Much much better in the second half, Thud and Livermore in from the start against Norwich. They had Aluko's number all game long....double teamed him most of the time and gave him no time on the ball at all. Why can't we hold a solid wall for free kicks...they just barged into us and we parted like the red sea! Must be stronger. Torres's dive that lead up to the 2nd goal summed up what this league is...cheat if it means you get a shot on goal. We'll have to be more street wise if we're going to stay up.
It is and I hope he gets better service so we can see his potential. But I am very surprised to see him on so many starting XI , ahead of Sagbo, before the game started. I have yet to be impressed and same for sunderland fans. My big concern is everyone focusing on his Swansea days without realising that it is now a while since he scored a competitive goal. I just don't really understand where this reputation has come from. You'd think we'd signed a world class player. he only scored 15 goals in a season and a half at swansea. I am not sure why everyone is so excited and reverent about him.
That last bit is spot on. We're gonna have to be clever because Chelsea just looked so natural when they came tumbling down. I didn't really see any crunching tackles warranting that behaviour (besides Sagbo on ramires) I'd personally play Aluko up front. He did pretty well considering but every time he made a good move he was just past the half way line. You wanna be spinning around people on edge of box not in your own half! I'd say most of us agree in general over the performance today, let's just hope Bruce sees it also and doesn't try and fit Alex in there or carry on stubbornly.
Defence did ok in pretty extreme circumstances for those first 25-30 mins then very well for the rest of the game. Hard to criticise Graham when he got absolutely nothing to go on. Really impressed by Sagbo and Aluko. I'd stick with the formation for Norwich but put in Livermore and Hudd for Koren and Meyler. The forward line will see more of the ball against the canaries and with Hudd serving them, there's definitely goals in that front 3.
Very few teams would have lived with that first half performance by chelsea. Graham had to feed off hurried clearances under pressure. Nothing to judge him on today. Thankfully it was a typical boring mourinho team that shut up shop in the second half. Our season will not.be defined by these games but how we do against the bottom half teams
but it was hull city playing ... not hull city tigers ... your typical argument has gone out of the window . you are nothing to them ..just like they said .. bye bye .. next ?
you don't get it do you .. the FOOTBALL TEAM NAME is not changing ... how many hammers will it take ........... seriously
I am still confused about the formation to be honest. I think it needs more definition. Brady in Cam doesn't work imo. He needs to be pushed up. and Aluko was far too deep. Useless in those positions. brady and Aluko are players that can score and provide the one striker or two up front. I'm tempted to drop Elmo and use him as impact player. 4321 or 4222 could work. ------------Mcgregor Rosie-Chester--Davis-Figueroa ---Huddlestone-Livermore Aluko-------------------Brady -----Graham-----Sagbo------ or ------------Mcgregor Rosie-Chester--Davis-Figueroa Koren-Huddlestone-Livermore Aluko-------------------Brady ------------Sagbo
Just saw that Koren looked to blame for the first goal. Completely let Oscar run behind him as he just stood there.
some interesting stats http://thepremierleagueowl.com/chelsea-vs-hull-city-individual-player-stats/ Overall I was pretty happy with the way we played in the 2nd half. we passed it round well. Impressed with Sagbo, Huddlestone and McGregor. Chelsea were outstanding! I was surprised to see Boyd come onto the right as he isn't very defensive and lacks pace. I hope Koren steps his game up and fights a bit more as our captain. If not then we might have to give it to Huddlestone. Shame Chelsea were hitting the deck easily to win free kicks, but that's the way the prem is and we may have to the same.
I think the formation that could suit the players we have best might be 4-2-3-1: ------------Mcgregor Rosie-Chester--Davies-Figueroa ---Huddlestone-Livermore Elmo------Aluko--------Brady ------Graham/Sagbo------
We have just played one of the best sides in the premiership and got the result i expected. It would have been good to see a few more shots on goal from our lot but apart from the Davies header i don't think we created enough. Second half we were much better. Yes they are a very good team but lets not forget other far less superior teams in this league are still very good sides. Its going to be a very difficult season but hopefully we will do enough to keep up and as fans all we can do is create an atmosphere at the home games like we did against Cardiff and Leeds. It must help
That was really pathetic. We should have pushed their two players out of the way as soon as they stood between our wall. We even let them do the same thing in the second half. McGregor was at fault for giving away the penalty but otherwise he was fantastic.
