Post-Match Notes: Hull City’s Performance Against Stoke City
Three points forward, then three points backwards for the Tigers.
After the shock win against Sheffield United we all came back to the relegation battle reality Hull City finds itself in with a bump after the defeat to Stoke at the MKM. Hull City’s home form has been a cause for concern for far too long and this edition of Tigers Opinion looks at why this continued against Stoke and has been a problem for the past 18 or so months. Then following up more positively with how Ruben Selles might be able to turn this home form trend around using his tactics and personnel more effectively.
Starting with the main reason the Tigers lost after a very positive opening to the game with Eliot Matazo’s well taken finish at the back post. To state the obvious… the defending was yet again not good enough. To expand on this in a hopefully slightly meaningful way Hull City are failing to do the basics of defending far too often even if this is just for short periods. Or as Ruben Selles might label them: defensive moments.
There are too many times when the Tigers lose control of the momentum of the game, switch off and concede poor goals swung into the box onto a mismatch in the box. This can be as little as a two minute spell. Last weekend neither of Stoke City’s goals were particularly impressive in how they came about or were scored. I will credit the Potters for taking their chances firstly, but from a Hull City perspective neither of Stoke’s goals were particularly impressive in how they came about or were scored.
For both goals Hull let Stoke dictate the pace of the game in the build up and allowed a speculative ball into the box. This would be ok if their back line and goalkeeper were commanding and able to be aggressive to deal with the danger. Unfortunately Hull City’s defenders were neither, so were deservedly punished the way any team in the Championship would capitalise on this defensive frailty. Call it bad luck or misfortune but the home form pattern is stemming from something or several factors like this one.
I’m sure the players and staff are not happy with the atrocious home form but its up to them to not fall into passive moments of play and find ways to be able to deal with crosses from wide and deep. McLoughlin at left back might be the answer to this with his height and centre half physicality in the short term.
However, to be brutally honest I think the full backs just need to wise up and give the centre halves a chance at an unimpeded opportunity to clear the ball. They can do this by blocking runners or knocking them off their stride at least to give their inside teammate a chance. They might not be expected to win every header against bigger players so they need to use their positioning and physicality to stop their man getting a clear goal scoring opportunity another way. This seems like the defensive basics of being a full back which is primarily a defensive position that is lacking in some matches.
It is common knowledge that the Tigers are sub par normally when playing at home. The previous two Hull City managers stuck by their systems and philosophies very stubbornly with almost cult like zeal. Thankfully we’ve not really heard the pragmatic Ruben Selles mention words like philosophy much but that being said the Tigers still have a way of playing under him. This way of playing is generally very dynamic with and without the ball, trying to win every moment, playing vertically and quickly to try and build relentless pressure.
Elements of this overall style of play are especially evident in their current unbeaten away record of three games in a row. Players like Kyle Joseph and Joe Gelhardt have brought a balance that is needed in Selles’ vertical, high energy press system when they have won away from home. A good example of what they both bring is how both helped set the tone at Sheffield United in terms of putting in the hard yards, fighting lost causes and constantly trying to compete for the ball. Their relentless attitude and energy levels helped slow the speed the opposition recycled the ball and helped setup the goal scoring phases of play.
The Stoke match was a game that required the Tigers to come out all over the visitors from the very first whistle with relentless pressing and attacking moments. Although they took an early lead they lacked the same hassling, harrying and not giving their opponents time to think, let alone dictate the pace of the game throughout. Pedro although does his share of the workload is not the type of striker that is effective at leading this type of press for 90 minutes. Lastly from Saturday they failed to win enough moments at both ends. They had plenty of shots but failed to score more than one and conceded a bit too easily at least once, arguably twice. Simple as.
When playing at home if the Tigers feel they can thrive on not needing too much of the ball, they should maybe just try and play very vertically to force the issue. With that in mind they could almost surrender some of their possession in their own half to at least get the ball in the opponents defensive third more. If teams come and sit in like we’ve seen over and over the past two seasons, by slowing it down and playing to Hull’s weaknesses, Hull City should just double down and try to play a really high aggressive press. If they can’t win at home playing the way they are now, I’d say from my easy arm chair viewing perspective try something like this, they might just find a winning formula.
The near fortnight rest between games might be a blessing in disguise to fix some of the defensive frailties and allow the new signings to bed in a bit. However some of the new players will still need some consistent match appearances to get up to the sharpness required.
The next game at Burnley is in many ways a bit like the Sheffield United game. Statistically City aren’t expected to get anything out the game. On the flip side though Hull are one of the form teams in the division playing away from home so winning away might be a very effective way for the Tigers to pick up points and ultimately stay up.
UTT