Play off final v Hull

[Lord Snooty]

1 hour ago, punkskaphil said:

I'd never actually seen it, until I saw some highlights on TV recently. I didn't see the two legs of the Play-off Semis the following year against Huddersfield either. On both occasions I was on holiday abroad and didn't have access to a TV. I think I must've been lucky.

 

What about the Brighton away leg?

 

Genuinly the last time I was genuinly worried for my health watching a football match. So intense. 

[pazowl55]

1 hour ago, Hirstys_12th_Pint said:

 

It was the season after we really screwed it up.  Huddersfield and Reading to get to the Premier League.  No better chance than that from a Play Off Semi position.

 

In reality we were major under dogs v Brighton and Hull.  Brightons injuries and suspensions really helped us.

 

A good pointer for the final would be to pick a joint 11 from both teams and it would be dominated by Hull City players.  Realistically maybe Westwood, Lee and Hooper and possibly a firing FF get in the starting 11 if the 4-5-1 formation is adopted.  Even Odubajo gets in as he was a really good player then. 

 

Loovens & Lees get close as a partnership to Davies and Dawson but not quite.

 

Westwood

 

Odubajo

Robertson

Davies

Dawson

 

Huddlestone 

Snodgrass

Diame

Lee (just in front of Livermore)

Forrestieri

 

Hooper

 

 

 

 

 

To be fair your probably being kind to two or three of our players there.

[punkskaphil]

1 hour ago, Lord Snooty said:

 

What about the Brighton away leg?

 

Genuinly the last time I was genuinly worried for my health watching a football match. So intense. 

Yeah, saw both the Brighton games before I went away. Never has a goal prevented so many heart attacks as Wallace’s fluke equaliser.

[Hirstys_12th_Pint]

57 minutes ago, pazowl55 said:

To be fair your probably being kind to two or three of our players there.

Blue and White tinted specs !!

[Guest Maxine]

Bloody hell, I'm glad I was busy when it was on.

[heppers]

Men v Boys in midfield.

 

Top day out.

[toppOwl]

A great day (weekend) where the fans turned up but the team didn't, Hull fans looked like they'd turned up to watch the rugger and were disappointed when they realised they'd got a ticket for a football match.

[fatzooma]

Yet Hull collapsed and will probably swap places with us sometime soon..it’s a funny old game

[Guest The Claw]

dis fantham play

[TomtheOwl95]

Couple of things that don't get talked about with the Play Off final.

 

1. Wallace no being 100% fit, not saying this changes the outcome but it was clear he wasn't fit having had that knock in the 2nd leg against Brighton. A fully fit Wallace might last 90 mins and might just pop up with a goal like he did against Brighton or Arsenal.

 

2. Hutchinson had a chance not too long before they scored (I think) and if it had been Kieran Lee I'm certain he'd score, 2016 Kieran Lee finishes that kind of chance with a late run into the box and timed finish.

 

Lopez should have started, while Sam had a good game to be fair to him, Lopez was in form and while I wasn't a massive fan of him I can accept he'd become a key part of the team towards the end of that season. You need to keep the ball at Wembley and he would have been the perfect player for that, it would have probably given Bannan a bit more space to operate in as well

 

I still don't think it was quite as much of a sliding doors moment as 16/17. We were underdogs at Wembley, up against Bruce with a squad full of Premier League talent who also had played in Europe the year before and a lot of the players had experienced Wembley before. We didn't have as much experience of Wembley. It was always going to be a tough ask. Sadly we fell short.

 

Terrific day out though and I'll always remember it fondly despite the result.

[MrsHall]

14 hours ago, Lord Snooty said:

 

And what?

Players that are selected don't try and get to the quarter finals? 

 

 

A packed Hillsborough at night....want some more of that. UTO.

[Holmowl]

12 hours ago, Prendo's boots said:

Sadly I knew within 20 mins it wasn't going to be our day.. Huddlestone ran the match from pretty much the centre circle.. FF ran himself ragged in the first half an hour and we posed pretty much no threat whatsoever.... thanks for posting this chap!!

The Hooper-Forestieri front two had failed in every game we’d used it, apart from one match v Leeds. Carlos found a way to strangle two prolific scorers....play them as a duo.

 

As soon as I saw the team-sheet I thought we were doomed, with nil-nil being our only hope.

 

I remember seeing Hull realise after 20 minutes we had no threat. Forestieri had disappeared deep and left, as he always did, leaving Hooper as a hopeless lone-striker. 
 

Our only chance to outplay Hull:-

 

Wallace Bannan Lee Forestieri

     Hooper Nuhiu/Joao

 

Carlos made exactly the same mistake twelve months later v Huddersfield. Playing Forestieri as a striker meant Fletch was effectively a lone-striker. 

 

 

 

 

[Bannofan]

A lot's been made of the atmosphere that day..but I just found one half of a stadium full and going nuts a bit weird, to be honest.

 

I had a strange day, I traveled on my own from Worthing where I was staying with friends , and to be on your own on a day like that was a bit weird. 

 

I remember seeing Hull fans on the overground on the way there..they just didn't seem interested.  I think they had done it all before a few seasons previously,  and also had a FA Cup semi and Final. I heard a few saying loads of people just couldn't justify the expense,  and it wasn't an 'occasion ' for them, and it  certainly seemed like that in the stadium anyway. 

 

I can't remember anything about yhe actual match , bar Diames goal. Too bust busy watching the crowd I reckon.

 

Yeah, quite a bizarre old day really.

 

[Bluesteel]

I think we had a couple of decent free kicks early on but after that I don’t think we got near them until the end. It’s frustrating that is the apex of the last 20 years as it was just meant to be the beginning and we had plenty of weaknesses with that team.
 

I think we did address some of the issues and were more robust the following season but too negative and too many injuries when it counted. Short term planning has cost us more than you’d expect given how easily avoidable many of these issues have been.

[Owls2k]

Carlos has also never watched it back. This might be why he blamed the Diame goal on Hutch going off injured, despite him still being on the pitch until after the goal. 

 

 

[Bluesteel]

12 hours ago, TomtheOwl95 said:

Couple of things that don't get talked about with the Play Off final.

 

1. Wallace no being 100% fit, not saying this changes the outcome but it was clear he wasn't fit having had that knock in the 2nd leg against Brighton. A fully fit Wallace might last 90 mins and might just pop up with a goal like he did against Brighton or Arsenal.

 

2. Hutchinson had a chance not too long before they scored (I think) and if it had been Kieran Lee I'm certain he'd score, 2016 Kieran Lee finishes that kind of chance with a late run into the box and timed finish.

 

Lopez should have started, while Sam had a good game to be fair to him, Lopez was in form and while I wasn't a massive fan of him I can accept he'd become a key part of the team towards the end of that season. You need to keep the ball at Wembley and he would have been the perfect player for that, it would have probably given Bannan a bit more space to operate in as well

 

I still don't think it was quite as much of a sliding doors moment as 16/17. We were underdogs at Wembley, up against Bruce with a squad full of Premier League talent who also had played in Europe the year before and a lot of the players had experienced Wembley before. We didn't have as much experience of Wembley. It was always going to be a tough ask. Sadly we fell short.

 

Terrific day out though and I'll always remember it fondly despite the result.

Cant remember the Hutchinson chance and everyone goes on about Lopez but I don’t think it would’ve made much difference. They were just physically superior and had quality on the ball that they choked out any dangerous play. There was a spell after HT maybe 50-65 mins in the game where we had the ball constantly, it was our best spell, the crowd was bouncing and even Loovens was striding up with the ball. But they were so organised all we could do was go side to side.

 

No pace out wide, no physicality or height up front. So if we couldn’t pass through there wasn’t much chance. When we put Helan and Nuhiu on the pitch, neither of which were as technical as a couple of others, we went from having no chance to actually forcing Hull to do some ugly stuff. 
 

Style over substance cost us in the following season too as again we went for possession after going 1 up at home to stifle the game but had no counter attacking threat. It was Winnall in the home league game who did some basic running of the channels to make space for a Wallace screamer. But we didn’t use him. I’m convinced that had we got to wembley our experience from the previous year would’ve seen us go up. As you say sliding doors.

 

On Wallace his injury in the early stages of the second leg to Huddersfield was more critical as we saw how effective Bannan was in that game sitting deep and putting some killer balls in. It was one of his best games I’ve seen for us. If we had Wallace doing the same it may have been a bit much for them. 

[Owls2k]

1 minute ago, Bluesteel said:

 

 

No pace out wide, no physicality or height up front. So if we couldn’t pass through there wasn’t much chance. When we put Helan and Nuhiu on the pitch, neither of which were as technical as a couple of others, we went from having no chance to actually forcing Hull to do some ugly stuff. 
 

 

 

 

I remember Dyche after the game pitchside saying he couldn't believe how little and late we utilised Nuhiu to cause them problems. 

[Bouncing Owl]

They were a physically stronger team with more pace and they did a job on us on the day. I think we were a top technical team back then but we just needed that bit more strength and pace in the team for me. We didn’t turn up on the day but they were the stronger team so no complaints.

 

We really should’ve got promoted the following year. That was the year to do it. We bottled the Huddersfield game and then we’d have played a weaker Reading in the final. It was a missed chance that season and since then it has been an absolute car crash.

[TomtheOwl95]

11 hours ago, Bluesteel said:

Cant remember the Hutchinson chance and everyone goes on about Lopez but I don’t think it would’ve made much difference. They were just physically superior and had quality on the ball that they choked out any dangerous play. There was a spell after HT maybe 50-65 mins in the game where we had the ball constantly, it was our best spell, the crowd was bouncing and even Loovens was striding up with the ball. But they were so organised all we could do was go side to side.

 

No pace out wide, no physicality or height up front. So if we couldn’t pass through there wasn’t much chance. When we put Helan and Nuhiu on the pitch, neither of which were as technical as a couple of others, we went from having no chance to actually forcing Hull to do some ugly stuff. 
 

Style over substance cost us in the following season too as again we went for possession after going 1 up at home to stifle the game but had no counter attacking threat. It was Winnall in the home league game who did some basic running of the channels to make space for a Wallace screamer. But we didn’t use him. I’m convinced that had we got to wembley our experience from the previous year would’ve seen us go up. As you say sliding doors.

 

On Wallace his injury in the early stages of the second leg to Huddersfield was more critical as we saw how effective Bannan was in that game sitting deep and putting some killer balls in. It was one of his best games I’ve seen for us. If we had Wallace doing the same it may have been a bit much for them. 

Agree with most of that. Agree Wallace going off early in that 2nd leg killed us a bit. Personally with that game I'd have put Nuhiu on for Fletcher and left Rhodes for later. I kind of feel Carlos almost thought he had to use Rhodes because of the fee.

 

One thing I will say about the style of play that season, teams at times were sitting so deep it was harder to play the pretty football. Burton, Rotherham, Ipswich all came and sat in and made it had to name but a few. Cardiff were the worst where Nuhiu ended up being thrown on to great effect to nod one onto Forestieri's head.