English Debate: What's The Secret Behind Hull City's Success?

Hull City have surprised many people with their eyebrow-raising early form in England's top tier. What is the secret behind their early form, and how long can they keep it up for?

According to Fifa, Hull City's rise from the bottom division to England's top tier is the third fastest ever recorded. Their five year charge rising through 84 positions in the football league - from fifth bottom in League Two to sixth from top in the Premier League is bettered only by Swansea City (1977-81), and Wimbledon (1982-86). 

Many doubted their credentials in the Championship, let alone the Premier League, and prior to the birth of this season the Tigers were tipped for a fate similar to Derby County - who finished last season rock bottom with a pitiful point tally one shy of a dozen, four worse than Sunderland who - two years before Derby's relegation - were the worst team to ever enter England's highest division. 

We are only six games into the season and Hull City have already equalled the amount of points it took Derby 38 games to accumulate. A total of forty has long been considered a sufficient haul to guarantee survival; last year for instance Fulham maintained their Premier League status with 36, so if one takes these yardsticks as a measure of the targets Hull need to match then they are already just under a third of their way there, with not even a sixth of the season completed.

How are they achieving this? Especially with a backbone of mainstay players who were competing in the lower leagues for the majority of their careers not so long ago? 

Hull City have an abnormally large squad, and Phil Brown has already used 23 players in only 540 minutes of football. Daniel Cousin for instance, who ensured Hull left the Emirates with all three points on Saturday, was only making his second appearance of the season. A policy of rotation is oft bemoaned for a club harbouring ambitions of winning titles, but are freshness and eagerness commodities that are more valuable for a squad trying to steer clear of the drop zone? 

Phil Brown is a bold and brave head coach. Not many would change a winning tactic, but Brown's approach to the Arsenal encounter was tactically impeccable. Instead of fielding his 4-4-2 that secured a win over Newcastle United at St James' Park, and a draw against Everton at home in the KC, Brown opted instead to deploy Brazilian Geovanni in the hole behind his two strikers, in a 4-3-3. 

Hull's midfield trio snuffed out, suffocated, stifled, and frustrated a lionshare of Arsenal's attacks, and it produced what must surely be one of the greatest results in their history under the guidance of Ian Ashbee - who has captained, and never looked out of his depth, in each of the leagues he and Hull have featured in. 

Theo Walcott was largely ineffective as he was not allowed to run the lines like he has in the past, instead being forced to cut inside, where a waiting pack of defenders - led by Michael Turner - would block his path.

Brown admitted that he was told fielding Geovanni could be a suicidal tactic, but it proved to be match-winning one, and not for the first time as he secured the three points - from outside the box - against Fulham, too.

The only blemish on Hull's results so far has been a 5-0 mauling from Wigan Athletic, where a usually solid defence was ripped apart time after time from the imperious Antonio Valenica, who was afforded the freedom of the pitch.

Have Hull learnt from their Wigan mistakes, or will further teams embrass the Tigers and prove that the Arsenal game was a freak result? 

This weekend Hull visit a side that are propping up the rest of the table with minimal potency in their attack and look as susceptible to conceding weak goals as they have done all year, is this result an away banker, or can Spurs use the tie to turn their own season around? Hull's other October fixtures include a visit of West Ham, followed by a trip to fellow former Championship contenders West Bromwich Albion, and then completed with a home Chelsea tie at the end of the month.

With a trip to Old Trafford, the Chelsea clash, together with games against Manchester City, Aston Villa, Portsmouth, and Liverpool still to come later in the year, a rotten run of results could easily mute the Tigers roar. In that event, could Hull pick themselves up in a similar fashion to the response after their Latic loss, or will they end up defenestating their chances of league survival after the best start out of all three of the newly-promoted teams.