HullThe second team visiting Anfield this season is Hull, famous for being mentioned in Panic by The Smiths. I wonder to myself, has there ever been a more perfectly aligned collection of syllables in pop music than when The Moz lines up a few provincial towns with casual abandon in the second verse?
Hull City A.F.C. was formed in 1904 in Kingston upon Hull, and have spent most of its time in the lower divisions in English football. As recently as 1999 the club was on the brink of relegation from the Football League, but ultimately saved the contract with only a few games to spare. Less than ten years later, in 2008, Hull played their first ever game in the top flight. Their ascent from the bottom division of the Football League to the top division of English football in just five seasons is the third-fastest ever. During their first tenure in the top flight, their greatest feat was to include Jimmy Bullard in the team.
Rather recently, chairman Assem Allam failed, after massive fan protests, in his attempt to change the name of the club to Hull City Tigers, and later Hull Tigers, because "in marketing, the shorter the name the more powerful it is." He also stated in an interview that "in a few years many clubs will follow and change their names to something more interesting and I will have proved I am a leader". Well, either that, or that you're a complete muppet. Allam then added that if he were the owner of Manchester City, he would change their name to "Manchester Hunter."
After assorted calamity in the weeks leading up to the season, with Steve Bruce quitting as manager and the club being up for sale, Hull barely had a fit senior team to put on the field. That didn't seem to bother the lads on the pitch as they beat champions Leicester on the opening weekend, followed by an equally impressive win against Swansea the week after. Since then however, they only managed one point from three games, but being above safety after five rounds is probably a quite decent result all things considered.
LiverpoolWith the Burnley debacle looking more and more like a fluke as opposed to a warning sign, Liverpool is coming up the hill in style. With 7 points from last years top 3 (which quite easily could have been 9), and a well deserved victory at Stamford Bridge we're once again looking like a well oiled machine working down the opposition with force, flair, and togetherness. It's much easier to play well if you get on well with your team mates, and Klopp has certainly instilled that feel good factor and camaraderie needed to go that extra mile, that extra push.
After outplaying Derby leading up to this game, the idea that we can't beat the "lesser" teams seems more and more like a myth. Emre Can got some minutes under his belt after recovering from injury. Is he fit enough to get a place in the starting XI? Karius made his Liverpool debut against Derby and kept a clean sheet. He didn't have a lot to do, but his claim for first choice is just starting. Surely he was bought by Klopp as the number one. Alberto Moreno was also back, but surely Milner will start ahead of him come Saturday?
It seems that we can rest any one of Mané, Firmino, Sturridge, or Coutinho these days and still come away with a great result whilst playing well. Gone are the days when either of Torres, Suarez, Gerrard, or Sturridge were injured and we panicked. In the same vein, Emre Can can come in for Henderson, and either Origi or Ings can do the job as a single striker should both Firmino and Sturridge be unavailable. Klavan is quite solid as a back-up, and we still have Sakho and Gomez to return. Even so, how about those Brazilian lads teaming up with Mané, having Henderson and Lallana coming from behind and mixing it up. It's been a while since we looked this strong and solid. Tough as fuck but with so much finesse and technique to boot.
But as Jean-Paul Sartre once said, "in football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team". If we start to take anything for granted, that is the moment when we'll go down. If we're not running as if our life depended on it we'll have a hard time to keep up with this great start.
Liverpool v HullLiverpool and Hull have met in a total of 17 times. Up until 2013 Liverpool were unbeaten by Hull in all competitions (W10, D3). That year we travelled to the KC Stadium, since then rebranded as the KCOM Stadium, and lost 3-1, after goals by Livermore, Meyler, and an own goal by Skrtel. Gerrard's equalizer didn't count for anything that time. The last four meetings between the clubs have ended with two wins for Hull, one draw, and one Liverpool win. That second win which was also the last meeting between the clubs, took place in April 28th last year, with Hull winning by the odd goal scored by Michael Dawson's head.
With Liverpool winning at Chelsea, Manchester certainly has a lot to answer for after falling to Watford. Let's keep this up so we can keep look down on United in the table.