Hull City 0-2 Blues

 

Starting XI

Two changes. Juninho Bacuna and Troy Deeney return. Dion Sanderson is suspended. George Hall drops to the bench.

Game

Hull started well and made the most of the open space, almost scoring within a couple of minutes after good work from Greg Docherty and Dimitrious Pelkas. Blues started to get a grip, however, tightening the gaps and lazy defending from Jacob Greaves led to a penalty, the Hull captain holding onto the shirt of Kristian Bielik. Deeney made no mistake from the spot in typical fashion.

There were few clear chances in this game. John Ruddy was forced into a top class save to deny Cyrus Christie's near post header. Later on, Bacuna cut inside and forced a good stop from Nathan Baxter before trying a cheeky lob with the outside of his boot.

It took just three minutes for Blues to open the scoring in the second half, working a situation well down the left before Tahith Chong switched to Bacuna who cut inside and blasted home from 25 yards.

Bielik hit the outside of the post with a half volley before Blues won another penalty, Chong played in behind by Ofan Tuzan and being fouled by Baxter. Deeney was less precise with this attempt from 12 yards, blazing over. Estupinan had a late header he got all wrong after a gorgeous Ryan Woods pass.

Not much else happened, substitutions aside. The game fell flat and Blues saw it out comfortably.

Tactics

Hull played a curious system. For the most part, it felt like 4-2-3-1. Christie and Greaves at full back, Docherty and Dogukan Sinik starting wide with Pelkas in behind Oscar Estupinan. However, it definitely felt like they moved into a 3-4-3 at times, Greaves tucking in and Sinik pulling wide. It was fairly fluid, particularly with Docherty happy to roam from his right-sided position.

For Blues, it was as standard: 3-1-4-2. Deeney & Scott Hogan dropped off to begin with. Chong closed Christie if the ball was funnelled that way. Hannibal closed Greaves on the other side. That would be the press trigger. Deeney and Hogan would shift across, Bielik would step up on Jean Seri, at the base of the Hull midfield with the Blues back three pushing up on to the Hull attack. Blues would then have a spare man on the cover either side.

What helped Blues was that Estupinan was very quick to make a move and Hull lacked either the time or willingness to find him - they weren't on the same wavelength. They instead often played slow and into trouble centrally or were too late to find the ball over the top where Blues had the speed and numbers to cover. When Blues broke, they could do so in numbers knowing the back four would be exposed - Sinik didn't want to follow Bacuna which gave Blues an outlet and Seri / Tufan lacked the speed and energy to match the progression and runs of Hannibal, Bielik and Chong.

Players

Bielik is so, so good. Won a number of ground duels, read the game brilliantly and played forward quickly. His aggressive position and sheer physique made him a real presence.

Bacuna had the shoulders of somebody unhappy to be positioned at wing back but he showed his quality with a fine strike and some excellent touches - he added quality to an energetic and talented midfield.

Maxime Colin and Auston Trusty were excellent. Just solid. And Harlee Dean didn't put a foot wrong.

For Hull, Seri was the most impressive player on the pitch. Press resistant. Just less bothered about doing the other work. And Docherty at least gave it a go.

Anything else?

The goalposts. Two inches too high, apparently, causing a delay to the game. I'd love to give Deeney that excuse but that penalty was probably still going over.

I didn't see it myself but I've been told Woods was ignored by Hogan and Lukas Jutkiewicz after coming on. He did have a chat with Deeney post-match, however, so maybe it was just in-game, old school behaviour.

Every player went over to supporters at the end of the game, something that has become common away from home. Fans serenaded a number of players but it was heartening to see Deeney then Bacuna push a slightly shy Dean to the front and fans responded with applause and an old chant. There's a real togetherness right now despite ongoing off field problems and it's great to see.

Wrapping it up...

I'm again wary of getting too excited given Hull ultimately proved a poor side. However, this was quite comfortable in the end. I think I can be forgiven but believing we might genuinely be a good football team.

I'm having fun watching us. I can't remember the last time I said that. We can play. We can mix it. We can pose a threat. We can defend. We have a structure. We just look like a functional football team - we haven't done so for a stretch like of this many games since Garry Monk was in charge.

My brother joked about us playing against Burnley on Wednesday. Of course, they're a very good side and will rightly be favourites to win. But I'm not fearful. I wouldn't be surprised if we got a result. I'm not expecting us to get our backsides handed to us. It's nice to feel that way.

There's a lot more work to do but I'm feeling positive at the moment. Let's enjoy it while we can.