Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Hull manager Marco Silva gets his first test of Premier League action this Afternoon as he leads out his side for the visit of Bournemouth to The KCom Stadium. After mixed results in England’s two domestic cup competitions it’s now time to see what he can do in the top flight.
After playing in what was a very empty KCom Stadium against Swansea in the F.A. Cup last Saturday they then played under the bright lights of Old Trafford as they lost to Manchester United in the first leg of their EFL Semi-Final tie.
Those two cup games would have given the former Olympiakos boss Silva ample time to run the rule over his squad and although those matches would have been somewhat of a welcome distraction to their current plight in the league, it’s now all about getting all important points on the board.
And in a bid to get off the bottom of the table, Hull have bought in two new players this week. Oumar Niasse the forgotten man of Goodison Park makes a loan move from Everton while they have also captured Evandro from FC Porto.
Hull certainly need a striker as they are the joint lowest scorers in the league and they will be resting their hopes on the Senegalese international who had a spell to forget on Merseyside. Bought to Everton by Roberto Martinez for £13.5m he was frozen out completely by current boss Ronald Koeman.
And with Hull such short of attacking options you would have to imagine that both he and Evandro will be thrown in at the deep end this Afternoon. They are only three points from safety but due to such an abysmal goal difference they won’t be getting out of the drop zone Today even if they were to win.
Visitors Bournemouth travel here after suffering cup embarrassment last Saturday at the hands of Millwall. Manager Eddie Howe made 11 changes for the trip to The New Den and was subsequently punished as Neil Harris’ side ran out 3-0 winners in what was the shock of the weekend.
Many would question why Howe felt that amount of changes necessary, it’s not as if The Cherries are in a situation like Hull’s, far from that as they currently find themselves 9th in the table. But at the end of the day it just shows how far The F.A. Cup has fallen in terms of priorities for teams in the Premier League. As always it is all about survival.
Their last league outing was that sensational 6 goal thriller at home to Arsenal a game in which Bournemouth fans will be asking themselves how they did not manage to come away with that game with all three points after charging into a 3-0 lead.
Credit will go to The Gunners for rescuing a point but questions will also be asked about Bournemouth’s defence and it probably comes as no surprise that they have been linked with the signature of John Terry in a bid to shore up their backline.
Whether that deal comes to fruition remains to be seen but if you were to identify one weakness in this side then you would have to say it’s their defending. But if you can be 9th and defend as they are then life cannot be all that bad on the South Coast.
The question Today is can Marco Silva get his Premier League debut off to a perfect start, unfortunately for him I don’t think he will but that’s not to say they will come away from this game empty handed. I reckon there will be a new manager lift but it will only be enough to get a point. A draw for me.
