Hull 1 United 0 -view from the sofa

[Deadbat_DB]

I am not doing a full report from tonight….for one of the few times under Wilder I simply cannot be bothered. I watched on Sky but I am still in shock at what I saw.
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They deservedly won. I thought they were crap but won more loose balls, had 3 or 4 decent efforts and goal and scored a decent goal (abysmal defending). If they had won 2 o3 3-0 it would have been fair. We never looked like scoring save one chance for Sharp and created nothing all night. We hardly had any decent possession and tossed the ball away constantly. It was almost like we could not do thing as bad if we tried. Bad touches, passes straight to them, set plays straight to the first man, mis control, daft flicks. It was so bad it was untrue. They looked like they had been on the piss to be honest or all had flu. It was bizarre. We had no intensity whatsoever and looked like they were going through the motions. I have no idea what happened to the team I have seen most of this season; but that was an imposter of an SUFC side

To be frank, that was the worst performance of the season by a mile and might even be the worst ever under Wilder (yes, we lost to Southend 3-0 but that was a freak 10-15-minute start to the game). Tonight, from start to finish other than maybe a 5-minute spell in the second half to start; we were absolutely appalling. Passing, skill, touch, control, effort, tackling, shooting, defending. Everything. We were hopeless. It looked like we had never played the game before! Outfield I am not sure any player can say they played anything like. Baldock maybe in spells, ditto for O’Connell and maybe Fleck but the rest of them. Pathetic throughout.

The thing that galled me most was not the poor touch (every one was a tackle) but the half hearted and half arsed effort and intensity. We jogged around and looked disinterested. A playoff place up for grabs and we play like it is a pre-season game. It was embarrassing. We did not lay a glove on them all game and lost every single 50-50. It started in midfield where Evans and Leonard looked really poor and looked lower league. Never kept the ball and lost any physical battles. The full backs did not get forward save from a few runs from Baldock. Up front Sharp and Clarke never won a ball all game. The changes did not work. We never looked like breaking Hull down and lacked belief completely.

Wilder’s interview at the end was really interesting and damning. He basically has said the players are not good enough to get in the top 6 and that they just are going to see things out now and that any of the other top teams would go there and win tonight. I am certain he has done that to get a reaction and there was some sarcasm in the ‘season is pretty much going to fade away’ type answer. Not sure he believes the top 6 have gone and we are going to just try and nick a few results but he was not happy and clearly told the players that. He looked and sounded absolutely furious and has kind of laid down the gauntlet to the players. It was really damning and it seemed like he was in the dressing room for over half an hour with them. They clearly had been given a right going off. I think he and us fans could cope with misplaced passes or mistakes but we got completely outworked and did not seem bothered. When we had a chance to get back up there against a poor side we served up absolute shambles.

We now have a make or break week. We need 4-6 points from Reading and Burton. Anything less and we will probably be 6 or 7 points off the playoffs and the season will probably peter out. Tonight was a golden chance. Adkins raved about Hull but they were not that good. We were just awful. We now have a tougher away game in my opinion next Tuesday and then a tricky game against another former Blades manager who will want to put one over us. The players have to prove to Wilder they are good enough. Over the season we have proven to be the 7th (might be down to 8th-10th tomorrow) best team and that is about where we are at the moment. I am not sure we are good enough to challenge the top 6 at the moment as we have too many up and down performances. Since Xmas, Bolton, Wednesday and tonight have been 3 games we have looked really poor and we seem incapable of going on a run of say 4 or 5 wins anymore. With the top 5 seeming quite well set; you figure there is only one place and with Brentford and Middlesbrough on decent form; you figure they have a better chance than us of catching Bristol City. Hope they prove me wrong but tonight showed maybe even the players do not quite believe.


Hull- Thought they were poor and not much better than at the Lane but we did not turn up. They had a few neat moves but were not tearing us apart. They just worked hard and won the loose balls. They played it over the top and got the quick lad running in behind. At the back Clarke and Sharp gave the two centre backs a torrid time at the Lane; tonight, they could have played in deckchairs. Hull still have enough quality to not go down but god help them with that idiot in charge. His interview post game was full of the usual ‘Intensity, shape about us, put it in one end, keep it out the other, Saturday—Tuesday-Saturday-Tuesday.’ It was like he was doing it on purpose – almost like he was doing an impression of himself. They will go nowhere fast with that phony in charge but he had the last laugh tonight. Thank god he is not our manager regardless of what happened on the pitch. Wilder is ten times the manager he is.

Opposition Man of the Match: Dicko – scored and looked lively. Also thought that the midfield won everything and that Dawson did not give Clarke a kick.

Opposition Weak link: None that bad really. The lad Irvine set up the goal but could have got sent off for a series of fouls.

Blackman 7.5/10 – Made two decent saves; took the crosses when he could and commanded. No chance on the goal. No protection at all.

Baldock 6/10 – Started well and got down the flank a few times but got caught our defensively a bit too. Second half had one good run but then faded away. At least tried too attack and carry the ball forward but no end product at all.

Stevens 4/10 – Thought he was really poor. Summed up second half when he overran a ball, then lost it and then failed to track back. His touch was poor, he was miles off his man and never uses his right foot, preferring to spin round 360 degrees sometimes just to kick it with his left. Been better last few but not very good at all tonight.

Basham 5.5/10 – Steady-ish and unlucky to come off. He too had a few misplaced passes but thought he put effort in and one of few to win some challenges.

O’Connell 6/10 – As above. He at least tried but he too was slow to react a few times and passing mixed. He is often having to carry it forward as the midfielders in front always play it backwards and sideways.

Stearman 5/10 – He has been good recently but he made quite a few mistakes tonight and was sluggish. Ball kept shooting off him and he struggled to keep Dicko quiet. Took too many touches and tried to be too clever.

Fleck 5.5/10 – Did a few decent things but also gave it away a lot too. Felt he was one of few who might make something happen and at least was involved in some of our better attacks but we completely lost the midfield battle.

Evans 3/10 – Awful. Gave it away, his first touch poor, second as bad and cannot recall him finding a white shirt all night. He looked slow, sluggish and completely overran by Hull players. He has done ok so far but looked way off the standard required tonight.

Leonard 2/10 – As above but even worse. Slow, languid and looked clumsy. Technically he looks woeful in games I have seen and looks a player that just looks like he is struggling with step up in skill and intensity. He did ok in a cameo on Tuesday but today he was dire. Behind the ball and always at full stretch. Very pedestrian. He makes Lundstram seem dynamic! Have to say not been impressed with him at all. He needs to step it up if he is to be anywhere near a 1st team regular at this level.

[Deadbat_DB]

Sharp 3/10 – Poor. He was back to the Sharp of previous games; looking for fouls and trying to con the ref. He had effort and maybe should have squared it but then he was though and is a striker. He never linked with Clarke, did not hold it up and we had nothing up front. No service though at all.

Clarke 3/10 – Sure some will criticise this low mark and say he had no service and he did not but his sheer lack of effort was disgusting tonight. He simply did not look arsed at all. He did not even challenge half the time and Dawson outplayed him. He did not win one header all night, did not hold it up, did not chase and looked totally disinterested. How he stayed on the pitch is beyond me. Played well v QPR but overall since his new contract his form has been really poor. I think if we had better options he would come out of the team but Donaldson, Evans, Wilson sadly are not screaming out to be picked.

Subs:

Lundstram – Came on and gave it away 4 times in about 10 minutes. He then passed it backward. Maybe a bit unlucky not to start as he was maybe better than Evans and Duffy on Tuesday but when he did come on he was no better than those he came on for.

Duffy – Came on but he too looked out of sorts. Why he did not start is beyond me? He was poor Tuesday but was superb v Hull at the Lane and we needed to win tonight. We had no creative spark at all. Wasted a few passes and handballed it when he did come on.

Donaldson – Did nothing. Misplaced two passed and like the other strikers failed to win or hold a ball up.

Manager: Wilder 3/10 – Poor team selection, team looked disinterested, no energy and lack of creativity or football all night. The midfield three did not work at all and his new January signings all looked poor. His subs did not improve things at all. Hull had measure of us, won midfield and stopped wing backs/centre backs attacking. They compressed the play and won easily. It was an awful performance. Of course, he cannot go out and play for them but for us to be so bad 1-11 individually and collectively he will have to question why – what happened to the side we have seen most of the season? Interesting he said we have got the maximum out of these players. Was that to try and get a reaction or a dig at the board. It was an odd thing to say. If I was a player I would be determined to prove him wrong but then also I would be angry as I have helped them get to 7th in the league. Could be quite a telling moment in not only the season but Wilder’s tenure. If we do fade away and/or struggle next season; it will be referred back to a lot.

Officials – Ref was fine. We had a half-hearted penalty appeal and of course not helped by the whistles but cannot take any blame for the loss. Irvine committed one bad foul and then did another after but not sure it was enough for a red. The game barely had any bad tackles outside of his. Was like a practice game.

Crowd – The whistles and tennis balls were annoying and yes, they were more when we had it but we barely kept the ball so not sure we can use that as an excuse! Why Clarke stopped when no one else had all game I am not sure? It was irritating but it did not affect the result at all for me. Hull deserved the win.

[costablade]

CW has to take some responsibility here. He brought in midfield players in the window, but non of them have a creative spark among'st them, we have to stop relying on a "thirty something" player (Duffy) to create something (maybe he thought that player might be Carruthers), same up front, having three "thirty somethings" is crazy, we need players that can run the channels, and players up front that can provide a spark, I would have included Sharp and Clarke in the criticism they don't offer enough up front for me.
But no doubt, that was a wake up call for the players and Wilder.

[GuancheBlade]

CW has to take some responsibility here. He brought in midfield players in the window, but non of them have a creative spark among'st them, we have to stop relying on a "thirty something" player (Duffy) to create something (maybe he thought that player might be Carruthers), same up front, having three "thirty somethings" is crazy, we need players that can run the channels, and players up front that can provide a spark, I would have included Sharp and Clarke in the criticism they don't offer enough up front for me.
But no doubt, that was a wake up call for the players and Wilder.

I think we have a recruitment problem in that Wilder is so used to the lower leagues he hasn't recognised (or was financially unable to secure) what we actually need to succeed at this level. And with every passing game I'm more convinced that the excellent start to the season was purely down to momentum from the previous 100 points season. We played with 9-10 every game that were playing in the side the season before (sometimes the very same 11 from League 1) which helped the momentum continue longer than anticipated.

Then we lost Coutts which winded us and now the new signings aren't bedding in and any momentum we had left has ground to a halt and I truly believe what we are looking at is a lower level Championship team based purely on the quality of the players we have available.

Billy
Clarke
Donaldson
Wilson
Evans

Billy aside what kind of team with promotion aspirations thinks they can rely on this group of ageing/unfit strikers in the Championship??

Stevens - League 2 last year
Lafferty - solid full back at League 1 level

I could go on through the entire squad but hopefully I'm making myself clear. This squad isn't good enough for play offs, it's not even mid table calibre and had been previously over achieving for the reasons I've listed.

I think the penny has dropped for CW hence the words used in his post match interviews. He's been doing everything he can to keep that momentum going and now his frustration at last Friday (and previous performances I imagine) has bubbled to the surface. I think what he's saying is right, we need all of us to take stock and acknowledge the reality of our situation. We're in a false position and the quicker we accept that the better. Perhaps it will take a lot of the pressure off and allow these players to play with a bit more freedom away from expectation.

[Chips1889]

GB, are you really saying our team isn't up to the standard of an average Championship team?....I think it is and I expect a mid table finish just as I said we could achieve before we started.

We flattered to deceive early on and losing Coutts was a major blow but I expect more from CW (and the players) now....get the team to hold it's own for the last 13 and start again in the summer.

UTCB

[GuancheBlade]

GB, are you really saying our team isn't up to the standard of an average Championship team?....I think it is and I expect a mid table finish just as I said we could achieve before we started.

We flattered to deceive early on and losing Coutts was a major blow but I expect more from CW (and the players) now....get the team to hold it's own for the last 13 and start again in the summer.

UTCB

I don't think so no. We were lucky against both Leeds and QPR and at Hull we got what we deserved. I'll be amazed if we finish top half this season and if you want to talk about the impact of momentum and how it boosted our start to the season, imagine how badly things might go next year if the momentum we take into it is one of sliding down the table!

[tomytony]

Splitting the seaqson in half ( almost) to date , we garnered 33 points from the first 16 games when, as almost everyone agrees, we took the league by storm, the new kids on the block surprised everyone.

In the next 17 games to date, including Hull, we have garnered 19 points at an average of 1.17 points per game.

Extrapolating that to a full 46 game season gives us just shy of 54 points.

Obviously that's a simplistic view but we are where we are and the recent results are more pertinent than those of the early season.

Maybe there is a bit more cause for concern than we think and, with the ownership shenanigans, will the money be there to improve the squad sufficieently?

[Chips1889]

Splitting the seaqson in half ( almost) to date , we garnered 33 points from the first 16 games when, as almost everyone agrees, we took the league by storm, the new kids on the block surprised everyone.

In the next 17 games to date, including Hull, we have garnered 19 points at an average of 1.17 points per game.

Extrapolating that to a full 46 game season gives us just shy of 54 points.

Obviously that's a simplistic view but we are where we are and the recent results are more pertinent than those of the early season.

Maybe there is a bit more cause for concern than we think and, with the ownership shenanigans, will the money be there to improve the squad sufficieently?

TT but you are saying we played badly in the last 17 but we didn't in them all. We picked up less than we should and that doesn't make us a 'bad' team. Over 46 games we will finish where we deserve to be......mid table is my guess. We don't need major surgery
either and CW could yet prove his worth in this league but he needs to get over his strop quickly IMO.

UTCB

[BlockD]

I don't think so no. We were lucky against both Leeds and QPR and at Hull we got what we deserved. I'll be amazed if we finish top half this season and if you want to talk about the impact of momentum and how it boosted our start to the season, imagine how badly things might go next year if the momentum we take into it is one of sliding down the table!

We were not lucky against Leeds and QPR ,we deserved to win both games.

Are you putting money on us getting relegated next season, seeing as you are so confident we will?

[tomytony]

TT but you are saying we played badly in the last 17 but we didn't in them all. We picked up less than we should and that doesn't make us a 'bad' team. Over 46 games we will finish where we deserve to be......mid table is my guess. We don't need major surgery
either and CW could yet prove his worth in this league but he needs to get over his strop quickly IMO.

UTCB

Chips, rather than rely on opinions of our performances I decided to look at the true measure, the points gained, and that's what the figures showed.

Obviously, as I said, taking the worst half in isolation is not fully representative, nut neither is taking the first half and pretending that's how we really are as a team.

Figures for the whole season based on where we are now show 74 points
Figures for the first half only show 95 points
Figures for the second half, to date, show 64.

We know we will be safe this season, the first 16 games virtually guaranteed that I would hazard a guess at 70 points, but the second half, on the current form show that, should we carry on like that next season the it's going to be a nail biter with the same performance as recently, regardless of whether we have been unlucky/played well etc etc from the same players.