I Fought The (Offside) Law returns next week.

Starting with a report of Hull City's trip to Millwall, a look at City's new boys James Harper, Nobby Solano and Robert Koren, as well as a few other bits.

Here Is The City

I'm going to be writing some articles for Here Is The City from now on. The content will always be different from what I post here so it's well worth checking out. My first article has just been made available to read online and you can do so by clicking the following link:
Attack Is The Best Form Of Defence - Here Is The City
There's also a lot more football opinion, both for City and just in general so give that a read too whilst you're there!

Reaction: Everton 5 -1 City

Mikel Arteta celebrates after opening the floodgates at Goodison Park with his first of the season. It was not to be his last.

Yesterday was rotten, wasn't it? A horrible 90 minutes with few bright spots for the travelling City fans. Tucked into the ramshackle away section at Goodison Park, a section of the ground offering only the very worst of views, we were subjected to a performance the likes of which have become all too frequent since December 2008. We travelled to Merseyside buoyed by Manchester United's scrappy win over Wolves as well as the images of Sam Vokes skying a possible season changing chance. We knew that even a point against Everton would be enough to lift us out of the relegation zone. We also knew that City had gone a full calendar year without an away win, and would be hard pressed to end that run against an Everton side that has really just started to get into its stride.

City's line up held a few surprises. Gone was Andy Dawson for Kevin Kilbane, fitting reward we thought considering Dawson's white booted Upton Park nightmare. We later learned that Dawson had actually suffered from a bad asthma attack and was unfit to play, with Brown hinting that he would've played had he been available. Jimmy Bullard made his long anticipated return to Premier League action in the middle of a five man midfield that also included Nick Barmby and Richard Garcia and Amr Zaki started on his own up front. Everton, meanwhile, boasted a wealth of talent in their line up. Yakubu, Osman, Arteta, Jagielka, and Pienaar as well as Landon Donovan, Diniyar Bilyatedinov, Dan Gosling and Jack Rodwell amongst the substitutes. We'd've snatched your right arm off, never mind your hand, if you'd offered us a point before kick off. The opening minutes of the game were watched by a strangely muted crowd, but it was hardly stirring stuff. Even when Arteta put the Toffees ahead, the Goodison crowd's response was swift, half interested. We knew it was coming and, apparently, so did they. Yakubu had already hit the post, after Osman had robbed Boateng to feed the Yak. The men in amber and black did not heed the warning though, as only minutes later it was 1-0. Yakubu, given far too much time by Paul McShane, floated a lovely ball to the back post with Mikel Arteta arriving on cue to guide the ball past Myhill. Arteta motored past Barmby in the midfield to find himself in a prime position. Tracking runners from deep has long been a problem for us, and so it would prove again as the game wore on. Yakubu again showed himself to be unusually profligate in front of goal when he missed a penalty. Having been brought down by Zayatte, the Nigerian dusted himself off and took the resultant spot kick himself only for it to be turned away by Myhill. This was the start of City's best period in the game. We hardly had time to draw breath and City were level. Tom Cairney, a revelation in recent weeks, but understandably struggling to convince in this particular game popped up with an absolute worldie of strike. Waiting on the edge of the area to pick up any scraps from a set piece, Cairney unleashed a beautifully struck left foot volley past the desparing dive of Tim Howard. A sweet moment for Cairney, and probably a satisfactory one for the men who brought him through to first time level; Billy Russel and Neil Mann Mann Mann. Having clawed level against the run of play, City could count themselves lucky and you always felt that Everton would score again. That feeling proved correct when just six minutes later, Arteta bagged his second of the match. Running onto Steven Pienaar's cute drag back, the Spaniard passed the ball low into the net. City's midfield again failed to give adequate protection the goal, as Cairney, Bullard and Boateng were all bypassed easily. There were no further incidents of note in the first half and City went in behind knowing it would be a huge task to find a second equaliser.

As the second hlaf began, it was clear to all watching that Arteta was enjoying his afternoon and wasn't ready to stop playing the role of the Tigers' tormentor-in-chief. Six minutes after the break and the game was dead and buried, and there was to be no pet cemetary style comebacks. Arteta dinked a cross towards the back post from the left hand side of the area, having again been given too much room to play the ball. Myhill inexplicably failed to deal with it, and the ball crossed the line having hit Richard Garcia's head. Garcia had every reason to be surprised at having to deal with the cross as to all watching Myhill should've done so himself. Everton had squeezed the life out of the game with more than a third of it to go. Bullard was withdrawn on the hour for Altidore, possibly to save him exerting himself in a game that was lost, with Nick Barmby preceding him, Goodison's least popular man being replaced by Geovanni. With City defending so poorly, there were always likely to be more goals and Everton did not let their fans down, with substitues Donovan and Rodwell providing the final goals. And so ended another painful afternoon watching City away from home. The Tigers' performance has been branded 'pathetic', 'unacceptable', 'tame' and 'tepid' by various media outlets. All fair comment. It was an afternoon never likely to see us gain any reward from our efforts, even before kick off, but it was the manner of defeat that really sticks in the throat. Much had been made in the run up to the game of City needing to go back to basics and make things more difficult for their oppenents but they did anything but. Our five man midfield was always wide open, with Everton running rampant down the middle and out wide. The central midfielders did not protect that centre backs and the keeper well enough and Garcia and Barmby did not offer enough help to their full backs. Amr Zaki was a largely frustrated figure. A willing runner, the Egyptian had to feed on scraps all afternoon and was given little support by his team mates. Much had been made of Jimmy Bullard's comeback, but in his first Premier League game since December, he appeared to be struggling to keep up with the pace of the game and rarely got himself in the kind of positions he needed to to affect the game.

So where next for City? Arsenal come to the KC next week in front of the ESPN cameras. The Gunners form of late has been frightening and a repeat of this performance will surely see us on the hand of another thrashing. Phil Brown has much work to do between now and Saturday, but the games all City fans have their eyes on come after this coming weekend. An inviting run of fixtures could see the Tigers push themselves out of the drop zone. Coming to the KC in the weeks to come are Fulham, Burnley and Sunderland. Three winnable fixtures. Burnley's away day woes extend back nearly as far as our own, Fulham have struggled for consistency away from Craven Cottage since time immemorial and Sunderland are busy performing a passable impression of City's 2008-09 collapse. But we really need to start picking up points away from East Yorkshire to complement our decent home form. Trips to Portsmouth, Stoke, Birmingham and Wigan must yield points if we are to avoid a return to the Championship.

Gulp.

Further reading:
Brown Going Down - Sky Sports.com
Second Half Collapse Unacceptable - Hull City OWS
Liverpool Echo match report


Soundtrack to this post:

'Sigh No More' - Mumford & Sons
(Island)(2009) Rating 9/10

and


'The Draft - Digital EP' - The Draft
(Epitaph) (2007) Rating 7/10

Blackburn Rovers vs Hull City

Sam Allardyce during his pre-match press conference

So after the unbridled pessimism that was my last post comes optimism! Having taken just a point when three were expected against Wolves, City went into fixtures against Chelsea, top of the league and Champions elect and the richest club in the world, Manchester City. Many, including myself, expected City to gain no points from the Chelsea fixture and perhaps scrape a point against Abu Dhabi Citeh. How wrong can you be? Confident attacking displays coupled with stout defending brought four points from those two games and so we can now look towards tonight's trip to Ewood Park with a degree of confidence and hopes of claiming a first away win of the season. Sam Allardyce and Phil Brown, as we all know by now, spent many years working alongside each other at Blackpool and Bolton Wanderers and both men have been in the media recently with cautionary words for their teams. (Phil Brown: Sky Sports. Sam Allardyce: Also Sky Sports.) Blackburn's home form this season has been solid, losing just once in their last eleven home games and twice all season. These defeats were at the hands of Manchester City and Tottenham though, so it would appear that they are no slouches on home soil. The statistics back this up. Of twelve league home games this season, Blackburn have won six, drawn four and lost the aforementioned two. When you take into account that the Tigers have claimed only four points on the road this season, the prospects of claiming anything tonight look bleak. Or do they? Examining their home record further shows a goalless draws with West Ham, Stoke and Liverpool as well as a 2-2 draw with Sunderland. Added to this narrow victories over Wigan, Burnley and Aston Villa are hardly convincing. In all, Blackburn have scored a respectable 17 goals at Ewood Park this season and conceded 12, so it would seem that the first goal tonight will be key. City don't net much on their travels, just 7 all season, and have conceded 30 goals in that time.

But statistics can only tell you so much. This last week has seen City look revived, thanks in no small part to strength of the spine of the side. Stephen Mouyokolo and Tony Gardner have quickly formed a very good centre half pairing, so much so that cult hero Kamil Zayatte is having to play back up. Up front, Jan Venegoor of Hesselink and Jozy Altidore look to be developing an understanding that has seen each man lay the other on for superb goals in recent games. Altidore provided the assist for big Jan's superb goal against Wolves and the Dutchman happily returned the favour against Man City on Saturday, holding the ball up before passing into Altidore's path, then standing to admire the American's lovely finish. You always have to save the best for last. don't you? And so in that spirit, we come to the midfield. How good have George Boateng and Tom Cairney been? I criticised Boateng last week for his rash challenge on Anelka that led to Didier Drogba's goal, but to write his general performance off for that daft mistake would've been stupid. He carried on in this rich vein of form against Man City, and scored an absolute worldie of a goal, his first for City and well deserved. The news that he's facing a fight to make the game is a blow. Suffering with cramp, if Boateng does miss out expect Seyi Olofinjana to deputise. Alongside The Boat, Tom Cairney has played three Premier League games in a week and looks like he's played another 200 more. City fans must remember though that Cairney is still only a young lad and his form will have peaks and troughs but if Brown and the backroom staff can nurture his talent over the coming months, we look to have a player who can play a vital role in our survival fight. Assuming he starts, tonight will be another big test for him. His only league games have come at the KC and a trip to Ewood Park will be another rite of passage for the youngster.

Other team news reports that Andy Dawson may miss out too. I'm always quick to criticise Dawson when I think he's made a mistake or had a poor game, but credit where it's due, Dawson has been magnificent in recent games. He was excellent against Chelsea, coping with Drogba's constant sojourns out to his wing for Chelsea goal kicks and with the marauding threat of Ivanovic. Against Manchester City he also dealt capably with first Stephen Ireland and then the changing threats of Adam Johnson and Martin Petrov, as well as Zabaleta's runs from right back. Expect Kevin Kilbane to fill in if Dawson does miss out. Kilbane should slot straight in, especially as he bags of experience in this position for the Republic of Ireland.

All in all, I'm confident of coming away with something. I had predicted earlier in the week on KCFM that CITY would win 2-0 but truth be told I'd be delighted with a point. Enjoy the game.

Don't forget to leave a comment below!

Soundtrack to this post:
This Is Not The World by The Futureheads

(Nul Records) (2008)
Rating: 9/10

Wolves reaction

So with the transfer window securely shut for another few months, City can reflect on decent work off the pitch but definitely not on it. The visit of Wolves to the KC was a chance for the Tigers to pick up a much needed win a propel themselves above our visitors from the Black Country. Unfortunately City were twice pegged back and squandered a great chance to make some headway in the relegation tussle. It was a poor game in truth and although City did look to have more quality, it was Wolves who finished the game the stronger side with Bo Myhill called into action a few times to preserve a point. Brown made 5 changes from the side who lost to Wayne Rooney a week ago, with Mendy, Mouyoklo, Cairney, Venegoor of Hesselink and Altidore all being restored to the lineup. Cairney was making his Premier League debut and put in a performance that belied his relative lack of experience, looking much closer to being a complete player than his crab like youth counterpart Nicky Featherstone (crab-like in that he appears able to only move sideways and he's a little irritant who is difficult to get rid of and you're not particularly proud of telling anyone that you have him). Things started well for us when Big Jan fired City into the lead after great work from Altidore, who held off his marker's attention strongly and laid the Dutchman on for a well taken goal. City looked fairly comfortable for the remainder of the first half, although former Man United youngster David Jones troubled the defence with his delivery from corners on several occasions. When the sides emerged fro the second half, Wolves quickly restored parity. Actually that's not true. Anthony Gardner restored parity by parodying Kamil Zayatte and slicing grotesquely into his own net. A horrible error from a normally resolute and classy centre half. Gardner was quickly redeemed though when Wolves right back Zubar mistook Jozy Altidore for a ladder in the penalty area. Mike Dean didn't hesitate in awarding the penalty, which man of the moment Hunt dispatched with consumate ease. I'll confess that at this point I thought it was job done, City would go on to close out the game and seal a vital victory. Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG! Wolves equalised after yet more slack defending, as player after player was allowed too much time to pick out a pass and the Old Gold (disguised for the afternoon in White) creaked towards a goal with Matt Jarvis applying the finishing touch to a move that seemed to be going nowhere. The rest of the game was played out as if in a dream, with both teams appearing to settle for a point. Disappointing to say the least, and definitely two points dropped. Our lack of care when in the lead against Wolves this season may cost us dear, as we have been in winning positions 3 times over the 2 games and have claimed only a point from each. How vital would another 4 be?

Close the door on your way out

What looked like being a quiet day for City has become quite the opposite with several fringe players leaving the club, aiding Adam Pearson's quest to slash the club's wage bill. Peter Halmosi, Tony Warner and Daniel Cousin have all left the KC, either on loan or permanently. Having seen off Wolves's attempts to sign Stephen Hunt earlier in the day, Transfer Deadline Day looks like being a successful one for the Tigers. Hungarian flop Halmosi has left the club on loan to sign for unpronouncable Hungarian side Szombathelyi Haladas until the end of the season. We had high hopes for Hungarian Halmosi having (aliteration!) brought him to Hull from Plymouth in the close season of 2008, but he didn't show the sort of form that caught the eye whilst plying his trade in the green of Plymouth Argyle and nobody at the KC will really miss his presence on the bench. Another disappointing signing was Daniel Cousin who has, as reported earlier joined Greek club Larissa on loan until the end of the season, with a view to making the deal permanent should Cousin bother his arse to put some effort in. Warner, meanwhile, leaves the club having made only two first team appearances in 18 months. The Scouse shot stopper never really looked like replacing Bo Myhill as number 1 or Matt Duke as number 2 and so City were happy to cancel the rest of his deal.

Whilst we're talking about players who spent disappointing periods plying their trade in black and amber, Scottish flop Darryl Duffy has signed a three month loan deal at Carlisle United. Duffy, who is permanently contracted to Bristol Rovers, signed for City in January 2006 as Peter Taylor put together a Little and Large partnership of him and Jon Parkin, and later departed to Swansea City, after scoring just 3 times in 24 outings.

Larissa Explains It All?

Striking enigma Daniel Cousin continues to be linked with a move to pastures new as City look to reduce thier wage bill further, following the release of both Bryan Hughes and Tony Warner. IMScouting.com reports that Cousin will seal a move to Greek outfit Larissa this afternoon.

But with Phil Brown stating on Radio Humberside that this deal had fallen through and with Cousin looking to be lining up a move to an unnamed Turkish club instead, i this just lazy journalism? Yeah, probably. And afterall, when dealing with Cousin, lazy journalism is probably appropriate (budumtish!). I don't expect to see him sign for anyone today, and I think he'll be hanging around in the reserves until he goes somewhere new in the summer. Shame.

In other news, former City right winger Jason Price has left Millwall, signing for Oldham on a month's loan. I wouldn't fancy playing at Oldham for any longer than a month either. Boundary Park freezing at the best of times.

Edit: I've just read on the BBC's excellent Transfer Deadline Day page (which you can find here) that BBC Radio 5 live's senior football reporter Ian Dennis has just said made the following the report on air: "I understand striker Daniel Cousin will be leaving Hull City with Greek side Larissa his likely destination." Let's hope he's right!