Hull City 4 Millwall 1: Hull win battle of tactics to thrash Millwall

Well if that really is the case then Hull City must be feeling very good about themselves right now after making light work of the second team in a row to arrive at the KC Stadium with an unfamiliar formation designed to try to counter the attacking threat of the hosts.

A fortnight after Bolton Wanderers manager Owen Coyle had ditched his favoured 4-4-2 when visiting the East Riding, Millwall’s Kenny Jackett opted to attempt to match the 3-5-2 set-up that Steve Bruce has adopted to get the best out of the resources at his disposal.

It was a bold move considering the Lions rarely, if ever, field a three-man defence. Much to Jackett’s frustration, it was also one that back-fired badly as City romped to a victory that was far more emphatic than the scoreline suggests.

Not only did the Tigers maul the Lions to such an extent that they managed 27 efforts on goal, a commendable 17 of which were on target.

But if veteran goalkeeper Maik Taylor had not been in outstanding form then the KC could easily have seen a new record score to eclipse the 6-1 hammerings handed out to Tranmere Rovers and Kidderminster Harriers soon after the switch from Boothferry Park was made a little under a decade ago.

As it was, Hull scored four goals without reply in the first half to kill the Lions off and leave manager Bruce delighted with his players.

“It is 10 years since I played this formation,” said the City manager, whose side travel to Leeds United and Leicester City in the coming seven days.

“But when you analyse things, everyone is comfortable in their position. I want the team to play and I want us to entertain.

“The first half, in particular, was electrifying. There won’t be many teams able to match us if we hit those standards.

“The difficult thing for me (when coming in during the summer) was to change the mentality in terms of the way we had played over the past 18 months.

“This system suits the players we have got here. And believe me, we have got some very talented players.

“When Jay Simpson, Sone Aluko, Robert Koren, Seyi Olofinjana and Stephen Quinn play with confidence, they are a handful.

“Having players like that means teams are coming here and changing to try and deal with us. That is the second team in a row who have come here and changed (formation).

“Bolton certainly did and Millwall did. They changed their system to try and accommodate us but came unstuck.”

Jackett admitted afterwards that his gamble of trying to match City man for man in midfield had been a mistake.

He switched back to the more familiar 4-4-2 eight minutes before the interval but by then City were already three goals to the good.

The hosts had gone ahead in the 14th minute courtesy of a sweet passing move that saw Simpson drop deep to collect a pass from Alex Bruce before turning to find Koren.

With the Lions defence back-pedalling furiously, the Tigers captain looked up and hit a 
20-yard shot that took a deflection to leave Taylor wrong-footed as the ball flew into the corner of the net.

City doubled their advantage just after the half-hour mark courtesy of a deft touch and finish from the vastly improved Simpson, who had been found by a wonderfully flighted pass from Stephen Quinn that deceived the hapless Karleigh Osborne.

A third goal followed when James Chester chased a Koren pass to the byline before crossing for Abdoulaye Faye to convert.

The second goal in as many outings for a defender who Bruce says has lost eight kilos in the last six weeks was the cue for Jackett to switch back to 4-4-2.

But it did little good, Aluko notching City’s fourth just before the break after referee James Adcock had played an excellent advantage after Simpson had been fouled when slipping the ball to his strike partner.

There was no way back for Millwall now with the best they could hope for being spared further embarrassment.

Thanks to Taylor’s heroics in goal, they managed that small feat as the veteran goalkeeper kept out second-half efforts from Ahmed Elmohamady, Corry Evans and Aluko to go with several impressive saves in the opening 45 minutes.

Millwall also snatched a goal of their own when former Sheffield United striker Darius Henderson headed past goalkeeper Ben Amos after being picked out by a deep right wing cross from Alan Dunne.

Even so, there was no denying at the final whistle who the afternoon had belonged to as the 14,756 crowd rose to salute the Tigers.

Aluko, one of six Bruce signings in the starting line-up, said: “I don’t think things could have gone any better for the team.

“It went to plan, though we maybe could have scored a couple more.

“We created enough chances and we kept the ball really well. So, we have to be pleased with that performance.

“The thing that has changed from the first few games is we are taking our chances now. We were creating opportunities at the start but missed them.

“Seven goals in two games shows we are now being more clinical.

“The system is 3-5-2 but because of how we play, it is very flexible. We interchange a lot and rotate. That makes it hard for other teams to pick us up.

“They can’t think, ‘That’s the one player I am up against today’. If they try that, they will be dragged all over the shop.”

Leeds and Leicester have been warned.