There's already one on here, another on Watford's board and another that links to a third on the Watford board.
Watford annoy me. They annoyed me in the home game with their ugly tactics and even though I'm not there today they're annoying me again. Why are defenders allowed to do what they like to attackers at corners? Yet if an attacker makes any contact with the 'keeper (even if it's just the keeper wiping him out) it's a defensive free kick. It's a farcical situation.
I always get excited when I hear about his chances on the radio but I should know better. He'll always take too many touches and he'll always 'not get the sweetest connection' as Swanny says. Will he ever learn...
We do sound pretty good today, I feel like we could score when we go forward which I haven't been able to say much recently.
Patty you don't half change your mind a lot on these match threads Glad they got a man sent off. Kind of strange that it's their best 'technical' defender that was sent off and not the usual dirty culprits.
Take that back, Derby 0-1 Middlesbrough! FFS! And Leicester are tempting themselves with a comeback at Millwall, 2-1. We really need a winner here...
In Barmby's defence at only calling the result "disappointing", I think we were better with 10 men than 11. Which is ironic given that we spent two thirds of the season slagging Iwelumo off, while Mariappa (whose disciplinary record before today has been excellent for years) will comfortably win our player of the season award.
Based on the game at the KC earlier this season I liked the look of Mariappa. I thought the rest of your team were pretty ugly to be honest, but Mariappa stood out to me as a good clean centre-half like Chester for us.
In fairness, most Hull City nfans thought we were finished a few weeks a go. But some like to cling onto lingering hopes of wins at Wembley. We aren't good enough and it shows. Good season though, i think. See the Hornets next season & for more of the same.
Other than being a few inches short, Mariappa is the model of everything a centre back should be in the modern game. Pacy, a generally clean tackler, great jumper, seldom caught out of position, and as you say, capable of getting the ball down and playing it. For him to commit two bookable offences is really out of character. I think he averages three bookings a season, and normally one or two of those are harsh. Can't really complain about the two cards today though. A referee who understands the game better than Phil Dowd might have given Mariappa a final warning rather than showing a second yellow for his second foul all game, but looking at the two incidents in isolation he was well within his rights to book him for each one.
I always go on about how our defender Chester is such a good tackler (I think he'll probably be in the Premier League next season unfortunately) and how it's rare that you see it nowadays. Plenty of defenders are big and strong but you don't often see players like these two who maybe aren't as big but are much more skillful. We're going to need a new defender in the summer with Hobbs being out until Christmas, do you know if Mariappa likes it up north?