Pre-Season Discussion, Look Ahead to the Future : Hull City

Hull City are back in the premier league after 2008 as they finished second in the Championship last season. In 2008, they were managed by Phil Brown and their honey-moon period in the league was the best any newly promoted side has achieved in recent memory; it was so good that at one time they were joint-top of the table for a gameweek. What does Steve Bruce's Hull City bring to table this time around and for how long can they survive with the big boys? We take a look at Hull City A.F.C and their chances for this season and what to expect from the tigers.

Season 2012/13

Let us take a look at the main points of the journey Hull City had on their way to the English Premier League.

Hull's Top Scorer

• Ahmed El Mohammady was named Player of the Year after his fantastic performances for the Tigers.
• Won 24 games which is just 1 less than Championship winners Cardiff City
• Drew just 7 games; only team to draw less than them was Middlesbrough which finished 16th
• Lost 15 games which were 6 more than Cardiff City
• Robert Koren was top-scorer for the club scoring 9 goals.
• Highest win was 5-2 at home to Birmingham City

 

Transfer Dealings

Departures:

 

Sonny Bradley (Portsmouth) Free, Danny East (Portsmouth) Free , Seyi Olofinjana Released, Jay Simpson Released, Andy Dawson (Scunthorpe United) Free, Mark Oxley (Oldham Athletic) Loan, Corry Evans (Blackburn Rovers) Undisclosed

Signings: (as of 14th August 2013) 

Hull's player of the season now Hull's own!

George Boyd (Peterborough United) Free, Maynor Figueroa (Wigan Athletic) Free, Curtis Davies (Birmingham City) Undisclosed, Ahmed Elmohamady (Sunderland) Undisclosed, Allan McGregor (Besiktas) Undisclosed, Steve Harper (Newcastle United) Free,  Danny Graham (Sunderland) Loan. Yannick Sagbo (Evian) Undisclosed, Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur) Undisclosed, Jake Livermore (Tottenham Hotspur) Loan

Hull City have managed to improve the squad on all three ends by getting their hands on premier league quality players like Curtis Davies, Maynor Figueroa, Danny Graham, Tom Huddlestone, and Jake Livermore. All of these players have decent premiership experience and for a club to stay in the league it eventually boils down to who has the more experience in terms of handling pressure and grinding out results. Furthermore, the spending has not been off the roof either with Figueroa, Harper, and Boyd coming on the free, while Graham and Livermore have been signed on loan. 

Man to Watch:

Danny Graham

Hull hopes are on the Englishman

Fresh start for Danny Graham may be the ingredient he needs to restart a falling career. He never really made the cut at Swansea City following Michu's arrival but what he thought of as an escape route became a nightmare for him at Sunderland where he got injured in the closing stages of the league and even before that was not a regular starter for the Black Cats. Having signed on loan for the Tigers he has to realize that this is the chance of resurrecting his career. On the other hand Hull City fans would be praying that their faith in the falling Graham pays off as there is enough quality in the striker to ensure premier league survival.

 

 

Verdict

Survival: 17th

They did survive their first season back in the premier league in 2008 by finishing 17th and escaping by a needle thread. This time the squad looks more complete and experienced than the squad that set foot in 2008. With an experienced defense with the likes of Figueroa (ex-Wigan), Rosenior (ex-Fulham), McShane, Davies (ex-Aston Villa), Faye (ex-Stoke), the chances of them surviving this season is better than what it were in 2008. Furthermore, their forward line looks more lethal and more complete than it were the last time they were here, the only deficiency in their squad is the number of midfielders that they have. For them to think of something better than 17th or 16th they need to sign at least two more potent midfielders and that should give them enough oomph to survive easily.