[themaclad]

Hull City Deepdale
26/12/2024

Best footballing day of the year without a shadow of a doubt


MANAGER



Good appointment did a sterling job at Reading, given the amount of turmoil but can he survive the Turk

Rubén Sellés Salvador (born 15 June 1983) is a Spanish professional football manager who is the head coach of Championship club Hull City.[1]

Sellés has also managed Southampton in the Premier League and the Valencia Under-18 team. With coaching experience in Greece, Russia, Azerbaijan, Denmark, Spain and England, Sellés has a Master's degree in Sports & Physiology from the University of Valencia, and graduated from UEFA's Pro Licence programme aged 25.



LAST TIME OUT





MACS IN DEPTH FORM GUIDE

PNE 9 HULL 4

NEWBIES



Not on the list is Liam Millar once of this parish now sadly sidelined for the best part of 12 months with an ACL, probably would have signed for us if the previous manager hadn't wanted him to play wing back.

IN FORM



MET BEFORE



Only one goal in the last 360 minutes between the sides, hardly promising a goal fest on Thursday but you never know

https://www.wearehullcity.co.uk/

T'other Champo stuff

[themaclad]

The Fitness Test

Paul Heckingbottom will be hoping to have Andrew Hughes back available to him, especially due to the suspension of Liam Lindsay.

Fellow defender Jack Whatmough was also struggling with a knee injury, which forced him off in the defeat to Queens Park Rangers, so he’ll also need to be assessed.

There are no other fresh injury concerns.

The Tigers


Hull City will arrive at Deepdale after winning for the first time in 14 Championship matches last time out, as they beat Swansea City 2-1 on home turf.

That was the third match under new head coach Rubén Sellés, who was appointed earlier this month after catching the eye for the impressive job he was doing under difficult circumstances at Reading.

The former Southampton boss will be looking to steer his new side away from trouble with a new-look style of football, compared to that of Tim Walter who lasted less than six months in the Hull hotseat.


The Officials

Referee: Josh Smith
Assistant Referees: Hugh Gilroy and Andrew Dallison
Fourth Official: Thomas Parsons

Josh Smith will referee North End for the second time this season on Thursday.

The first occasion was the 1-0 victory over Coventry City at Deepdale, which saw Emil Riis score his second goal of the season.

So far this campaign, Smith has shown 77 yellow cards and one red in 19 matches.

Another chance to draw a home game arrives, proably a tougher game than we could have expected a few weeks ago, things need to happen in January, will it be one step forward ten back on Thursday.

Merry Christmas

[themaclad]

Preston North End 1 Potts Hull City 0

PNE: Woodman, Storey, Whatmough, Hughes, Potts, Whiteman, McCann, Kesler-Hayden, Frökjaer-Jensen (Holmes 77'), Osmajic (Riis 76'), Greenwood (Keane 77')

Subs: Keane, Cornell, Ledson, Thórdarson, Okkels, Bauer, Bowler

Hull City: Pandur, Coyle (Drameh 84'), Jones, McLoughlin, Giles (Jacob 45'), Slater (Ömür 73'), Alzate, Puerta, Burstow, João Pedro (Bedia 73'), Longman (Kamara 55')

Subs: Mehlem, Burns, Racioppi, Sellars-Fleming

Attendance: 16,521 (1,203 Hull City fans).

Referee: Mr J Smith.

Two average sides playing average football averagely , sometimes you have to grind it out, this was one of those games, low on quality and excitement.
First home win over City since February 2020 and in the grand scheme of things gives us a bit of a gap between the places of doom at the bottom and the not quite mid table were we are.
Could have been all so different if Slater hadn't sent a shot from about 10 yards into the empty seats behind the goal after Pedro had forced Woodman into a good save which he had palmed out to the aforementioned Slater.
City had started the better pass and moved and looked buoyed by beating the Swans on Saturday, differnce in the early stages City played the ball into space for players to run onto, always someone willing to make a run, we were our normal self, slow had zero ability to find space and the usual abject final ball.
Slowly we started to get a grip, nice move down the right, ball just slightly behind Os, put the shot wide, most of our danger canme down the right, hence left wing back Giles was hooked for Hull at half time. Should really have been level at the break, ball to the back of the six yard box, Whiteman should have scored didn't.
Little happened in the early stages of the second period, then the goal, the usually enigmatic performance from Mads, however his ball to KKH down the left was perfect, ball pulled back towards penalty spot and there was Potts to score the only goal of he game.
The remaining thirty minutes were watching us make hard work of defending any ball into the box, the usual rash of stupid free kicks near the box, but apart from a header right at the end which was well saved by Woodman, we managed to survive.
It's a win.

Hecky

Paul Heckingbottom was delighted with a “hard-fought and well-earned” three points against Hull City.

North End earned victory at Deepdale on Boxing Day, thanks to Brad Potts’ strike on the hour mark.

PNE defended well from there as they stood up to everything the visitors asked of them, to hold on to an 11th clean sheet of the campaign.



Hecky said: “First and foremost, I’m delighted with the three points. Hard-fought and well-earned.

“There was nothing much in the game in the first half. I thought Hull started the game well in terms of possession. We grew into it and forced our way into it with our work rate and determination.

“I just felt the opportunities we did get in the first half, we could create a lot more if we improved one or two things and I felt we did that second half.

“We were the team then pushing on the front foot and gradually building the momentum until we scored a goal and the goal was fantastic.

“We’ve spoken about how fine the margins are in this league and we've been much more dominant than that in so many games and just come away with a point.

“Today, everyone played their part. We scored a really good goal and then defended our box and managed the game really well. Everyone’s played their part in keeping the clean sheet.”

It was a tight first half which saw both goalkeepers tested, with Milutin Osmajić having North End’s best effort.

The manager felt PNE then came out better in the second half and, after a couple of early chances which fell to Osmajić and Sam Greenwood, Potts broke the deadlock and scored the eventual winner in the 60th minute.


Hecky said: “I think one thing we did improve, we had moments in the second half where we were a bit more aggressive. We forced turnovers in and around the halfway line, particularly on our right-hand side, where we know we've got a little bit better balance.

“We got in down the sides of them and used our spare body on the outside a little bit better because they block up the middle of the pitch really well.

“It was coming but then the goal itself is down the right. We switch it to the opposite ten, which is Sam [Greenwood] to Mads [Frøkjær]. Sam plays the easy pass, but it's the right pass because we've got our extra body then again on the outside, which is Kaine [Kesler-Hayden]. He picks Pottsy out with a good pass as well.

“I’m really, really pleased with the goal for lots of reasons. It’s what we've been working on, moments of real quality from the players and then, like I said, everyone then saw the game out really well.”

[themaclad]

SELLES

Rubén Sellés says his team must make opportunities count after Hull City’s 1-0 Boxing Day defeat at Preston North End.

Brad Potts’ clinical second-half strike settled a tight affair, with Regan Slater spurning a golden early chance after João Pedro was denied by Freddie Woodman, who also saved well from Mason Burstow.

“We feel bad because we lost the game,” said Sellés. “We did enough in the game to get at least one point but that doesn’t count.

“The team had personality. We played the game we want. We created the situations to score at least one goal and we didn’t.

“In one action, we went 1-0 down and we never recovered in terms of the score but we were competitive enough.

“We create situations. It’s not only the situation with Regan after five minutes; he knows better than anybody that situation should go in the net.

“We created some other situations and we need to make it count. It’s time for us to adjust those small details and put those situations in the net because when they happen against us, we get punished.

“We need to continue developing that competitiveness and games like today, when we have opportunities, make it count and then we will be in a better place.”

The Tigers have been dealt a further injury blow with central defender Charlie Hughes set for a spell on the treatment table.

Sellés revealed: “A couple of days ago, we finished training, he’s fine, he goes to take a shower and then when he finished, he felt a bit of tightness in his hamstring. We found a hamstring injury there that is going to be six to eight weeks.”

Xavier Simons missed the match through illness but could return for the final fixture of 2024 away to play-off hopefuls Blackburn Rovers on Sunday 29 December.

[themaclad]