Here's what Jeff Stelling, Matt Le Tissier, Paul Merson, Phil Thompson and Charlie Nicholas have said about us on today's Soccer Saturday preview. JS: How's this happened to Hull? How have they found themselves where they are now? PT: It's hard to work it out. You've seen an investment in them you're all saying at the start of the season. They looked for the right players in January and there was invesment again in N'Doye. This is not a bad outfit. This is not a bad team. We were lauding it on Steve Bruce on how well he's done. He signs a new contract which says how well he's done. Yet they're in free fall. Absolute free fall. They concede goals. They don't look like they're going to score any. Jelavic has got injured and he had a good spell at one point with N'Doye. Abel Hernandez - great start then fell away. And this team, you just look at it, and Steve Bruce has tried everything, he tried all his formation then he went to his favourite three at the back and flooded the midfield and got people forward. We said how well Robertson, the Scottish lad, was doing on that left side. And it's all fell apart. You think "my goodness, this has crept up on this team." People said Hull could be one of the teams who could drop in and be there and they have done. It's because of the games they've got to play. They're in big trouble. JS: If you at the players they've brough in, Abel Hernandez, Dame N'Doye, Mo Diame, Michael Dawson, Andrew Robertson, Tom Ince, Hatem Ben Arfa and of course Robert Snodgrass who's been injured all season long. There aren't many successes in that list are there? CN: Andrew Robertson was a big success when he first come in. He's tried three at the back, he's tried four at the back with different players. Elmo, who I think on his day, is one of the best crossers and suppliers when you get him high up the pitch. It's as if they've just all fallen back ten yards. Like "we don't really wanna come out because it won't suit us anymore." The strikers are a big disappointment. Thommo touched on them, they have been a big disappointment. We've seen very little from Brady. And the ones that have disappointed me the most has been Huddlestone because, three or four months ago the boys were quite right, why was Huddlestone not mentioned in an England squad. Because in the early part of the season, he plays well enough. What's happened to Livermore? I mean, what's happened to him? He was a great player. PM: Last year, we were wondering about them two and why are they not playing for Tottenham? And now, you never mention. Now, I'm with you (CN). CN: Those players Jeff. I've always found Steve Bruce quite clever in finding the players to fit into his system. Those players actually fitted really well. Everything was balanced and he had options to play three at the back or four at the back, three in midfield, four in midfield. He's got plenty of options. Sometimes you just have to look the player in the eye and say, "where have you been? What are you giving me now? I need something from you. What are you prepared to do for me?" And we touched on it, Burnley are not getting goals from midfield or up front at the moment, and it looks as though there's nothing coming from them (Huddlestone and Livermore) at the moment. You have to get in the right areas and higher up the pitch. JS: Tiss, are you puzzled by the fact that Hull (can't score a goal) have allowed Tom Ince to go on loan to Derby and score 10 in 16? MLT: It's a strange one. It's horrible for managers when they decide to make a decision on a player to say "you're not really doing it for me, I want you to go out on loan." Your team mates can't score and he starts scoring for fun. You'll think "what am I doing?" I don't know about the clauses and whatever to try and get him back. JS: They can't get him back this season. MLT: Well it seems to me a bit of a strange one because when you go out on loan you do have the choiec of having a call-back clause. When you've got somebody as talent as Tom Ince who can score and you're a team not scoring many goals, surely you would have left that option in the contract to recall him. PM: He's a young lad. He goes out there and plays and expresses himself. They haven't got that. Another one, Curtis Davis. They were calling him up for England last year. JS: Steve has said, with Ince, they are not many 21 year olds playing in the Premier League. Well there. If he was at Hull now, he would be starting wouldn't he? PM: Yeah he would be starting. He was scoring them goals when Derby weren't doing very well when they went through that sticky patch and couldn't win a game. With Steve, he's sort of sticking and twisting. He doesn't want to play that way because he needs to win a football match. He needs to say that this needs to stop now. For me, Hull are best when they play three at the back. Two wing backs and a bit of balance. At the moment, he's swapping and changing and when you swap from a 4 and a 3 and a 5 and a 4, it doesn't matter who you are, you could be the most experienced centre half in the world, it becomes difficult. PT: Let's say something on behalf of Steve Bruce in this situation. Don't forget, he's playing at Derby. Is Tom maybe a Championship player? Because he did it there, in the Championship, for Blackpool on a regular basis. He seems to be doing it again now. JS: How much difference is there between the top of the Championship and the bottom of the Premier League? PT: He went to Palace and never really did anything. Didn't seem to be reliable. He was on the bench alot but not relied upon to start games. You think this could be a good fit for them and it's not happened for them. Steve Bruce knows the boy and knows his dad and thinks this is where he's going to get his chance. Something could be going on behind which means he's not being given a chance. JS: Charlie, Steve Bruce said we need to find two wins. Do you see two wins for Hull? CN: Currently I don't no. Looking at that fixture list Jeff. They could get something today. They could get something against Liverpool and Arsenal but not winning them. Then I think everything will hinge on the home game against Burnley. After that, they'll have to wait and see what position Tottenham and Manchester United are in. I don't see two wins. I could see them maybe getting 5-6 points in roundabout ways. 3 or 4 points max. MLT predicts 2-0 Palace. PM went 1-0 Palace. PT chose 2-0 Palace. CN thinks 1-1 draw. A lot of what they've said has been discussed on here. There isn't much to disagree with. The Ince debate is good - is he a PL player?
Ince is not 21 ffs! Bruce talks about him in the same light as Robert and Maguire but he's a proven player and he's two years older than Bruce thinks he is. He's not a junior ffs.
I think we're ****ed. The players don't look arsed. The owners are mental. We traded a proven PL striker in Long to buy a £10m donkey who seems more interested in hair extensions and **** tattoos. Mental.
Derby's record while Ince has been there has been poor. Has he been a cause of their defensive frailties?
we're out of the relegation places............... Sunlan are there now! oh how a few hours make all the difference!
