Hull City’s dream return to the Premier League hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, making this weekend’s visit to St James’ Park to face Newcastle United one of strong intrigue.
The Magpies certainly felt rejuvenated under the newly-appointed Mathias Jaissle in the first three games of the season, and were an entertaining watch too, it must be said.
However, when watching their heavy defeat against Leeds United on Monday night, it was rather apparent that the Tigers can certainly get their fair share of joy against Newcastle by causing them the same problems which Chelsea were unable to deal with on multiple occasions at Stamford Bridge.
Leeds were able to run all over Newcastle on the break and down the wings, as well as dominating the German’s side physically, whilst Jaissle’s side, unarguably, weren’t helped by the early withdrawal of Nico Gonzalez through concussion.
Playing a front-footed and intense side in an atmosphere such as Elland Road was clearly a scenario which Jaissle’s side had no answer to, but now the shoe is firmly on the other foot when it comes to Sergej Jakirovic’s City visiting one of the hallmarks of English football, as his counterpart will be desperate for an immediate response and a first league win at St James’ Park.
It is clear that many outsiders are now well-aware of Hull’s counter-attacking tactics being more suited to a Premier League survival bid than those of, in particular, Coventry City, as a newly-promoted side, whilst it is hard to fully gauge Ipswich Town due to a managerial change.
It doesn’t come as any surprise that the Tigers have averaged the lowest possession count out of any side in Europe’s top-five leagues (29.4%), having ranked 19th across the 24 Championship sides for the same metric last season.
But what also hasn’t changed is the efficiency of City’s counter-attacks, especially against Xabi Alonso’s side, who should have been punished further for their soft underbelly by Mohamed Ali-Cho or Oli McBurnie.
It will come as a relief, as unfortunate as it is for the player’s sake, for City that Anthony Elanga is already set to miss this encounter for the hosts, whilst Lucas Herrington has also emerged as the first-choice pick to replace Nobel Mendy for the visitors.
Given Mendy’s physicality, it would have been fascinating to see how the summer recruit matched up against Yoanne Wissa, who has already made strides of improvement for Newcastle following on from his World Cup involvement.
But even at 18 years of age, Herrington has already shown a maturity beyond his years, evident when watching him instruct his seniors, John Egan and Semi Ajayi, when entering the fray as a substitute, and a first top-flight start for the teenager is fully merited.
There is also the small matter of irony when it comes to the scheduling of this particular fixture, as each of City’s five top-flight visits to Tyneside will now have all taken place in September, and they are yet to lose (W2 D1).
Geordies will certainly feel there is no time like the present to change such circumstances, but it remains to be seen if the Tigers can indeed tame the Toon once again and continue going at full-speed into the three-week international hiatus.
Whilst the data wouldn’t exactly point towards a pulsating encounter based on the ‘expected’ positions of 20th and 16th after the first four matches, a ‘basketball’ style matchup akin to the second half in West London could very much be in store if both sides bring their A-game to the table…
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