Match Day Thread Hull City v Derby

Well, I'm afraid it's going to be a long season ahead of us. Can't operate in the Championship on a shoe-string budget. Even the likes of Luton have paid money to get the players they want and need. You don't need to spend silly money to be competitive in this division but you do need to spend some.

 

We are where we are.

We'll improve on that though. We ****ing have to.

 

How did we put 4 past Preston? We couldn't have bought a goal tonight, no threat at all. I could understand Coyle and Elder taking over right and left wing duties if they did something more intelligent than just sticking poor crosses onto the heads of Davies and Jagielka. Did they really think Magennis would get the better of either of those two? KLP seems to have forgotten why he's on the pitch and Williams tried hard but got f. all support. Greaves and Jones looked surprised that Derby had the audacity to attack them at all and our midfield, did we have one?

We're missing Honeyman no doubt, but with KLP not firing and Wilks out I could see us never scoring a goal again!

I've got a ticket for Fulham this weekend, I'm not looking forward to it. Last time I went (2017?) we lost 4-1.

 

Well that was poor to say the least.

 

Trouble is McCann chooses the formation & his past record of managing at this level is dire (relegation in 24th place). Winning The Div 1 title means nothing in The Championship as we saw tonight

 

Disappointing. We were off the pace and tactically naive, defence shaky and we created nothing. Agree with everyone else, we need an experienced player at the back and a forward who can offer something different to Magennis. Eaves is not going to cut it {ever}. Better to judge when Honeyman, Wilks and Moncur are available but its going to be a rough few weeks with the teams we have to play next.

 

Derby supporting mate just sent this, but also said he expected to effectively be relegated by a points deduction next week.

 

I hope so. Derby are arguably in a worse situation than us both on and off the pitch with the embargo and injuries but only they looked like scoring tonight. I'm not sure if Preston was a fluke but we need to improve massively and the only way I see that happening is if we sign an experienced centre-half older than 25 and a new striker who understands the off-side rule and has a bit of mobility. I think we'll struggle otherwise.

 

This is all too gloomy, from me aswell!

Yes we were poor tonight but we've got Honeyman and Wilks to come back, hopefully Hudd can impart a bit of wisdom into our midfield, and we're only 3 games in. The players and McCann should learn from tonight and get things a bit tighter and more controlled for the weekend game, that will be a real test of character.

Onwards and upwards, UTT!

 

Even after we won League One, I gave credit to McCann but I still have my reservations about him as a manager at this level. After tonight, I have some reservations about some of the players to perform at this level too. Don't get me wrong, I don't doubt their determination like some of the mercenaries we had last time we were in the Championship but I am worried about the ability of some. I'm quite worried about Docherty in particular. I thought he was on fire last season but it looks like he hasn't even defrosted so far from what I've seen of him. It looks like he's the one who hasn't played for over a year, not Huddlestone. Don't know what's wrong with him so far. Pressure?

 

Both Wilkes and Honeyman need to improve on last year if they are going to make a positive difference in this division.

 

McCann's hands are ultimately tied by the available resources. He has a brief to develop youth. I'm not suggesting for a minute that we shouldn't stay behind the manager and players. He's here to do a job and he's doing it - though I suspect we may be bouncing between this league and the one below until the boardroom situation changes.

 

How exactly are they worse off than us? We operate under the same transfer embargo but are without our captain, player of the season and top scorer. We have a naive back four whereas theirs is hugely experienced, and we strikers who have no record of scoring in this division. To rub salt in the wound, Derby have convinced the authorities that theirs is an unworkable situation so they allow them to sign a couple of players - one of whom scored tonight's winner - while our owner sits on his cash.

Everyone knows what we need. A striker and an experienced centre back, and without them we'll be back in League 1.

 

Honeyman is definitely a miss, we didn't go long ball nearly half as often with him on the park and he got loads of assists. Thudd will need to play further forward I think, but you can't have him and Smallwood in the same team so I guess Smith is the one. Or Cannon.

 

I think Docherty's game shows how much our midfield relied on Honeyman to do a lot of the donkey work giving the likes of Slater and Docherty a bit more freedom to press forward.

 

They can do exactly what they did last season and still make a difference, just not a title winning difference in this league.

I still think we'll be better than that.

 

So you'd back McCann even if we got relegated back to League One this season?

 

Yeah, if his playing budget turns out to be better than bottom 3 then I'll be surprised, but we will only be as good as the boardroom allows us to be.

Shame really. If you put an experienced championship spine with the promising youth we have, then we'll probably stay up and get top dollar for the youth.

I'm not sure Ehab has that level of insight though.

 

We really should have been at least 2 or 3 down at half time. Sadly we never improved in the 2nd and our keeper dropped a clanger.
We are missing Wilks & Honeyman massively could be a long season.