Match Day Thread Hull City v Sheff United

In the past, I haven’t liked Gavin Ward as a ref, but thought he had a good game today. Pen was fair.

 

it looked a pen in real time and seeing the couple of replays it was nailed on: ings went down after Ajayi scraped on his ankle, it was a foul in the box and ref had no option. Ajayi had no need to foul him, Ings was going away from goal, soft pen but def a pen.

 

On telly it was 100% a pen.

 

Sky version...

The managers
Hull's Sergej Jakirovic:

"Thank God he saved the penalty. I am very happy for Ivor. It is a big relief for him and a good boost for his confidence.

"I am very happy that we won 1-0. We had a clean sheet and today we were very strong defensively.

"We were lucky because they hit the post but in the second half we could have won the game with some chances.

"The clean sheet was important. When we had possession if we lost it, we knew it was difficult against this side.

"For me from the first second I saw a battle for every inch on the pitch."

Sheffield United's Chris Wilder:

"We got into so many positions, and we have to find that moment of quality to win the game. When we get into those positions, we have to put teams to bed.

"We need patience, we need time to work, but players have got to give their heads a shake. At times players have got to find those answers.

"We should have got something from the game here and we haven't. It's frustrating for the supporters and for the players.

"From our point of view, we've not been able to deliver when we get in those positions. We competed all over the pitch and got into some great positions and that is where you've got to come alive.

"I felt we dealt with the majority of their strengths pretty well. When we had an opportunity of finding that last little bit we never found it. We've not come up with that little bit.

"I think it's an individual mentality to be calm. It looks like previous performances have affected those players who can produce those big moments."


Sky...

 

Was definitely a pen, daft challenge when he could never get ball, and raked down the back of Ings calf, silly and could have cost us but for Pandurs heroics.

 

Sure I saw him driving away in his car, wearing a club tracksuit, at the end of the game.
So not much of a 'dust up'?

 

Anyone else thought they could have had a penalty early on?

I thought Hughes handled it around the six yard box when it came in from our left.

 

it didn't show on TV, Den?

 

Was right behind the goal, so may have hit his shoulder or chest I suppose, but looked from where we were that he’d leaned into it with his arm slightly away from his body and hit him on the upper arm.

Mind you the state of that ref he would have definitely given it gone half a chance!

 

He was he was a lot more composed today than he has been recently.

 

Poor giving the ball away so much putting ourselves under pressure, we certainly have to be better going forward However when Mcburnie had that great run and nearly put us 2.0 up which could have finished it. The penalty looked weak for me but great Pandur went the right way. Not a great performance but 3 points to me is always magnificent. The beer always goes down better on a Saturday night.

 

There’s absolutely no chance there was 21k there today

 

Pleased for the lad he was rarely played in his proper position when he with us.

 

It was a dreadful penalty.

Comedically ****…which was perfect!

 

Cheer up we won. What's that saying. Good teams win when they don't play well. (I don't think we are a good team by the way. Not yet anyway).

UTFT

 

I think this is a game where xG isn’t a fair reflection. 0.8 came from a stupid soft penalty and the rest probably came from that goal mouth scramble. The only other time they had any threat was with shots from range. All of their xG came from set pieces.

We got in behind their defence quite a lot of times and ****ed up the final ball, I would say we had a lot of very good chances to create a goal that would have registered 0 xG.

The rest is pretty meaningless really but we did have better possession stats.

 

Ivor Pandur: Beaten by Gus Hamer's effort off the post but had little else to do. Looked better with his feet than on Tuesday. Had a fairly quiet afternoon until the penalty save. Huge moment for him after the start of the season. 9/10

Ryan Giles: Had a tough first half in fairness but stuck to his task well. The clean sheet will do him a power of good. 9/10

Charlie Hughes: Looked more like his old self in the first period, bar one major error he got away with and grew into it. His best performance of the season, certainly since the opening day. 9/10

John Egan: Against his former club and was very good in the first half, heading everything away. A superb performance from him alongside Hughes. 9/10

Lewie Coyle: A really good first period, fired in a couple of superb crosses, including the one for Akintola's first City goal. Grafted all afternoon. 9/10

Regan Slater: Back in the starting XI against his old club and made a vital block to deny Peck in the opening five minutes, almost scored later in the half and was a real nuisance in the middle of the park. A proper shift from him. 8/10

John Lundstram: Edging closer to his 500th appearance (now on 499) and didn't last 15 minutes before coming off after a spell of treatment. A big blow to City. 6/10

David Akintola: Opened his account with a volley that looked to be going over before deflecting in to give City a half-time lead. Shanked another second half, but a special moment for him with the winning goal. 7/10

Joe Gelhardt: Plenty of industry. Created a lovely effort for Regan Slater after neat work with McBurnie. Not really his game but no lack of effort. 6/10

Darko Gyabi: In for his full home debut and played behind McBurnie and put in a good shift in the middle of the park. Ran out of legs before coming off. 6/10

Oli McBurnie: A first outing against the Blades since leaving. Struggled to get into the first half so tight was it. His first sight of goal came early in the second, but he couldn't finish. Booked in the second after an altercation with McGuinness, who was also booked. Came off to a standing ovation for a well-earned rest. 6/10

Subs:

Amir Hadziahmetovic (for Lundstram 14): Having been dropped before the game, was on after 15 minutes to replace the stricken Lundstram. Was neat and tidy on the ball after coming on. Horrific pass almost caused a major problem but Hughes got him out of jail. 6/10

Liam Millar (for Gyabi 61): Set Giles free down the left and it almost created a carbon copy of the equaliser on Tuesday. Always an out ball if he wasn't used late on. 6/10

Matt Crooks (for Akintola 61): A welcome return to the action for 'Tree' and cleared off the line with four minutes left. Grafted in added time like a warrior. 7/10

Semi Ajayi (for McBurnie 81): Like Crooks and Millar over the past few days, great to see the Nigerian defender back on the pitch. Looked anything but match fit and gave away the penalty. 5/10

Enis Destan (for Gelhardt 81): Gave the ball away cheaply a couple of times after coming on. 5/10


Not sure what game was being watched here but those ratings for McBurnie, Gyabi, Slater among others feel wrong.

 

Not that but there was an incident when Hughes clumsily stood on an enemies foot on the box, which would have been an absolutely ridiculous penalty to concede but VAR probably would have given it.

 

yea var would have def given it

 

thought it was just outside the box ... but yes, PL VAR may well have given it!!