Steve Bruce admitted Hull City had been “awful” during a second-half capitulation at West Ham United, when they shipped three soft goals to lose 3-0 and remain in the Premier League’s relegation zone.
The manager’s frustration had been stoked by his team’s failure to capitalise on a positive first-half performance and the lengthening of an already significant injury list. James Chester dislocated his shoulder and faces surgery and a three-month lay-off while Alex Bruce damaged a thigh muscle and could be out for a month.
But it was the second-half concessions that drove Bruce to distraction and it was noticeable that he did not hesitate to name names. He was especially unhappy with the goalkeeper, Allan McGregor, and the captain and centre-half, Curtis Davies, for the first goal. McGregor’s parry from Enner Valencia’s shot put the ball back into the middle of the six-yard box and Andy Carroll outmuscled Davies to tap home. The marking on the second and third goals was extremely loose.
“The second half was awful by us,” Bruce said. “The goalkeeper, for me, and Curtis Davies have got to do better on the first goal and we’re out of position on the second. We’ve gifted horrible goals, which is not like us. The one thing we’ve prided ourselves on over the last couple of years is: if you’re going to score against us, then earn it. The first goal was awful, the second wasn’t much better and we could have done better with the third. We simply weren’t good enough in the second half and we have to accept that.”
Bruce was without the injured strikers Nikica Jelavic and Abel Hernández, plus the attacking midfielder Mohamed Diamé – who have contributed 13 of Hull’s 20 goals in the Premier League this season – and he missed them during the first half, in particular.
“The way we played in the first half absolutely delighted all of us but in my experience you have to score,” Bruce said. “We cannot let them off the hook like that. We invested heavily in strikers and, unfortunately, they’re not there to take the chances that we’ve created. That becomes a frustration for us all.
“There was a wonderful opportunity for [Ahmed] Elmohamady early on and, if we had been careful with our final pass, there might have been six, seven or eight opportunities [in the first half]. When you’ve got that much control of the game, you have to score.”
Bruce withdrew Davies with his final substitution and sent on the striker, Yannick Sagbo, in what was a tactical move. But he joked that it was partly because he did not want to lose another defender to injury.
“It was to keep hold of Davies, so he wouldn’t get injured,” Bruce said, with a wry smile. “Chester’s gone to hospital and the reports we’re getting are that it looks as if an operation will be required. That’d be at least two months, three months. Alex has pulled a thigh muscle and he will be out for a month. It’s deeply frustrating.
