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.

Let’s not get too concerned about the future for now though, there have been few better nights at the KC than that display against the Kings Road allstars. There were some terrific individual performances in an outstanding team effort.

Jozy Altidore made a real all-round contribution in his best game so far for City, giving the tortured John Terry a really tough night’s work. Stephen Mouyokolo was terrific against a world-class forward line, and scored his first goal in a Tigers shirt. Tom Cairney again looked the part after an impressive debut against Wolves, using the ball effectively and keeping the game ticking over nicely against a midfield comprising of Ballack, Lampard, Malouda and Deco.

But the real hero of the night for me was Georgie B. The boat was magnificent, stifling Chelsea’s world-class midfield brilliantly and rarely losing possession, despite looking shattered within the first 20 minutes of play. I didn’t think George had it in him to play 180 minutes of football in three days at that level, but the Dutchman rolled back the years and was magnificent for the second game in a row.

But can we keep that level of performance going? Had City played like that against Wolves last Saturday, we’d have easily won the game. That remains a frustrating trait in this Hull City team; They show they can often mix it with the big boys, but fail to come up to the standard against the poorer teams, as home draws with Portsmouth, Blackburn, Wolves and West Ham will show. If we’d turned two of those games into wins, we’d be 13th and looking in reasonable shape for survival.

The only time of real consistency this season has been in November, which saw a return of eight points from four games. It’s no coincidence that Jimmy Bullard played a starring role in three of those fixtures, and Phil Brown will he the inspirational cockney will be available sooner rather than later. However, Cairney is filling Bullard’s role well at the moment, and while suggestions of his potential as an international footballer are a little premature, the 19-year-old is certainly looking impressive.

Cairney will surely start against Manchester City, and it’s difficult to see Brown making many changes against the big spenders from the blue half of Oasisville. How can you change a team that performed so well against the best team in the country?

Well, I’d make a couple. Zayatte is fit now and needs to be back in the team, so I’d put him at right back, to help combat Bellamy’s pace. McShane was one of the few poor performers against Chelsea, and with his lack of pace I can see him getting the run-around from the gobby Welshman.

I’d still like to see Altidore play alongside some pace. Vennegoor has played well recently and scored against Wolves, but I feel Man City are susceptible defensively to pace behind their back four. Having said that, they’re also rubbish at defending crosses, so maybe Brown will elect to keep with his big front two and bombard the visitors with an aerial attack. Either way, I’m really looking forward to Saturday’s game. For all their faults at the back, Man City are fabulous going forward and will provide a massive test to the Tigers backline.

What are your predictions for the game? It should be a cracker.

Cheers,
TC