It is funny but having been a strong supporter of Bassong since his arrival I actually felt that the Turner / Bennett partnership looked pretty solid since they came together and wondered why it was broken again. That explains it. Tonight will be interesting at Selhurst Park and for us the best result would be what? I would say draw as Palace will surely go and West Ham could be one in the serious shake up come May.
At the start of this thread I said I would give it until early December, so now the time has come to stick my neck out and say it is time to get rid. Despite not having to pay to go to watch away games, I am increasingly not wanting to watch them at all, and that cannot be right.
I was the same, but for me it's still the question of who comes in. Unless the board have someone lined up, or at the least a clear favourite, then I don't think we should get rid. If/when we do get rid of Hughton though, and haven't got someone in within a fortnight, then I'll be questioning why it wasn't done sooner.
If we get rid and we have a temporary stand-in, pls not Hughton's current number two. If we sack CH, we sack the whole bunch of them. Get Adams in as the stand-in.
the january transfer window is looming large as well the game vs west Brom is going to be huge now, if we put in another inept defensive performance....
I think that is true,and that game really puts the pressure on because WBA are now in the mix with just one point more than us.And that's the problem of the CH question really.How many Baggies fans are calling for Steve Clarke's head?I have not heard one of them. When we were assessing our prospects for the four games from West Ham I reckon that if you had said that we would beat Palace and get draws against the other three everyone would have accepted that and said that it represented a good performance.In fact by achieving the same via a different route we are far better off because this way puts West Ham deeper in the ****. Realistically a point at WBA would be good.So I reserve judgment until after that game.BTW we are two points below where we were after 14 games last season.
But I think this is the key thing. That would have been a good performance, whereas this has not been. If we'd got that, we would have had a positive goal difference, confident players on the back of four games without loss. Being a football fan is more than just watching our team grind (or in the case of this season, yo yo) our way to safety - it's about enjoying the whole show too. I think most fans are prepared to see us lose to teams like Liverpool, but to do so in such an inept manner is what hurts and the points don't really make up for it. Watching your team veer from grinding out a wing to being smashed on alternate weeks is deeply unpleasant.
agree with Rob, it's the manner of the performance and what that means for the upcoming games and player confidence especially after the manager had been going on about our away form. i don't see the point in bemoaning the defence - makes changes! drop rusty who has been terrible for months.
I wish they'd treat the games against the top sides as cup games in the sense of playing with urgency. Norwich did this last night until they went 1 down - then it was just utter capitulation. Liverpool were really not that good, but clearly wanted to win. There appears to be minimal desire in the team and the lack of movement is appalling, there were several times that players were in good attacking positions, but the lack of support was just horrible to watch.
I think this is the most worrying thing for me. Hughton seems capable of motivating the team right at the start, they play well, but AS SOON as a goal is scored, heads plummet and our players have no ability to pick themselves up from the ground. We have to accept that conceding is part and parcel of football, but we need to work out a psychological tactic to firm up our players' resolve. People might laugh or dismiss it, but I've no doubt that some sort of psychotherapy (nothinng quackish, just straightforward instruction and technique) will have been provided to the Tottenham players after the City game, because that is how AVB works and he's done it before. I get the feeling our players will just be told to "train harder" and being the diligent professionals they are, they will. What they really need is some mental strength training and learning some coping techniques.
I was listening to Canary Call last night in the car and nearly crashed from laughing. A 'Hughton Outer' actually proposed that he wanted Hughton sacked and in his place his first suggestion was...DAVID O'LEARY
If Hughton hasn't acknowledged that some form of 'offensive' coach is going to help a team struggling to pose a threat in the opponents final third, never mind score goals, I can't see him advocating 'psychology / mental strength techniques' training - as all that would do is suggest he's not competent at delivering those skills himself, an admission of guilt, if you will. Despite many City fans seeing this as glaringly obvious - and more so with every match that elapses
I just can't see how we are moving forward under CH. The defense is worse, the attack is worse and the results are worse. I know we have played some top teams lately and all that but most of the performances, especially away have been embarrassing and horrific to be honest. Can anyone really see any signs of improvement from last year? Or even since CH took over? Because if you look at all the KPI's I can only see is regression really, for a defensive coach we are conceding goals like crazy. We have to truly assess where we are going under CH's management as there is obviously something really wrong with NCFC at the moment and anyone thinks otherwise needs to wake up. As for Mcnally he may look at things in 2 ways: 1) Stick with Hughton and trust him even if we do go down and give him time to build. This is obviously a long term approach. 2) Cut your losses and get someone else in to give us impetus and hopefully improve results. Both are a gamble and to be honest the must win games, such as Palace and West Ham we have won so I'm not sure!
I have no doubt DM has a lot to ponder. Any major decision he takes there is a gamble element to. But I very much doubt he will sack Hughton a few weeks before the busiest period of the season. It could give the players the kick they need, or it could go the other way. Personally, (i say this as a non-season ticket holder) i think there is enough encouragement from the home games to suggest keeping CH in charge is our best chance of staying up. Then change in the summer if need be. However, i think the fans anti-hughton rants have gathered so much momentum he may not last that long. But everygame we've ABSOLOUTELY needed to win to avoid going in the drop zone he's won - Stoke, West Ham and Palace. As long as he keeps doing that i cant see any reason why DM should get rid of him mid season. However, the uproar a bad performance and dropping in the R-zone would cause would surely see the end of his rein. But I'm an optimist and i love an underdog, what can i say
I know, that was one of the moer unbelievable things I've heard - particularly as his reasoning was that "O'Leary has a great record of performing well on tight budgets" REALLY???? Did he not bankrupt Leeds, or was that a different David O'Leary?
I'm not sure I agree that those options are correct. 1] is a possibility, except there is no way in hell that the board would not act if they really thought we were going down, its possible that we might, but even as a CH outer I think we can still scrap over the line. As for 2] that would be doing the board an injustice for my money. I think the main reason that CH is still in the job is because they want to actually apoint someone for the long term, with the remit again of being a long term appointment to gradually improve us, yes we would also hope for a bit of fresh impetus, but there is very unlikely to be any short termism to the change if/when it comes. My take from last night is, once again far from good enough, the formation suggested defend and nick one on the break. Well we certaintly didn't defend and we picked players too slow to break (Redmond accepted). We are just too terrible too often, injuries or not there is not enough fight being shown, this is why supposedly lesser squads occasionally upset the odds, fight. Getting in faces, not passive lines to be passed round. Bah!
Hey Munky, I know that you are really pro Hughton so what do you think to my last post? Can you see any improvement from last season? Do you think CH is the right man?
I'm not massively pro-Hootun, though I am definitely more on his side than against it. I think some of the negative nonsense and propaganda spouted by the anti-Hootun brigade is venomous, ill-informed and often plain ignorant and I absolutely do not think sacking him now would be the answer. I have been critical of some of the football we have played under him - particularly last season - but I am also realistic enough to appreciate that last year's 11th place was a successful achievement, and I have seen improvements in the performances this season, particularly at home Ok, we've had some shoeings at the feet of the teams in Champions League contention, however for me in those games I consider any point we pick up to be a bonus as in pre-season I budget for us to lose home and away to all the top six. That may be seen as being negative, but I think of it more as realistic and we need to pick our points up against the teams around and below us - which is precisely what we are doing. This is what I wrote on the Relegation thread the other day (updated slightly after last night), and I still stand by it: Of the eight games we've lost, six of them would be games that we would probably, realistically have expected to lose - Arsenal, Man City, Spurs, Newcastle, Liverpool away and Chelsea at home - with only the Villa and Hull games being ones that we would have expected to have got something from. Since then Hull have proven themselves to be a tough nut to crack with Sunday's win over Liverpool proving that they are certainly no mugs and on their day Villa can beat anyone, as they have shown against Arsenal and Man City. The games we have won - Stoke, Southampton, Palace and West Ham - are exactly the kind of teams we should be looking to beat, and we did beat them so for me we are bang on course this season and I just don't get why so many people still want a new manager to come in. I really am confused What is most important for me is that we've not lost against any of the teams below or immediately above us, and in fact Cardiff are the only of those where we have dropped points - and anyone who saw the game will know just how much we dominated that one. We are still a work in progress and if we can stay up again this season, securing another slice of the silly money on offer on the top table then that will be good enough for me. I'm confident that we won't go down under our current manager, there are worse teams than us this season and when we eventually have a fully fit squad I am certain we will have enough to move comfortably away form the drop zone. Saturday is a big game, it's a winnable game and three points at the Hawthorns is just what the doctor ordered - and I've got a good feeling that's just what may happen
