Today was amazing. Made up for Smallwood, he was immense! Honest question, but how does Huddlestone fit into our style and system? I just don't see it and today really emphasised that for me.
Too right, McCann who does he think he is eh ? Lee Darrnbourgh ? WTF is he, WTF does he do all day ? The Allams ? eh ? putting a squad together for peanuts, to the doubters and the haters, up yours, Well done City. I'm proud to call my self a supporter.
Unbelievable game, so good to be back. PNE are in for a tough season so thought this was as good as any game to start with to get a first up win, and boy did we deliver. KLP looks like he's in for a huge season. Showed as much today as I can remember in any game by Bowen in terms of all round play. His creativity and drive were phenomenal, and when Wilks gets up to speed on the opposite flanks, teams won't know what to do with themselves as they won't be able to overload on either side to defend against the wingers. Magennis starting with a goal is fantastic too, as well as Cannon scoring first up. Only thing that could have possibly made it better would have been Greaves banging in a header, but can't have everything!
A late sub on to kill a game, dictate the tempo and controlling the ball perhaps. The famed "Plan B" people keep calling for! But I do tend to agree. Amazingly the possession fell in our favour (think it was even more one-sided at HT) considering that last season we quite often conceded the bulk of possession. May be more a sign of how poor PNE were than any clear change in style, but if we want to hold the ball a lot more this season, having someone with Hudd's range of passing may be useful.
Firstly, I was wrong about Smallwood, I thought he would find it difficult at this level, but he had a very good game and proved me wrong. I know it's one game, but he certainly seemed to cope with this level comfortably. Credit though to the whole team, other than the beginnings of both halves, whereby Preston scored and we have to thank Ingram for 2 excellent saves in the 2nd, we controlled the game throughout. KLP was excellent and had them on the rack for the whole game. Coyle was excellent too, and for me, Smallwood and Docherty ably assisted by Moncur controlled the midfield and the tempo of the game. Magennis worked away tirelessly, and deserved his goal, after an exquisite ball into the front post by KLP. Wilks tried hard but looked a bit rusty, obviously missing a bit of pre-season has left him a bit short of match practice. Jones was very good and after one or two shaky moments Greaves was good too. Emmanuel struggled a bit early on being out of his usual position, but grew into the game and got to grips with it. All in all, Grant got his tactics spot on and credit to him and his staff for that. Only the first game so mustn't get carried away, but the way we played certainly bodes well for the future. Long may it continue.
You are conflating more 2 or more subjects, i.e. support of City, support or not of the Allams, and support of McCann. It is quite easy to separate these subjects and have views that are mutually exclusive. So you can support City, which we all do, hate the Allams and not be an apologist despite the positive moves to merely correct previous indiscretions (a point an earlier post of yours, I think it was you, completely glossed over) and McCann now being back to where he started via a very circuitous route, but hopefully a place from which he can kick on from with the experience he now has. Just my views of course.
Going into yesterday's game I saw this fixture as an opportunity to measure where we are against an established Championship team.I thought we'd come away with a draw.. After being caught cold very early on I thought we might be on the wrong side of a hiding,how wrong I was!! This young side dusted themselves down,rolled up their sleeves,worked their socks off and provided evidence that we are so much stronger than last season.The recruitment,which has been much discussed,looks to have been very well planned and credit goes to everyone at the Club who has worked hard to provide us with some real 'players'. We'll face tougher games than this in the weeks and months to come,no doubt on that score,but our opponents will do well to come across another team with the togetherness and battling qualities we showed yesterday.It can be a hard slog supporting Hull City but yesterday was everything you could've wished for in our first venture back into familiar territory. I don't know how many games I'll get the opportunity to travel too this season but I'm ****ing ecstatic that I chose that one for starters!!UTT!!
Beginning to look like the bigger plan was get relegated to get rid of the high earners and mould a young, hungry, sellable team. Not sure I've got over the dire relegation season but if we are in the championship come May, all is forgiven towards GM
No no no no no Will posters stop saying this No club ever tries to get relegated ffs It’s a moronic assertion.
So we've engineered our own downfall last season to put together some decent looking players so we can sell them all?
Were Honeyman and Elder our two players with the most assists last season? That makes a 4-1 away win without these two, even more special and encouraging for the rest of the season.
Cracking picture of the skipper Preston North End 1-4 Hull City: Match Report 16 Hours ago please log in to view this image 1053 views Hull City made a winning return to the Sky Bet Championship as they came from behind to thump Preston North End 4-1 at Deepdale on the opening day of the season. Recovering after conceding the first goal in the opening ten minutes, the Tigers came roaring back as Keane Lewis-Potter levelled ahead of the interval before Richie Smallwood, Josh Magennis and Andy Cannon added second half goals to send a vocal away following home happy. Lewis-Potter was in the Tigers’ starting line-up alongside Mallik Wilks and Magennis as last season’s high-scoring attacking trio looked to find goals in the second tier. Summer signing George Moncur was included in the midfield alongside skipper Smallwood and Greg Docherty, while the back four in front of goalkeeper Matt Ingram consisted of Lewie Coyle at right back, Josh Emmanuel on the left with centre backs Alfie Jones and Jacob Greaves in between. Midfielder Matt Smith, signed on a season-long loan from Manchester City on Friday, was on the bench. There was an early injury to Preston goalkeeper Declan Rudd, who collided with Lewis-Potter on the edge of the box as both competed for a ball that turned out to be dead anyway after Magennis was flagged offside. The keeper initially recovered and Preston went on to take the lead in the eighth minute as they found plenty of space on their right for Tom Barkhuizen to deliver a low cross for Emil Riis to slide home at the far post. Rudd succumbed to his injury five minutes later and was replaced by Daniel Iversen as a ‘concussion substitution, meaning that Grant McCann would be able to make four changes during the game should he wish to. It looked as though the Tigers should have been awarded a penalty on 27 minutes when Lewis-Potter was shoved over inside the area but the referee was unmoved by the appeals. The Tigers levelled matters ten minutes before half time. Smallwood’s lovely ball split two defenders and sent Lewis-Potter through and his delicate finish sent the ball beyond Iversen and into the bottom corner. Moncur curled an effort over the top as the visitors continued to enjoy a good spell, although there was a scare a minute before the interval when the ball dropped kindly for Riis inside the area but he volleyed high over the bar. Matt Ingram made a fine save to deny Preston substitute Brad Potts early in the second half, and the keeper was there again to keep out Barkhuizen as he sniffed a loose ball. Magennis headed over from Coyle’s cross at the other end before Wilks clipped an effort off target at the end of a promising move. The Tigers took a deserved lead just after the hour mark. After patiently passing the ball around the edge of the Preston box, the ball was teed up for Smallwood 20 yards out who saw his low shot take a big deflection which wrong-footed Iversen and rolled into the net. Preston’s Ryan Ledson was booked for a nasty challenge on Wilks moments later, while Ingram saved a deflected Ched Evans effort. Lewis-Potter was cautioned after running on and shooting after being flagged offside before Smith came on for his debut in place of Wilks ten minutes from time. The Tigers sealed the win with a third goal five minutes from time. Lewis-Potter’s superb ball in from the left was met at the near post by Magennis who got his goal account for the season up and running. Magennis was soon replaced by Tom Eaves while Cannon came on for Moncur, and the two substitutes combined to great effect as Cannon made it 4-1 in added time with a low strike from the angle which found the bottom corner. Preston North End: Declan Rudd (Daniel Iversen 13), Greg Cunningham (Sepp Van Den Berg 46), Ben Whiteman (Daniel Johnson 70), Liam Lindsay, Alan Browne, Ched Evans, Jordan Storey, Andrew Hughes, Ryan Ledson, Emil Riis (Brad Potts 46), Tom Barkhuizen. Subs Not Used: Patrick Bauer, Joe Rodwell-Grant, Jamie Thomas. Hull City: Matt Ingram; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves, Josh Emmanuel; Richie Smallwood ©, Greg Docherty, George Moncur (Andy Cannon 89); Mallik Wilks (Matt Smith 80), Josh Magennis (Tom Eaves 89), Keane Lewis-Potter (James Scott 90). Subs Not Used: Nathan Baxter, Brandon Fleming, Di’Shon Bernard.
Gutted I wasn’t there, but other things are more important in life. Saw the back end of the game yesterday & saw Magennis & Cannon goals. I was slating Eaves for getting booked stupidly, but the knock back for Cannon was great. I really don’t see a future for Eaves with us unfortunately. He’s definitely in the Proschwitz, McLean world. Comes up with the odd goal, assist, but overall shouldn’t be starting anytime soon.
