What I saw on Saturday was a team that is playing within themselves, doing the basics very well - with good close control and passing, but with no risk taking or incisiveness. I don't think I saw one pass miss a team mate or go into touch - so this is encouraging. It strikes me that this is base that Hughes wishes to build from. There were however very few first time passes (a sure sign of a lack of confidence) and therefore the overall play seemed laboured and lacking in pace. Contrast this with the performance at Spurs when we played with confidence and pace; and in particular Kieron Dyer driving forwards on the right. Now I'm not saying that Dyer or any one individual player necessarily makes that difference, I think it's an overall ethos of slick attack and risk taking that the team need to adopt. Time after time, we held posession in threatening areas, but allowed the Stoke defence and midfield to track back and fill the space. We are almost there, but we need to get crosses in early and encourage the likes of Cisse and Zamora to gamble. This creates uncertainty, and we should then press the second ball and force mistakes and opportunities to arise. After the Spurs game, I was eagerly anticipating the cup match at home to Reading and hoping that we could carry this forward. I fear that the defeat here has forced the team into a 'no risk' mentality that is self-fulfilling. Forget changing the manager - the line-up was solid on Saturday, and with a little bit more ambition, we can do this!
I think that's just the result of being on the wrong end of the table and suffering loss after loss. The men in charge kept saying we would turn the corner but did they take into account the effect the bad run would have on the players' mentality? It's only going to get more difficult.
Absolutely. Saturday is obviously key. 3 points a must. What could be more important is Man Utd away and how we approach that. Already everybody has written that off as a loss with no hope. I'd like us to use that to our advantage. Players have absolutely nothing to fear. Where as Saturday will be nervy (imagine a break away one on one to win the game, the player would be bricking it)! at Utd they should be told to just play, take it to them with no pressure and see what we can get. The worst result is the expected one, the best result a confidence boosting season changer!!
You just have to see that the likes of Reading have 9 in the box for a corner and what do you know, they pick up and ball and score from it. We have 3 or 4 max in the box for corners so its no wonder nothing ever comes of them even though the delivery has been very good. This is why the formation or players picked dont matter, Hughes is instilling a negative attitude in players where we are still thinking defensively when we have a corner ourselves. We will only recover when that changes and that means a new manager. Only Taaraat is trying very attacking balls with a high risk of them not paying off. Try 10 balls like that and 1 or 2 pay off and you get something from the game, you just have to be brave enough to know they wont connect 8 times out of 10.
You make some good points in the OP, but for me the exact reason for that is tactics. We just dont commit enough people forwards with enough speed.
That's my immediate thought process too mate. But I have to be honest, I just don't know anymore. Is it that Hughes isn't good enough? The players aren't good enough? Or a combination of both? Is it all down to the pressure of our predicament? I just don't know!
I cant believe this group of players are not good enough - certainly not below at least 5/6 clubs above us. We have Champions League winners, Premier League winners, and players who have played for some of the biggest clubs in the world just last season. Has to be tactics for me.
Some very interesting posts and a good OP. passing is a basic necessity of a football and should be taken for granted at this level! To pass first time requires movement and awareness of space, which in a 4-4-2 is renowned to be difficult. Take Barcelona as the prime example, they have 8 players that are constantly moving allowing a pass to be made. Hughes is very old school in his approach to football, similar to what bryan robson was like as a manager. I worked under bryan and his personality radiated in his teams performance, boring and woeful. I see this in Hughes and we did do well against spurs but we had our tactics the wrong way against swansea and norwich , west ham etc. He is paid to make these tactical decisions and results should determine his future.....or lack of one!
Just a thought but do you think the players have got to the point when they get themselves into a decent position to have a shot at goal are afraid of missing for fear of not scoring because the pressure to win is now getting to them ?..might have muddled what I'm trying to say hope you get what i mean !
Absolutely and I've posted it elsewhere. Imagine the pressure, it'll be huge. The easier the chance the worse it will be. We need a couple of goals from snapshots where they don't have time to think.
its the fear of losing the ball or the fear of getting stick for missing. I hate wingers that just stop when they get to a player and pass back to the FB. Who beats players? Hoilett, Taarabt and Diakite. Other players dont even try and we just seem content to keep the ball without doing anything with it which is down to the manager. Simply the players are playing not to lose rather than trying to win. The 2nd half against Reading was a rare exception where we went at a team and looked good. wed have won the game if we started like that but we never do which is why we go a goal down nearly all of the time.
Yep, he's my choice too! It's also why the crowd are so important Saturday. If we turn against players quickly that pressure mounts even more.
Your right sku we had everything against Tottenham and we battered them in the first half, can we resurrect that again? Maybe..
