^This^ Man management is a critical part of the overall set up. So far, apart from a (very) occasional outing, players like Fox, Butterfield and Surman may as well not be at the club, as for whatever reasons, they've been frozen out. At least Lambert could tell when a player needed a blast of the hair drier - but also when a player needed an arm round the shoulder, a bit of encouragement. Hughton has never once (that I can recall) shown any sign of being able to do this. It's a squad of 25, ffs. You cannot have a one size fits all philosophy and expect ot to be successful
Melchy - the team hasn´t improved during the season, but I´ve never once, to my knowledge anyway, suggested that they had. In all honesty I didn´t actually expect that we would improve, after the events of the summer. Lambert left us at an absolute peak, so there was really only one way we could go, once we lost the catalyst, and driving power behind that success. And this may cause a bit of contention, but my view then, as it still is now, was that part of the reason Lambert left was because he knew full well that we had over-achieved massively last season and that without some major investment, which he wasn´t going to get, he´d taken us as far as he could. Anyone following that is going to find it difficult, especially without major funding, there aren´t actually many Lamberts around, even if we´d like to think there are, and I seem to remember McNally saying at the time he appointed Hughton, that the main criteria when looking for a new man, was that he should have had some PL experience, and be able to keep us up this year. Not setting the bar very high maybe, but perhaps in acknowledgment of where we were at that particular time. I personally hope that if he keeps us up, McNally and the board back him, as they already have with the ´wolf´, and that he´s able to bring in as many of his targets as possible, and that we see another side of Chris Hughton next year.
RBF- this pretty much sums up my thoughts on the matter. I don't see CH as the messiah but I do think that he has pretty much done what was required of him and I think that he should be judged next season when he has his players playing his favoured manner. There is no way that a CH team will play with the same verve as a PL team but I doubt that a PL team will have the same defensive solidity as a CH team. Assuming we both stay up it will be interesting to see how Villa and City fare next season when we have the Wolf and (hopefully) some other improvements to the squad and Lambert has a budget to spend at Villa.
Ah, but thats not what I said either, I didn't expect an improvement from the highs of Lambert, however I said from the first kick of preseason to present. CH full tenure! I think between preseason (no goals) and international breaks, cup breaks after we got knocked out, as well as routine between match training and coaching that a good manager and coaching team would have by now managed to start to improve the teams effectiveness in the style in which they wish to play. Its nearly the end of the season and still no goals. I agree to an extent with the riding the crest of a wave and that the squad perhaps had over achieved, but CH made a number of purchases and has a number of non-Lambert players at his disposal (I think we all agree that those players are generally good and have improved the squad) and yet still no goals, how many have we scored from open play this year? There is no pattern of play or tactical invention in the side and thats after 10 months of working with the squad! To be fair your post does make alot of sense, I still believe that with the backing CH got in the transfer market, PL would have progressed us further, we may never know the details of why he wanted to leave because Villa still feels like a strange choice and like he was rather despirate to get out. But its a mute point as we will never know and we have CH. I don't wish to see us sacking managers on a 6 monthly basis, because that is not the way to success, however sticking with the wrong man for to long because of the belief in a longer term plan can be equally as damaging. If CH continues to play football of this style even with improvements in the squad (everyone else will improve too) then he will practically have us relegated by Xmas! I know he might change the style when he has more of his own players, but he seems to have grown more negative (him and me both) as he has had more time and more of his own players! I do believe keeping us up would be an achievement in itself, but becoming a millionaire from humble origins would be too, but selling drugs and breaking legs would mitigate that achievement in most peoples eyes significantly! CH football if we stay up should be seen with similar mitigation as its like sleeping pills and breaking of the eye's will to watch our team. It could have been done with out the horrible football by a manager who has not got ultra defensive instincts. I hope he keeps us up too, but like I've said before DM needs to have a strong word and get satisfactory answers about where CH is taking this team, because 2 in 18 is not good enough! Bah!
For me the key thing is that we are getting worse as the season progresses. Our performance now is the equivalent of someone closing his eyes and praying. There is no sign of progress, imagination, invention, experimenting with different players or tactics, nothing. Just more and more of the same as the players' confidence goes down a few more notches with each passing week.
I am not at all surprised that we are deteriorating. The smaller clubs in the PL always do. As the season progresses every club will rack up injuries and suspensions and key players will tire and or lose form. The clubs with better squads just bring the next man in. Take Villa - Bent (£26m striker and England international let's not forget) is off form so Benteke (£6m striker) is brought in. Stoke have had the luxury of Crouch/Owen and Adam on the bench in recent weeks and these are the teams we are fighting against let alone the likes of the top clubs. I don't for one moment disagree with a number of the criticisms of CH - I think that he has not rotated the squad enough and that is why we have so many tired players playing with knocks out there, I cannot understand why he seems unable to make a tactical substituion and I do think that we have often set up looking for a 0-0. Whether these points are all answered by his lack of faith in the squad players I don't know but I do feel that he should be allowed to develop the squad in the summer and we will see where we are next season. Realistically there are not many "better" managers with proven Premier League experience wh would come to Norwich unless they were given a huge budget to spend and this brings its own risks. Look at QPR - with the squad they had they should be top 10 yet the owners lost patience and they are down. I also agree that the current run iand style of play are hugely depressing and do not inspire confidence in the future but I remain hopeful that we will keep CH, give him the funds to improve the squad and take it from there.
