There is no question it was always likely to be a very hard job to take over, from a guy who was worshiped for all he did in 3 short years (nothing short of a miracle). Maybe CH is the right man, just at the wrong time, but I have to confess I struggled to think of anyone else at the time of the appointment.
I'm surprised this come as such a shock to you Thai, to me it's been patently obvious that there exists some kind of underlying dislike of our manager from certain people regardless what he does. We finished 11th last season - higher than we did under Lambert - but yet Hootun received very little credit for that achievement on here and instead was roundly criticised for ths style of football he used to get us the points, and people made up excuses for why we finished where we did - Baggies and Citeh were "on the beach" and all that rubbish . A lot of people where clearly not satisfied and still hankering for the "good old days" of Lambert and his entertaining "gung ho" football that never actually existed. Now to hear people say they wouldn't mind Pullis' breed of football as long as it ensured safety makes me wonder what the hell Hootun could have done last season to make them happy?
I was happy with his approach last season, I don't think he should change his style to please his critics. That's half the problem, hence why I would be happy with Pullis as he's similar to CH last season.
not only is he not paul lambert for some of these fans, but as pointed out on radio 5 yesterday, the money we have spent in the summer compared to the summers of both 2011 and 2012 has raised the expectation bar higher for this season for certain fans. it's a risk a number of ways you look at it, risk with the fans expectation, and risk with what the board think.
Sorry, hang on a minute. People are slating the "football" served up by Pullis at Stoke, have you seen us recently? Hardly a goal fest and exciting, dynamic football is it? Defensive style of play whilst conceding goals at a rate I have never seen and hardly ever scoring! I'm not a fan of Pullis but for everyone standing there slating him he has never seen a team relegated from the Prem. Give the guy a bit of credit. I tell you another thing, I think our group of current players could do with being told some home truths about their "performances" recently, the last 2 have been a bloody embarrassment. Mr Pullis would certainly do that. We miss Holty in the dressing room I think, he kept the group together when needed and was mercurial for us.
To be honest whilst I can't speak for the entire fanbase, what Robbie has said above is complete and utter tripe. I have seen enough of Hughton now to want him out ASAP. But when he was appointed I was happy that we had probably got a good manager (possibly the best option available to us) through the early difficult period I like the vast majority was prepared to be patient even though there were not to many early positives. After the 10 games unbeaten he had obviously put some credit in the bank even if the football was still not terribly inspiring. Then it all went wrong again and simply makes the 10 game run look like the aberation in an otherwise fairly clueless reign. The truely rubbish form followed the best run we're ever likely to have in the top flight and no one was complaining (Well may be carrabuh) the point being, if you get results people can forgive allot even dull football. Long term as stoke found out may be less so. the thing is even with a couple of better performances this season (By performances I am refering to the style) we are still not scoring goals or picking up points. I am tired of this nonsense that it is fans who have turned on CH that are causing the problems, or this notion that we are all incredibly impatient. The fans turning is on account of the poor results, poor football for the main and a general lack of faith in the management team. All of you who can't see that hootun needs to go are not patient, you are mearly slow and unperceptive! Believe your eyes people the team has been poor alot more often than not under CH. Time to get rid! Hootun out! Bah!
i don't think hughton is changing his style to please his critics. i his first season he was told to keep the club up no matter what it took. he felt sorting the defence was the main priority and he made us a much more solid team, give or take a few mishaps and we finished the season strongly. this season was supposed to be another stage in the development of the side, adding better quality up front and building on what we had done last season. now it hasn't all clicked, for whatever reason - and there are a few reasons why it hasn't - but are we supposed to just give up at this stage and go down a different route? this is why hughton should get the season. ok, if we are cut adrift and we are still not getting anywhere at christmas then fine - sometimes things don't work out - but are we really at that stage? i don't think we are
It's not so easy to gauge on the reaction of about 30 regular forum members, and I don't recall too many games where the team were boo'd off at the end of games, although that may be down to the quality of the streams I watch. Simple answer to the last bit - win more games The problem is, and has been - how?
And O please lord no, not Pullis! I'd rather stick with Hootun than Pullis! I respect Pullis's record but not his football. Bah!
yes, we finished 11th. did we deserve to? take out the ten game run and we'd be in the championship. take out the fact west brom and man city weren't fussed at the end of the season, and our final position would have given a good indication of where this season would go without a ten match unbeaten run. any team that loses 7-0 to another team in the same division, probably shouldn't be in that division. worrying to think how bad some people are prepared to let it get before they'd push the button. thankfully i'm confident McNally wont ne one of those.
So what exactly is your beef with Hootun then? You're unhappy because he's trying to play with a slightly more attacking outlook? We've played something like 7/8 of the top ten in our first ten games, been away to Arsenal, Citeh and Spurs already, we're on more points than the same time last year and it's not as if we're anything like cut adrift yet - in fact we're just one win away from mid-table, a win we would have had should one one our 29 shots on goal gone in against Cardiff or if we'd scored the penalty against Villa.
why do people always take out the ten game unbeaten run to suit their agenda? that is utterly stupid. you either include everything or you take it from this season. a whole season is gauged over 38 games - not 10 - not 20. i seem to recall losing 7-1 at blackburn and still finishing the season 3rd. i won't remind anyone of what happened when we lost to colchester by the same score line. if you want to say that man city were 'on the beach' last season, then why don't you mention that so were we?! as i've been saying for some time - some people have an agenda against the manager and whatever he does from now on will never be good enough.judging solely on this season - the best gauge - he has only won 2 from 10 - not good enough, certainly - but its been a bloody tough start. he has to have more time to see where we realistically sit in this division. if we are clearly looking like bottom three material at christmas then fine, but that isn't 100% likely at the moment. it isn't even odds-on.
Although losing to 7-0 to one of the really top teams in the league, in isolation, can be forgiven as a one off, look back at some of our results, even under PL. Liverpool have a habit of slamming 5 past us, all too often. Arsenal score a minimum of 3 against us every time at the Emirates. Man Utd, with the exception of the first meeting at OT, have rolled us over with great ease and now scoring 4 regularly (okay twice consecutively now) Chelsea have battered us in to submission, on all but one occasion. Man City have had two high scoring wins at the Etihad against us. I cannot think of any other side in the PL, that consistently rolls over, or is so out-gunned, by these teams.
But here in lies the problem. He did what was necessary last season, Stick 10 men behind the ball and hope to score. With out 10 behind the ball we are now about as tight at the back as Jordans hoohoo. So for all the plaudits of how he has sorted the defence, no he hasn't. And as you say he has focused on the attack and spent a not inconsiderable ammount on 2 strikers. Those strikers who he can't get the rest of the team to find. This is the thing if he was truely building on last season then he would still be god forbid defending with 10 to be solid and then stick someone in upfront who was better than holt. Anyone else just needed to be a better defender than one of the other 10. Bah!
My beef is that we are playing attacking football at the expense of our defence, there needs to be a balance between the two or what's the point.
in last four of the last five games, sure. we've been wide open. but before that? three clean sheets in the other 7 games. and who were those four games against? chelsea, arsenal, man city and man utd, three of which were away from home. two of the performances were shambolic, two were actually very good. we've defended very badly this week though - that cannot be questioned - and some individuals are not performing to the level required of them.
Thats nonsense. We do need a balance but we are not exactly throwing caution to the wind here. Hootun didn't make our defense solid he just used everyone 1-11 in defense. this season he has had to try to attack a little, result being that whilst we still can't score, we can't defend either! Bah!
