Blades cut through toothless Tigers

Pictures courtesy of Hull City

Hull City 0 - 2 Sheffield United

Sky Bet Championship

MKM Stadium

Attendance: 22,403

By Sam Hawcroft, Hull City Correspondent

Friday 13th proved unlucky for the Tigers as they were undone by two clinical counterattacks despite dominating possession and notching up 16 corners during a largely chaotic night under the lights.

It remains painfully evident that this team is a work in progress, with two more deadline-day signings handed debuts – Abu Kamara and Mohamed Belloumi going straight into the starting line-up. Perhaps surprisingly, keeper Carl Rushworth, signed on loan from Brighton a couple of weeks ago, was nowhere near the squad.

The accusation often levelled at Tim Walter’s predecessor Liam Rosenior was that his style of play was boring – which isn’t something you can really say about “Walterball”, but it remains to be seen whether heart-attack defending and headless-chicken attacking is a preferable alternative.

City started positively, their first corner coming inside the second minute after a good ball in from the left by Ryan Giles was headed over – but the kick was taken short and the threat fizzled out.

The Tigers were forced to play deep in their own half for the next few minutes, though the first half-chance for the Blades didn’t come until the sixth minute when Jesurun Rak-Sayki shot tamely wide of the right post.

Oliver Arblaster was booked after tripping Chris Bedia, who had done well to muscle past the Blades captain as he surged down the middle. Keeper Michael Cooper punched out after Abdüs Ömür lofted the free kick in towards Bedia, but the latter was flagged offside.

In the 10th minute, Marvin Mehlem did well to slide the ball down the left-hand side to Kamara, but he couldn’t quite get hold of it.

City’s best move so far came around the quarter-hour mark when Alfie Jones found Ömür, who played in Kamara on the left. He whipped in a ball that was put out for a corner… and suddenly it all went pear-shaped as Sheffield United went on the counterattack and carved the Tigers open.

Belloumi was dispossessed by Callum O’Hare, who was entirely free to press forward and play in Gustavo Hamer, who beat Ivor Pandur from a fairly tight angle on the right. It was a shocker, yes, but a sucker punch that the Tigers’ play thus far hadn’t quite deserved.

In the 20th minute, the Tigers won a fortuitous corner from Alfie Gilchrist’s overly strong back-header – but again it failed to trouble the visitors.

Five minutes later, a City attack once again became a Blades break in the blink of an eye as O’Hare picked it up just beyond the halfway line and began charging down on Pandur – but the City keeper stood his ground well and in the end O’Hare was forced to balloon a wayward cross over to the right.

Hamer was then booked for dragging back Kamara – resulting in a promising central free kick opportunity 30 yards out. Mehlem stood over it at first – but it was Ömür who raced on to it and drew a brilliant save from Cooper to tip it over the bar. A yard either side would probably have seen the Tigers level.

Neither side was covering themselves in much glory as the half wore on, United seeming reasonably happy to stick in third gear while the Tigers huffed and puffed. In the 32nd minute, another long ball out from the back caused havoc in the City defence, and it was hacked clear after Pandur looked beaten. In the 36th minute, Harrison Burrows had a shot blocked.

Tim Walter made a couple of changes at half-time, bringing on Liam Millar and Cody Drameh for Giles and Kamara, but the second half began in much the same frenetic vein.

And in the 54th minute, it was nearly 0-2. From Hamer’s corner, an exceptional reaction save from Pandur kept out a powerful drive from Vinicius Souza.

There was some good work by Lewie Coyle in the 56th minute as he surged into the area and cut it back to Belloumi – but his cross was well picked out by Cooper.

In the 62nd minute… finally! A decent chance for the Tigers. After a short corner, Belloumi’s effort was tipped over the bar by Cooper. The resulting corner was, though, no threat to the Blades.

The lively Coyle then went on another run down the right but his cross was claimed by Cooper.

In the 64th minute came another corner as the Tigers looked like they were beginning to get it together and show a bit more attacking promise… but any hope that this would bear fruit was dashed seconds later.

Instead, the home fans were struck by an awful sense of déjà vu as the Blades hit them on the counterattack once more.

Millar tried to chase down Kieffer Moore just beyond the halfway line, but lost out as Moore went on to charge down the left and play in substitute Andre Brooks on the left of the area.

Brooks cut it back to fellow sub Sam McCallum – both having been on the pitch barely a few minutes – and he slotted it under Pandur as a clutch of Tigers defenders could only stand and watch.

To misquote Oscar Wilde, to do this once was unfortunate. Twice – well, that was just careless.

To compound the Tigers’ misery, a brilliant header by Mehlem cannoned off the underside of the bar in the 73rd minute when it looked for all the world as though it was going to ripple the back of the net and put City back in it. On another day, as they say…

With 10 minutes to go, the Tigers were still pressing forward, to their credit – and then Gilchrist was booked for a crunching tackle on Ömür, yielding a free kick about 25 yards out on the right. Coyle took it, and it found its way through to Bedia, but he shinned it behind and the brief threat was gone once more.

There looked for a moment that there would be one last horror-show moment in added time as the Blades went on another dangerous attack, but Pandur proved equal to Burrows’ low 20-yard effort.

The Tigers having nearly 68 per cent possession and 16 corners to three really should tell a different story from the scoreline. The story it does tell, indeed, is: “no cutting edge in the final third”, or perhaps “all the gear and no idea”. City had been on the attack for much of the final 10-15 minutes but they looked like they could have been playing all night and not find the net.

This is preseason stuff being played out two months late, and it’s excruciating to watch. There’s been progress, and there are flashes of promise, but as the weeks go on the pressure will only intensify on Walter, who’s been put in a bit of an impossible predicament.

At this stage it feels like it’s going to be a long season…