Busy January at the KC Stadium
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Busy transfer window as Hull continue decent form.
In a surprisingly active January transfer window, there were several players leaving as well as arriving at the KC Stadium. Chairman Chris Kamara announced the following departures:
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David Meyler: Joins relegation candidates Stoke for a fee thought to be around £4M
Abel Hernandez: Joins Aston Villa for a sum of around £7M
Paul McShane: The veteran was allowed to join promotion candidates Nottingham Forest for a symbolic sum.
Yannick Sagbo: The forward joins Wolves now for a marginal sum. His contract was up at the end of the season.
Andrew Robertson: The talented full back awoke the interest of the champions, Man City. A deal thought to be around £7M. The deal also sees ***** Caballero join the club permanently at the end of his loan.
Liam Rosenior: The full-back was also on an expiring contract, and was allowed to join Sunderland.
The following players were signed during January by Hull City:
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Ruben Neves: A youth sensation that joins Hull from FC Porto. At only 17 years of age, Neves is already an established player. He should be a dominating player in the centre of the pitch for years to come.
Andros Townsend: The England international joins Hull from Tottenham in a deal worth £8M. Townsend can play on either wing, and will provide quality fodder for the strikers to feed upon.
Oguzhan Ozyakup: A former Arsenal prospect signed from Besiktas. A talented playmaker that should make a very good duo with Ruben Neves in the future.
Richairo Zivkovic: The talented forward joins on loan from Tottenham, to fill the void left by Abel Hernandez being sold.
Fabio Castellano: A very talented midfielder that joins from Atalanta. At only 16 years of age, Castellano is one for the future.
Melkamu Taufer: Another quality prospect from Italy, Taufer joins from Inter, to join up with the u21's. A gifted playmaker, he will surely be the understudy to Tom Huddlestone in the years to come.
January review.
Despite being busy in the transfer window, Hull also played a number of games in January. This was feared to be a difficult month for Hull due to Aboubakar, Diamé and N'Doye being away at the ANC. But Hull still managed to keep a decent form through the month.
Sunderland - Hull 3-1
The most disappointing game of the month was the away game at the Stadium of Light. Hull dominated possession, but were undone by a brace from Connor Wickham. Alex Bruce was given a game at the back, but failed to impress, being at fault for two of the conceded goals.
Peterborough - Hull 1-3
We went through in the FA Cup due to goals from N'Doye, Blanco and Townsend. We did not impress with our performance however.
Hull - Chelsea 2-2
In a game where Townsend and Neves made their debuts, we took an early 2-0 lead through Aluko and Jelavic. But we were then put under siege by Chelsea, and failed to hang onto the lead. Goals from Willian and Costa gave Chelsea a well deserved point.
West Ham - Hull 1-2
Our strongest performance of the month came away to West Ham. In a game where Özyakup and Zivkovic got their debuts, goals from Jelavic and Zivkovic, who came on as a sub, gave us the win. All in all, this was a very even game, where any team could have won. But 3 points in these type of games is what could secure us a top half finish.
Rotherham - Hull 0-0
In a game where we fielded a strong 11, we failed to capitalize on possession. Only 1 shot that hit the target during the whole game is nowhere near an acceptable level. This means a rematch at the KC Stadium.
Hull - Leicester 1-2
Leicester showed us why they are up the top end, and we are midtable in this game. We created enough opportunities, but didn't manage to take them. Leicester took their chances, and got away with the points. Alex Bruce failed to impress yet again, and in a bit of a strange decision, Steve Bruce decided to play Robert Snodgrass up front, rather than in-form Jelavic. Needless to say, Snodgrass failed to hit the target. It seems that the fixture list is starting to take its toll on the squad, as we were forced to field several non-starters.
At the end of January, we are 10th with a game in hand. If we manage to beat bottom side Stoke, we will be 8th, the same as at the start of the month. Our fixture list over the next couple of months does not look that bad, so we could start to dream of a top half finish, defying the predictions at the start of the season.
