Dan: Hull — Pre-Season, Transfers, & Tactics…

Hi there!

I know it’s unusual for 2 posts from 1 blogger in a day on this site, but my previous post was supposed to be put up last night so this is how I’ve ended up doing things for today. Anyway, hopefully you guys will see 2 posts from me as a bonus! :)

First of all here’s a look at how my entire squad matches up with one another…

As you can see the situation is not that bad. Most of our players are 3 stars and above with the exception of Dawson and a couple of the younger players. Morale wasn’t great before the friendlies but hopefully what follows will improve our morale. As for the youth system, well, that’s a whole different story…

Okay…this has to be the worst youth team I’ve ever had at my disposal. Needless to say I’ve released every single one of them bar 2 who might have a tiny bid of potential but will probably go at the end of the season.

Because of this situation I decided to have a conversation with my board, if you remember they weren’t too keen to splash the cash when it came to giving me transfer budgets and wages so I was very surprised at how this conversation about the youth system went…

Well that was surprisingly easy! But then again, if they’d refused I might have resorted bringing in some youth players and asking them to do some kick ups, and watched the boards face when they turned to me and said, ‘Err, what’s a kick up?’.

Now, let’s move onto who left the club and who joined…

Transfers Out — Not including my entire youth academy

I managed to pull £1.2million into the club, all from selling Richard Garcia to Leicester. The other 2 players are young and might have some potential so we’ll see how they do at a lower level first. Now onto who joined…

3 players joined replacing those who left. I think I did quite well to sign £2.4million pounds worth of players from a £400K transfer budget. I managed to persuade the board to sign Lewis from Peterborough which begs the question, why didn’t they just give me £2milliion to spend! Atila Turan is on loan as backup for Dawson and Horava is a promising young midfielder, so here they are…

Atila Turan — Left Back

A good acquisition for Hull and should do the business as a first teamer should he be needed. No better than Dawson in star ratings but his pace gives him an extra element, they can both be rotated to bring different things to my tactic.

Tomas Horava — Central Midfielder

Surely a bargain at the low price of £250K. Keep in mind that this guy is only 22 and has bags of potential. His attacking skills along with his technique and flair will make him a brilliant player in this division. He now joins a potent midfield of Corry Evans, Robert Koren, Tom Cairney, Nicky Barmby, and Belaid.

Joe Lewis — Goalkeeper

I know I had Mannone but he seemed to lack the agility and reflexes to be a reliable goalkeeper so I persuaded the board to invest in Lewis. A proven keeper on FM and hopefully he will be the difference between defeats and victories.

I’d like to say before I put the friendlies up that none of these players featured during my friendlies. I was a long hard summer in the transfer market which involved being beaten to targets by bigger teams and when offers did get accepted the players often turned their noses up. So, without further ado, here’s how pre-season went…

Pre-Season Fixtures

We started off with a defeat against Roda JC which was so bad that I scrapped my tactics after 1 match and created a new bunch. Then things picked up, partly because of weaker opposition but also my team showed a much better understanding of my new tactics.

Roda JC — Friendly

This was supposed to be a draw and instead turned into total route by Roda. Don’t let the score fool you, we were 2nd best and weren’t helped by Rosenior getting himself sent off in the 6th minute. Roda did go to sleep at 3-0 and allowed us to nab 2 goals back but it was a nightmare to watch.

Walsall — Friendly

And this is how we ended our friendlies, the new tactics created free flowing, attacking football, eat your heart out Kevin Keegan. We seem to pin teams back and especially weaker opposition tend to just fold under the pressure and even score quite a few own goals. However, highlighted against Tranmere and Boston, we’re quite prone to being hit on the break, but when you’re 3 or 4-0 up, that doesn’t matter.

So you’re probably wondering what is this supposedly amazing attacking tactic? Well It’s not as ambitious or creative as my Rangers tactic but maybe that’s a good thing, so here it is:

Hull City 4-3-3

Very attacking front line, but my view is, ‘well that’s kind of what they’re there for!’. I never have a striker playing anything other than attacking because what’s the point, he’s a striker, let him score goals! As for midfield I tried to strike a balance so I’ve created a supporting, defensive, attacking 3 in the centre. 2 advanced playmakers (one attacking, one supporting) either side of a defensive central midfielder. The back line is pretty standard, supporting full backs, with 2 central defenders on defend duty. Goalkeeper is simply a keeper (I don’t trust the sweeper keeper role, plus it’s hard to find sweeper keepers).

Well that’s all for now! My next post will be on August-November and hopefully it’ll be a positive post!

Thanks for reading!