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| Steve Bruce Hull City Manager |
It was back in August that Steve Bruce allowed himself to dream of Hull
City in the San Siro.
He was sitting inside Sporting Lokeren’s Daknamstadion in north-west
Belgium. The mood was optimistic, relaxed, the hosts had even laid on a case of
Jupiler beer. Supporters were drunk on the prospect of the adventure which lay
ahead, toasting their brilliant boss.
Bruce, having the previous season masterminded survival and an FA Cup
final appearance, talked of taking the club to another level.
Nine months on, he is on the verge of doing just that
– only Bruce never imagined that level would be the Championship.
The San Siro did not work out – they were eliminated from the Europa
League by the Belgian minnows in what was Hull’s first foray into continental
competition.
Failure to beat Manchester United on Sunday will mean the Football
League, again.
But how did it come to this? When Hull signed Mo Diame, Abel Hernandez,
Gaston Ramirez and Hatem Ben Arfa on a frenzied deadline day last summer, they
were touted as this season’s surprise package. ‘Surprised’ is one way to
describe midfielder David Meyler’s assessment of the season.
‘I am in shock, to be honest,’ he said. ‘Last year, we probably did
exceed expectations. We knew it was going to be tough but it is our own fault
because it was in our own hands. Losing at home to Burnley (earlier this month)
just was not good enough. We can only try to put that right now and hope other
things go our way.’ Bruce, too, returns an equally damning appraisal.
‘At the moment, me and my staff have not been good enough – that’s the
brutal fact of it,’ he said.
Hull were leading 2-1 entering stoppage-time at Arsenal in October. Victory would have had
them fifth in the table.
Instead, Danny Welbeck stole an equaliser and so began
a winless stretch of 10 matches. Then came the injuries.
‘We had been 2-1 up at Arsenal with a minute to go, we had drawn at
Liverpool, we had beaten Crystal Palace here, and we were sitting very nicely.
‘Then Nikica Jelavic gets injured at Arsenal, Diame gets injured, Michael
Dawson gets injured, Curtis Davies gets injured. We’d already lost Robert
Snodgrass. I could go on and on.
‘The truth is we haven’t been able to cope since then. We haven’t been
able to get a settled team together. ‘Last week at Tottenham (2-0 defeat),
there were seven or eight of the team who got me out of the Championship. I
always know what I’m going to get from them. ‘They have a terrific appetite for
the game and they are great lads, but they need a hand. The big players we
brought in, unfortunately, have fallen by the wayside for one reason or
another.’
Hernandez – at £10million – has scored just four times. Diame was
sidelined for four months. Ramirez has struggled for form and fitness. While
Ben Arfa was a disaster and was jettisoned in December. Then, earlier this
month, there was the distraction of £8m midfielder Jake Livermore testing
positive for cocaine.
It has been a bruising campaign for Bruce and one which he admits he is
looking forward to seeing the back of.
But analysis of it will be influenced entirely by events of this
afternoon. In 17 attempts Bruce has never beaten Manchester United, the club
where he won three Premier League titles.
‘When I was manager of Wigan, they came and won the league twice at our
place,’ laughed Bruce when considering the identity of Sunday’s opponents.
‘I know for a fact that we could have picked an easier opponent -
we will have to be at our maximum to get something.
‘We understand the enormity of it but as we have just seen, who would
have thought that West Brom would beat Chelsea 3-0? ‘It can happen and we can
produce that shock, I know we are capable.’ Should Bruce’s players prove
incapable, Milton Keynes will feel like a long way from Milan next season.
Source:dailymailsport.co.uk
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