But then why the sudden change? Because we were in a situation where we HAD to win one of those two games, and specifically the West Brom one? Was he backed into a corner and had to come out fighting because a draw might not have been good enough any more?
I think I probably agree with you. But it seems a strange way of going about things. Play negatively for fifteen matches so that you have no choice but to attack when a victory in any number of games before that would have meant not getting dragged down there at all.
I think we played negatively for virtually the entire season, not just fifteen games. I don't think there was lot of difference in the performances between the good run and bad run. It was still the same.
I'm not quite as critical as you of Hughton because I think that style worked very well against the very top teams. We got 15 points against the top 6, which is a very good haul for one of the cluster of teams who could have got relegated, and we also earned more points against the top half of the table than the bottom. What I couldn't understand was why we treated teams like West Ham and Fulham and even QPR with the same kind of respect we treated MU and Arsenal. Interestingly, Hughton's record in this regard is almost the opposite of Lambert, who went for it big-time against the bottom clubs. We had a fabulous record against relegation-threatened teams the season before, and Villa did similarly last season.
Which tells us that adaptive tactics should be used, not defensive all the time and not gung ho all the time. The rigidity he instilled was so prevalent we struggled to change when we needed to. Its what I don't like about him, when its used to such an extreme it leads to formulaic percentage football. The formula was get the ball wide early, cross early or get a free kick to hit a long cross. Long crosses from unworked positions to single individuals. What on earth is clever or enjoyable about a manager doing that?
So when we beat arsenal and when we beat Manchester United we looked **** did we? Yeah, well done pal.
I'm kind of with carrabuh/vietnam and some others really. I feel we should definitely be starting to attempt to be less rigid against the Hulls/Palaces/Cardiffs of the league. I have no problem with Hughton going for a more disciplined approach against the big teams, but I want to see a bit more fluidity and dynamism in games we could consider as very much 'winnable'.
We defended well, United and Arsenal were poor. We were not amazing, it was the same rigid formula but used against the correct opposition. By your argument all the games we lost we must have been **** then? I don't recall you saying anything like that in the past. I'm no pal of yours Beef.
I rather imagine that given the players CH has signed and with the anticipated further additions we will be playing a more adaptive game this season as CH will have the players at his disposal to play "better" football against the weaker teams which is where I think we can all agree we slipped up last season. I think that the importance of CH having his own players playing for him in the manner he wishes cannot be overstated. I am convinced that his brief last year was sort out the defence, keep us up and we'll give you the funds to improve over the summer. I reckon his brief will be a bit more exacting this season with the board looking for the good ship Norwich to sail in calmer waters with the possibility of a top half finish and a cup run thrown in. Undoubtedly CH will expect to be judged on the coming season's results and performances rather than how he managed the players he inherited from Paul Lambert. Intersting times ahead I'm sure and I am hopeful and confident that we will bury some of the poorer teams in the league and play with a bit more flair and ambition and retain our ability to get results off the better teams.
It's a season of football sometimes you play well sometimes you don't no team is immune to this. was last season the first season you'd ever seen?
I fail to see the relevance, your talking about one off performances, the discussion was to do with trends and periods of numerous games and tactical changes to suit games. What's insightful about shrugging your shoulders and saying teams play better in some games than others. The discussion is not for simpletons Beef.
Your definition of being insightful is slagging off the players and staff so ill leave it to you. People can say im absusive, i dont care but id ask them if id ever ask if Elliot Bennett can "do an impression of a footballer"
Shame this light hearted thread turned into all doom and gloom. I get a feeling some supporters want us to do badly just so they can just complain some more. We're in the premier league, signed some good players, you'd think even some of the negative supporters would at least try and be optimistic for the new season.
