Hull City

Hull City simply had to win this tie to maintain any credibility as a Premier League Club, and goals from Michael Turner and skipper Ian Ashbee sealed a 2-0 win over an enthusiastic but technically inferior Millwall outfit.

Phil Brown made six changes from the Arsenal game, sending a clear signal that whilst doing well in the Cup is desirable, the Premier League fixture at West Ham on Wednesday takes priority.

One thing that Brown will definitely have learnt is that Tony Warner is no where near good enough to vault Matt Duke in the long term goal keeping queue, the former Lions man made a number of errors, the worst of which saw him slip horribly whilst attempting to deal with a back pass.

Warner was then forced to handle the ball, conceding an indirect free kick level with the penalty spot which, fortunately was blasted well wide.

Andy Dawson made his first start for two months following injury, and I hope and assume that he will form the left sided partnership with Kevin Kilbane who was Cup tied for today.

The Irishman should come in for Peter Halmosi who seems very out of sorts. He conceded possession twice in very dangerous areas and his crossing was nothing short of woeful. You are looking for a lick of pace and gusto from a wide man, but the Hungarian is simply not producing the goods at the current time.

City controlled the game but failed to create many chances for the front two of Daniel Cousin and Manucho, but the £5 million signing of Jimmy Bullard from Fulham should hopefully rectify this.

The Tigers netted on 15 with a trademark headed Turner goal from a corner, and Ashbee sealed the tie with a wonderful right footed shot from twenty yards, having been set up by the ever industrious Cousin.

Millwall rarely threatened and their only real chance was fluffed by Laird from only a couple of yards out, the visiting player hooking over from a tightish angle.

The only Lions threat came from the stands where opposition “supporters” ripped out seats and tried to fight all comers.

As far as I could see a significant minority spent the whole came intent on causing trouble and mounted police were brought in at full time.

I visited the Den in October, 1990, and my view of Millwall as having a big problem with thuggery has not changed. A shame for their real fans, who must be sick to death of their idiotic colleagues.

What would be the most shocking revelation this transfer window bring?

Jermain Defoe to Tottenham Hotspur, a mesmerizing return.

Kaka to Manchester City, the ridiculous over the top transfer. Unfortunately, it never happened.

Nigel de Jong to Manchester City, an expensive acquisition to say the least.

Craig Bellamy to Manchester City, the village bike of the Premier League.

Emile Heskey to Aston Villa, a romantic story for England’s main target man.

Mido to Wigan, why?

But none have surprised like Jimmy Bullard heading for the KC Stadium.

He has left Fulham for Hull City; the logic has completely gone out of the window.

Fulham are flying (well for Fulham), playing in midfield with Danny Murphy has been good for Bullard’s game. The call-up to the England squad was no accident, he is a class player, and a team in the top ten must have wanted him.

The Middlesbrough’s, Wigan’s, and West Ham’s of this world are bidding for players like Ben Watson, while Bullard was available for a very modest £5 million. Compared to the transfers above this is a real bargain.

Arsenal need centre midfielders, would he not have fitted the bill? Eligible for Europe and a craft eye for the pass, he would have fitted in perfectly. A real engine in their team, bring back the passion and the hunger to fight for that top four spot.

Although being 30-years-old shows he is no spring chicken, he still has the energy to dominate a midfield and perform heroics on the field. His career has had its gaps though persistent crucial injuries, he has never been able to flourish in the manner he could.

When he signed for Wigan, he played brilliant in securing promotions through all the divisions, never once looked out of his depth.

Hull City have got themselves a pin-up, an icon, and a fantastic addition to their squad. A four–and-a-half year contract decided Bullard’s fate in the end. He will do wonders, where finances and transfer fees are spiralling out of control; it’s absurd that a player of Bullard’s ability was snapped up so modestly.

Marlon King the on-loan Wigan striker will be on his travels again.

He is involved in a loan deal to Middlesbrough, with Mido leaving on a permanent deal in the opposite direction.

King was left out of the recent Hull City squad for the Arsenal game in mysterious circumstances. The striker was seen speeding away from Hull's KC Stadium before kick-off on the day of the game.

The Tiger's manager, Phil Brown reported that King had a bug and it was felt that he shouldn't be in the dressing room to pass it on to his teammates.

King did not agree with Brown's version of events and went on record, stating that he was left out of the first XI, and when he spoke to Phil Brown an argument ensued. The result was King storming out of the club and back to Wigan.

So, what has de-railed such a promising start for King at newly promoted Hull City? He has a checkered history having served five-months of an 18-month prison term for handling a stolen vehicle whilst he was playing for Gillingham.

He then signed for Nottingham Forest but failed to shine and was loaned to Leeds United.

It was from there that King has had the best spell of his career scoring 21 goals in Watford's championship promotion season 2005/'06 and winning their player of the season award.

The next season in the Premiership, King sustained a knee injury which highlighted a much deeper problem. He had flaked a bone in his knee which kept him out of action for six months, and ended his Premiership career prematurely as the Hornets were relegated back to the Championship.

Watford and King started the 2007 campaign well, with King scoring 10 goals, and his form drew a bid from Wigan for his services in the January transfer window. He scored his first goal for Wigan against Blackburn in March 2008.

With the start of the 2008/'09 season King found himself down the pecking order at Wigan and was loaned out for the season to Hull City. Initially the Tiger's had tried to sign King on a permanent deal but were unwilling to agree personal terms with King, who was reportedly on £40,000 a week at Wigan.

After a fine start to the season, scoring five goals in 20 games, King's world started to unravel.

He was banned from driving after being caught speeding at 106 mph in a 60 mph zone and was then involved in a altercation with Hull legend Dean Windass at a Hull City team building event at a Scarborough night club. Worse was to follow as he was arrested for allegedly assaulting a girl in a London night club.

These events left Marlon King in a poor situation as it affected his relationship both with his club and his team mates. And ultimately, it has left him out of favour on the field, something which has led to his swift departure.

* the picture is of the third goal scored by Bendtner for Arsenal V's Hull City. How can the referee's assistant not see the offside withthe white line to help him?

Well another game lost and my beloved Tigers are still on 27-points. Still six points off the relegation zone. Still getting on the wrong end of poor refereeing.

I know that there will be a cry of fans all over the World shouting that it happens to us all not just your team, one of our colleagues who is an arsenal fan told us about a major decision going against them in the Champion's League Semi Final in abhijeet prabhakar game review comment.

I hear you all telling me to stop crying about it and get on with the rest of the season. The problem is that it seems to be happening far too much this season so far.

Since mid December the officials have made a few mistakes that have seriously gone against the Tigers. Gerrard's brace of goals for Liverpool, the second bookable offence for Ricketts that left us a man down and chasing the game, the penalty that never was against Aston Villa, Felliani clearly off side to score for Everton, when he should have been sent off for elbowing both Turner and Zayette.

Now you could say that things like this happen all the time in every game, and I would agree 100 percent with you on that, but it is the nature of these decisions. The poor calling of the referees in these cases have all changed the games, and cost Hull City.

Let's go back to the first one on the list; Gerrard's two goals. In both of those incidents the referee should have blown for fouls on Michael Turner, the Hull City centre half. If the referee, Mr. Wiley, had blown for the clear fouls then neither of Liverpool's goals would have stood.

Ricketts' second bookable offense was a little piece of amateur dramatics by the Sunderland player who had not been touched and milked the supposed foul for all it was worth. If I was in the American Academy I would be awarding him an Oscar for the performance.

The penalty that never was, is the worst of these as it demonstrates ineptness of the rules rather than just bad judgement. To award a penalty then to take it away after consulting with you linesmen is commendable, but if the assistant is 40 yards further away from the incident than the referee and has discussed it with the fourth official, it strikes me as a breach of the FA's own rules. Especially if the fourth official has seen replays of the incident.

Felliani was walking a tight rope from the kick off. He was one yellow card away from getting a ban which would see him missing out on two crucial fixtures for Everton against their close rivals Liverpool.

Within minutes he had elbowed Michael Turner in the face, a straight red card offence, he then did the same to Kamil Zayette. He got neither a red card or even a single yellow card.

The referee proceeded to warn him and counted on his hand five incidents where he had made bad fouls but still never gave him a card. The fouls continued and the referee warned again counting up to eight clear fouls this time and yet again never gave him a card.

Was the referee trying to give the lad a chance to play against Liverpool? I don't know but what I do know is that Murphy's Law means that it would be Felliani that would score against us and that is exactly what happened.

The referee should certainly have disallowed the goal and at no point did he consult his assistant. It was only as the second half started that the referee booked Felliani for yet another bad foul on one of the Hull City players.

Now, I am not saying that we would have won these games, Arteta scored a sublime free kick to give Everton a goal in a game were we didn't cause Tim Howard too many problems, but the referee should have give Felliani a red card, which would have had Everton down to ten men.

The Aston Villa game was grinding down to a nil nil none event when the Villains forced an error from Zayette who put the ball in his own net. The decision to not allow the penalty just rubbed salt in the wound in a game we should have gained a much needed point from.

Sunderland had nudged their way in front at the KC Stadium with a gross deflection that sent Boaz Myhill the wrong way, but the sending off altered the dynamic of the game and Sunderland's further goals were from attacks plundered down the absent Ricketts' flank.

And well, the Liverpool draw was just daylight robbery. In a game that was ruined by those two decisions.

So back to Saturday's game against Arsenal and the referee not giving the penalty for the clear head butt by Djourou on Manucho. The Arsenal player was nowhere near the ball and the reaction of the Hull City players was one of shock that the official didn't automatically give a spot kick.

This bad decision would have changed the complexion of the game. The impetus was with the home team at that point and the Tigers did go on to level the scores but it would have been a totally different game if the ref had done what he should have done, which was award a penalty to the Tigers for the foul.

Okay, so I am biased on the issue and I am sure that the fans of their clubs will defend their teams players but if they actually look at the incidents with an outsiders dispassionate eye, I think that they will see that Hull have certainly been very unlucky with refereeing of late.

Go on take another look at those incidents and see what you think of the refereeing?

When Daniel Cousin’s bullet header from a Bernard Mendy cross smashed into Manuel Almunia’s goal, it was no more than Hull City deserved from a spirited, and, at times, stylish performance against a visiting Arsenal team bent on revenge for the 2-1 reverse they suffered at home to the Tigers in September.

Times have changed with a vengeance for City from those heady late summer days, and we came into this game on the back of a run that saw only one win garnered in the League in the last twelve outings.

There is no escaping the fact that, despite sitting eighth in the table, the Tigers are well and truly involved in a relegation dog fight, something that, if we are honest, we all expected at the start of this amazing season.

I was mightily impressed with the signing of 92-time internationally capped Kevin Kilbane, and there were signs of a handy little partnership down the left hand side with Peter Halmosi developing, until the Hungarian made way for Manchester United loanee Manucho. The Angolan striker is tall, strong, and possesses the necessary quality first touch required at this level.

And that was where City were sadly lacking.

We just don’t have that quality, particularly in central midfield, where the player should be capable of assessing the options available to him before he receives the ball, as it is a given that he will bring it under control without a thought.

Our middle of the park pairing tonight consisted of Ian Ashbee and Ryan France, both game lads who worked their socks off. However, when you consider that these two lined up for us in the fourth tier and were faced today by Samir Nasri and Denilson, its not hard to see why Cousin and Geovanni found possession in areas where they could hurt the visitors hard to come by, as the home team seemed incapable of building a controlled pattern to their play.

But when City did have a period of domination early in the second half, they made it count, despite having conceded on thirty minutes when, inexplicably, Adebayor was allowed a free header on the back stick, which he planted firmly past a helpless Myhill.

With ten minutes remaining, Arsenal never really threatened at the business end of the pitch, and the foul conditions brought on by heavy rain seemed to make them hesitant.

When a raking City cross-field pass was brilliantly intercepted, the Gunners broke down the right hand side at pace, Van Persie supplied the killer ball across the box which was dispatched with clinical efficiency by Nasri.

The third goal scored by Nicklas Bentner included a blatant offside, but Arsenal were worthy winners on the night.

Nevertheless, the visitors visibly went into their collective shell when the going got tough, and I saw little of that famous Arsenal spirit of togetherness which was instilled by George Graham and nurtured by Wenger in his early days.

As such, a real assault on the Premier League summit seems unlikely this season unless the Gunners boss is prepared to splash the cash in the transfer window.

Just prior to Cousins' goal, Manucho was challenged in the air for the ball by Gunners full back Djourou, who won the ball. There was a coming together, and the Tigers forward came off the worst.

Phil Brown’s reaction to the media was poor in the extreme. and as a former stopper in the “uncompromising” category, his assertion that; “it's not a penalty, it's assault” will see us lose the sympathy of the neutral fan.

City lost because the other team scored more goals, not because Alan Wiley was against the home team, and Brown should be big enough to take responsibility and encourage the players to do the same.

We are a decent side, and it is what we do against the other teams outside the top six that will determine our fate.

Arsenal defeated Hull today, and in the process took revenge for the home defeat suffered earlier this season. 

This match does not require a review as there will be millions of these on the web, and this has not been the best game of the season by any means. However the game was significant in many ways.

Man United and Chelsea were drawing and losing respectively and they both pulled out results in the last minute. Villa too came back from a goal down to win late. These results would surely have bogged down the Gunners, just before kickoff against Hull.

Anything less than a win would put us five points behind the top four and out of sight of the top spot. In that sense, this could be a season turning result considering some individual performances and spirit. 

Ade put us ahead, through van Persie's cross. Then Hull exposed our defensive frailties like most teams have done this year, and equalised in the second half. They were in the ascendancy when Bendtner came on.

He made a clear difference in the way we play, he made the pass to van Persie, who was dogged by four defenders, yet managed to find a pass to Nasri who put us ahead with a cool finish. Then the game was put to rest with a third for Bendtner.

Robin Van Persie is emerging as a key player in the team. He singlehandedly won us the game today, he got three assists in and hit the post. He will be vital for the development of the team in the seasons to come. He came good in the game against Chelsea, he came good against Liverpool. He turns in a performance when really needed.

Samir Nasri too, has impressed with his composure in critical situations. He got the winner when it really mattered, the finish was precise and cool. He got the goals against United. 

Niklas Bendtner has not had a good season so far, but he is gearing up to being a critical cog in the Arsenal war machine as the season wears on. He was instrumental in getting the winner today. Not to forget the late winner he scored last weekend when he came on as sub.

What is Denilson doing in the team? He is not an out and out holding midfielder. He seems to just chase around the ball and cant tackle. He is not a ball winner. When he does get the ball, he cannot seem to hold it long enough to do anything worthwhile with it. The alternative is Song. Who i'd rather have in that position. He is a liability.

Eboue seems to get closer to the form he showed early season, his possession and mobility was good, but his passing let him down, especially towards the end of the game. 

Despite these and other defensive holes in the team, we managed to pull off a win against a good, strong mid table team. This gives us hope, maybe not to win the league, but to push for the title.

We don't have Fabregas, Walcott, Rosicky, Eduardo, Gallas, and that is half the first team. The ball does not seem to fall for us either. We hit the post more than we score goals. 

Despite these factors we got three late wins in the last three games. 

Results like these gives us a lifeline to continue to dream of the title this season!

EPL: Hull City Vs. Arsenal

Venue: Kingston Communication Stadium, Hull

Kick off: 17:30GMT

Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal team travel to the KC Stadium to try to seek revenge for Hull City's 2-1 victory at the Emirates Stadium earlier in the season. The Tigers came from behind in dramatic fashion with goals from Geovanni and Cousin to inflict only the second loss for the Gunners at their new home.

The return fixture sees the teams in a different situation than it did in September, when the Tigers knocked the Gunners off the top spot with their victory. Arsenal are now in fifth place, eight points off the top, and Hull City are in eighth place, 11 points behind their opponents and only seven points above the bottom three in the table.

Hull City are without a win in the Premier League since early December, when they beat Middlesborough 2-1 at the KC Stadium. Their current bad run of form includes the 5-1 drubbing at Eastlands by Manchester City, which had Phil Brown holding his halftime team talk on the City of Manchester Stadium pitch.

Phil Brown will have to shuffle his pack of Tigers for the match, as George Boateng has joined the Tigers casualty list with a medial ligament injury that should keep him sidelined for up to three months. The Dutch international sustained the injury in a clash with Nicky Butt in Wednesday's 1-0 FA Cup victory over Newcastle United.

Kamil Zayette is suspended, and Paul McShane has been recalled to Sunderland from his loan spell with the Tigers. Andy Dawson and Anthony Gardner have both come back from injury and could be pressed into action to shore up the fragile Hull defence. 

Arsene Wenger and his Arsenal squad also have injury worries and will be without the long-term injured Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky, and Theo Walcott. They have been joined by defenders William Gallas (hamstring) and Mikael Silvestre (thigh). Wenger will be hoping that his injury-ravaged defence will be boosted by centre back Alexandre Song, who is suffering with a thigh problem, passing a late fitness test.

The Tigers will be hoping that Angolan international Manucho will be eligible to play after joining the club on loan from Manchester United, as will Kevin Kilbane, who signed a two-and-a-half year contract with the East Yorkshire team on Wednesday from Wigan.

The Premier League new boys are in negotiations with Steve Finnan, the 31-year-old Espanyol full back who spent eight seasons with Liverpool, but he is struggling to pass a stringent club medical.

FA Cup third-round replay:- Newcastle United V's Hull City, St James' Park, Newcastle, Wed 14 Jan., 19:45 GMT.

The Magpies boss Joe Kinnear could be without the services of two more key players for the important third round replay against the Tigers, this Wednesday night.

Shola Ameobi and Andy Carroll have joined the ranks of Newcastle's long injury list, which includes Geremi, Jose Enrique, Mark Viduka, Obafemi Martins, and Steve Taylor.

Kinnear will be pleased that Nicky Butt will be back after serving a ban and Butt will probably be joined by Kazenga Lua Lua, Tamas Kadar, Jonny Godsmark and Mark Doninger in the Magpies starting XI.

Phil Brown's Tigers, will still be without the services of Caleb Folan but Andy Dawson and Anthony Gardner may make a return against the Magpies, there could also the chance for some Hull City's fringe players to get some much needed match practice.

These include Nathan Doyle and Ryan France who just turned down the chance to join Championship Blackpool to try to win a starting place with the Premier League club.

Phil Brown said, "we've got a fair sized squad so we will be making changes. We'll be going there with the mentality that we can win the game and take that confidence into our league game with Arsenal."

Both clubs will feel this is the ideal opportunity to gain some much needed confidence and get back into winning ways. Neither team has won in a month with Hull's lack of victories stretching back to the sixth of December when they beat Middlesborough 2-1.

This will also see the first return to Newcastle for Hull City's Craig Fagan who was maliciously felled by Danny Guthrie in the dying minutes of the Tigers 2-1 victory in the Premiership fixture last September, which resulted in the Hull striker breaking his leg.

“We are six minutes into the game here at a freezing Circle… Here comes Bernard Mendy on a typical bullocking run down the right flank… He crosses…. Zat Knight crashes into Freidel who drops the ball… GOAL!

"Nick Barmby is on hand to poke it into the empty net… Freidel beats the ground in frustration…. But wait a minute… The Assistant has a message from the FA for Steve Bennett…. Remember Memo 24 dated June 2008 and re-circulated on September 22nd?

“On no account are promoted Clubs allowed to score in circumstances that may constitute an established team going on to lose the game”…. The goal is rightly chalked off… Phew? For a minute Steve Claridge, I thought the Official was going to give that one, but no, Justice has been done”.

This is not how Radio Five Live reported from the Circle last night (I assume), but once again, we have been done over by a referee who can’t spot the bleedin’ obvious, even when it’s right in front of his nose.

If we had gone on to get a deserved point, or even sneak all three, then I would have rated this performance above beating Arsenal at the Grove, due to the fact that the honeymoon is over.

This is real Premier League life, and on the back of conceding nine goals in 28 minutes, if you combine the back end of the Sunderland game and the initial period at Eastlands, we were looking for a performance that demonstrated that Brown and the players get what is required at this level.

We can go to the Top Four and play with gay abandon because these are matches where we can be Plucky Little Hull, tweaking the noses of the Big Boys, be refreshing and Good For the Premier League.

However, we need to win ugly sometimes and not fall for the sucker punch such, as when we were beaten by a patently inferior Bolton side, and threw away a two-goal advantage at home to Man City.

Last night however, Phil Brown and his Hull City team were spot on for the circumstances.

Villa arrived in East Yorkshire looking to reclaim fourth spot from Arsenal, having pegged the Gunners back from a two-goal advantage on Boxing Day. They have pace to burn up front, a solid mid field and back four, plus the best keeper in this Division.

Given recent events for the Tigers, an early goal for the former European Champions could have produced a rout and continued an alarming slide.

Fourty points ain’t going to be enough this season, and I reckon we need five wins and four draws to achieve absolute safety, given that 18th placed Stoke have already accrued 20 points to our 27, which puts us eighth.

Phil Brown made five changes and set us up to nullify the visitors pace up front by flooding the centre of the park and starving Ashley Young of ball over the top to run on to.

Garcia’s selection as a holding midfielder raised a few eyebrows, but the Australian was outstanding at breaking up play and feeding Mendy on the right hand side. As the game went on, these two became more adventurous, and with Halmosi offering width on the left, we looked the more likely to score in the second half.

Ashbee confounded us yet again, and the first half saw Villa reduced to endless passing around the back four as despite endless probing, there was no way through our artisan but effective set up.

We have to show fight, determination, and a willingness to frustrate the opposition (and probably the Sky Sports audience), as a means to set up opportunities to win later in the game.

Hull City were magnificent last night, and really came of age as a Premier League team. Villa’s goal was their only real foray into our box and Zayette was so unlucky to put through his own goal after a piece of magic from the hugely impressive Ashley Young.

To rub salt into the wound, Bennett gave us a penalty in injury time only to (correctly) change his mind, having been briefed by his Assistant. The language that emanated from our section was quite something to behold, but we weren’t the only ones.

Phil Brown has proved he can mix it tactically at this level, and the players responded in kind.

Based on this performance, we will be OK when May comes around and the winners and losers learn their fate.

Once again Hull City fell foul of a referee who was inconsistent and favoured the bigger club. Michael Turner’s second half header from a corner clearly crossed the line and the sense of relief was palpable as we celebrated…But, you guessed it, the goal was chalked off.

In the fallout from Tuesday’s performance by Steve Bennett—where it has emerged that the Sky Sports director tipped off Howard Webb to Bennett’s error, which the fourth official illegally transmitted to the man in the middle—you would be forgiven for thinking that the officials have decided to stick together and stitch up the Tigers at every conceivable opportunity as we saw blatantly wrong decisions go against us, and cards brandished willy-nilly, but only to those in Black and Amber shirts.

We bossed this game but failed, once again to kill a game we dominated at the Circle.

Newcastle are dreadful, and it is sad to see such a great club, with a great tradition of playing the game in the right way, reduced to playing with no drive or direction, wasting the talents of Michael Owen like this is criminal.

Brown made seven changes, and in the process must have learnt some important lessons which I feel are as follows:

Boateng seems shot at this level now. He gave the ball away on a regular basis, and having done so seemed unhurried in getting back.

Conversely, Dean Marney had a storming game, and more composure would have seen him head a stoppage time winner to gap an all action performance.

Another positive was McShane’s transition to partner Turner in the centre of defence. His limitations distribution-wise become less of a problem and he read Owen well, only letting the England man have one clear-cut chance on goal. An interesting option which surely sees the end of Wayne Brown at Hull City.

Brown will have also learnt that Cousin can’t play as the lone striker, Stelios is woefully short of match fitness, Geovanni seems shorn of ebullience, looking disinterested at times, and that Nathan Doyle can play at this level, the right-back gained more and more confidence as the game wore on.

We hit the bar, the post and Shay Given was the main reason why we failed to win.

 A clean sheet is a good thing for confidence, and once we get the next win we will be on the march again and I fancy us in the North East as Toon are in a bad place at the moment.