City 3 Hull 1
Report by Eddie Blount
Ideally acting-manager Craig Shakespeare should face three different tests before any sort of decision is made about his future. Test one was passed on Monday as City revealed their form of last season in sweeping aside a Liverpool side who could have moved into second spot. Today proved a harder nut to crack as City faced the physical challenge of an organised and determined though ultimately limited side whose fate was only confirmed in the last minute of normal time. To win we had to come from behind which was something we had not managed all season; plus we had yet to post back-to-back wins, so the six points earned this week mark a significant improvement on what has gone before.
My final test for the aspiring manager would be to produce a competitive performance away from home where to date we have been generally woeful. This originally meant that I would have waited until after the Arsenal away fixture next Saturday but its cancellation due to the Gunners cup commitments means that the nettle needs to be grasped and City should give Shakey the job until the end of the season. Is there really anyone better currently out there?
The match kicked off with City and their fans in high spirits, hope replacing the fear that had preceded the Liverpool game. Just as against the Reds, City dominated the early stages, with Okazaki just failing to reach two sumptuous Vardy crosses in the first five minutes alone. Two more were to follow as the match featured more and more one-way traffic, but we all know what happens when dominance is not turned into goals for. And it did!
In virtually their first visit to our penalty area, having broken quickly down their left as a City attack broke down, the ball was deflected slowly across our six-yard box to their only other player in the same post-code, Clucas, who forced it over the line. As is so often the case City were back in sufficient numbers but ball-watching instead of marking, thus conceding a very poor goal.
Following that setback -and with the crowd’s full support – City resumed their constant raiding into Hull territory, a tactic which paid dividends around the half-hour mark, with a beautifully-constructed goal. It began wide left with elegant interplay between Fuchs, Albrighton, Drinkwater and Vardy and the sudden release of Vardy down the inside-left channel. He sped to the by-line and crossed with total accuracy for Fuchs to arrive at just the right moment to clip the ball past the keeper from close range.
Further bombardment of the Hull goal followed but we were unable to add to the score. How such a one-sided first half could finish level was hard to fathom but clearly the extra man Hull had in midfield made it harder to find the spaces we needed to play the pass and release game we most prefer. Ndidi was less effective against space-crowding Hull than against Liverpool, when he was my MOM, but he remains a big addition to the side and at 20 has lots of time to get even better.The second half was far from a carbon-copy of the first as Hull had almost a half-share of the game.
Ironically we out-scored them in this period by two goals to nil! It took a much-needed piece of sleight-of-foot by resident semi-retired magician, Mahrez, to get City’s noses in front for the first time on 59 minutes. He received the ball on the edge of their box which was heavily populated by Hull shirts. He moved to his left with a subtle, trade-mark, deceptive body swerve so the shirts all moved to his right. This failed to create sufficient space for a clear shot at goal so he swerved back to his right causing the shirts again to move in the wrong direction. This was repeated and bore more than a passing resemblance to a matador teasing a herd of bulls. The final swerve created a gap between the keeper and his left-hand post. Mahrez struck it impeccably with his ‘other’ foot to beat the keeper and find the only gap through which he could have scored. Hull were never going to score a goal like that. Good enough to win a game on its own! It almost did!
The final significant moment of the game came as late as the 90th minute, just in time to stop the crowd from panicking about a late equaliser from industrious but punchless opponents. A corner to the centre of the goal found Hull skipper, Huddlestone, under heavy pressure form Ndidi and haplessly deflecting the ball unstoppably into the top corner of the goal. Finally we had a score which was a fairer reflection of the play.
Six goal in five days and six precious points. We now go into the second leg of the Champions’ League Round of 16 thinking we have at least some chance rather than absolutely no chance as appeared the case a few short days ago
City: Schmeichel, Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs, Drinkwater, Ndidi, Mahrez (Slimani 83), Okazaki (Gray 70), Albrighton, Vardy
Hull: Jakupovic, Elmohamady, Ranocchia, Maguire, Robertson, Huddlestone, Markovic (Diomande 78), N’Diaye(Hernandez 68), Clucas, Grosicki, Niasse
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation