Watford 1 Hull City 1 (14/04/2012)

Five thunks from the official start of the end of the season…

1- In the build-up to this one, Sean Dyche had been making all the right noises.  Dodging the suggestion that the season was over he was bullish about our intent in the final games – finishing positively, getting as high up the table as possible, doing the “right thing” with respect to other clubs.  Quite right too, of course, what would you expect him to say in any case but no doubt he meant it.  No such declaration of intent from the stands though.  No pretence either.  Vicarage Road hardly has a reputation as seething cauldron of noise at the best of times (although the best of times is typically midweek under lights which is… different);  today, as my co-editor and I arrived at twenty to three the stands were still empty, a two o’clock smattering that the Red Lion could surely claim limited responsibility for.  The game progressed to an almost entirely end-of-season feel – all that was missing was a bit of warmth for that full deckchair effect.  The Yellow Order gave it a bit of a go up to our right, but our group enjoyed a five minute Grand National-inspired diversion trying to remember the horses from the near-20 year old The Day Today spoof bulletin (“Onion Terror”… “Two headed sex beast”….).  My co-editor was asked a question about the game in the second half and confessed that he hadn’t been paying attention, thinking about what colour to paint his kitchen.  On the pitch, as the ball was miscontrolled in midfield, someone tutted.

2- On the way out of the stadium, my co-editor suggested that you could make a case for us having deserved to win the game.  If, he qualified, you ignored the “set pieces thing”.

Unfortunately, the set pieces thing cost us a goal early on – James Chester attacking Andy Dawson’s delivery and, criminally, being allowed to convert at the near post – and could have seen us several down by the interval.  A reflection of two factors that combined to make our lives increasingly uncomfortable as the half progressed:  Dawson and Robert Koren provided precise, consistent, threatening deliveries from either flank (Mark Yeates – that’s what a set piece expert looks like…) and our defence played as if they had been introduced to each other five minutes before the game and had their mouths taped together throughout.  Such was the lack of communication and organisation that we were reliant on individual brilliance to dig us out of situations.  Principally this came from Kuszczak – who produced two top drawer saves – and Nosworthy, whose thunderous, immaculate penalty area challenge on Garcia left the Hull winger nonplussed on his backside and whose backheel-at-speed when heading towards his own goal under pressure again evoked Keith Dublin’s special brand of cavalier defending.  Deeney’s close-range finish to Eustace’s shot gave us a rather flattering parity at the interval.

3- Having played 4-5-1 at Cardiff, Sean Dyche had explained his aspiration to a tactical flexibility that would leave us comfortable switching between a number of formations.  Now is undoubtedly the time to try new things of course, but despite that it it has now seen us take points from consecutive games against teams above us in the table there was little sign of 4-5-1 proving terribly effective. Nor is it obviously a formation that one would expect to suit our current personnel since once non-negotiable requirement – players who to drive on from midfield and wide in support of the tireless Deeney – are rather absent.  Buaben was deft and tidy but as the most obviously attacking member of the central three was way too far behind the striker;  out wide, Murray was peripheral and Garner a parody of himself, almost all of his involvement concluding with him sitting on his backside.  Deeney was thus isolated for the most part which was a shame… Hull’s defence creaked badly when we started to put pressure on it…

4- Which started to happen, perversely, when we were down to ten men, albeit not as a direct result of that development.  Mariappa had come on for the under par Taylor at half time, a change that the lack of communication in our defence had perhaps demanded, but was rightly dismissed for two clumsy challenges; Phil Dowd was in full “look at me, I’m in charge and very important” mode but there was no arguing with either decision.  Both tackles, so uncharacteristic of this now polished defender, smacked of rustiness, but Mariappa wasn’t the only one off form – John Eustace, for instance, appeared to have his boots on the wrong feet, such was the frequency and often peculiar trajectory of his misplaced passes.

With no further defensive options on the bench, the reshuffle saw Lloyd Doyley move to the centre with Buaben filling in at right back.  A decent job of it he did too; if we weren’t already overburdened with right backs – Lee Hodson’s ongoing omission remains a complete mystery – he might have proved an interesting option.  Critically however, Dyche took the bold move of countering Hull’s renewed if rather aimless vigour by bringing on Iwelumo for Garner and switching to 4-3-2.  As has been the case a number of times recently, Iwelumo’s presence altered the balance of the game entirely.  Still outnumbered and sitting quite deep, we nonetheless made City’s defence look very uncomfortable indeed for the last ten minutes or so with Big Chris the unsettler-in-chief.  This culminated in us concluding the game well on the front foot; Dawson’s diving block into the path of Iwelumo’s drive from the right after good interplay with Deeney will have left him seeing stars.  Deeney’s drive forced a decent save from Mannone, and City were forced to clear off the line after another bobbling effort from Deeney.  More tactical experimentation may be on the cards for Tuesday, but if winning the game is a priority it would be a huge surprise if Big Chris didn’t start.

5- Diverting our attention elsewhere briefly, it’s good to be able to say farewell to one of this season’s hobbyhorses with the confirmation of Doncaster’s relegation.  Rovers were a popular second-favourite side in the division, until they abandoned bringing through youngsters and polishing lower league diamonds in favour of a cynical strategy of acting as a shop window for out of favour players under the control of agent Willie McKay, who also represents manager Dean Saunders.  A visit to the Keepmoat earlier in the season and circumstances resulting in hanging around the press box for a while after the game did nothing to persuade of the merits of the strategy or protagonists involved. Had this approach succeeded it would have undoubtedly been used as a blueprint for others, with the consequence of teams of mercenaries effectively playing for the opportunity to leave for richer pastures.  Remember Lee Nogan suddenly putting some effort in when he was chasing a move?  Imagine a team full of that.  Bye bye Doncaster.  Hope you get a proper team to support again some time soon.