s reign. Perhaps the win over Watford with 10 men when Sam Clucas scored an incredible volley to seal it. That was the last time there was this level of optimism, support, atmosphere and just outright love for City. It’s been far, far too long. But it’s back. City are back.