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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 19:55 25 Jan 2026
As you say Millar was a thorn in our side but we seemed to be on top at the beginning of that second half with Millar taken off we seemed to press home our advantage with the players on the pitch I appreciate he may have though the centre of midfield needed a new burst of energy but Ronald Eom and Franco seemed on top, maybe a he took off too many of our players who were causing Hull problems?
Matos trying to find that winning formula away from home but not helped by bad mistakes.. |
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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 10:56 25 Jan 2026
And yet Burgess left footed delivery to Tymon has enable Tymon to recieve the ball infront of him, so he comes onto the ball at speed, the same could be said for Cabango when he got the ball out to Ronald in the past when he bypassed Key for quick ball(Key got the ball forward a lot quicker yesterday it had to be said).
We have seen both Burgess and Cabango trying to force the pass and trying to play in tight areas when teams have tried to press us, all about making the right decisions.If in doubt take the easiest option and the one that doesn't maintain pressure on us.
For a midfielder the easiest option is for the defence to attack the ball so the midfielder doesn't have to keep on dropping deep to support the tippy tap play at the back allowing the midfield to support the attack quicker.
Cabango and Burgess have their weaknesses one of the main one is that they haven't sorted out who is going to go for the aerial ball both in defence and attack they really should be more mindful or each other differcult in defensive set pieces but in attack they should be better placed maybe making better runs to pull defenders about or apart, having said that a number of our goals have come from set pieces this season so something is better than previous ones.
Happy to play good quick football to feet to exploit the spaces made by good movement but the centrehalves have to take into account how the opposition team is set up to press and close us down, which the opposition are more inclined or expected to do when they are the home team or considered to be the superior team.
Picking the correct options, for the most part yesterday we did, we did get ourselves in a flap at 2-0 but weathered it until half time and regained our composure after the break. |
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Reply | Cabango and his astonishing handball loses the game for Swansea City
at 09:41 25 Jan 2026
We have seen both Cabango and Burgess make bad forward passes so you can understand why they are both a bit cautious in getting the ball forward quickly but every player makes mistakes, the better the player the less mistakes, which is required in defensive areas of the pitch, pressure on players takes it's toll of players whether it is up top in the midfield or defence. The only reason for Cabango error is the pressure that Cabango feels, I not going to let McBurnie score against us, I not going to concede again from a set piece, I must win every aerial challenge and I'm Captian everyone is depending on me to do my job but that is not the case in a team you have to let other take responsibilities, do your job to the best of your abilities and let others do theirs. Stupid decision but you can't say we haven't seen " better" professional footballers make the same mistake.
It has been pointed out the that Key and Ronald don't work together well, Key wouldn't play the forward ball to Ronald but yesterday he did nice and early and between them they were causing Hull no end of problems. Key doing his job which basically while in possession work as a team to get the ball forward quickly , once Ronald has got the ball at his feet it is up to him to access the situation and act accordingly making his descions based on the movement around him. We know Key's forward movement is good seems a shame that after we scored the pressure Matos is now under made him change things. He wanted to get Widell on but didn't want to take Cullen off because he can score goals but things changed they went all defensive and we lost one of our best tools in attack someone who can run at players, sometimes not particularly with finesse but Ronald was causing problems with the help of Key.
It seemed strange that we scored in the 59 minute were well on top but Matos changed things in the 66 minute, taking our two wide players and one central midfielder off and putting two central midfielders and one winger on, we had been stretching Hull with our play and having some success out wide, I can't recall if Hull's changes made a difference but ours seem to slow our build up down. Is Matos feeling the pressure being unable to find that winning performance away from home.
But for a couple of mistakes the game could have gone another way? |
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 23:35 24 Jan 2026
Are you underestimating how good we have been at stifling teams, the thing that is killing us off is bad decision-making, bad finishing and not taking the right option in the final third, not when the home team has piled the defence up to prevent us from making space but away from home when the opposition is expected to attack we had a lot of openings in their third of the pitch that we did not exploit properly having said that our build up play is getting so much better in open play but the lack of that quality or experience to finish things off is telling. [Post edited 25 Jan 8:49]
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 17:39 24 Jan 2026
Key got the ball to Ronald a lot better working off each other and were causing problems, then we changed it. Ronald choice of ball into the box could have been better but we caused them problems on the right, not enough problems being caused on the left but the best crosses by Tymon should have resulted in at least one goal.
Disappointed that we are not turning good away performance into more points. [Post edited 24 Jan 17:44]
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 15:47 24 Jan 2026
If Vipotnik had scored his first chance it would be a different game, now giving the ball away easily and suffering as a consequence. Need to gather themselves and play a bit longer getting the midfield further up the pitch. |
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Reply | Hull City v Swansea City : Match day thread
at 14:26 24 Jan 2026
I was surprised at Widell on the bench but he did work hard in the last two games. He did have his his hands full with one of Blackburn best players Baradji and did well against him.
Cullen picked to offer a goal scoring threat? Would prefer Widell to give us more in the midfield, defensively and in getting us forward quicker, maybe saving him to keep an attacking threat when substitutions made. |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 21:36 23 Jan 2026
One thing I was going to add that I think Parker was 17 for his initial championship appearances. |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 18:24 23 Jan 2026
Kyle gave Key a hard time last time against us, is McBurnie still with them? Don't want him to score against us again and don't want to concede at 97 minute again to lose two points.
Fingers crossed Matos can get us picking up a point or three away from home.
Fair do's to Kyle all about working hard and being at the right place at the right time. Obviously working well to prove himself helps. [Post edited 23 Jan 21:06]
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 14:34 23 Jan 2026
We have seen a number of our first team critised as not being good enough by many fans over a number of season, not being stand out players only to see those opinions changed as the players value to the team have been reassessed by the present management/ coaching staff.
As for our loaned out players do you want them to be able to fit into a team to enable it to perform to it's best level or stand out but have little posituve effect on a team unit, they are keeping the teams own players out of a starting eleven so they must be doing something right.
How many of our "better standard" incoming loanees have been deemed, "stand out" players when picked to play for us almost none making a permenant position in the starting eleven or when they do they are critised at times.
Let's take Cullen for example he has learnt to improve different parts of his game, his positioning in a defensive formation could be questioned as valuable to a team being put under pressure, we look at Inoussa he was a stand out player when he arrived similar to Ronald but has he fitted in yet, he has struggled to understand what is required of him when Tymon is being put under pressure by numerous players and not tracking back correctly. Abdulai wasn't able to fit in correctly after giving away a penalty with his inexperience or trying too hard to "stand out" and Peart-Harris was deemed not good enough yet went on to score a break away goalclinically in a way that we have been crying out for this season and then went on to score a nice headed goal after following up his forward movement and passing shame je hot injured, had he started to prove his worth to the team?
So often young players in the team, meed to be in the right position at the right time to prove their worth, injuries to players deemed an essential requirement to the team not missed because of the youngster who step up as required when given a chance.
I remember the game when Parker was playing well and was looking to claim the right wing spot and Abdulai played at right back, Abdulai looked impressive bringing the ball out of defence into the open space available to him but it usually ended with him having to pass backwards, Parker looked anonymous in that game but he never received the ball into him from Abdulai who didn't let the ball do the fast movement or then follow up that pass. We have seen it with Key and Ronald time and time again, ending in going nowhere and yet Galbraith moves the ball quickly.
Cooper back with us has had positive effects previously in a team full of "superstars" Manning, Piroe and Ntcham to enable them to perform well up top while maintaining defensive stability, we need to develop our youngsters to be able to benefit the team structure not discarded because didn't fit the needs required at the time, the selling of a young Steven Kingsley as part of the Clucas deal was nonsensical which ended up with both Grimes and Clucas a "stand out" player being played at leftback because we sold our only left back a youngster deemed expendable to the team when he obviously was not.
Looking at youngsters as quick fixes to solve the problems of a team is hopeful at best and they need game time at senior level, if they are getting it playing consistently they may be able to step up to the higher level, Tate and Monk progress as we did playing alongside better players. |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 04:55 23 Jan 2026
Like what Matos said in the Hull press conference about the development of youngsters at the club. It was encouraging to hear.
This season fitting in our new, young or inexperience new players into a team has been hard, a team that struggled last season without the older experienced players fully fit and able to play 90 minutes consistently.
The players left at the club from last season seemed to lack any confidence in their play. It does seem as if some of that confidence for those players is returning and slowly our new signings are beginning to gel quite nicely.
Hopefully the likes of Key who showed promise early days can start realising that potential and with Matos's views of the development of our youngsters at the club we can make the squad stronger as the season develops.
Quite interesting to see Blackburn's 20 year old youngster causing us problems on our right,seem to remember Sam Parker doing the same when given the right type of service in his limited Championship appearances in 2023-24 season at the age 17 playing higher up the pitch than his quoted position of right back where he played in this seasons cup games. Would like to see him given a chance again possibly in that position haven't seen Benson giving us anything more than Parker had. Down the pecking order and yet we are looking for wingers? |
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Reply | Inoussa
at 11:55 22 Jan 2026
Key covering other areas of the pitch? |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 08:33 22 Jan 2026
Getting that balance right, Martin and Williams frightened the life out of me with the inability organise a team defensively once going ahead, thinking they could go all out attack not expecting the opposition would react to going behind., if teams attack us we have to defend properly but still keep and attacking threat with our style of play. |
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Reply | Swansea City win again at home but frailties exposed
at 08:27 22 Jan 2026
Think most of us baulk at the giving away of possession easily and needlessly even more so in our own 1/3 of the pitch, with a bit more care and attention to our play we can get the ball quickly under control to get the ball forward, safely, quickly and effectively. Things have changed significantly since Matos arrival,more chances being made but players instints and bad habits are hard to refine, at times, players trying too hard, often rushing things, making mistakes, things that good coaching can help with, hopefully.  [Post edited 22 Jan 8:36]
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 08:07 22 Jan 2026
I agree have always thought it was a bit of an issue for any team to have loan players in. Having "better quality youmgsters" in does reduce our own players development . They usually being brought in to cover holes in our squad then once they go back after sitting on the bench and other players out of contract leave there are even bigger holes in the squad.
Very hard to get the balance right and as we saw with Russell Martin if you play in a way that suits the squad at your disposal, after his January tranfer left him with what he had, you can get results as he did at the end of his second season. Cooper knew the youngsters he was dealing with given his u17 world cup exploits.
The lack of our youngsters development since Potter gone has left our squad thin, we have been unable to keep our own players who have run down their contracts after seeing good players sold on too quickly.
We have a lot of inexperienced players at Championship level who needed to get up to spee, it has taken Tymon, Eom, Ronald and Vipotnik a good amount of time to play consistently often not helped by tactics they have been asked to use, Key has yet to reestablish himself. We needed a bit of experience in the team Fulton now helping in a problem area and Ward brought in to try and do the same, there has been so much negativity around the club how many senior players have wanted to stay let alone youngsters or the fans.
At the moment I think most supporters would fear going up because the strength of the squad, it looks as if Matos is slowly starting to get a number of younger players in and around the match day team by having them on the bench but a bit reluctant to use them, maybe being forced to because of injuries.
As for our own youngsters out of loan it is great that they can hold their own in "lower" quality leagues in doing so gaining match day experience but they would still need time to gain Championship level experience.
Congreve for example when he first played Championship football coming on as a sub looked a handful out on the wing but then was started out of position, deemed a failure, subbed early and dumped as was the Martin's way with a number of other young players, I saw Congreve play in the u23 or u21s level he looked a handfully but had issues that needed looking at but they weren't going to be sorted playing at that level unless proper coaching sorted them out. He seems to be consistently get on the starting team on loan but is he now too old to bring back or renew his contract, it does seem silly not to see if we can benefit with the playing time he has gained without testing him further at Championship level. The same could be said of Parker, I cannot say he had bad games playing in the first team at times playing well, if he did have issues but it seemed to be similar issues we had seen other players having with other previous coaches.
Hopefully we can develop more youngsters without getting relegated because we can't keep relying on older players digging us out of the shit, if we want to compete at Championship level we have to have a squad that isn't going to be affect by loosing one or two key players. |
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 13:28 21 Jan 2026
I think the last few season we have got ourselves into the situation that we wouldn't risk playing our own youngsters because of their inexperience with the threat of relegation and at one point the outside chance of a play off place.
Cooper came on last night, Congreve and others now getting valuable game time, never really been a fan of loans but hopefully Matos can motivate and improve their game in the long term. |
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Reply | Swansea City v Blackburn Rovers : Match day thread
at 13:15 21 Jan 2026
Just hope we are not puting the onus on Galbraith to try and do too much in the wrong places, in the past individual have been singled out by opposition teams. Grime is an example when Platino and Paterson played alongside him our progression up the pitch was better by virtue of more creative players offering themselves for the ball so space was created, I appreciate that that trio were somewhat lacking in defensive strength. But we have seen the likes of Ntcham and Celina getting caught on the ball in the wrong area of the pitch too deep. We must ensure we can relieve pressure correctly when teams come at us. What was nice recently is that we are being more precise as to where our clearances are being played.
Every player makes mistakes team work is about being able to cover those mistake so our individual mistake are not punished. [Post edited 21 Jan 14:30]
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Reply | FA YOUTH CUP 4th Round
at 08:08 21 Jan 2026
It has been a poor number of years at the club including the drop from the Premiership we have seen little progression of our younger players because of the underlying aim of getting back into the Premier league without fixing the problems that got us relgated in the first place, Potter seem to be trying to introduce younger players in trying to rebuild a team but that takes time, which with the offer he received he wasn't prepared to take.
Cooper almost got us back up but things weren't apparently right behind the scene both Cooper and Potter moving on relatively quickly, rebuild stalled.
Martin's again wanted quick success but would accept the way he wanted to play wouldn't work with what we had, losing Downes to balance the books just meant again no team building, Martin didn't like what he saw from the youngsters he had at his disposal and giving youngster very few minutes iwas not going to work, Duff didn't work, Williams working with older players with quality but they couldn't last a full game consistently but we were relying on them.
Last year we lost a lot of older players brought in to steady the ship including the younger Darling who had stabilised the back four.
This season we started the season with so many players or youngster not up to speed with the championship and other who hadn't the experience of being in a successful championship side, it was always going to be a rough start to the season but now those youngsters and inexperienced players are getting coached properly,.
I am a little worried about who we will lose at the end of the season if our good form continues will we be left with older players like Burgess or Ward who have limited game time left, hopefully we can hold onto more youngsters than we lose and with experience gained and good coaching our own academy youngsters can see or be explained were gaps can appear for them. |
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