Is This Inspiring Ex-Spurs Star Good Enough For Hull's XI?

Hull City have signed former Tottenham centre-back Michael Dawson, but will he feature in their first team immediately?

The 30-year-old has joined Steve Bruce’s side to add solidity and experience to the Tigers’ back-line.

Spurs confirm Michael Dawson has left for Hull City

Dawson, a four-time England international, may not be a guaranteed starter for the Premier League side, however. Hull already have three centre-backs who play regularly and the new boy will have to prove himself to be an improvement on at least two of them if he is to start alongside club captain Curtis Davies.

Davies is a guaranteed starter for Hull. Club captain and 37 appearances for the commanding centre-back last season show his importance to the club, leaving just one centre-back spot available for Dawson to seize.

Manager Steve Bruce’s son Alex and James Chester are the two most likely to compete with Dawson for the starting spot, with Chester seemingly being given the nod over Bruce in the early stages of this season. Chester has played 103 minutes of Hull’s 180 so far, Alex Bruce just 45.

Dawson played more Premier League games (32) than both Chester (24) and Bruce (20) last season, but five fewer than Davies (37). In that time, the former Tottenham man achieved the highest pass completion rate, finding his man 82% of the time – the highest of the four players.

Chester was the second best passer with 81%, Davies and Bruce managed 79%. This is promising for Hull, as Dawson played more games than both Chester and Bruce, while managing to find his man more often – meaning he will be able to provide a calm, experienced head among the Hull back-line.

Dawson also proved his worth last season aerially, winning a higher percentage of duels (64.62%) than any of Hull’s centre-backs (Davies won 62.79%, Bruce 55.26% and Chester just 49.44%). His dominance in the air will solidify Hull’s defence against long-balls and crosses, as he is the most competent of the four when it comes to winning headers.

However, this does not necessarily mean he will provide goals at the other end. Dawson failed to score at all last season, while Davies bagged two and Chester one – both centre-backs scoring once from a corner.

Goals don’t define the quality of a centre-back, but they are a helpful attribute to bring to a team – and last season, both Davies and Chester proved they can score, as they did in the FA Cup Final defeat against Arsenal.

Dawson did not win a higher percentage of his overall duels compared to Davies, winning 55.87% of his compared to the Hull captain’s 58.76%. The other two centre-backs did fail more often than Dawson, however, with Chester (49.21%) narrowly winning a higher percentage of duels than Bruce (48.51%).

Statistics like this suggest that Dawson may be the more appropriate option to partner Davies, ahead of Chester and Bruce, as he achieved a higher success rate in more games last season than the Hull duo.

However, neither Chester nor Bruce made any errors that directly led to their side conceding last season and Dawson made two. In the grand scheme of things, two goals are not the end of the world, but they could be the difference between victory and defeat, or could result in two 1-0 defeats and six points dropped – a worrying thought for Hull fans.

They are not likely to be in a relegation battle, but they still cannot afford to be giving away sloppy goals – or they may find the bottom three breathing down their neck.

Also, despite playing more games, Dawson made only slightly more interceptions (67) than Chester (47) and Bruce (26) while being some way behind Davies, who managed 104. This could suggest that Dawson is not as good at reading the game, or anticipating the opposition’s play, as Davies – or arguably Chester, given the young centre-back played far fewer games than the 30-year-old.

Again, Dawson made considerably fewer blocks (23) than Davies (32) – despite only playing five games less than him – and only slightly more than both Chester (21) and Bruce (17). Dawson played eight more games than Chester and only managed two more blocks than the Hull star, which is fairly poor.

The area Dawson does redeem himself is in clearances. He managed 263 to Chester’s 115 and Bruce’s 113, Davies made the most with 334.

Overall, Dawson looks as though he could provide could depth to Hull’s central defence, as he is experienced, good in the air and a great passer of the ball.

However, he is not a massive improvement on James Chester in other areas – like blocks and interceptions. Statistically, he offers less of a goal threat than the 25-year-old and he made two errors which directly led to his side conceding a goal last season, whilst Chester made none.

He does have five years more experience than the centre-back, but the Hull defender has looked good so far this season, scoring the winner against Queen’s Park Rangers in his side’s opening fixture.

Chester is in need of more game time than last year if he is to push on and improve as a centre-back, so Dawson may just be used as cover and depth – particularly at his age. It looks as though the new boy will not oust the former Manchester United man from contention this season.

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