The Tigers ended a three game losing streak with an entertaining draw against Manchester City at the KC stadium. City were well worth at least a point but had to come from behind to take it. Man City suffered from the old boy syndrome. One of the unwritten laws of football states that if you let someone go for free and he joins a club in the same division, he will return to haunt you.
Pre-match, there was a very nice applause for Peter Taylor, who was working for Sky, when he appeared on the big screen. City made one change from the team that faced Bolton, Ricketts in for the injured Dawson. On the bench, Stelios replaced Bernard Mendy, who can count himself very unlucky at no being involved at all. We were the better team throughout the first half. We started well and rarely let the standard slip. We looked much more vibrant up front and dealt easily with any Man City threat. Their only threat in the opening half hour was a Robinho free-kick that wandered well wide of goal. While not creating many chances, we got into the better positions and enjoyed more ball and territory. When we took the lead, it was fortuitous but deserved. Micah Richards played a ball across their box to Ben Haim, King and Cousin closed him down and he badly under-hit a back pass to his 'keeper, allowing Cousin to pounce and slide the ball into the corner. Our standards didn't drop despite the lead, we continued to work hard and deny them any time to play. Their full backs enjoyed lots of space due to the narrow formation but we ensured that they couldn't do a lot with the ball. Cousin was winning the balls played up to him, which were more accurate than last week and Marney was very lively in the midfield. Robinho had barely been the game and we were easily winning the midfield battle. Then they scored … twice. A promising Tigers' attack led to Cousin holding possession, he turned back towards our goal and killed any momentum, before playing a terrible cross field ball into the patch of Wright-Phillips, who broke away and fed Robinho. He slid the ball between our centre backs but Benjani hadn't read the ball (or the "How to be a good striker" manual) and the ball was rolling through to Myhill. Inexplicably, Zayatte chose to take the ball instead but his heavy touch took the ball out of his and Myhill's reach and into the path of Stephen Ireland, who tapped the gift into an empty net. Terrible. Two poor goals, but ours was the worst because there was literally no pressure on Zayatte to do anything with the ball.
It got worse for us. Marney lost the ball in midfield; they released the ball into space behind McShane who was easily outpaced by Guerrero. They only had Benjani in the box, but we had no-one covering the edge of the area, which was where Guerrero's ball across fell to Ireland, who took a touch and placed a beautiful right foot shot across Myhill. Good finish but the build up was too easy and Ireland had too much room to do whatever he wanted. It was quite annoying that having been pretty good in possession throughout, we'd given them the ball too easily three times and it led to two goals. We went in to half time with our heads down and feeling a bit sorry for ourselves. Man City must have been delighted at going in 2-1 up having played poorly and not threatened us at all. They looked sharp at the start of the second half but not for long, we worked hard to retain the superiority we'd enjoyed throughout. We could've used the ball better in the final third, our crossing wasn't very good and too often we saw the ball run away for goal kicks but applauded the intent anyway. When we got into good positions to put the ball in, it was often Cousin or King doing the crossing and we never got the men in from midfield to make up the difference so their defenders, who were abysmal under any pressure, coped easily with the ball in. We got a deserved equaliser with 25 to play, Geovanni, who outshone Robinho throughout, scoring with a deflected free kick. The free kick was one of a number we got from referee Phil Dowd, who gave us very little in the first half. I don't know if Phil brown had protested at half time. We dealt well with them defensively, Boateng and Ashbee looked strong in the middle and we looked the most likely to win the game. We couldn't quite find the break through though. Geovanni took another free kick (three times) but didn't test Schmeichel, King controlled a forward pass and forced a good save and Cousin headed too close to the 'keeper from a terrific Ricketts cross. With ten to play, they replaced Benjani ("Offside!") with Jo and started to push on. That last ten was very exciting as both teams wanted three points. They should have taken them really as a great ball forward released the wide player who forced a terrific save out of Myhill, his first save of the afternoon. If you could have chosen anyone for that chance to fall too, as a Hull fan, I'm sure you'd have chosen Vassell, and I was he who missed it. We put in two good crosses that evaded everyone and then made two good blocks at the other end to deny them a winner. A draw was about fair overall.
Myhill had a quite afternoon. He was quick off his line but pretty much untested. It would be harsh to try and pin the first goal on him but I do wonder if he screamed at Zayatte loud enough to let him know to leave it alone. McShane did OK but looked sluggish against the quick forwards. He picked up a booking in the first half for being late into a tackle. He got there as quick as he could, as they say. He made good runs forward to support the attack but rarely put in a decent ball. Ricketts was fine at left back. His first touch of the game was a Shaun Smith special, a slice into the West Stand but he recovered and did a decent job. He produced two great crosses but out of about seven attempts. Against two lightening quick opponents in Vassell and Wright-Phillips, he was alert and equal to them. He was lucky not to be booked for a foul on Vassell, it was worse than the one McShane committed and wasn't even given as a free kick by the abysmal referee. Turner was excellent again. Won the aerial battle easily, looked calm in possession and terrific in the tackle. Ben Haim made a great run in the second half from his own half of the pitch; he strolled past our strikers, through the gap between Marney and Boateng and then skipped easily past Ashbee. Just as we started to panic, up stepped Turner with a perfect block tackle. His reading of the situation was immaculate. Zayatte was terrific. The mistake for the goal was terrible, that is obvious, but everything else he did was superb. Tackles, blocks, headers, really crunching tackles actually, that left opponents on the floor but were perfectly legal. He's amazing on the ball, well, generally, and brings the ball out well with no fuss. There was just the odd sign of a lack of communication between him and others. Early on a ball forward fell to a stretching Turner with Zayatte behind him in lots of space. Instead of Zayatte giving turner a shout, he let the big man stretch and head the ball straight to Benjani. That needs addressing. Sign language is great, but not if Turner has his back to Zayatte. It's hard to be too critical though, the two of them are going home tonight with 32 million pounds worth of talent in their pocket, half each. They could've fit Benjani in their too but not the linesman and flag who accompany him.
Midfield was much improved from last week. Ash put in a lot of work and made a lot of good interceptions. He struggled to make tackles, looking a little bit slow compared to their guys but doing everything he could to make up the difference. His use of the ball was unadventurous but sensible and he rarely gave it away. He needs to find some confidence in front of goal though. Not for the first time this season, reasonable chances fell to him on the edge of the box and he hit them poorly. Boateng was much better, looking less like Sindy and more like Action Man. He wasn't perfect but was very good. He was strong on the ball and worked hard to get it when he didn't have it. The positioning of all three midfielders was good, giving us a nice barrier that they had to break through. He wants more time on the ball than he's ever going to be allowed which leads to him losing the ball sometimes. A guy who's played in the top flight for as long as he has should know better. Marney had a fine game. It was interesting to compare him with Ireland, who's a similar type of player. In open play, Marney was far superior, he was busier, he took more responsibility on the ball, he worked far harder and when he had possession, he looked more likely to cause a problem. When it came to the final third though, Ireland was keener to get into the box. As big a mistake as we made for the first goal, you'd get away with it most weeks because the central midfielder would not have been that high up the pitch. Ireland looked a goal threat, which Marney doesn't manage enough and he had the confidence and ability to finish. It's hard for Marney to concentrate on scoring goals when he's expected to do much, much more for the team, but you'd like to see him develop that part of his game because he's good enough to do it.
Geovanni was keen to prove a point to Mark Hughes and I think he did it. He looked sharp in possession and made one terrific run through their defence that was crudely halted by Ben Haim. He hit a terrific free kick and just missed with an athletic overhead kick. For the second week running, we saw his incredible outside of the right boot cross into the box. Robinho looked good on the ball and showed a couple of his tricks but never looked as likely to score as Geo. I'd like to see Geo creating more though, he looks like he could provide more assists, he doesn't produce the crosses or through passes that you'd expect. Cousin finally got his first goal at home, a reward for his persistence. He was terrific in the air but rarely threatened the goal when it mattered. King gave an equally impressive performance outside the box, holding up the ball well and working hard to bring people into play but rarely looking likely to score. Early on, we had a lot of chances to cross in from the right and wasted them, King being particularly culpable. I read in the match program a game or two ago that King has made the most crosses of any City player this season. I can't imagine that any more than one or two were any good though. As a team, our delivery must improve, as must our decision making. We cross from far too deep and it doesn't cause a problem. That is an age old criticism of Phil Brown's City though. Barmby and Halmosi made appearances from the bench. Neither had enough time to do a lot but both did little wrong.
It was nice to move off the 20 point mark that we've been stuck on since West Brom. It was a good point too against a side that can cause you problems. We probably didn't do enough to win the game in truth. For all our hard work and some great play, that never translated into goal scoring chances. We go on the road again next week which has suited us so far. We need to cut out the silly mistakes of today, obviously, and we should be OK. I do feel that the combination of Crouch and Defoe will be a big test for us, but Turner is good enough in the air and Zayatte quick enough on the floor to quell that threat. The manager did well today. He kept faith with the system he likes and it might've paid off but for some unforeseeable errors. It was nice to see Sam Ricketts back and looking confident. He gives a much better attacking option than McShane but hasn't looked strong enough defensively to take the right back position. Without offending McShane, it would be nice to have someone at right back who can use the ball well so a strong Ricketts would be a huge bonus.
Ratings: Myhill 7, McShane 6, Ricketts 7, Turner 7, Zayatte 8, Ashbee 7, Boateng 7 (Halmosi), Marney 7, Geovanni 8, Cousin 7 (Barmby), King 6.