Match Day Thread Hull City v Middlesbrough

Maybe HHB cant recall... just a thought,. expensive signing Lundstram ....

 

Yes, that was going to be to our advantage according to an expert on here as their defence would be disorganised.
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That attendance figure must betickets sold as there wereempty seats everywhere at startof game. Seems a lot of pass holders don’t like rainy weather

 

We’re conceding almost 2 goals a game on average now. Only Wednesday are worse. We can keep saying it’s individual errors, but at some point you have to admit it’s more than that.

 

Oh well, it’s only a game!

‘Tis the morning after reflection, now dried off, warmed up, but still ruddy fuming. It was a shocker, a hard watch on a freezing, wet night, That’s the worst thing about crap Fri eve games, spoils your weekend mood! Don’t think any City player came out of that with much credit. Boro pinged long balls over the top of us into the spaces, for them to run through at pace & with ease, we had no answer to it, together with calamitous defending, a recurring theme all night. 4 nil at halftime, could have been more, a few near misses, Pandur & Egan taking each other out, don’t know what’s up with Pandur & defence, communication lacking, it’s like they’ve just met. Joffy cut a lonely figure, couldnt get into the game first half. Boro won’t have had easier game/win. One thing evident, our midfield without Lundstram, no bite, nobody getting a grip, as he’s not due back anytime soon, big Sergei has got a few headaches.

I guess one to write off, learn lessons, take your medicine, bounce back. Have a great weekend everyone. UTT.

 

If we hadn’t have been scoring lots he would have changed it. If we stop scoring he’ll have to change it.

 

We barely seemed to have and keep the ball, they were all mobile and seemed to know where to be , but we looked ponderous and devoid of ideas . Semi wanted to play out but they’d closed the space down and none of our players were looking for it , not sure why seemed to be playing full back ?

 

In a way it is individual errors, but it's not true that individual errors can't be worked on and reduced, or that the coaching staff are free of blame for it.

 

Dreadful performance by City defence though did look better with Hughes in the second half.
Shocking conditions for both sides. Hackney their number 7 is some player! Shout out to the East stand pass holder who assisted me from the Disabled parking in Walton Street by sheltering me with his umbrella all the way to the East Stand. Sir you are a gentleman if you read this thanks again.

BillyB

 

A more dominant display you will not see
The End

manager needs to earn his money now
Hard to see if there were any tactical tweaks in the first half Shirley there was?
At 2-0 he should have pulled crooks back and stopped any more goals going in
And he needed to get into semis ear cos that was a display that smacked of not giving a ****

 

Yep. The amount of shots we concede on average and our xG against suggest that a game like last night was long overdue. We should’ve been dead and buried against Stoke, QPR had a ridiculous amount of shots, Norwich’s xG in the first half alone was almost double Boro’s last night.

We give the opposition way too many chances. Some of it is individual errors and lack of communication between players but the space between defence and midfield has been a common theme all season. That suggests it’s tactical and if it isn’t, then Jakirović still needs to tell the midfielders to be more compact off the ball. If you play three midfielders and all three of them are closer to the striker than they are to the defenders off the ball, there’s an issue.

 

Too angry to post last night, but it feels no better this morning! That was one of the worst 45 minutes of football I have ever seen a City side produce and I've been watching since 1974/5 season. No energy, no commitment, no organization, no threat going forward, no composure, no defence. For the 2nd home game running we never looked like scoring from open play. Boro's keeper won't need new gloves for their next game.
Were we meant to be pressing or not? It seemed to happen in 1s or 2s. Either Destan or Crooks would try to press one of their players but had no back up, and they easily played around us.
Our midfield - such as it was - was left with spinning heads. Either one ball over the top or a couple of passes through our middle and they were bearing down on goal time and again. Defence - what defence? 3 of their 4 goals were gifted to them through shoddy, keystone Kops / schoolboy defending - summed up when Pandur and Egan ran into each other, almost gifting them another one.
The whole thing was totally shambolic and it was like watching a top end PL team take apart the Dog and Duck 2nd 11 (and that's being unkind to the Dog and Duck!)

Moving forward, I don't want to hear or read about and City player saying we have to improve - shut your mouths, get out on the pitch and produce the goods. Big response on Wednesday, please.

 

One of the first things Sergei said when he arrived was that he'd been studying our games and identified the space between midfield and defence was too big. I love the guy but how the **** has he managed to make it worse?

 

The amount of time and space Boro players had was embarrassing. City were chasing shadows for 45 minutes. 2nd half they didn't need to get out of 2nd gear - just hold us at arms length, which they did with ease.