By James Martin, a Vital Hull forum member.
In recent years Hull seem to have had a very good link with Manchester United (and I can’t think of a better team to be linked with) Starting with young striker Fraizer Campbell who’s goals got us to the top flight, to the big clumsy Manucho who’s one moment of note was a last minute winner against Fulham. However under new manager Nigel Pearson our link has moved to a new level. We’ve already had James Chester, Cameron Stewart and Corry Evans who were snapped up after impressive loan spells. But we now have Joe Dudgeon who has impressed so far in pre season, and to add to the list we have Robbie Brady on loan. It’s hard to say why we have such a link with the champions, former Hull hero Warren Joyce is currently a youth coach there as is Alan Fettis the former City goalkeeper. However it’s not all one way traffic, Hull Favourite Nick Barmby’s son Jack is currently at Man Utd’s youth team and has apparently impressed in the Milk Cup.
Brady has so far impressed and his pace and skill looks set to be a real asset to our campaign this season. He has already impressed against the likes of Chesterfield, Bradford and North Ferriby but his most impressive game was against Liverpool, where he tore the reds defence apart, scored a brilliant opening goal firing home after a superb mazy run. Then the young winger claimed an assist for our third against Dalglish’s men.
Brady is a welcome addition to the City squad who were desperately lacking a left sided midfielder last season and often made do with right sided players fitting in. It’s ironic in a strange way that Brady is brought in to cover his former Man Utd team mate Cameron Stewart who is recovering from a serious injury. For a few seasons now we have lacked a midfielder who has the pace and confidence to take on defenders, but with Brady we seem to have found a bit of a gem.
After a promising pre season we kicked off our first game against newly relegated Blackpool, and many Hull fans were hopeful of a positive start, however it was not to be, with Blackpool running out one – nil victors in a game that either team could have won. Brady was impressive, his confidence is there for everyone to see and he is certainly not shy when it comes to taking on his man. He certainly looks like he could make many defenders look average in this league. He put in a few nice crosses and created a few chances, it’s just a shame our forwards were unable to convert the opportunities created.
In our second league game against top of the league Ipswich Brady was given the start again on the left, and again, played well although somewhat quieter than in previous games. He still looked confident on the ball and willing to take shot when the chances arise. He produced some nice crosses and started to come into the game as the second half wore on, and as city took the lead Brady showed he was more than capable of doing the defensive stuff just as well as the attacking.
So two games into the season Brady has given the fans no reason to worry about him, and although we are yet to see him at his best, he is certainly not letting himself down.
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