To Hull and back

Inflated expectations are a dangerous thing in football.

Up until a couple of years ago, Hull City were a totally unremarkable football team. That's not being disrespectful in the slightest, but it is a fact. Despite being around for over 100 years they had never been in the top-flight and their greatest ever achievement was making the semi-finals of the FA Cup - in 1930.

But that all changed when Hull, without spending any serious money, barged their way into the Championship play-offs in 2008. Against the odds, they won and were promoted to the promised land of the Premiership.

Last season they proved that defying the odds is one of their specialties when they avoided relegation by a single point, largely due to their early season form which at one point saw them in the top four.

Yet, instead of the people who run the club being happy that they had achieved so much by spending so little in such a short time, they now have expectations. Big expectations.

And it is these expectations that will be their eventual downfall.

Manager Phil Brown, the mastermind behind their promotion and their subsequent survival, is likely to find himself out of a job today if they lose their match against Stoke.

And the reason? Results have been poor and they are once again embroiled in a relegation battle. But anybody who knows anything about football knows this is to be expected given all the circumstances.

Hull as a team overachieved in getting to the Premier League and did the same in staying there. The current squad is simply not good enough to do more than struggle at the wrong end of the table, but that has nothing to do with the manager and everything to do with the club as a whole.

Their investment in players this summer was non-existent but they did, to make matters worse, sell their star defender. On that basis, were the directors expecting to be challenging for Europe?

As a team, Hull proved they were just about good enough to stay up last season with the players they had.

But without substantial investment the chances of them improving on that display were always going to be minimal.

It was Brown who achieved the seemingly impossible dream of top-flight football and it was he who kept them up. He, more than any other manager of any other Premier League club, deserves the chance to see out the season. Without him, they wouldn't be there in the first place.

Sadly, the people that run the club have let their two years at the top table go to their heads and are now ready, willing and able to wield the axe in the mistaken belief that they can avoid relegation by doing so.

The reality is Hull are a small club who have managed to gatecrash the big clubs' party. Swapping managers won't change this reality. In fact, the only thing that would is pumping tens of millions into new players.

But, as that just isn't going to happen for now, they should just enjoy their top-flight ride and hope against hope that Brown can pull off survival-against-the-odds one more time.

They need to lower their expectations, at least temporarily, and then take stock in the summer, because inflated expectations are a one-way ticket back to obscurity.

Making Emile of it

Here's a question for you: if Fabio Capello's stated reason for not picking Michael Owen is that the Manchester United striker hasn't been playing regularly and scoring for his club, then how come Emile Heskey continues to get picked for England?

Nothing against Heskey, of course; I realise he brings a lot to the international table - like aimless runs, repetitive fouling and the ability to kick air at incredible speeds.

But surely if Capello is going to apply a rule to a team it should apply to everyone and not just those players he seems to have taken a personal disliking to.

Don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting Owen should be picked. Until he is scoring regularly and not missing sitters for United he shouldn't be considered. And describing his form so far this season as erratic would be like describing the Titantic as slightly damp.

But, if the rule is that you need to be playing regularly for your club to play for your country, then Emile 'warming the bench at Villa' Heskey should not be playing for England either.

Having said that, I think the reason Owen is not likely to get picked for his country while Capello is in charge has a lot more to do with the Italian's personality than Owen's form.

The one thing we have been left in no doubt about since Capello waltzed in is that he is his own man and will not bow to pressure from anyone. Sadly, in Owen's case there seems to be an overwhelming campaign by the media for his international career to be resurrected.

And Capello doesn't like being told what to do.

Essentially, all those newspapers clamouring for Owen to return are actually ensuring the opposite happens. As it stands, it is going to take a seriously spectacular run of form from the little striker before the Italian thinks about picking him.

Even should Owen suddenly rediscover his touch, if the media have continued their currently misguided 'bring him back' campaign, Capello will find another reason not to give Owen a chance.

What Owen needs right now is everyone to get off his back - fans and critics - and let him find the form that made him one of the most feared strikers in Europe.

Otherwise it will be Heskey boarding that plane to South Africa, complete with a bottom full of splinters.

Liverpool's woes

When I wrote a couple of weeks ago about how Rafa Benitez was to blame for Liverpool's current situation, I received a torrent of abuse from a nucleus of local fans.

My assumption that Maltese supporters of the Reds had started to question whether Benitez was the right man for the job appears to have been wide of the mark. He should be praised for his achievements rather than criticised for his failings; this was the common consensus.

Well, I admit that the victory over Manchester United did have me thinking that maybe I had been a bit harsh on the Spaniard.

But since then we have seen Liverpool crash out of the Carling Cup, lose to Fulham in the league and throw away victory against Lyon in a match that means their Champions League hopes are hanging by a thread.

Do all you people who e-mailed in really expect me to believe that Benitez is not to blame for any of these things too? Can the fact that Liverpool's season is lying in ruins at the beginning of November really be down to injuries and the club's owners? Is Benitez not even slightly at fault?

I am all for loyalty, but the time has come to wake up and smell the coffee. Benitez has done plenty of good for the club over his time in charge and certainly reinvigorated a flagging team. But this season the facts speak for themselves: the progress has ground to a halt and the club has started to go backwards.

I don't want Liverpool to fail any more than all of the club's fans do. I would love to see them properly challenging the rest of the top four or five clubs. But it isn't going to happen while 'Rafa the Miserable' is in control.

You can bury your heads in the sand if you want and you can continue to fill my inbox with abusive e-mails if it makes you feel better.

But none of that will change reality.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com