5 Things we learned from Hull Cities stunning win over Man United
Who saw that one coming? I said in my preview for Man United that I was optimistic heading into the season for a number of reasons but all that optimism has been thrown in the bin in the first game of the season, Hull City came out and immediately looked the stronger side despite United dominating possession and opened the scoring in the 17th minute. The warning signs were there from the attack that conceded the corner as Giles almost scored from the left-hand-side with Lammens tipping the ball over the bar, from the corner then Slater won the flick on to the back-post where McBurnie was waiting with his header miraculously saved by Lammens only for Semi Ajayi to storm in and slam the ball into the net to open the scoring for Hull City. From there you might think United would wake up but sloppy pass after sloppy pass stopped them from gaining any momentum as the half wore on with Hull growing more and more confident, then as the half was coming to a close a Hull free-kick was whipped in my Slater to Nobel Mendy in the box who headed Hull 2-0 in front in the 38th minute. Rashford came on for the second half but United were absolutely rubbish for the whole second 45 putting cross after cross in to nobody barely even troubling Tzolakis in the Hull goal, a despicable performance from a side that looks to kick on under Michael Carrick this season. What an opening game for Hull City who gain some unbelievable momentum heading into a huge game against Coventry City next week.
The perfect game-plan from Hull City to beat United. If we’ve seen one weakness under Michael Carrick so far it’s playing against a back 3/5, whether Sergej Jakirovic would have played that system anyway we don’t know but it completely nullified United today for 90 minutes. Set-pieces are so important for newly promoted teams and to score two in the first half basically won the game for Hull City already, Ryan Giles was brilliant down the left putting in some brilliant deliveries throughout the game including the corner which opened the scoring in the game. At 2-0 it would have been easy to get complacent but Hull gave United absolutely nothing in that second half defending for their lives which ultimately left Tzolakis with very little to do in the Hull goal, the likes of John Egan, Nobel Mendy and Matt Crooks were superb today and were crucial in blocking any United shots that came there way. If they can continue to play like this throughout the season they have at least a chance to stay up, we’ll really see next week against Coventry what this Hull teams about.
A hideous opening day performance from United. I don’t even know where to start with this one to be honest, I’m absolutely seething with that performance from everyone who played today. First of all Carrick got the team selection all wrong, Patrick Dorgu as a left-winger just simply not good enough. He was dreadful today and should have been taken off before half-time in my opinion, Cunha up front another wrong selection from Carrick as he drifts too far back to pin any of the three centre-backs and loves the ball too much to go time without it like a striker does. Mbeumo on the right-wing again wrong selection, why does Mbeumo play all of pre-season up front then when the first game of the season comes he goes back to right-wing? I don’t understand it even Tielemans and Andre Santos were shocking in midfield giving the ball away time after time with fitness levels that looked miles off it, I just don’t get it. Then you have the defence which was just a complete shambles from start to finish, the first Hull goal was calamitous all round with 3 or 4 players frozen in the box whilst Mendy waltzes in to open the scoring. I might allow a rusty first half but to not even threaten in the second half is disgraceful, cross after cross after cross which Hull were hoovering up all game just made no sense. To not even score against a newly promoted side on opening day is simply not good enough and has me worried ahead of the rest of the season, there has to be improvements next week against Ipswich.
Can Hull stay up this year? I’m gonna be honest in my predictions for the Premier League I had Hull City 20th in the league, they’ve not made a ton of new signings and kept the core of players that got the team promoted which might just pay off this season. I am a bit hesitant as United were so so bad today but there was a lot to like about Hull’s performance today, we saw Leeds switch to a three at the back in November last season and go on a brilliant run to the end of the season so if you can get it right that system is perfect for a newly promoted side. It’s obviously going to be an extremely tough challenge but they couldn’t have got off to a better start this afternoon, do you think Hull can stay in the league this season? I still have my doubts.
Any more business left to do in the window? For United I would imagine they will still be relatively busy in the market over the next week, or at least I’d like to think so. We already know Carlos Baleba is coming in from Brighton and with the way our midfield looked today I’d imagine he’ll be starting almost straight away when he recovers from his injury in a couple of weeks, other than that United are absolutely crying out for a left-back and with Alejandro Balde leaving Barcelona I can definitely see a deal getting done before the end of the window. I also think we need a striker seeing as Carrick clearly doesn’t rate Joshua Zirkzee but it’s slim pickings at this point of the window, there’s a lot still to do and I don’t rate INEOS enough to get it all right. I’d love to be proved wrong between now and September the 1st, on to Ipswich next week I suppose.