Tonight, we gathered at the KC Stadium to watch the last match of the best year of our lives. 2008, the year that started with The Tigers in 9th place in the Championship, ended with a harsh home defeat to Aston Villa, leaving us 8th in the Premier League. It's been a hell of a journey, West Brown, Watford, Wembley, Arsenal, Man United & Liverpool, the highlights and tonight will not go down as a great chapter in the story but it provided a solid Hull City performance that put us in good stead for 2009.
Phil Brown made 5 changes from the team that was hammered at Man City on Boxing Day. Ricketts, Garcia, Barmby, Cousin & Halmosi replacing Marney, Geovanni, King, Windass & Boateng. The line up of 4-5-1 with Garcia and Barmby alongside Ashbee in midfield was a strange one on paper. Phil Brown deserves a lot of credit though, because it was a very good selection. The midfield 3 in particular were superb. The first half was a cautious one from our point of view. We were understandably nervous and lacked the confidence to take command of the ball and use it. That might all have been different had the referee not disallowed a City 'goal' on 5 minutes for a foul on the goalkeeper by Nick Barmby. It was the Villa defender who caused Friedel to drop the ball. Terrible decision. The half wasn't the best, we were happy to sit back and let Villa have the ball. We challenged them to break us down and they couldn't. The work that went on in the middle from our three was a big factor. They worked incredibly hard without the ball and denied Villa the space to produce anything. When we had the ball, we looked nervous. We made poor decisions and everyone seemed too eager to get rid of the ball. The number of times we worked hard to get the ball back and then just gave it back or put it out of play got very frustrating. It was a half of, well, no chances really. Set pieces provided the only threat and they weren't delivered particularly well. Curtis Davies did almost head into his own goal from a harmless looking cross though. It was nice to get to half time without conceding, it gave everyone a lift. The first half was just what we needed after two poor results, it gave us some stability and a platform to build on and it gave the crowd a lift to see 11 guys giving it everything they had.
The second half was much better from our point of view. Cousin had been a spectator throughout the first half but he worked his way into the game and we won more of the ball in good areas which enabled Halmosi and Barmby in particular to get close to Cousin and play off him. We worked even harder to force them off the ball and they kept giving us it. We still didn't manage to translate the good possession we had into chances. Halmosi and Mendy did well but failed to deliver decent balls into the box. The full backs were too occupied with their threat and we didn't really have anyone coming onto the ball from midfield. Strangely, as we got more and more ambitious, Garcia ended up further and further back. Chances were still few and far between, Myhill made one comfortable save from a deflected Petrov shot and Turner made an incredible block to deny the same player. At the other end, Turner nodded a corner into the box but Davies just cleared it ahead of Barmby, Halmosi had two sights of goal but controlled poorly for the first and was closed quickly for the second and King rolled a lovely pass into Ashbee to shoot form 20 yards but he blazed over. We made changes in personnel but kept the same shape. King replaced Cousin and Hughes replaced Barmby. That second change was crying out for Geovanni to come on if we were to really push on but PB was obviously happy with the way the game was going. On 85 minutes, I made the mistake of wondering whether we've had a nil-nil this season. The answer, "No", guaranteed a late winner. Sickeningly, it went to Villa. We cleared the ball out of our box, Ricketts committed himself to going for it and let Ashley Young in behind him. It was literally the only time he'd had the ball in a decent area all game and he delivered a terrific ball in that Zayatte could only turn into his own net. We put Fagan on and pressurized them for the last 4-5 minutes but couldn't crack them. We were awarded a penalty for handball by the idiot referee, Steve Bennett, who then chose to consult his linesman AFTER he'd made the decision and changed his mind. According to the TV, it was the right decision. We deserved the wrong decision though. We deserved to take something from a game we'd put a lot into. We were the better team for a lot of the second half and limited a very good team to one half chance in 90 minutes.
Ratings:
Myhill (6) - A big night for Bo against his former club. He had very little to do but did a couple for things poorly. He came for a corner in the first half that he should've taken easily and chose to punch it straight to Barry on the edge of the box. He missed several chances to give the ball short and then when he did decide to throw short, he threw it straight to a Villa player.
McShane (7) - Gave a really solid performance in his favoured position. He took up great positions that allowed him to make up for the difference in pace between himself and Milner/Young. His reading of the game was good, making several interceptions and he tackled well. The only time Young got away form him first half was when he made a good tackle but the ball bounced back off Young and into space. He defended the near post really well at set pieces too.
Ricketts (6) - Made a welcome return, allowing Mendy to clear of out of the full back position. Used his pace very well to close them down out wide but his touch was poor in possession. Too many attacks failed to materialize down his side. Made a poor decision for their goal but didn't do a lot wrong overall.
Turner (8) - Another terrific night for the big man. Up against a really classy opponent, he was strong and intelligent and read each situation perfectly. The only negative mark would be the pair of soft free-kicks he gave away in the second half which along with a poorly timed tackle from McShane gave Villa a bit of momentum. His block from Petrov's shot, just as everything seemed to have opened up for the shot, was terrific. Tonight showed just how much Turner has grown throughout the year.
Zayatte (8) - Excellent in defence all night. He showed a great turn of pace to keep Agbonlahor quite. Probably quite lucky that he didn't receive a second yellow in the first half when the linesman gave an appalling decision against him. Credit to Steve Bennett for seeing sense on that one. Kammy's distribution was pretty appalling until he produced a pearler of a pass out to Mendy on the right wing. He did everything we want him to though, he was strong, he won the ball in the air and he dealt with their front man quite comfortably. The own goal was terribly unlucky but being harsh, he should attack it with his left foot.
Ashbee (8) - The skipper had a much better game than he has recently. He covered the pitch well, passed well and made great interceptions. He made one terrific clearance and a valuable defensive header from a free-kick. He was as guilty as anyone of passing the ball too quickly but he did pass it to feet, at least. If he could shoot, we'd have been home and dry.
Garcia (7) - If I was marking him on just his work off the ball, it'd be a 10, easy. He was immense without the ball, he worked hard, he got into good positions, he won tackles, he read their passes and he was very strong. He saved an almost certain goal by tracking back into the box and putting himself between the man and the ball. Unfortunately, on the ball, he was pretty pants. He kept winning it and then giving it away straight away. Some of that is perhaps due to his lack of game time and understanding with his team mates. On one occasion, he poked a nice ball into the space where Marlon King HAD been. He seemed to have trouble understanding where Mendy would be moving but then Mendy has trouble understanding where Mendy is running. He justified his selection though, his work rate was phenomenal.
Barmby (9) - Speaking of phenomenal, Barmby was just awesome. He should have had a goal early on, which would have been down to his refusal to give up on a lost cause. His work rate is just unbelievable. There have been times in the last 4 years when we wondered if he'd ever play again and here he is performing at the highest level to a terrific standard. He made tackle after tackle in the middle of the pitch and used the ball well. He started to develop a nice little understanding with Halmosi as the game went on. The team just cannot fail to show passion with this guy in the middle of the pitch wearing the shirt with so much pride.
Mendy (7) - How frustrating is Mendy? He just doesn't have a clue how to play the game. He doesn't make the right runs, he doesn't move off the ball to open up space and he doesn't cry out for the ball when he's in a good position. Then he gets on the ball and he can be electric. He's graceful, he moves with a bit of verve and he genuinely worries opposition defenders. Unfortunately, he doesn't get the ball into the box much, but he does win a lot of throws and corners. He worked his socks off to close down defenders in the second half and caused some of the panic in their back four. He needs to find the end result after his hard work and he needs to concentrate on what he's doing when he doesn't have the ball but he can be a terrific wide player.
Halmosi (6) - Not quite the show stealing night that he'd have wished for given his lack of first team chances recently. He grew into the game a little and worked hard off the ball but didn't produce anything when he had the chance. He did have chances too, several good positions to get crosses in to the box and 3 or 4 times, he came on to the ball at the back post and wasn't decisive enough to get a shot in. Stuart Elliott would have. He gave us nice balance and there ere a few good touches but he's the player who's made it easiest for PB do drop him if he wants to bring back one of the players he left out.
Cousin (6) - Not a particularly good performance as the lone front man. He got better after half time but didn't put in the required amount of work and didn't make the ball stick well enough. Marlon King did a much better job when he came on. He played far too much with his head down and wasn't aware enough of what was around him.
Subs:
King (7) - A decent enough cameo. Did a better job of holding up the ball and finding his team mates. He was a bit more brash and bullish and took the game to their defenders a bit more. Very unlucky to have been left out and sent that message to PB. He was stood with the ball in hand at the end, waiting to take the penalty!
Hughes - Not involved in the game at all.
Fagan - Didn't have much time to make an impression.
The year has ended with a bit of disappointment. Our form isn't great and tonight's defeat is hard to take. On the whole though, it's been absolutely brilliant. We need to build on that though. Tonight's performance was exactly what was needed but we'll have to be more adventurous and show a lot more quality if we're to revert back to being a team that wins matches regularly. Onto the FA Cup 3rd Round next. Winning at Wembley? That'd be nice.
Happy New Year everyone.