Brad Rial endured another roller coaster afternoon as Hull City drew on all their reserves to produce a late comeback at Fulham and secure a 2-2 draw that all but guarantees another season in the Premier League. He picks out the key talking points.Was Steve Bruce's system to blame
Steve Bruce ultimately got the point that he was looking for at Craven Cottage on Saturday but for the majority of the game, his side just didn't turn up. It's no exaggeration to say that Hull City's performance for the first 70 minutes or so was as bad as it has been all season. They barely mustered a shot on target and Fulham, although far from outstanding, deserved their two-goal lead.
Perhaps the reason for City's abject performance was the starting formation. When called upon, the 3-5-2 has served them brilliantly over the past two seasons but for two-thirds of the game today, it led to their downfall.
City offered little to no attacking threat up to the point when Fulham scored their two goals, and after an hour or so, supporters were preparing themselves for a relegation scrap in the final three games. Up front, Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long were looking increasingly isolated and in midfield, Tom Huddlestone was struggling to stamp his authority on the match.
Huddlestone should be dominating games like this, but when there are only two men ahead of you at any given moment, it's difficult to do that. He saw a lot of the ball in the first half but the system meant he just wasn't able to spray passes about like he's used to.
As was the case at Stoke last month, City played for the point. At the Britannia, the game plan didn't pay off as an Ahmed Elmohamady error gifted the Potters three points in what was an even game. Today, City managed to claw their way back into it – but only after Bruce took a gamble and brought off his son Alex, one of three centre backs.
If City had started with four at the back and thrown George Boyd or Sone Aluko into the mix from the off, they may well have ended up with all three points.Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic: You get what you pay for
Let's be honest, Fulham are not a great side. City proved that when they demolished them at the KC in December and they are in the bottom three for a reason. So, by that logic, I'd have liked to have seen City attack them from the first whistle and test what is the worst defence in the league. That said it was obviously great to see the Tigers ultimately recover a two-goal deficit.
Six months ago, City would have lost this game. You get what you pay for in football and in Nikica Jelavic and Shane Long, Steve Bruce has got two strikers who are always capable of popping up with important goals.
You could argue both finishes were relatively simple, but these were exactly the type of goals City just weren't scoring before signing Jelavic and Long. They give opposition defenders something to think about and even when they are having quiet games – which they both absolutely were – you always feel like they can score.
Jelavic's goal came about via a bit of a freak deflection, but he still had to be in the position to put it away. That's four goals for him now (it should really be five, but the one at West Ham has, for some reason, being awarded to Huddlestone, despite Jelavic getting the final touch) and that is a decent return. Long has also scored four, and his goal on Saturday owed much to the pinpoint cross of Sone Aluko.
Talking about Aluko, we all know he has struggled to find his feet since returning from injury, but the assist may just prove to be the confidence boost he needs. Whether he has done enough in the eyes of Bruce to warrant a start at Villa next week remains to be seen. Personally, I'd like to see him take the place of Alex Bruce. That's not a slight on the ability of Bruce, but I simply don't feel three centre backs are required when City are playing sides of a similar level of ability.
A 4-3-1-2, with Aluko "in the hole" behind Long and Jelavic, I can see us causing a fragile Villa side problems and, with survival pretty much assured now, City should go there and express themselves.Tigers surely safe now
Barring a turnaround of mathematically miraculous proportions, City now cannot be caught by Fulham, which leaves just two relegation places available for the Tigers to slip into.
Norwich's defeat at Old Trafford leaves them five points behind City with Chelsea and Arsenal still to play. Although they can still finish on 38 points, it seems improbable to say the least.
Should Cardiff lose at Sunderland tomorrow, they will not be able catch City either. A draw wouldn't do a lot for either side but it would theoretically leave both with a chance of supplanting the Tigers (although the Bluebirds' poor goal difference makes that exceedingly unlikely). A victory for the Black Cats would give them a realistic opportunity to condemn Cardiff, Fulham and Norwich to the drop.
Under any permutations, Cardiff must still play Chelsea before the end of the season and Sunderland will face a resurgent Manchester United.
Basically, City are safe. They may have only gained one point on Saturday, but the key factor was not to lose ground to Fulham. If Long had not scored that crucial equaliser, the Cottagers would have climbed within three points of City and, with three tricky games still to come, we would all have been nervously looking over our shoulders.
It was a far from vintage performance from City today but at this stage of the season it is, as the cliché goes, a results business. They got the necessary result today and fans can now look forward to another season of Premier League football – not to mention the FA Cup final and, all being well, European football.
• Brad Rial is a student journalist and lifelong Hull City fan who writes every week for the Mail. Follow him on twitter @BradRial
• Brad Rial is a student journalist and lifelong Hull City fan who writes every week for the Mail. Follow him on twitter @BradRial
