Although Hull City are currently unable to win, and the clean sheet mentality which has always been preached has gone haywire, the Tigers defence still seems to have a pleasing solidity to it.
We miss Anthony Gardner, of that there is no doubt. He never really got to have anything beyond a burgeoning partnership with the immortal Michael Turner due to the before, during and after status of his injury troubles, but beyond that it's hard to level great criticism at a back four which generally puts in a performance week on week.
Certainly the form of Andy Dawson on the left side, galvanised by that single challenge on Theo Walcott back in September, has remained relatively consistent through the season, though injury worries have also blighted his campaign. Dawson's ability to adapt yet again to a higher echelon of football without too many nightmares or false starts depicts a footballer who is utterly at home with his own ability, whose experience and calmness allows him to raise his game when needed, and who his manager has always spoken highly of.
On the right, Sam Ricketts can be more of a worry. A more athletic full back than Dawson, he is therefore prone to be caught out of position a little more often and some of the counter attacks which have hurt City so much - or had the potential to - of late have come down his side of the field. Ricketts only goes forward in open play, and his pace and willingness to take on a fellow full back has always been one of his virtues, but this style of play has meant that he has been caught out far more often than Dawson, who isn't the sort of wide player who tries to take men on. Dawson's crosses come from deep and dead situations, whereas Ricketts prefers to head for the byline with an opponent on his shoulders.
Alongside Turner, whose class and style makes him more than ever the single best defender ever to wear black and amber, Kamil Zayatte appears to have established an understanding, irrespective of where his language limitations cannot take him. Zayatte is very brave, unnecessarily so at times, and a powerful and potent presence in the air at both ends of the field. With the ball at his feet and space ahead, he can go on exciting, flowing, vigorous runs; but with the ball at his feet and no space ahead, he can panic. Zayatte has, through error of judgement or natural misfortune, cost Hull City more goals than any other defender this season and for all his obvious dismay at mistakes, it's the one part of his game - the facility to ruin good displays with one moment of amateurish idiocy - which needs working on. He needs to learn the percentage game more deeply.
With Gardner out, we have no natural centre back replacement if, horror upon horrors, we lose Zayatte or Turner before the season is done. When Zayatte hobbled off in obvious pain at Wigan Athletic last month, we were thanking our lucky stars that an international break was imminent and therefore Zayatte did at least have longer than the norm to recover - not that we knew, of course, the nature or seriousness of the injury at that time anyway. As there are only five games to go, Ricketts can do a worthwhile fill-in job in the middle if utterly necessary - beyond that it's the youngster Liam Cooper, who played with promise at Swansea City back in August but has had a long injury issue since. There's no hope of recalling Wayne Brown, and given the way he was jettisoned so easily this season, one suspects even a hardy professional like himself would not wish ever to wear Hull City's colours again. He has another promotion success at Leicester to enjoy instead.
The full backs can be replaced, again only if necessary, by Nathan Doyle (assuming he remembers defenders need to defend, not try daft step-overs) or by relocating Bernard Mendy or Kevin Kilbane from their respective midfield positions. Again, one cannot see these as a better option, with Mendy's headless chicken act doing less harm from a midfield role and Kilbane currently required to shore up the centre thanks to Ian Ashbee's suspension and George Boateng's lack of match fitness. All this knowledge makes the memory of Paul McShane, jogging up the touchline as an unused sub at Sunderland when he could have been a permanent recruit for Hull City, all the more vivid.
So the back four as we have it is not only the best currently available, but also our most consistent and hopeful element within the team. This sounds perverse for a side that currently concedes more goals than it scores, but little work needs doing on them beyond what they already know. With the more reliable Boaz Myhill behind them again, a keeper less likely to make life needlessly hard for defenders, then maybe the defence can settle easier for the remaining matches.
So, that just leaves the midfield (too slow, too directionless) and the attack (too profligate) to sort out. Any ideas?
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