After my calls for consistency Hull City finally delivered, producing a brilliant battling performance against Manchester City to win their first game in 11. That stat is misleading really, as the players have steadily improved since Christmas, nicking draws against Spurs and Chelsea, and culminating in a terrific 2-1 win against the world’s richest club.

This was another excellent team performance, with the Tigers simply wanting the result more than the visitors’ mercenaries. Altidore and Vennegoor worried the dodgy looking back four from the first minute, Boateng and Cairney both continued their excellent form, and the back four put in another terrific effort, with the full-backs this time matching the centre-halves’ performance.

What a night Tuesday was to be a Hull City fan. The team really did us proud against league leaders Chelsea, harrying and hassling the Blues for 90 minutes and coming away with a valuable and richly deserved 1-1 draw.

City showed Character, Courage and Commitment against Chelsea, but now they must show a fourth ‘C’ against Manchester City that has been sadly lacking so far this season – consistency.

Well, what a shambles that was. A huge, if not must-win game, and City come up short thanks to some horrible defensive frailties, allowing Wolves to come from behind twice to take a point in a game that City should have won handily.

So what went wrong? The unlikely combination of Altidore and Big Jan caused Wolves problems, and we looked to genuinely carry a goal threat for much of the game, so why did we look so nervy at the back?

This week has seen a potential masterstroke from Hull City chairman Adam Pearson – the signing of Amir Zaki on a loan deal until the end of the season.

The Egyptian striker has had something of a chequered history, falling out with several managers. He has a reputation of being someone tricky to manage, and seemingly the sort of player that City boss Phil Brown has a tendency to fall out with.

At least this deal is structured in a no-lose scenario for City. They’ve taken a punt on someone who can be a great premier League striker on his day, and is more than capable of scoring the goals to keep City in the division. That’s all this deal is, a short term, short risk punt that’s got to be worth taking on a player with plenty to prove to his critics in this country.

What a great point for City on Saturday. White Hart Lane is a tough place to go, but a gritty team display and inspirational performance from Tigers keeper Boaz Myhill gave the visitors a much-needed 0-0 draw; the team’s first clean sheet away from home this season.

The praise shouldn’t only go to Myhill though. This was a really tough, committed team performance, with only Geo failing to step up to the mark. He was very disappointing again. The rest of the team were excellent, with Fagan back to his tenacious best and the back four manfully keeping Spurs’ dazzlers at bay.

For this week’s blog, I’m going to assess Hull City’s potential January transfer window. If Phil Brown can’t put out a side that can be bothered to play against Wigan in the FA Cup, then I sure as hell can’t be bothered to write about it.

The next three weeks will be a very interesting time to be a Hull City fan, with activities off the field that could have a huge bearing in the team’s end to season. We’re only guessing what will happen, but let’s start with the facts:

Hull City’s fortunes turned full circle on Tuesday night, going from performing well with little reward, to pinching a scarcely deserved point with a hugely disappointing performance.

Some credit must go to the players, who stuck to their task in a largely forgettable game, and eventually crafted two goals through the excellent Stephen Hunt to wrestle a point back along the M62, and hand the horrible Gary Megson his P45.

Hull City’s defeat to Manchester United followed in a similar vein to previous efforts against the big teams this season; with excellent going unrewarded points-wise. It was great to see the Tigers trying to play in a positive fashion against the champions, and City caused the visitors problems at times, creating a number of excellent chances, and being denied a good penalty-kick shout in the first half.

So, what to make of it? Clearly the major lesson to Phil Brown is to keep playing in an aggressive, attacking manner. Unless we’re away against the top teams, then 4-4-2 looks like the way to go. None of our strikers look comfortable in a lone striker role, and we never look like scoring.

There are far more disheartening ways to lose three-nil than Hull City’s defeat to Arsenal on Saturday night. The tigers were well beaten in the end, with a slick Arsenal team ripping City apart towards the end of the game, but much of the encounter was a tight, if slightly dull affair, as City defended in numbers and frustrated the Gunners.

Phil Brown fielded a 4-5-1 formation again, and in many ways it worked, as City packed the midfield, denying their hosts space in the final third of the pitch. Arsenal’s talented, but moody team grew more frustrated as the half wore on, Samir Nasri highlighting the home side’s rancour with a petulant trod on Richard Garcia’s foot. The Aussie’s reaction didn’t do him any favours either. I don’t like to see people trying to get others a red card, and the ref handled that situation well.

TC Q+A (with D-ru)
D-ru’s asked a couple of questions over the past weeks, so it’s only fair I have a bash at answering them:

1. People continue to call Hull "resurgent" or whatever. I'm looking at the table and I still see us right in the relegation battle still. We've played 1 more game then everyone at the bottom as well.

I agree. I’ve said in this blog several times that we shouldn’t really be getting carried away with a few wins (as good as they were). Particularly when you look at the coming games, there’s a very good chance we could be back in the bottom three come the New Year. That’s not being negative, just realistic.