Dazed Review – Southampton at the KC

After being one of the fans that traveled to Colchester midweek to watch the schoolboy show that we put on display I really did not hold out much hope at all for today, my whole confidence in the players and Parky had took a serious knock and I started to think for the first time that maybe, just maybe, we could end up falling out of this league ?

Changes had to be made following that game and they were, we went back to 4-4-2, brought Ash in for Welsh, and Nick Barmby made his first start up front alongside Craig Fagan ?

The game started quite brightly and Fagan had an early opportunity and then he linked up well with Barmby for Barmby to prod it straight at the keeper, it looked like this change back to a 4-4-2 seemed to be working ? both teams traded opportunities before Southampton took the lead, Livermore lost control of the ball in midfield and they played a ball across the face of the goal (which looked to me like Myhill should have been out to cut this out) and it was a simple tap in for the Southampton man, The crowd was soon very very nervous and you could sense a change in atmosphere, Parky did not just have to win the game, he had to start winning fans back as more and more were becoming unhappy at what was on show in recent weeks ?

This is were things went from bad to worse … Southampton scored from a well taken free kick and this prompted a lot of fans to leave after only 25 minutes ! They were obviously voting with their feet as to their opinion on the way things are going ? it`s their prerogative I suppose ?

From there we tried to get back into the game, Southampton were reduced down to not many chances now and we looked like we were a little more hungry than we had showed of late, as the half was coming to a close Barmby managed to get in close and tuck it away which I thought was what he deserved after being the one player who looked like he was trying hard ? so ? 2-1 at half time would not be so bad would it? well it got better, Fagan anticipated a back pass brilliantly and coolly slotted away to bring an equalizer ? 2-2 at half time, most of us would have took that me included !!

Half Time – Hull City 2-2 Southampton

The second half started as the first half finished with us looking the more likely to score out of the two teams as we pushed forward and looked dangerous at times with France probably having the best chance of the lot ?

The game started to get a bit messy though with Livermore and Elliott involved in two separate clashes of heads Elliott was ok to continue and Livermore did for a while but in the end had to come off as his bleeding would not stop, it was while John Welsh was getting ready to come on for Livermore is when Southampton went ahead once more ? perhaps cruelly so, but this again was too easy for them to score, it was like we had given our all and that was that, again it was a weak defense allowing an easy goal against them ?

Just to add insult to injury as we were trying to get forward Southampton got their 4th of the day; this prompted a mass exodus out of the KC ?

9 goals in two games are just not good enough, where is the answer? well who knows ? one thing I will say is that Mr. Parkinson needs to work hard to find the solution and quickly before we get out of distance from the pack above us, we are only 2 points off where we were last season so it may not be all doom and gloom but if we are not careful this could soon start to look out of reach ?

The Players more so need to look at themselves and buck up their ideas, too many players are making mistakes that are costing goals ? Turner, Dawson, Delaney, Myhill, Ricketts, Livermore, Marney to name a few have all cost us goals this season from individual errors, They have to perform and do so for 90 minutes ? They are not helping our situation one bit and some must question their commitment to the cause as to be quite frank, some of them look like they just turn up, get their wages and play half hearted ?

Must also say well Done Nick Barmby for giving it all yesterday, most people know that I am definitely not his greatest fan but I will say he played well and with pride yesterday which was nice to see ?

Full Time – Hull City 2-4 Southampton


Anyway Player Ratings

Myhill – 5? Leaking a lot of goals that are sometimes his fault in my opinion, maybe give Duke a go ?

Delaney – 5? Not a left back, needs to be in the centre of defense in my opinion as that is his number 1 position and would fare better than Turner

Turner – 4? Very Poor I thought, carried on where he left off on Tuesday ?

Coles – 6? Covered Turners mistakes a lot of the time and did ok I thought ?

Ricketts – 5? Good going forward but really would prefer him at the left back slot, trouble is we have no options ?

Elliott – 6? Worked hard to try and create something and helped out at left back where he could, our most dangerous set piece taker by a long way ?

Marney – 2? None existent while he was on, was he injured or was it tactical (ala Elliott against West Brom) as to why he came off?

Ashbee – 6? Battled as you would expect from the first minute, we missed him on Tuesday but he needs to try and be a bit more accurate with his distribution ?

Livermore – 5? Pretty much the same as Ashbee, schoolboy error on control for their first goal though ?

Fagan – 6?Played up front, would like to see Mcphee in this position next week with him back on the right, really tried to give it his all yet again ?

Barmby – 7? The man of the match for us, really gave it 110% and deserves to carry this on next week, nice to see him on the score sheet ass well ?

Subs

France – 6 ? Came on for Marney and looked like he had more about him, close control not the greatest and would like to see Fagan back on the right again next week ?

Welsh – 5 ? Came on at a very tough time in the game as they had just took the lead and was only brought on because of injury, would not mind him and Ash together in the middle next week though ?

Forster – 5 ? Came on very late as we were throwing everything at it, as a result did not have time to do anything ?

Top Tiger? Barmby for me, if he carries this on then it will be humble pie time for me and a fair few others ?

Tigers Tail? Marney, he did absolutely nothing for the short time that he was on the pitch, out on the right is not his position ?

Parky`s Performance – 6/10? Starting eleven had changes which we called for and had an attacking feel to it, not really much else he could have done I think; now the players have got to get behind their manager ?

Ref Watch – 6/10? Not too bad I thought, bit whistle happy and over did the silly things (eg where throws were taken and that players had to be off the pitch before coming back on)

Crowd Watch – 7/10? The ones who stayed it out need commending as they really tried to give the team a push in the right direction and were defiant throughout ?

where to from here?? Plymouth away and 4-4-2 needs to stay, put Fagan on the right, Mcphee up front with Barmby, Welsh in the middle with Ash and we may just get something out of it, god knows we need to that`s for sure!!