[Archived] Hull City Preview

[bennyboyt11]

EXTREMELY disappointing not to see Villanueva get a run (or even a place on the bench!) today - If ever a game was screaming out for a player of his ilk then it was this one.

he must be still sick surely...

[spencey7]

he must be still sick surely...

I severely hope so. If it was tactical then -

[laughatthedingles]

Positives: We have 1 more point now than this morning. Spurs lost. Negatives: We only have 1 more point now than this morning. Burnley drew.

Burnley drew against 9 men, that is a positive in my book !

[yellowsubmarine]

Can't helping laughing at Spuds.

[alexanders]

Can't helping laughing at Spuds.

Agree. Hopefully City defeat tomorrow and kind of funny result at Britiannia Stadium too.

[JAL]

Second half we rarely looked like scoring - thats say it all about todays game !

[ben_the_beast]

Dunno where Paul Merson was last night. He's just done his post match opinion on sky sports and he looks like he's about to fall asleep mid sentence lol

[philipl]

Mr E has posted a load of cobblers and I have jiust come back from a nice swim.

When I saw the Rovers line-up my immediate feeling was we would get punished for putting out a side so obviously lacking in Premiership class.

Brown had been saying all week he was going to turn this into a Championship game and he seems to have achieved his objective as we obliged. We would have won had Bentley been playing no doubt. But as it was everything points to us lacking that spark of class needed to put boisterous enthusiastic outfits like Hull firmly in their place.

Anyway, we are 2nd at the time of writing...

[1864roverite]

Right then, the view from the JW Upper.

It wasnt the refs fault.

It wasnt the Lino's fault.

It wasnt the tactics, or the substitutions fault.

It wasnt lady lucks fault.

It had nothing to do with the weather.

It was most definatley NOTHING to do with Paul Robinson.

The fault for todays result lies soley at the feet of ANDRE OOIJER.

Having scored the elusive first goal, Rovers had the foothold required in this game. In one stupid moment the Dutchman conceded his position by walking around in the centre leaving an unmarked and until then anonymous Garcia free to head home a fully deserved equaliser.

From that point on it was always going to be tough.

Hull brought Championship football to Ewood and succeeded in taking a point from a tired Rovers outfit.

Granted its still early days but for me the football is better than last season BUT we MISS a creative midfielder.

Reid is NOT the answer he had a shocking game, conceded to much play, too many wayward passes and not an incisive footballer. Dunny tried but in the 46th minute pulled up injured. At that point Rovers hopes of taking 3 points all but disappeared.

The Axe was not the same player as last week although he was far from being the worst on the park.

MGP played well once again, he is slowly but surely making his way back to the player we know he can be.

So my view is that Rovers will always struggle when we have players away on meaningless international duty.

Nice to see Emerton back, once match fit he will be a godsend.

Nice to see the colourful Hull fans, they boosted our home gate and surely, they represent the best chance of the promoted 3 to stay up.

Finally, David "The Gob" Bentley is seeing it from the other side at little old Spurs. 2-1 at home to Sunderland is the dream and I am certain he will be laughing for the rest of the weekend as Berbatov gets his wish to move clubs, just like david did himself.

[RovertheHill]

Just back from the game. You can tell Phil Brown used to be at Bolton - he's got Hull set up very similarly - they get in your face and stop you playing. The referee showed his inexperience allowing Hull players to use their arms all over our players. No excuses however - with a bit of guile that lot should have been taken apart. We clearly haven't replaced Bentley, and Reid and Mokoena have the guile of a breezeblock. We desperately need a creative centre midfielder given the fact Dunny cannot seem to play a full game. And a right winger that can go past players and cross the ball.

[Exiled_Rover]

On the basis of that performance, a mobile midfielder that's comfortable on the ball and a right winger with pace are a must. For mine Reid and Mokoena aren't Prem quality and the moment Ince lined them up in the centre the game was lost.

Overall a very poor quality game. Credit to Hull, they set their stall out to stifle out creative play (what little there was of it) and turned it into a scrappy game.

[JAL]

Mr E has posted a load of cobblers and I have jiust come back from a nice swim.

When I saw the Rovers line-up my immediate feeling was we would get punished for putting out a side so obviously lacking in Premiership class.

Brown had been saying all week he was going to turn this into a Championship game and he seems to have achieved his objective as we obliged. We would have won had Bentley been playing no doubt. But as it was everything points to us lacking that spark of class needed to put boisterous enthusiastic outfits like Hull firmly in their place.

Anyway, we are 2nd at the time of writing...

Yes, i've changed my tune from early this morning about Rovers being cautious in the transfer market, after witnessing a listless display against a poor Hull City.

Ince needs to recruit a QUALITY player for his engine room in the centre of midfield as soon as possible then and only after then should he look at Bentleys position, if 'the guvnor' has any idea at all.

[daren]

I thought it was a strange decision to leave Villanueava off the bench for this one before the match started. Oh, well, Hull were always going to be hard to beat at the start of the season and were no doubt seriously up for their first away prem game.

If were were liverpool we would have won - those ?!##!-ers get so much ridiculous luck it's unbelievable.

Bad loss for Villa today

[frosty]

Plastic Head, that's a bit harsh on the Axe.

[deftangel]

Just going to going to quickly add.

Would people have been happy if we drew against Everton and won against Hull. It is the same i suppose!

Oh and were 2nd apparently...

You're not wrong on one count but on the other hand, it's an opportunity missed. It might be a good point later in the season, right now we can't tell.

A poster earlier on in another thread did point out that it's these games where we're going to need that creativity in the centre of the park. We've been lacking that for years and getting away with it. Without Bentley our luck will run out sooner or later. I think Pedersen is still of value and Dunn has made an excellent start but we need some more spark in there no two ways about it. I'd get Joaquin and have another look at Annan on Sunday morning because they must be improvements on who we had there today. In fact, I'd be quite excited at the prospect of the former as he has the trickery to beat people. You can't buy that very easily today for any price.

[JAL]

You're not wrong on one count but on the other hand, it's an opportunity missed. It might be a good point later in the season, right now we can't tell.

A poster earlier on in another thread did point out that it's these games where we're going to need that creativity in the centre of the park. We've been lacking that for years and getting away with it. Without Bentley our luck will run out sooner or later. I think Pedersen is still of value and Dunn has made an excellent start but we need some more spark in there no two ways about it. I'd get Joaquin and have another look at Annan on Sunday morning because they must be improvements on who we had there today. In fact, I'd be quite excited at the prospect of the former as he has the trickery to beat people. You can't buy that very easily today for any price.

Do you not think that the loss of Bentley was there for all to see in todays game.

[T4E]

Ince says he is not happy with the performace, but blames it on the players being tired, due to the international matches mid-week.

It goes hand in hand with being a manager at the very top Incey. You'll need to learn to cope with that - it is not a valid excuse.

Very disappointing result.

[andrew92]

If we are going to play mokoena he has too be used to close down the oppositions play not as a 3rd centre half, hull were given far too much room in centre midfield mainly due to the fact that he was stood next to samba. andre is far too slow to be effective at right back he never once overlapped, something that emerton did all the time last year and I would like to see him at right back in the next game.

Last point is that we need to spend on a right mid, reid gets the ball stops and passes it backwards, he was pointless.

[bobsterbrfc]

My mind cast away at one point in the second half when Emerton and Ooijer were struggling to break Hull down along the right wing, and I thought.....We miss Bentley. Or at least someone of his quality.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

Do you not think that the loss of Bentley was there for all to see in todays game.

I thought the same thing on my way home after the match. Having thought a little longer - I do wonder whether even Bentley would have been able to create enough room for himself against a well drilled, hard working defence.

For me we lost it when Dunn went off - he was the only one that looked likely to open them up.

Santa was as poor as I have seen - and Roberts was unlucky to be taken off.

I actually thought we played ok - but showed the same lack of ideas against hard working away teams that we had last year. At least we didn't fall for the sucker punch - and I thought the defence held up well against Hull's long ball, counter attacking style.

Not looked through earlier in this thread - but why no King Carlos on the bench ? this game was crying out for somebody with his flair.

[den]

Very, very poor. Tiredness might have had something to do with it, but the lack of class in midfield was so evident. At one point th'axe and Reid centre mid - neither are good enough to play there.

We looked like what we are, the same as last year minus a creative midfielder, which doesn't leave much. To think that so many were in favour of Bentley leaving. How difficult is he to replace now? Let's hope Ince can pull a rabbit out of the hat this week, because if he doesn't - we wont score enough goals at Ewood to keep the fans happy.

That was our strongest squad out there today.

[DavidMailsTightPerm]

On the basis of that performance, a mobile midfielder that's comfortable on the ball and a right winger with pace are a must. For mine Reid and Mokoena aren't Prem quality and the moment Ince lined them up in the centre the game was lost.

Overall a very poor quality game. Credit to Hull, they set their stall out to stifle out creative play (what little there was of it) and turned it into a scrappy game.

Funny how different people pick up on different things - I actually saw glimpses of the pre-injury Reid today. A bit more sharpness in the tackle, more running with the ball and getting around the pitch far better. Reid will never be creative - but he could still be a better option for the defensive midfield role that t'Axe. I have to agree - as soon as he moved Reid and Mokoena together we sadly lacked the guile to open up Hull. However - against such a hard working team Tugay could have been caught out if introduced too early.

We may look back on this game with some gratitude - it showed Ince what we miss in our midfield. Our Chilean wizard may bring this - but we need anotehr high quality option (preferably on the right wing).

[tcj_jones]

I feel that we have today paid the price for our overly prudent manner in the transfer market this summer and will continue to do so until we bring in the necessary additions to the squad.

Knowing that Bentley would be off in the summer and a distinct absence of quality in the centre of the park being clear for all to see for about two years now (Dunn excluded, but we should also have been aware of his proneness to injury) we should have had as many as five players lined up for each position and should have had the squad ready and fit for the upcoming campaign. There really is no excuse for going into teh season without new signings in these positions.

We don't have a single naturally right sided wide player. We don't have a single dependable central midfielder, whether that be down to age, inconsistency or injury. We haven't addressed these problems and that is hugely negligent.

[nowthen]

Very average performance and I agree with the need for a right winger, especially when MGP's delivery from the left was weak. Such a poor decision to take Roberts off today.

[incecticide]

lumping teh ball towards the penalty spot for 90 minutes won't break down any premier league team. bring in a creative right winger and anyone with some flair (carlos?) or our season is going to crumble.

after seeing that today i won't miss watching rovers while i'm playing on saturday afternoons from now on.