Back from the Game - Hull (H)

[PEARCEY]

Church gets caught offside, a lot.

He did although the lino really didn't give us anything in the first half. One or two decisions looked close calls to me.
I also thought we may have had a pen in the first half when Kebe beat his man and went to ground. However Kebe was poor today and at one stage in the second-half seemed to inter-change with Long who had switched wide with Jimmy up-front. God knows why.

[AthleticoSpizz]

Leigertwood - 7...he's improved a lot since his first game here, gets stuck in and is fairly solid although he should have done better with an effort he swung his left foot at second half where he had all the time in the world to set himself
up to score late on

Royalee wrote 17 December:
I hope we send him back to QPR permanently, he's utter shit.

AthleticoSpizz wrote:
your opinion, and you are welcome to it...but (not for the first time) you are wrong

[Hoop Blah]

It was a throwback to the first half of the season - seen it so many times before.

First half plenty of possession and reasonable chances but not able to score from them, then early in the second half give away a soft goal and then chasing the game after that.

Totally agree, and also with Floyds assessment of Kebe post-injury. I'm sure the two are linked and I just hope McDermott can turn that around.

Let's just hope today was a mere blip and not a return to form.

[paultheroyal]

Mills - 5...always the wrong side of his man and gives the ball away with his hoofs

He was almost faultless today. In the past I felt he was a liability, but McDermott's faith in him has paid dividends and I am astonished anyone could think he was anything other than excellent today...

This this this this this ^^^

x 2

[tee peg]

Church was awful.Lazy and out of touch with the game.Long must have had a least double the work rate of Church.
Ref was a total cnut as was the East stand linesman.Harte must have the dunces hat on tonight.

[Svlad Cjelli]

Manset seems to be the only human being that can jump in the air for a header, and somehow end up with his head lower to the ground than if he just stood still!

I can see at least a year of heavy training before he's ready

Peter Crouch is the same - and it's a tendancy with tall players. As they tower over others in their teens, then never actually learn to time a jump - contrast with the likes of Nicky Shorey who was really good in the air because he had to be to compensate for his lack of height and so had learnt the skill.

[Croydon Royal]

feds 7- didnt do that much today, harte's fault for the goal and not feds
griff- 7 decent performance
mills 8- MOM- i thought mills was solid today, Pearce was also very good but for me mills just scrapes MOM for me
Pearce 8- Strong and assured, another good performance
Harte 6- at fault for the goal, doesnt look like a championship player at all, made up with the penalty though
kebe 7- had some moments of genious, but seems to get very disinterested sometimes
karacan 7- played a few good balls, lots of energy as usual, but was wasteful at times
elwood 8- broke up the play well and done some decent runs however as the game went on he started to become wasteful as well
mcanuff 7- was effective some of the time, but gave away the ball quite a lot today, seems to play much better in the middle then on the wing
church 6- didnt look like a threat at all, still dont see much in him tbh
long 8- worked his socks off as usual, but not quite the same standard as the last few games, maybe because of his slight knock in the first half?

Manset 6- didnt do a lot, still needs time
HRK 7- put a few decent balls into the box and done a few good runs

ref 1- attrocious
linesmans 1- attrocious

worst officials in quite some time

Agree with pretty much all of this. Credit to McAnuff for the ball through to Long when he won the penalty. Why don't we look for the ball through the middle more often?

Manset seems to have some potential, you could see he struggled with the fact he didn't know how to play with those around him, but that will come in time. Hell, look how much Leigertwood has come on since his first match with us!

[Royal With Cheese]

I was listening to the Hull stream on Reading player. It's interesting on their comments on the game:

They though Federici was at fault for the goal, they loved Long and Kebe (1st half) and thought both Mills and Pearce were are solid partnership. They thought a draw was a reasonable sesult and would have taken it boefroe the game started.

[Ian Royal]

Hull commentators by the way, rated McAnuff & Kebe as excellent players and Long as a very decent Championship striker.

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Reading fans who called Mikele Leigertwood "Elwood" are absolute oxf*rd

^ This * 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

[T.R.O.L.I.]

Question - should Ashbee have been sent off towards the end of the first half?

[PEARCEY]

Question - should Ashbee have been sent off towards the end of the first half?

He pretty much pole-axed Long but it probably looked worse than it really was as Long got up pretty quickly (much more quickly than he did from his first knock). I think the yellow was right.

[RoyalBlue]

I was listening to the Hull stream on Reading player. It's interesting on their comments on the game:

They though Federici was at fault for the goal,

Then they are complete Yorkshire puddings! I suggest they watch the tv footage of the goal. Defensive liability Harte played/cushioned the ball with his foot and then inexplicably decided to leave it where it rested!!! Unlesss I totally misunderstand the laws of the game, there is no way that Feds could have come to claim the ball without conceding an indirect freekick for a back pass. The only thing he could have done is raced out to kick it clear. In which case why didn't the Harte do that very effing thing in the first place!!

[AthleticoSpizz]

he, quite simply messed up

it happens

[RoyalBlue]

he, quite simply messed up

it happens

Yes it does, and far too frequently with Harte. He is not up to the required standard and needs to be replaced. He cost us two points today, as opposed to saving us one with his over-rated (based on what we've seen from him since he joined us) dead ball skills.

Carry on watching the footage and you will see he actually has the timerity to get in Fed's face and have a go at him for messing up!!! Lucky Feds didn't show him some of the renowned Aussie fighting spirit!

[Wycombe Royal]

Carry on watching the footage and you will see he actually has the timerity to get in Fed's face and have a go at him for messing up!!! Lucky Feds didn't show him some of the renowned Aussie fighting spirit!

He did apologise a few seconds later though.......

[AthleticoSpizz]

not too sure where the "frequently" bit comes into it RB.....its easy to pick up on negatives on certain players...whilst the goldenchilds get away with murder..........................but I take your point

[West_Reading]

Hull can be added to the list along with Leeds of Yorkshire teams who came here and showed absolutely no interest in winning the game. They were totally and utterly dire as an attacking unit although looked very solid defensively.

As for the game, Mills, Pearce, Leigertwood, McAnuff and Long were all excellent. First half we didn't really find any rhythm but were by far the better side and should have gone in two up. Long should have hit the ball first time from Kebe's cut back and McAnuff nearly scored a screamer twice. Second half we looked pretty toothless and they scored from their only 'attack' of the game, which was basically down to Harte not clearing the ball when he had the chance. Aside from that mistake I thought he was excellent. He had a dodgy five minute spell after his mistake though. Good ball from McAnuff for the penalty though and you could see it from a mile away what was going to happen once Long made the run. HRK looked very sharp when he came on and skinned Rosenior twice on the outside. Manset is a beast but did look off the pace. He showed some good touches though and i'm sure he'll prove the real deal once he gets his fitness up.

Fed - 7 - Nothing to do. Punched well from a couple of corners.
Griffin - 7 - Solid as ever but felt he could have got closer to Koren to stop the cross for the goal.
Mills - 9 - MOTM. Real rock today. Simply faultless.
Pearce - 8 - Excellent and i'm glad he's proving me wrong as I wasn't a fan at the start.
Harte - 7 - Made the mistake but great penalty and thought generally he was very good.
McAnuff - 8 - Did drift out of the game now and then but he was responsible for most of our good moments.
Leigertwood - 8 - Broke up so many attacks. If only his passing had been better but put in a real shift.
Karacan - 7 - A typical Karacan performance. Can't really fault him.
Kebe - 6 - Didn't touch the ball for the first 15 minutes but when he did he looked dangerous. Was anonymous for too many periods though and even reverted to playing up top near the end. Weird.
Long - 8 - He is so vital for us. We would be toothless without him as he makes things happen with thr way we play.
Church - 5 - Pulled out of too many headers and was offside all the time. Not a good day for him.

Subs -

HRK - 7 - Definete threat coming off the bench with his direct styke and left foot.
Manset - 6 - Potential there just needs to get up to Championship speed.

[FiNeRaIn]

Gotta stop these nonsense defensive mistakes, forest and hull are two games we've dropped four points just off the top of my head due to them. Not to mention the one against norwich at home like mills backpass. Harte as much as I love his attitude, occasional great pass and set piece is just woeful at the back he is caught out week after week after week by balls coming into the box his side, carlisle fans predicted this and they were dead on. Today, you'd think with all his experience in a moment where pace didn't matter he failed to clear a ball that obviously a keeper could not pick up after he touched it, basic defending..free goal for hull with their first shot on target. Need to stop these seeing as we don't score enough.

[Tilehurst End]

Reading fans who called Mikele Leigertwood "Elwood" are absolute oxf*rd

^ This * 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000

This is presumably for when he plays alongside Jake Taylor


Dire game all round today. Spent most of the second half thinking about what to have for dinner.
Centre halves played well but Dull City hardly attacked.
Rosenior played McAnuff really well.
Shane was targetted for some rough stuff and needs some support up there but Massive Manhood needs some work.
Don't think the officials are even worthy of a mention. One minute added on first half when Long was down for at least three.