In spite of their win, Hull still find themselves in the relegation zone. They have made good progress under Marco Silva, but still have a long way to go. This match was, to put it aptly, the silver lining. This win for Hull means that they are now a bit more likely to stay up and we all know how quickly things can change in the Premier League. Back in December, Swansea were conceding goals left, right, and centre getting obliterated each and every week. Now, the Swans are out of the drop zone.
So what does this mean for us? Well, the distress signal CQD and Hull City were both created in 1904. Just to give some further insight, CQD is one of the first distress signals adopted for radio use. It’s name is derived from the concatenation of the acronym CQ (“sécu”, from the French word sécurité) and D (“distress”). Ergo, CQD was understood by wireless operators to mean, “All stations: distress.”
There isn’t a better time to use the distress signal than now. We have plummeted down the table to 14th and are only six points clear of the drop zone. Our defeat to Hull City has surely confirmed that we are not safe from the possibility of relegation? If this was a one-off, it would be fine, but unfortunately, we have lost our last four matches! Bournemouth and Leicester were winnable games – Tottenham and Liverpool aren’t. We have also conceded at least two goals a match for the past four games. As I mentioned before, one team always get into the mix for the drop. The signs are looking more and more ominous…
On the other hand, our chances of being relegated are as likely as any team that is in the bottom half. Do one or two points between the teams around us really make that much of a difference?. Marco Silva has helped his side get six wins and a draw at the KCOM Stadium scoring 14 goals and conceding a mere five. They even beat Liverpool 2-0 at home! Taking all that into account, this was never meant to be the easy fixture we once imagined earlier in the season. It’s been three years since Marco Silva last lost a home league match winning 32 out of his last 39 games. He is a tactical genius: Grosicki, the player that came on in the second half, assisted both goals.
Our defending has been absolutely atrocious this season. I’m quite surprised that Bilic was a defender in his time. We have lost 20 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season, the most of any side. When we were 1-0 up, did it ever occur to Bilic that we could actually change around our formation to suit a slightly more defensive style? After all, Lanzini is not a natural CM. He has recently received stick for not having much tactical nous and I have to condemn him again for this. There is no point in playing the same way for the entirety of the match. That doesn’t mean that changes should only be made when we’re not winning, but that they should be used effectively with a game plan. When you are 1-0 up, utilise it with a more pragmatic approach.
Of course, not everything in defence can be attributed to the manager. We have made the most individual errors of any team in the PL that have led to goals (10). I can’t really blame the manager or the coaching staff for this as much as the players. Even in this match, Byram gave the ball to N’Diaye who hit the post only for Grosicki to curl it wide. Hull should have scored from that opportunity given by one of our players. This is not something that Bilic can be blamed for.
One of the main reasons this loss is a real cause for concern is that both teams are equally frail in defence. Hull have conceded the second most amount of goals, whilst we have conceded the joint third amount of goals. Furthermore, both teams have given away the most penalties in the Premier League this season – Hull (11) & West Ham (8).Still not convinced that we are as poor defensively as a team that is in the relegation zone? Well, we have conceded the most goals in the opening 15 minutes of games, whilst Hull have conceded the most goals in the final 15 minutes. But guess which team conceded in the final 15 minutes this time?
On the flip side, we were good in attack. The attack is made up of just Carroll and Lanzini, right? Sure felt like it. Andy Carroll opened the scoring with his 50th Premier League goal. He is the 44th English player to reach that milestone. Former Hammers Carlton Cole, Trevor Sinclair and Lee Bowyer have also achieved the feat. Anyway, I hope he can maintain his fitness levels against Arsenal as the last time he played the full 90 minutes in four successive league games was back in April 2014. Can he make it a fifth with such short recovery time? Fingers crossed. Can he get a hat-trick like last season against the Gunners? Well, that’s a bit too ambitious.
Says it all pic.twitter.com/zhHsoiPn3a
— ? Leon ? (@djleon1983) April 1, 2017
One of the first things I had gathered about Bilic came from his first two Premier League matches as manager. They were a 2-0 win over Arsenal and a 2-1 defeat to Leicester. Big Sam would have got the results the other way around. I made a direct comparison with Bilic with the thought that he could win the difficult matches and lose the easy ones. It would be very Slaven-Bilic-like to get a win against the bigger team. We lost against Hull, so I’m hoping that he can replicate what he did in his first PL match in charge and beat Arsenal.