Another home game; another dull draw; another two points dropped. Hull faced Birmingham City under the lights of the MKM Stadium and it was destined to be an easy outing, given that we were facing a team two places outside the mire and who have had several managers this season. I cannot fathom why we play like this at home, yet we can turn up the gas and play much better on the road. If anything, it should be the other way around.
I really thought we had this in the bag and sealed shut: we had 22 shots, with five on target, compared with their 8; 64% of the possession to their 36%; 685 passes to their 393 and an expected goal rate of 1.52 to their 0.41. Evidently, we have the ability to dominate games–look at our stats from previous matches, especially home games–but we are missing the most important aspects of football: the final pass and product. The latter being the biggest burden. It’s ok having the ball, but we are not doing anything with it.
Rosenior made two changes to the starting line-up: Omur and Ozan Tufan came in for Regan Slater and Anass Zaroury. That meant we lined up as follows, in a 4-4-2 formation: Ryan Allsop, betwixt the sticks; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Ryan Giles cementing the back wall; Tyler Morton and Seri in the middle; Philogene and Omur manning the flanks and Tufan and Carvalho leading the flock. I have to say, some players are beginning to drop in quality and it is those players who have been consistent starters: Philogene (I suppose he was decent in defence, but that is not his position); Morton and Carvalho. Perhaps start them on the bench and let some of our fresh players have a chance.
The first period, we were most efficient and played some fabulous football. Our passing was on point; the ability to hold it was great and getting it forward was much better than our previous game against Preston. Our first chance of the night came from Seri; in the 7th minute, he received the ball, looked up at the goal and struck with power, however, the trajectory was straight to the keeper. I always get worried when Seri decides to shoot, but this was probably his best attempt all season.
Not long after, we had another opportunity after a corner from Omur found Coyle outside the box, who volleyed it back to Omur–although, I think he meant to have a shot–and he put it in across the face of the goal, but an onrushing Jones was unable to get any contact on the ball. A promising start, which was eventually rewarded.
In the 25th minute, we were awarded another corner, which Omur put in and was headed back by Greaves and handled by Tufan. Yes, you heard that right. From where I was sitting, I thought Greaves scored, however, after watching the highlights Tufan blatantly sticks out his arm and steers it in. I’ll take it though, after having some poor decisions go against us this season.
15 minutes after this, Tufan had another amazing opportunity to double our lead; Giles was released on the left flank with an abundance of space to run into and he passed it to Tufan, about 25 yards out, who controlled it neatly and shot, which was saved by Ruddy, their keeper, and onto the post, only for the Blues to clear it.
Birmingham did not really have any opportunities and were not trying to threaten us, which was probably part of their game plan: soak up the pressure and hit us on the counter-attack. It did allow us to come out of the half with the lead.
The next 45 minutes was basically the typical Hull performance after a great half of football and drawing first blood: we continue to dominate, but seem to be unable to score again. For some strange reason, we play worse when we are winning.
We did come out the better side, but I am referring to our aptness to pass the ball at the back and not get it forward. I do not want to bore you with the details, so I won’t dwell on this half for too long–I feel like I say the same things every week.
It took us until the 73rd minute until we had the best chance of the half; Philogene cashed in on a defensive mix-up and found himself one-on-one with the keeper, but instead of shooting, he tried to score the perfect goal by chopping back and doing step-overs, which did not work and he ended up pulling it back to Carvalho, who put it over the bar.
Then, Birmingham made a substitution in the 80th minute, bringing on Lukas Jutkiewicz for Ivan Sunjic, which paid dividends just two minutes later in the 82nd minute; the visitors hit us on the counter-attack, with Pritchard leading it and he was able to complete the perfect cross into the box, which was met cleanly by Jutkiewicz, who headed it home and earned a vital point for their team.
I have to admit, I was not expecting us to give away the game as we usually do that earlier in the match and are quite good in defence in the latter stages; however, something was different in this match. Alas, at least it was not a loss, but we see it as two points dropped, rather than a point gained. It also leaves us in a frustrating position because if Norwich win, they will leapfrog us and have a point gap. West Bromwich can extend the gap too if they beat QPR.
I am starting to sense it is not going to go in our favour, especially when we face league leaders Leicester on the weekend. Let’s hope we have a good omen on our side.