Hull City

Barney Corkhill's Unofficial World Club Championship (UWCC) witnessed another defence today as newly crowned champions Wigan took on Hull City at the KC Stadium.

Wigan had shocked the country with their 3-1 win over Chelsea last weekend, ending the Blues' 100 percent record in the process. Roberto Martinez knew, however, that it was consistency that was important, and the win over Chelsea would mean very little without a result to back it up.

Hull, on the other hand, had met a big four team of their own. Their 6-1 defeat to Liverpool equalled their worst ever loss in the Premier League, which happened to be against Wigan.

Phil Brown was experiencing a tough 2009, with just two wins so far, and Hull were already beginning to prepare for a relegation dogfight.

Despite their woeful recent form, however, it was Hull who got the win and became the new UWCC Champions, running out 2-1 victors in the end.

Hull had the better of the opening exchanges as they looked to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and make a strong start.

Nick Barmby latched on to Stephen Hunt's cross and his shot deflected off Maynor Figueroa, prompting claims of handball from the home support. The referee waved play on, much to the chagrin of Phil Brown.

Dean Marney should have done better with a shot that was straight at Kirkland, but Hull were well and truly in the driving seat.

Eventually, Wigan woke up and started creating chances of their own. Mohamed Diame forced a fine save out of Boaz Myhill, who followed it up by smothering the ball at the feet of Jason Scotland.

Scotland came close again soon after, but his shot trickled just wide.

Hull responded with a chance of their own. Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink rose to head the ball towards goal, but it just drifted past the right hand post.

Kamil Zayatte had a chance to break the deadlock just before the interval, but his header went the wrong side of the post as far as Hull were concerned.

In an entertaining game with a fair amount of chances, there was a distinct lack of cutting edge in front of goal during the first-half, something Wigan looked to put an end to as they came out flying in the second half.

Maynor Figueroa and Paul Scharner both had efforts that flew past the post within a minute of each other as the Latics looked to gain a lead they could then protect. Diame was then denied a great chance by a last ditch challenge by Paul McShane.

Hull came close themselves through Zayatte's close range strike before the dealock was finally broken.

Vennegoor of Hesselink had had a sighter earlier on in the match, and on the hour mark he used his head again to steer the ball past Kirkland before running off to celebrate his first goal for the club.

While Wigan had been the team looking most likely to score before, the goal seemed to take all the fight out of them, and Geovanni doubled Hull's lead eight minutes later.

Hull looked to be cruising to a rare victory until Scott Sinclair got a late goal to set up an exciting finale, which the Tigers eventually managed to resist.

The result means that Hull are the new UWCC Champions, and that Wigan become the first club to have lost the title on their very first defence.

39.3 percent of people in the poll correctly predicted that Hull would beat Wigan to win the UWCC title, so well done to the minority!

Hull's run

Hull City 2-1 Wigan Athletic (Hull become new champions)

(Click here to see the complete history of Barney Corkhill's Unofficial World Club Championship)

Hull's first title defence comes in Monday, 19 October as they travel to West London to take on former champions Fulham. Can Fulham once again become the greatest team in the world?!

Speculation has been rife in the Tiger-nation as to the name of the new Hull City Skipper.

The Tigers have seriously missed long term Captain and Hull City legend Ian Ashbee. Ashbee, the first player to captain the same club through all four English Divisions, was injured in the May 4th clash with Aston Villa last season.

Phil Brown said of the influential captain, "A lot of people have made reference to Ian Ashbee not being able to play Premier League football, but you don't realise what you have until it's gone."

Since Ashbee's absence from the side with possible career ending posterior cruciate ligament injury, the Tiger's have been rudderless. Brown has handed the Skipper's arm band to a number of players such as Michael Turner, who has since left for pastures new at the Stadium of Light, Sunderland.

Veteran midfielder George Boateng has been a custodian of the armband as has Paul MacShane and Ibrahima Sonko, but it was announced today that Kingston upon Hull native Nick Barmby would become the Hull City skipper.

The appointment of Barmby, the 35 year old ex-England international, has raised some eye brows amongst Hull City's frustrated fan base. There is no doubting Barmby's credentials to be the team captain, just his ability to play a full 90 minutes of a game.

Brown said of Barmby on the Official Hull City website, "this is something that has got Nicky's name written all over it."

"He has matured into a leader, none more so than over the last couple of years at Hull City. He's had a lot of close relationships with managers during his career and I feel as though I have got a close relationship with him.

"We speak frankly about things and we share things, none more so than about what is happening at Hull City at the moment.

"He is a strong enough character in the dressing room."

However good he may be as a leader, managerial confidant and strong character it doesn't address his playing time.

This season Barmby has only played around 170 minutes of a possible 630 minutes of Premiership football, and most of those have been from the bench. Last season Barmby would only play approximately an hour of a game if he started.

So, for Brown to appoint him as the team captain seems like an odd act. There seems to be no logic to the appointment. The team will be bereft of the captain on a regular basis if Barmby role isn't to change.

It's 15:11 on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Anfield, Liverpool, and the Fernando Torres show starts.

Hull City were the visitors to Anfield, and sitting second bottom of the Premiership, there should be a huge gulf in class between the Tigers and Liverpool who are sitting slightly higher up the totem pole in third place.

However, with the exception of the sublime Spaniard Torres the famous Red were not totally out playing the Tigers. The Hull City team were breaking up the Liverpool attacks fairly easily, but how do you stop a El Nino?

The Tigers' players were like the red neckerchief wearing idiots that run against the Bulls in Pamploma. No matter what you do, you can't really stop that bull. Torres was poetry in motion and all his goals were majestic examples of the goal scoring art, a wonderful first touch to control the ball and a better targeting system than a smart missile.

With the exception of Senor Torres, the Hull City team dealt fairly well with the rest of the Liverpool team for the first hour of the game but then up crops Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard, who had been securely ensconced in Kevin Kilbane's and George Boateng's pockets for the best part of an hour, escaped his aging and tiring minders and produced what Liverpool fans are calling a wonder goal no less, a piece of pure Gerrard genius.

Neutrals and Hull City fans alike have been less effusive of his goal. A lucky strike or a fluky goal is the general consensus from the non-Liverpool footballing world.

Which ever way you look at it, the wonderful Torres hat trick and a goal from Gerrard totally killed off the Tigers. They had fought valiantly against last season's runners up and were still in the game at the half but fell away tired and dejected after Gerrard's killer strike.

The Liverpool team greatly changed from the starting line up over run the lacklustre Tigers but only managed to score two more goals against the East Yorkshire team that were so abjectly pedestrian it is a bigger shock that Liverpool didn't get into double figures. Maybe, it demonstrates more that devoid of Torres and Gerrard the Reds are not much better than a mid table team.

Well, the season is one month in and for the Tigers it's five games down. The transfer window has been both good and bad in equal measure, with some good signings and some awful disappointments.

At the start of last season, when Hull City commenced their first top flight season in the club's history, the pundits and sheep-like fans all said the Tigers would "do a Derby."

To "do a Derby" is to be so poor as to be on 11 points or less by the end of the season. The Tigers confounded the critics by gaining that many points with an historic victory at Arsenal's wonderful Emirates Stadium with a 2-1 victory.

The season went from strength to strength, with the Tigers collecting 27 points by the middle of December 2008. However, it was then that the wheels started to come off.

Injuries, loan recalls, opponents figuring the team out, a poor transfer window, and their glorious start began to fade, culminating in the Tigers needing to win, or others needing to lose, to ensure Premiership survival for another season.

So, back to this season and the comings and goings at the Kingston Communication Stadium. There were some very good offers on the table for Fraizer Campbell who, despite being a Hull City Hero for his exploits in our promotion-winning season, chose to sign for Sunderland.

Sunderland also escaped relegation by the skin of their teeth along with Hull City on the final day of the 2008/9 season, much to the joy of the Black Cat fans, as this condemned their hated rivals Newcastle United to relegation.

It had been no secret that Sunderland had money to spend during the Summer transfer window following the arrival of Ellis Short as chairman, but Campbell changed his mind, following a very long and drawn out piece of theatre involving Campbell and his agent/father, and opted to sign for them at the expense of Hull City.

Then Steve Bruce and Sunderland swept in, as the window was nearing closure, and turned the head of our star defender Michael Turner, leaving a bitter taste in the mouth, and a bit of a loathing for the Mackems (a club I had always had a soft spot for).

Add to the transfer window the over-hyped wranglings for Michael Owen (that was never going to happen when Manchester United came calling), the tug of war with Champions League-bound Celtic for Marc-Antoine Fortune (not getting much Champions League football now are you Marc, thanks Mr. Wenger).

To be turned down for Champions League football is one thing, but for Scottish football is another thing. Add Bobby Zamora and his total lack of interest in moving North of the M25, and the early parts of the transfer widow looked awful.

However, it wasn't all bad news. After a very successful Confederations Cup for the USA national team, Paul Duffen and Phil Brown managed to get American wonder-kid Jozy Altidore on a season-long loan from Villarreal (with an option to sign on a permanent contract).

Altidore was joined by Seyi Olofinjana from Stoke City, who would help to bolster the Tiger's midfield until Jimmy Bullard's early October return from his unlucky anterior cruciate ligament injury.

There was also the long and drawn out and ultimately unsuccessful negotiations for Real Madrid's Alvaro Negredo. Though only a bit-part player for the Galacticos, following a successful loan spell at Spanish side Almeria, he was a player that Real wanted to keep but were willing to sell on a buy back basis—he ultimately signed for FC Sevilla instead.

However Kamel Ghilas, the Algerian International from Celta Vigo, who had scored 13 goals in 33 appearances for the famous Spanish club, quickly followed instead. Meanwhile other positive moves included that of Stephen Hunt, who had wanted to leave Reading after Steve Coppell had resigned as manager, and the re-signing of Paul McShane from Sunderland.

McShane, who had been instrumental in our glorious start to last season, had been recalled in the last January transfer window by then-Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia, following some fine performances for the Tigers. McShane's arrival meant Hull had a replacement for Bolton-bound Sam Ricketts.

With the late departure of the Michael Turner to Sunderland, a player who had been on standby for an England call-up whilst playing in every single minute of the Tigers' first season in the top flight, Hull were clearly thin on the ground in the centre back position.

But, late in the transfer window, Hull managed to secure the signing of Ibrahima Sonko on loan from Stoke City.

Though not a like-for-like exchange, Sonko was a player who had performed very well for Reading during their Premiership campaign's, but had found himself banished to the Stoke City reserves, after he was sacrificed following Stoke's poor start to last season.

During the summer Tigers fans have gone from being upbeat at surviving their first season in the Premier League, to very disappointed at Campbell's rejection. While the speculation regarding Owen was a great fillip but ultimately a forlorn hope, the daily will-he-won't-he of Fortune to the almost arrogant dismissal by Zamora to us as a club were great disappointments over the summer.

But, in stark contrast, the signing of Altidore, Olofinjana, Hunt, and Ghilas filled the fans with tremendous optimism. Still, the loss of Turner was the end of the world again for some.

However, there was one last piece of business for the Tigers and that was the signing of Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink. He was a free agent having decided not to sign another contract at Celtic, and chose to sign up with the Tigers.

The season began with a daunting trip to Chelsea's Stamford Bridge where the Tigers more than held their own and were unlucky not to come away with a point after Didier Drogba's fluky injury time winner.

What followed was a master class from a very well disciplined Tottenham Hotspur side. Harry Redknapp has built a side that could successfully be challenging the top four come May.

The first points of the season came in a game of two halves. The first was a dogged back-to-the walls onslaught as Bolton looked to be cruising to an easy victory, but with an hour gone the game was turned on its head.

Brown introduced Altidore and changed the team formation and it was all one way traffic with Altidore's first touch setting up fellow new signing Ghilas for his first goal for the club.

A successful victory against Southend in the League Cup followed, with Altidore scoring his first goal for the Tigers. Then a draw against newly promoted Wolverhampton Wanderers, where Michael Turner would prove why he was so valuable to the Tigers by playing a blinder in what turned out to be his final game in the Amber and Black of East Yorkshire's finest.

The international break followed, with the Tigers tally of four points after four games looking alright. The following game was against Sunderland, the team who led Hull on such a merry dance throughout the transfer window.

The scoreline of 4-1 to Sunderland was unfair given the balance of the game. However, when recently departed Michael Turner scored against us, it only added insult to injury, especially because it was his absence in the middle of our defence that was the worst element of the game. Sonko is a solid enough player but time will tell if he can fill the giant hole that has been left by Turner.

There are other elements to the start of this season that should be taken into account. Anthony Gardner, who is arguably a better centre back than Turner, is on the injury list again and the energy of Dean Marney and Ian Ashbee have been sorely missed.

The International break was a blessing and a curse. A well-earned break allowed the new players to gel, but Hull lost many players because of international duty, which in the case of Jozy Altidore meant he returned fatigued and jet lagged.

The transfer window overlapping the start of the season and the early international break has meant that preparations for the new season have been disjointed and irregular at times.

Obviously this affects all teams but when there have been some very major changes of personnel as there have been at Hull City, it doesn't make the manager's job any easier.

As it is, there are calls for Phil Brown to be replaced by members of the Tiger nation. Fans are fickle and have very unrealistic ideas of where Hull City should be. This is compounded by the phenomenal start to last season which continues to cloud the objectivity of many fans.

Hull City are in their infancy as a Premiership club and you don't just build a dynasty overnight. Fans seem to be getting frustrated with the Tigers' transfer dealings and club chairman Duffen, but what do they expect?

We may be demonstrating our ambitions with interest in the likes of Owen but would we ever have managed to get either him or Negredo to sign. The expectation of some of the Tiger nation have been very unrealistic.

As a club that in its 105-year history has only had one year in the top flight it is a bit naive to think that we can be duking it out with anyone but the yo-yo teams in the Premiership. Even then it is still a tough ask when most other Premiership clubs are in London, the Midlands, and the North West.

Hull City are a team out on a limb, in more ways than geographically. Players will have looked at the Tigers as a club that scraped another Premiership season by a whisker. Yes, we looked very good at the start of last season but that is now consigned to history.

We are a team that has always struggled to sign players, but if we can survive for another season and not succumb to second season syndrome, then we have the chance to build as a club and given time can become an established Premiership team.

As it stands, Turner's transfer included, we are a better equipped team this season than last. We are better in all areas if players perform to their abilities and we can get influential players back to fitness.

Bullard's return will be huge, as will Gardner's return to full fitness. Vennegoor of Hesselink, Altidore, and Ghilas will all play important roles for the club, but they are all better than who we had last season. Hunt is far better than either Peter Halmosi or Richard Garcia.

Yes, we haven't had a great start to the season, but the start of this season has seen the Tigers in flux. The next eight games are the key to how the rest of this campaign will pan out.

Games against the teams we will have to beat to stay in the Premiership all take place in the next two months. Home fixtures against Birmingham, Wigan, Portsmouth, Stoke, and West Ham and away games against Fulham and Burnley.

The next couple of months will help to tell the tale of the 2009/10 season for the Tigers but if all doesn't go well on the field it certainly won't be because of the players that the club has brought in, or the manager.

Manchester City's Zimbabwean striker Benjamin "Benjani" Mwaruwari looks set to sign for East Yorkshire's finest, Hull City. Speculation is rife in the Tiger-nation that Benjani has been at the Kingston Communication undergoing a medical today.

The Yorkshire club have been seeking more strikers to bolster their lacklustre attack all summer and were linked with moves for the likes of Bobby Zamora and Marlon Harewood earlier in the summer. Last season the Tigers were the lowest scoring Premier League club with a poultry 39 goals all season.

Benjani, who only managed 21 appearances for Manchester City since signing from Portsmouth for £3.87 million, most of them coming from the subs bench, managed to score four goals in total for the Eastlands team, one of which famously came on his debut against great rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford.

The Zimbabwean international has become surplus to requirements since the Eastlands team's takeover, which has seen the likes of Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Emmanuel Adebayor, Joleon Lescott, and Shaun Wright-Phillips arrive at Manchester City.

Prior to his disappointing time at Eastlands, Benjani had productive spells at Portsmouth, where he scored 19 goals in 70 appearances and became a cult favourite among their fans, and at French side Auxerre where he scored an impressive 39 times in 72 appearances.

The Zimbabwean will join new signings Jozy Altidore and Kamel Ghilas in a battle for one of the striker's jerseys at the KC Stadium. After a disappointing start to the transfer window Hull City manager Phil Brown has managed to pull off some impressive signings.

Not least the aforementioned Altidore, a USA international wonderkid, and energetic Algerian striker Ghilas, who have formed a productive partnership in the few games they have played together.

Meanwhile Hull City have also announced that they have signed former loanee Paul McShane from Sunderland for £2.5 million. McShane had an impressive loan spell with the Tigers at the start of last season, playing an important role in helping the Yorkshire club to enjoy one of the best debut starts ever seen in Premier League history.

However, then Sunderland boss Ricky Sbragia had other ideas. After seeing how well McShane was doing with the Tigers he decided to recall him to the Stadium of Light from his loan spell, thus depriving the Tigers of his services. This was a decisive act for Hull City, and was one of the reasons they endured such a slide down the Premier League table after January.

Hull City boss Phil Brown will be hoping that the signing of McShane will help to give the Hull City defence the steel that has been lacking since his January exit, and with the addition of Benjani this famous old club may finally have regained that cutting edge that has been sorely missed since their flying start to last season.

A very big problem for Hull last season was scoring goals. From last Christmas to the end of the season, goals were a rare commodity for Hull fans and when they came they were cherished for the whole week, until they failed to score again. That is why fans were getting so frantic when striker after striker turned down the club in favour of more lucrative deals.

However Phil Brown may have made two genius signings in the form of the American Jozy Altidore and the Algerian born Kamel Ghilas. Hull fans, myself included, had watched our team being outplayed by a solid if inaccurate Bolton side. That is until Altidore got on the pitch.

Immediately the atmosphere was lifted. The anticipation of a new player, a debut performance, was combined with the excitement of seeing the answer to Hull's striking problem.

The impact was immediate within 24 seconds and with his second touch Altidore had set up the eager Ghilas with a deft flick for the Algerian to gleefully whip the ball past the keeper.

After this City never looked back. At least four chances were created by the re-energised attacking force, all involving the American. One came so agonisingly close that even on the replay I expected the ball to hit the back of the net.

Brazilian, Geovanni, often last season did not have the outlet to get creative with the ball. However with the two new strikers Geovanni cut up the defence with incisive passes that left a Bolton defence reeling.

In the end Hull was lucky. Bolton had a number of key chances which they failed to take. But at the end of the day the difference between to the two teams was Jozy Altidore.

On Tuesday, Altidore netted his first goal in the form of a low free-kick against League One outfit Southend. Here, he was mainly out of it for the better part of the game. But again when Geovanni and Ghilas were brought onto the field he sprang alive again.

Over the course of the season we may hear a few more USA chants echo around the KC stadium.

Welcome to the Premier League Jozy Altidore.

The 19-year old striker assisted the lone goal in Hull City’s 1-0 win over Bolton on Saturday as a second half substitute.

Altidore had been on the field a mere thirty seconds before turning his first touch in the Premiership into a game winner, setting up a goal from fellow newcomer Khamel Ghilas.

Having arrived from the United States less than 72 hours before the weekend’s fixture, it’s amazing he was on the substitute’s bench at all.

Manager Phil Brown said after the game that Altidore had only had one training session with the team after arriving from New York, where he was effectively quarantined due to difficulty obtaining a work permit and scares of swine flu that had plagued the USA National team after their trip to Mexico City for a World Cup qualifier on Aug. 12.

''It has been a tale of two weeks, that substitution,'' said Brown. ''The kid (Altidore) got back into London from an all-night flight from the USA Friday morning, 6 o'clock. We then flew him up to the KC by helicopter.

''I looked at the whites of his eyes, asked if he was fit to play and the answer was fantastic. He was raring to go. 'It was a calculated risk that we didn't start him.''

For his part, Altidore could have scored on a number of occasions for his new club, where he is on a season-loan loan from Spanish side Villareal. Shortly after his assist, Altidore found himself alone at the top of the box with only the keeper to beat. His effort over the oncoming Juusi Jaaskelainen landed just outside the post and would have made it the cherry on top of his memorable debut.

Before the final whistle, on another Hull counter-attack, Altidore received a cross from Geovanni at the top of the six-yard box with a defender on his back. In one motion, he corralled the ball with his right foot and turned away from the defender, getting a strong shot on goal, forcing Jaaskelainen into a save.

Brown said after the game that Altidore would have stiff competition for a starting spot, but that the competition is good for everybody. Altidore is perfect for the Premier League and his thirty minutes on the field Saturday proved how potent his size and speed can be.

The biggest concern for his new team and their supporters is his unproven nature. Early in his stint at Villareal, Altidore saw playing time, only to see himself spending more and more time on the reserve team as the season wore on.

For Hull City, Altidore needs to break onto the scoresheet sooner rather than later and impress in training if he wants to see playing time this season. Finishing one of his opportunities after the assist would have surely helped his cause.

Fears of his inability to find the back of the net have haunted the American teenager throughout his pro career. For himself, his club, and his country, he had better start finding that scoring way or he will simply become yet another athletic American forward who chokes on the biggest stage.

This could be the start of a breakout season for the young American and just in time for the World Cup next summer.

Source: ESPN Soccernet.

On a warm East Yorkshire Saturday afternoon Kamel Ghilas the Algerian International striker had toiled long and hard in the sun. His tireless running and harrying or the Bolton players was almost totally fruitless, with next to no chance of a shot on goal.

However, with an hour gone of the battle of the unfashionable Premiership clubs, the fourth official holds up the substitution board for the Tigers. It reads 18 and 9, Caleb Folan off and Jozy Altidore on.

Folan had grafted hard just as Ghilas but for all his bluster and hard work his first touch is just not good enough for the lone strikers role.

BANG, Altidore's first touch is a deft chest down and a swinging right foot chip over the Bolton back line. A swift footed Ghilas latches on and with a couple of touches and smashes it past the huge Finnish goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen.

In the two previous meetings between the Bolton and Hull City last season the fighting Finn had been the only thing between the Hull City and six vital Premier League points.

The introduction of Altidore by Hull City manager Phil Brown proved to be the crucial moment of the match. From a one sided match with Bolton looking like it was only a matter of time before they would walk away with the spoils from the Kingston Communication Stadium, the game was turned on it's head.

The New Jersey native breathed a new lease of life in to the Tigers and gave them the much needed strength up front. His hold up play was superb and with the extra space he created for the midfield to move forward it allowed the Tigers to go on the offensive.

For much of the game Geovanni the mercurial Brazilian had spent his time chasing the Bolton midfielder's shadows but with the extra space he was like a player reborn. He made some telling passes and runs. Not least a beautifully threaded pass for Alitdore who squandered the chance as he was dragged wide by the Bolton defense.

In another wonderful opportunity for the Tigers and Altidore, the American shot just wide of the Bolton post, leaving him holding his head in his hands in despair. Ghilas not to be left out had a beautiful shot ricochet off the crossbar that left him holding his head in his hands as well.

The Tigers ended the game in the acendancy and Gary Megson's Bolton team rueing their missed chances. Just like last season were the Tigers felt that it was only the fantastic play of Jääskeläinen, so will Bolton feel that it was the superb play of Hull City's other American, the Californian born Boaz Myhill that stopped them from gaining three valuable Premiership points.

Although, the Tigers were clearly second best for a huge chunk of the game Phil Brown will be left rubbing his hands in glee. His team were clearly a more potent force with Altidore in place of the toothless Folan.

The combined forward line of Altidore and Ghilas looks like a match made in heaven for the Hull City Gaffer. With influentiel players coming back for the Tigers in Craig Fagan and Jimmy Bullard set to return to full training in mid September things are looking rosy.

He will feel that in the remaining nine days of the transfer window he can sign a replacement for Sam Ricketts and an other striker and the team will be equipped to survive for another Premiership season.

"USA! USA! USA!"

The crowd at KC Stadium was glad to welcome 19-year-old Jozy Altidore to Hull City on Saturday.

After coming to Villarreal for $10 million in 2008, Altidore ventured to Hull, seeking playing experience—something that he didn't get during his time in La Liga.

Jozy trotted onto the pitch amongst a distraught Hull City team that had struggled all afternoon with the aerial play of the Bolton Wanderers and the likes of Kevin Davies.

Phil Brown made the substitution—Altidore for Folan—in an attempt to spark the Tigers who had been battered by the set pieces that they had given away to the Wanderers during the opening hour.

Just 28 seconds into his time on the field, Altidore flicked a loose ball over Bolton's back line, putting through debut starter, Kamil Ghilas.

With a strong half-volley, Ghilas put the Tigers up 1-0 in a game were they had clearly been the weaker team.

Minutes later, Altidore continued his breakout appearance with a well-timed run down the center of the pitch.

Altidore found himself alone with the Wanderer keeper thanks to a good cross from Brazilian wing Geovanni. Unfortunately, Jozy lifted what was a grand scoring chance wide of the net.

In a few more jostles and attacks, Altidore and the Tigers continued their good second half, and sealed the deal at 1-0.

Today's 30 minutes of play was just a taste of the young American's talent on a squad that has needed a spark after their poor second half of last campaign.

Altidore exploded into the game on Saturday with a handful of creative scoring chances and an assist in his back pocket. And he's just getting started.

Hull City notched their first three points of this season thanks to the 19-year-old, and we can only be sure that the crowd at KC Stadium will be chanting "USA, USA!" many more times this season.

What a start. What. A. Start. This is gonna be some ride, guys! In some ways, this is the kind of start we should have.

At hindsight, we’re better off with such matches early in the season and we’re better off winning these type of matches rather than easy ones upfront. I have not forgotten how high-flying we were early last season (winning matches, dominating games and scoring goals and all that) until our tactics and weaknesses were found out.

Given that Ancelotti is trying out something new, we don’t really need to get early success. Let us struggle, work hard and find out the other side of this system as early as possible, when we have the players in the squad.

Basically, let’s not get ourselves in a corner when Drogba, Essien, and Kalou are going to be away for the African Cup of Nations.

From that point of view, I’m very happy with this game. The big plus is we played magnificently, at least I thought so. We were very comfortable on the ball, we dictated the pace of the game, we dominated them all over the pitch.

We had about 70 percent possession with a ridiculous 33 shots. We had several intelligent and decisive attacking moves and also created numerous chances. The most glaring thing was our inability to finish off the game with the million chances we created.

Drogba could be a lot of things, but he is not the best finisher in terms of conversion rate. Anelka, unless given on a plate, does not convert enough chances.

With the new system, I do see that Chelsea can control the game as well as create a lot of goal scoring opportunities. I do understand why the club is after Sergio Aguerro. I haven’t see too much of him.

We have a Drogba, so we don’t need a similar striker. We don’t need another Anelka because that’s not what we want.

We need someone with the strength and skill of Drogba and the finishing prowess of Anelka. I’m not sure if Aguerro is the answer. Someone like Samuel Eto'o would have fitted right in.

I’m always seen as someone who picks on Anelka. See, my stance has always been clear. When he started playing for Chelsea, he was poor. He missed the penalty that lost us the champions league.

And then he improved. Started finishing better. Under Hiddink, he worked harder, for himself and the team. At one point, I even had an Anelka wallpaper in my laptop. All that when he was trying and working hard.

Now, he just seems to have gone back to his inglorious Chelsea past. He is the weakest link in our attacks. I’m very sure and confident about this. Personally, I’m not even open for arguments. He is the weakest link in our attacks.

So much so, that I’d start Drogba with a Kalou or Sturridge in the next match, instead of giving one more chance for Anelka to also-run.

Lot has been said about Mikel’s performance of late under Ancelotti. Mikel has been brilliant for us but this new formation is a bit new experience for him. Our players are very matured to adapt to changes and play different formations.

The ones who lack experience are the ones who are going to find it difficult to get accustomed to the new set up. That’s why I think Mikel is finding difficult. He is a great young talent but he is a bit inexperienced, too. I’d be lot more patient with him.

While I’d be patient with him, I would not start him in the next match. I’d rather have Essien in the holding midfield and start Ballack. Mikel can then impress Ancelotti in the training ground and get back in.

Coming back this match, we were seconds away from a morale killing start to the league campaign. There was a time when no team could score at Stamford Bridge. It used to be such a prize for the opponents to score a goal at the Bridge.

It’s no longer the case, which is a bit sad. Why is that we need to concede a goal to pick things up? Is this becoming a habit? And the goal that we conceded was very shabby.

Mikel should take the bulk of the blame for making a poor headed which instead of clearing almost assisted them and for posing like a statue in the middle of the box.

Mikel certainly lacks two things in his game: reflexes and acceleration. He needs time to think and it works when he has the ball because he knows how to keep it. When he is off the ball, he does not have the reflex to quickly anticipate and react.

With this new formation, it is a bigger responsibility for the holding midfielder because the attacking midfielder and the side midfielders are play up and would not always get to the defending box.

Earlier, Mikel was always helped by Essien and Lampard. In the current set up, Essien and Lampard are supposed to be more attack-minded which means more responsibility for Mikel.

It’s a question of whether Mikel has what it takes to take this role. If he finds it difficult, I’m not surprised and I won’t blame him.

We can afford to keep him in the bench until he’s ready while we have Essien as the holding midfielder and use Deco and Ballack in the midfield.

That said, the Hull City goal was certainly against the run of play. And it’s so sad that it had to be Stephen *unt. The bridge crowd did nice job of reminding him of his thuggish attack on Cech and his lack of courtesy in dealing with that issue.

The Chelsea goal was always coming and when Hull City scored and I was double sure that we were going to dump them. When we had that free kick opportunity so close to the goal, I was truly hoping that Didier takes it. I have seen him score free kicks from close range.

Even in PES 2009, I use Drogs to take those close-range free kicks. His shot becomes unstoppable because of the shot power if he gets the angle right. And that’s what he got damn right yesterday. I thought I was super-excited until I saw Roman celebrate the goal.

Second half was just Chelsea trying everything possible to get that winner. We were a bit unlucky and mostly were guilty of not being clinical with our finishing. Which is why we had to wait till the death for the winner.

I was not quite convinced with substitute decisions. Carlo got Ballack for Mikel at half time which I thought was just right. Deco coming in for Malouda made our attack lighter and slower.

If I were going to make this compromise Deco must bring in something that Malouda did not. If the expectation was to bring in some flair and creativity to break the Hull defence, I’m not sure if Deco did that.

Anyway, he did provide the assist where the idea was certainly Drogba’s while Deco executed the pass. The subbing of Anelka was way too late. I thought Anelka could have been taken off at half time or at least before the 60th minute.

Kalou was brought on for just 15 minutes including the stoppage time. The impact that Kalou made in those 15 minutes was much more than what Anelka did in 75 minutes. Haven’t I said this line a dozen times before? Unfortunately, all I have to do is just repeat.

I’ll be pleased to see Kalou start the match with Drogba. We all know that Drogba and Kalou partner the attack for Ivory Coast and they in fact, play well together.

Plus, most of the times, Kalou has always got to play only out of position. Let’s play Kalou as a striker along with Drogba. It’s worth the punt.

Not sure if Drogba meant to score and I think he was only trying to cross. I think so because he chipped it with his left foot. If he was trying to score, it would have put it away with his right foot.

Anyway, Cheslea were truly deserved winners. Credit to Drogba for trying until the last moment. He believed that we could win. Three cheers to the spirit of Didier Drogba and Chelsea FC.

Something tells me that this 4-4-2 narrow diamond would work for us. I also have a feeling that this formation allows us to play more attacking football. I believe we will stick with this and will also master it.

While we are in the process of mastering it, there could be some glitches here and there. As long as Ancelotti is quick enough to react to the match situations, we should be fine.

We haven’t got the opportunity to see what Carlo’s so called ‘Plan B’ is. All that he had to do was to just do subs. We haven’t really changed formations as we were chasing the win. I’d even say, we didn’t have to.

The 4-4-2 narrow diamond was creating chances for us till the last minute. Because Hull City were defending deep and narrow, this formation of ours actually helped.

On the other hand, if we were playing 4-3-3, we’d have seen more inefficient passes and less support for Drogba and Lampard upfront. Overall, I’m still positive on Ancelotti. When things didn’t go well, I liked the way he was getting angry.

In comparison, Scolari was getting upset and worried and his body language showed that, whereas Ancelotti was more angry than worried. I like those kind of football managers.

Good start for the season. We are winning. Drogba is scoring. Lampard is doing well. We are settling down with our formation. We have a series of winnable matches in the next few weeks. We should be able to continue winning while getting accustomed to the new formation.

Don’t worry much about today’s result. Remember the opening day match against newly-promoted Wigan in the 05-06 season? We won with an injury time goal from Crespo and absolutely did not deserve to win that game.

Mourinho even admitted that to Jewel when he shook his hands with him. And you know who were the champions that season!

Meanwhile, we are supposedly still very active in the transfer market. Aug. 18 will be a key date for a lot of transfers because that’s when some of the clubs and key players could possibly make their first champions league appearance this season.

Expect some transfers to get done before the players get cup-tied or get some strong hints as players don’t get named in their squads.

Finally, the first round of fantasy league and IKTS results will be out by this evening. I’m not really topping the table as of today but that’s fine. Interestingly, there was a winner in all the matches yesterday, there were no draws!

I was really surprised that some people could really predict the results so well in IKTS. Anyway, a separate post on the fantasy league to come later. Cheers till then!

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