29th September 2013 Saturday – City climb to a heady 7th place clutching 10 precious points and then have to listen to “big sam” berate our wonderful “striker” Robbie Brady, whose habit of exciting the Tiger Nation seems to hold no bounds.
Much better to tell your team not to push attackers from behind in the middle of your penalty area sam, than to attempt to discredit a whole-hearted player. Teach ‘em that, make it sink in and you won’t have to bleat like a school boy on telly (well about that particular incident anyway).
Having said that, Livermore’s elbow/ball contact was missed by the referee (and touch judge) and on the current interpretation of handball should have drawn a penalty. But they didn’t see it like that and City blocked West Ham out of any points.
The table looks good this evening. A lot of teams below us are finding points difficult to come by and those pundits who wrote us off must be hoping we will collapse after October in the way we did before in this league.
If we can can keep clear of accumulating injuries, this class of 2013-2014 have enough nouse to hang onto Premier League status.
Meanwhile Sam’s main reason for whingeing might just be his precarious position vis-à-vis the West Ham fans. They like to think their club is known for passing and bright football, and will bore you all night about the past and the time West Ham won the world cup etc etc. They put a brave face on it when Sam’s win ugly approach got them out of the championship pit. And can just about put up with similar as long as they’re winning. But a no-winning streak is another matter, oh yes. With just one win since the opening game Sam must be feeling uneasy. Hence his over-reaction at the KC in my book.
Of course they was no complaint from Sam when the referee failed to send off Nolan for his two footed “tackle” on Rosenior, which could have ended Liam’s career. A clear red card after seeing the incident via a replay. But the West Ham Captain only got a caution, quite a lucky escape.
Back to the game itself. This wasn’t our best performance by any means, we can play better football than this, we can retain possession better than this and we can do better things with the ball. Maybe the odd change in personnel had an effect or maybe this was the result of Bruce’s instructions on the day. Or maybe the hammers passing game was a bit too good at times. But the lads were organised, concentration was continuous and commitment was there in spades and that was good enough for City to come out on top.
Anyway in the 11th minute Brady was in the Hammers penalty box running towards a through ball alongside Joey O’Brien and what is not in dispute is that O’Brien pushed Brady in the back, the fact that Brady would not have been first to the ball is neither here nor there, O’Brien though was probably unsure, hence the push to make sure. Stupid, stupid, and Brady goes flat on his face. Anywhere else on the pitch and it’s a free kick, but in the box it’s a penna, simple unless it’s against your team so it seems.
Brady takes the spot kick and hammers it home sending the unfortunate Jaaskelainen the wrong way.
Decent performances by all in Black and Amber in particular Davies (nearly scored), Aluko, Rosenior, Huddlestone and Livermore (his excellent shot hitting the foot of the post). Elmo seems to prefer playing on the wing (he is not a fullback) and had a decent game, his wonderful header from a Brady corner was only just tipper over by Jaaskelainen, that great keeper who has condemned City to numerous defeats over the years.
West Ham got a lot of possession but their Sam tactics of long balls into the box increasingly favoured our defensive set up and Davies and Faye could have defended them all night.
We have another home game coming up on Saturday and if we get another 3 points from Villa we can go on the travels to Everton and Spurs with a decent points haul in the bag and tough it out the best we can.
Hull City: McGregor, Rosenior, Figueroa, Davies, Faye, Huddlestone, Livermore, Elmohamady, Brady, Aluko, Graham. Bench: Harper, Bruce, McShane, Boyd, Quinn, Sagbo, Meyler.
West Ham: Jaaskelainen, Reid, Tomkins, Rat, O’Brien, Nolan, Jarvis, Morrison, Noble, Diame, Maiga. Bench: Adrian, Collins, Demel, Taylor, Downing, Vaz Te, Petric.
Referee Kevin Friend.
Attendance 24,921.
Tiger Fans Agenda 