Oh yeah, thanks for letting me know. I'm doing it from my phone and I can't see it sometimes, also I'm not very good at spelling either. Always great to have the piss taken out of you in public. Cheers.
Manure did not deserve a goal there, lucky deflection. Gutted because we played so well. Vidic and Smalling were good for manure but R. Bennett, and Rusty were impressive for us. Snoddy failed to make the most of significant set piece deliveries and I thought Redmond was once again particularly wasteful. Would not have subbed off Hooper, but I would like to give a special mention to Wes Hoolahan who I thought was largely terrific today.
The only thing he didn't get the card out for was Man U time wasting! Mind you, I expect it with him poor ref.
Wes is the key to our season now, been saying I still believe in him for ages, his best ability is not statistical contribution its getting the best out of the rest of the team, playing them into space giving them time, changing momentum. Such a talented player completely under utilised this season, if he'd started against fulham we would have won.
The problem I think Hughton has is that a single striker formation at home to Fulham would have been seen as really negative, and the fans would have been on his back from early on. I definitely think we play better in a 4-5-1/4-3-3 system, but I feel Hughton feels it's not an option at home against mediocre opposition due to the fans. 2 strikers is seen as more positive, although creativity then becomes a big issue for us.
Don't build your hopes up. He isn't built like a brick ****house and he has creativity - no way Hughton will play him unless he has no other options.
Great performance and can't help the feeling 'we was robbed! Still, if we can build on that and start putting the chances away, things could change dramatically. Agree about Wes, as he worried Utd all through. He and RvW could be the combination needed against Palace.
That makes him either tactically weak in not picking the best/most effective team or just weak, if he is picking teams to purely placate the at Times naive fan base. I just don't think he has a clue! Bah!
I don't see how CH playing two strikers against Fulham can be described as being negative and defensive, Vietnam. Those who booed Hooper coming off should be more than a bit embarrassed when they find out he had a hamstring problem and had to come off.
I don't know if it's weak, it's a case of balancing two concerns. If he plays 4-3-3 we might have greater potential to play well, but the fans are likely to be on the team's back early on, and with confidence as low as it is that doesn't help. Or, do you go 4-4-2 and perhaps lose a bit in the midfield, but hope the fans will be more supportive and help inspire the team to a good performance?
As for Hooper, I certainly wouldn't have booed. Even without the injury, we were doing well enough in that game not to need to change the tactics in my opinion. On the more general point, I don't think the important thing against Fulham was 4-5-1 as opposed to 4-4-2. It was a question of attitude. We played that game not to lose. I don't know if that originated in the minds of the players or due to CH's instructions, but we didn't play to win so we deservedly lost.
The issue for me against Fulham was that Fer had a bad game and that meant that we never got any control in the midfield. Johnson did his usual breaking up of play, and did a very good job of it, but then it was either hoof it forward or pass it to the wings and lose it.
It's unfathomable really, because against utd it would of been 'don't lose' again too, all I can imagine is the difference is pressure, Fulham was a must not lose, utd was a try not to disgrace ourselves. Bah!
We were unlucky today! Firstly want to say well done to Wes, he was brilliant today. I'm not his biggest fan but I have no doubt that he was the main reason we fought well against a mediocre Man Utd team and I think if we had had him playing like that against Fulham we would have made a game of that game too. Also really pleased to see the Norfolk Cafu putting in a great shift. I think our midfield of Johnson and Fer behind Hoolahan matched the Man Utd midfield at times. I think the reason we failed to score was down to our wingers more than anything. I am a huge fan of Snodgrass, but he just couldn't deliver the goods today save a few good set piece deliveries, but he wasn't creating the chances he was last season. Defensively I thought we coped well without Turner and Ryan Bennett was great albeit extremely unlucky to see his clearance deflect so kindly for Welbeck. Nothing Ruddy could have done. Olsson was keeping wraps on Ashley Young, although didn't offer much getting forwards. The only player I was disappointed with was Nathan Redmond, he had a lot of the ball but didn't really give us anything because he can't or won't pass. Shame we don't have Pilks at the minute. Hoolahan made the best use of the ball out of anyone on the pitch, I am confident that if he plays like that for us against Palace we will come away with 3 points. Let's hope Hooper is ok, onwards and upwards: OTBC!!!!!!
On Hooper: http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwic...er_united_1_0_premier_league_defeat_1_3158159 Good news, if there's no actual injury he should be ok for Palace match
Redmond needs a stern word in his ear about his shooting policy, sadly, I think our manager is actually encouraging it.
