Hull post match waffle

[Babylon]

Too many people been on the sherry today, not that I can lecture about drunk posting!!!

[Babylon]

Think you've got me confused pal. Havent been on here during the game. Glued to the radio.

I think you should check your recent posts lists.

[Mark_w]

Interesting point you make there, but we do have to win some away games to alleviate the pressure to win the majority of our games at home which we have done at least we can start doing that on Saturday against Burnley.

You're right clearly, but as we get used to keeping games away from home tight and keeping clean sheets we can start to take a few more risks, because we'll know that we're picking up enough points on the road. I mean it's not like playing that type of game makes it impossible for us to score, players like Knockaert, Dyer, Nugent etc. can all cause problems on the counter-attack. If we win the majority of our home games and draw the majority away, we'll average two points a game and we'll be fine. We've got a defense perfectly capable of shutting games down away from home, and apart from a few little blips at home we've been fine.

[Bettsj2]

For the record its just a bit of sarcasm. I think that midfield trio backed up by knocky and an in form Marshall will be too much for most to handle.

One other thing, been looking over the match thread and the comments made were definitely not me. Been at a mates house with a load of people listening to the game so probably one of their ideas of a joke.

If you look over my previous posts especially post Barnsley, you'll see i'm supportive of NP and the team always.

[Col city fan]

Think you've got me confused pal. Havent been on here during the game. Glued to the radio.

So you weren't posting in the match thread today?

And they weren't highly negative posts?

[Happy Fox]

You're right clearly, but as we get used to keeping games away from home tight and keeping clean sheets we can start to take a few more risks, because we'll know that we're picking up enough points on the road. I mean it's not like playing that type of game makes it impossible for us to score, players like Knockaert, Dyer, Nugent etc. can all cause problems on the counter-attack. If we win the majority of our home games and draw the majority away, we'll average two points a game and we'll be fine. We've got a defense perfectly capable of shutting games down away from home, and apart from a few little blips at home we've been fine.

Agreed I just hope these players we bring in Wood and Trotter potentially and maybe another one or two depending on which players we can offload can give us that momentum to get that elusive 2nd spot because it is going to be tough to catch Cardiff now imo.

[Bettsj2]

So you weren't posting in the match thread today?

And they weren't highly negative posts?

See my last post. Someone playing a hilarious prank.

Sorry if it offended anyone.

[kingfox]

So you weren't posting in the match thread today?

And they weren't highly negative posts?

This forum is completely fooked tonight, don't know what's coming or going.

I am taking a break.

[marbelladave]

Have you lost the plot?

Of course a point away from home against the team second in the division after the poor run of form we have had is a good result.

You're fitting nicely into one of the 'we have a divine right to success' crowd!

I agree our results recently have been poor, but TODAY'S is a good result.

I have not criticised the result, just the performance, though it does appear that that was a little unfair given the views of some who were ACTUALLY at the game.

A defensive midfielder who can give the likes of King and Drinkwater the freedom to play a more attacking role could be beneficial.

Look at the stats, we have a solid defence partly based on the defensive wort of King and Drinkwater and you want to tear it up and push them into more forward roles where they are much less good?

I think it was understandable that NP went for a cautious approach considering our recent losses.

Cart>>>>horse.

Our recent losses are, primarily, caused by our cautious approach.

We had a serious good go, it's Hull away not Sheffield Wednesday. Was always going to be difficult, and I would of taken a point before the game started, good result for us with them being on decent form.

Knockaert, Waghorn, Gallagher all had good chances, so saying we didn't really go for a win is ridiculous.

If that is the case then fair enough, I am happy to be corrected. For what it is worth, the commentary suggested a boring game and a fairly negative performance, I should know better.....

[Mark_w]

Look at the stats, we have a solid defence partly based on the defensive wort of King and Drinkwater and you want to tear it up and push them into more forward roles where they are much less good?

Not regularly no, but I'd like us to have that option. I'm not sure they are worse in forward positions, I'd need to see Drinkwater play in that role a bit more frequently.

[ADK]

If we are gonna have an attacking CM we can use Knockaert, Marshall or Gally surely? DD and AK seem like they are perfectly suited to being box to box midfielders.

[Grewks]

Put this result into perspective...

If West Brom went to man city they would take a point, so why can we not accept that a draw at Hull is a good result??

We proved during our run what our best 14/15 players are capable of, we are a work in progress and we just remember that.

[Thrill Bert Fox]

If we are gonna have an attacking CM we can use Knockaert, Marshall or Gally surely? DD and AK seem like they are perfectly suited to being box to box midfielders.

I would like to see a ball winning Midfielder for me DD looks the part but does not deliver - we have lots of players who could cover the attacking midfidler role in particular AK but I dont think Nigel likes him to show any flair.

[Happy Fox]

Put this result into perspective...

If West Brom went to man city they would take a point, so why can we not accept that a draw at Hull is a good result??

We proved during our run what our best 14/15 players are capable of, we are a work in progress and we just remember that.

I am sorry your comparison is a load of bollocks Hull's side and ours are fairly similar in terms of quality.

[Mark_w]

I am sorry your comparison is a load of bollocks Hull's side and ours are fairly similar in terms of quality.

If Man City got a draw at Old Trafford they'd be fairly happy. Better comparison?

[ADK]

I would like to see a ball winning Midfielder for me DD looks the part but does not deliver - we have lots of players who could cover the attacking midfidler role in particular AK but I dont think Nigel likes him to show any flair.

Matty James?

I actually think both DD and AK win balls fairly regularly. For me our biggest problem in games is giving the ball away needlessly in the opposing thrid and getting caught on the break. We have more than enough central midfield options (imo).

[theessexfox]

When Chris Wood signs he will make the difference hopefully, whether that is in a 4-4-2 alongside Nugent or the front man in a 4-3-3 we will see.

But which central mid-fielding type player do we need to sign general consensus is Danns and Wellens are surplus to requirements imo i.e Trotter type player or a Koren type player?

Woah, woah, WOAH.

[Happy Fox]

If Man City got a draw at Old Trafford they'd be fairly happy. Better comparison?

True.

[Col city fan]

I posted the other day and can't recollect I got any responses?

It strikes me the top teams very often play their 'holding midfielder(s)':

Man City had DeJong and now have Javi Garcia/Rodwell and Barry.

Man Utd have Carrick.

Barcelona have Mascherano and Busquets.

Chelsea have Obi Mikel and had Essien (now doing the same role at Real Madrid.

Inter have Cambiasso

AC Milan had Gattuso and Pirlo.

What these players do/did was to win the ball, keep it, slow play down and sit in front of the back four to cover it with another layer of defence.

Perhaps more importantly, they give/gave the more attack minded, flair players in their respective teams, the time, the space and the freedom to do damage in the opposition half.

Silva and Nasri, knowing they don't really have a 'defensive duty' in the Man City team, are free to stay forward and to roam.

Hazard, Mata and Oscar... Don't need to get back to cover. Obi Mikel does that job.

Etc.....

Of course, we aren't in the same ball-park at these teams. But their formation, based upon 'defenders defending' and 'attackers attacking' seems to bear fruit and has been replicated time and again.

If we have attack minded players who know their role in the side is not to defend, they might start attacking more and this cry for 'flair' in the side may be satisfied.

Personally I think the squad has flair. It's the lack of the 'defensive midfield men' that thwarts it. This has been my opinion for some time now and remains so.

For the 'big clubs' flair is underpinned by solidity. I don't know why it can't be for City. The 'goals scored' section could increase radically if 'the goalscorers' were on the pitch to just do that.

[Loggy88]

Some city fans seem to think we have a right to romp the league because we have owners with plenty if cash. This league is incredibly competitive and some games won't go our way. But we're in the playoffs still and I'm not convinced Hull are good enough to stay up there for the rest if the season and the same with palace. We can get promotion this year. We have a good squad and a good manager, we need another striker and a tougher midfield player.

[Manwell Pablo]

Positives-

It's stopped the potential run of defeats

A clean sheet

A rival near the top hasn't got further away

Negatives-

Three games without a goal

Four without a win

12 points behind Cardiff and 6 from 3rd

I don't know about anyone else but at the minute I am more concerned looking down than up. If we don't beat Huddersfield we could well be out the top six. Really not thinking about Automatic promotion at the minute.

[Guest ttfn]

Just got back.

0-0 was probably a fair result. Hull had 1 or 2 reasonable opportunities and we didn't have any, but neither side really did enough to win the game.

That said, I thought Hull's front players were excellent today - a real handful with some clever movement. They gave Morgan and Whitbread a really hard time, especially Aluko. It's credit to those 2 that they didn't really create anything, but once again Whitbread was guilty of some odd decision-making (not to mention terrible distribution).

As I say, we didn't really ever look like scoring. This is becoming a real concern. After scoring regularly, if not prolifically, for the first 12 games, the last 12 games have seen us in feast-or-famine mode. Other than Knockaert, who was our best player again today, there is no creativity in the side. Marshall was once again tremendously disappointing. The guy clearly has a lot of ability, and I'm sure he'll come good eventually, but at the moment he doesn't look like he wants the ball.

King was poor today, pushed up in the sort of 4-2-3-1/4-3-3 we were playing. As has been said a billion times before by a billion different posters, this doesn't work with King. He's a very good box-to-box midfielder at this level - let's use him this way rather than trying to force a creative burden on him as well. In Knockaert and Marshall we clearly have 2 players who could do the business in the middle of the "3" of a 4-2-3-1 (if that is the way we go - in fact such a move might even spur Marshall out of his rut) so putting King there is a waste of a good player.

The lack of goals is a real concern, but today was a really good point earned from a solid defensive display and a lack of ideas from both sides.

Need 2 wins out of 2 in the next week.

[ruisliptiger]

From our perspective I'm pretty happy with a point. I would have hoped for 4pts over Christmas but wouldn't be disappointed with 2pts. A home fixture against Leeds beckons on the 29th. You certainly have a well drilled team there with a modicum of flair. A good base on which to build from.

I've added a link to one of our match reports. It's as well balanced as you can hope to get from a (Hull) City site. As you'd expect there's plenty of words given over to discussing the merits of a certain Nigel Pearson.

http://www.ambernectar.org/blog/2012/12/match-report-city-0-leicester-0/#more-9921

[Bert]

A draw was certainly fair. Either team could've won it but no one really deserved it.

Pleased with how we defended.

[kingfox]

I posted the other day and can't recollect I got any responses?

It strikes me the top teams very often play their 'holding midfielder(s)':

Man City had DeJong and now have Javi Garcia/Rodwell and Barry.

Man Utd have Carrick.

Barcelona have Mascherano and Busquets.

Chelsea have Obi Mikel and had Essien (now doing the same role at Real Madrid.

Inter have Cambiasso

AC Milan had Gattuso and Pirlo.

What these players do/did was to win the ball, keep it, slow play down and sit in front of the back four to cover it with another layer of defence.

Perhaps more importantly, they give/gave the more attack minded, flair players in their respective teams, the time, the space and the freedom to do damage in the opposition half.

Silva and Nasri, knowing they don't really have a 'defensive duty' in the Man City team, are free to stay forward and to roam.

Hazard, Mata and Oscar... Don't need to get back to cover. Obi Mikel does that job.

Etc.....

Of course, we aren't in the same ball-park at these teams. But their formation, based upon 'defenders defending' and 'attackers attacking' seems to bear fruit and has been replicated time and again.

If we have attack minded players who know their role in the side is not to defend, they might start attacking more and this cry for 'flair' in the side may be satisfied.

Personally I think the squad has flair. It's the lack of the 'defensive midfield men' that thwarts it. This has been my opinion for some time now and remains so.

For the 'big clubs' flair is underpinned by solidity. I don't know why it can't be for City. The 'goals scored' section could increase radically if 'the goalscorers' were on the pitch to just do that.

Don't even have to bring the top clubs in the Premiership into the suggestion. Compare us with teams in our division, teams who have got promoted in the past, they all played with that defensive solidness in midfield along with attacking flare especially Southampton last season.

Schneiderlin, Cork, Hammond sat and did the defensive, all round and dirty work, while Lallana and Guly added the attacking presence and flare, same with Reading by having Leigertwood be the defensive presence, who also got forward, while they had pace on the wings with McAnuff and Kebe, and West Ham were similar with Nolan and Noble all round solid displays which were too good for the League, supplied the likes of Baldock, Vaz Te and Cole with the goals.