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Hull City Fan View: Impressive Marco Silva starting to make his mark
In a weekend that saw Swansea beat Liverpool at Anfield and Burnley come within a minute of taking a point at the Emirates, Hull City fans, fuelled by the cliché of the ‘new manager bounce’ after last weekend’s win against Bournemouth, went into Sunday evening’s game more confident than usual. In a very similar display to our 2-0 defeat at Old Trafford in the EFL Cup two weeks earlier, the result did not reflect the effort, desire and quality of Hull City’s performance. While a few decisions didn’t go our way, it’s clear that Marco Silva is certainly getting his footballing philosophy and style across.
After seeing Chelsea’s top goal-scorer Diego Costa back in the side, and rifling a volley inches wide in the opening seconds of the game, the pre-game optimism of City fans everywhere took a bit of hit, and things only got worse in the 12th minute when Ryan Mason had to be stretched off the field with an oxygen mask after a clash of heads with Chelsea skipper Gary Cahill, which resulted in a nine minute break in play. However, more worryingly, in the week that saw the club sell utility midfielder Jake Livermore to West Brom for £10m, Mason’s serious looking head injury adds to Hull City’s injury list woe during a vital time of the season. Mason’s injury looked a real nasty one, and I think I speak on behalf of City fans everywhere when I say get well soon Ryan.
In typical City fashion, after defending resolutely throughout the rest of the first half, Chelsea broke the deadlock in the seventh minute of added time in the first half when Diego Costa, who else, fired home from a Victor Moses cross. However, the City faithful felt aggrieved after Abel Hernandez appeared to be fouled by Cahill in the run-up to the goal.
In contrast to the first half, Silva’s men came out in the second all guns blazing, and quite incredibly really took the game to the prospective Premier League champions. In what turned out to be the second game-changing decision that didn’t go the Tigers’ way, Neil Swarbrick turned down a Hull City penalty appeal five minutes into the second-half when Abel Hernandez was clearly tripped by Marcus Alonso inside the Chelsea box. Replays showed it was a stonewall penalty, and one that would have come at a key moment in the game. City continued to push Conte’s men more and more as the half wore on, quite incredibly dominating possession 60% to 40% in the second period, however, the goal just wouldn’t come. Chelsea wrapped up the three points in the 81st minute when a lack of concentration in defence, following Curtis Davies limping off the field injured, saw Cahill go completely unchallenged to head home from a free-kick.
Despite the result, which it has to be said doesn’t come as much of a surprise to the footballing world, Hull City showed a lot of fight, promise and quality throughout the match. Marco Silva, a controversial choice to replace the, some would argue, hard done by Mike Phelan, is clearly continuing to get the best out of this very limited squad of players, and even more encouragingly, his squad seem to all be buying into his ‘it’s the world against all’, almost Jose Mourinho-esque, footballing philosophy.
Without a shadow of a doubt, the Tigers’ stand out performer was Harry Maguire, who, although has looked solid all season, appears to have progressed and flourished even further in the three week’s since Silva’s appointment. The 23-year-old was excellent in defence all game, and made a number of what are fast becoming his trademark marauding drives forward, causing problems for Cahill and Luiz on a number of occasions. I would also like to give Tom Huddlestone a mention, who, like Maguire, has really stepped up his game since Silva’s appointment, and is starting to look like the player we all know he can be when he is in the right frame of mind. His passing game was brilliant once against today, as it was against Bournemouth last week, and he is starting to once again create chances for his team. For me, this is Huddlestone’s best spell since our FA Cup run in the 2013/14 season, let’s hope it continues.
Our chances of Premier League survival will not come down to our results against the likes of Chelsea, Manchester United or Liverpool, meaning in many ways any points we do pick up this month would be a bonus. As long as we are not cut adrift at the bottom of the division and remain in-and-around the pack come mid-February, the real work can begin. Even if every result hasn’t gone for us in recent weeks, if our performances under Marco Silva’s new footballing philosophy are anything to go by, City have a great chance of securing Premier League survival during our run-in against the so-called ‘weaker’ teams. Although still at war with the club’s owners, disenchanted Hull City fans are starting to enjoy watching their side on the pitch once again. Long may it continue.
