Right then bors, big game tomorrow. Here's a few previews: http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...h-city-v-hull-city-match-preview-9066366.html http://www.teamtalk.com/match/previ...w-Norwich-City-host-Hull-City-at-Carrow-Road? http://eplindex.com/47990/match-preview-norwich-city-hull-city.html? OTBC!
For what it's worth, here's what I'd like to see: Ruddy Martin - R.Bennett - Bassong - Olsson Johnson - Fer Snodgrass - Hoolahan - Gutierrez Hooper Bench: Bunn, Whittaker, Tettey, Redmond, Pilkington, Elmander, RvW Plenty of options on the bench.
I'd be happy with that line up, the great dumbass will probably pick two up top again and fail to get the ball anywhere near them again! Bah!
I reckon we'll get 2 up front again, no Wes. I really like to see Snodgrass dropped for a bit. He's been dreadful of late, especially as with Pilks fit and Jonas brought in we have depth on the wings again. I'd start redmond on the right Jonas left.
Long has signed for Hull - i'm assuming he won't be in the squad for them as it's too soon / paper work not gone through in time?
The result will depend on the collective attitude of the players. If they play with a positive attitude we could sneak a narrow win. If they decide to be negative then we will not only loose the game but also the manager. I expected us to humbled at Fulham - once the rot sets in it is hard to stop it. The players will have to decide if they want to repay the fans with a victory or seal Hughton's fate with a defeat. Having stated all this the result could very well be a draw!
Hull have never won a premier league game in January and have only gathered 5 points away from home all season. Seeing that has given me some confidence. Really cant see us getting beat tomorrow. I reckon 2-0! Hopper and Jonas!
Have you not been one of the seminal proponents for Hughton playing 4-4-2 and often complained that Hughton should start our 2 best players, is negative for only playing one striker and other words to that effect. Yet now you are saying that if he picks two strikers, at home he is a 'dumbass' despite it is what you were so longing for him to do. My first point is that he doesn't fail to get the ball to them; he is not on the pitch. The midfield doesn't get the ball to them, if you have 2 strikers on the pitch you have 1 less midfielder which makes possession more difficult. There's a reason that top teams like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund play one striker and 5 midfielders. My second point is that you either criticise everything Hughton does for no good reason and he can never win you over because you continually move the goalposts. Or. Since he is a 'dumbass' and he is following your earlier advice you must be a 'dumbass' too. Which one would you care to admit to? Really hoping for 3 points today and a great game, OTBC!!!! COYY!!!!!
Can I present option 3? Perhaps when we were failing to score with a 4-5-1, GM thought perhaps a change to 4-4-2 would bring around a change in fortunes, but has now realised it's causing us more problems than it's solving, so would prefer we revert to 4-5-1? I know I certainly went through a spell of thinking that way. Hughton on the other hand doesn't seem to have reached that conclusion, which I would say is grounds for criticising the manager. Whether he was playing 4-4-2 as we were short on midfielders, I don't know, I guess we'll find out this afternoon now we've got more midfielders available. I don't think insulting other members of the forum for expressing their opinion leads to good debate.
Whatever happens tonight I think it will give us clues (I put it no stronger because people will be rushing on here to accuse me of wild speculation) whether Hughton really does have the full backing of the players. It is now public knowledge that his job is on the line; if the players all up their game and perform to a level we haven't generally seen this season, they probably support him. If they look half-hearted, they probably don't.
Nothing wrong with two up too as long as you don't relinquish the midfield: Ruddy Martin .. Bennett .. Bassong-Nguena Gutierrez ........ Johnson .... Fer ............ Olsson Hoolahan Hooper ... RvW Not going to happen unfortunately
I agree. I find it interesting that the other two times where it felt like Hughton was under significant pressure, the players reacted strongly (both times against West Brom) and basically kept Hughton afloat. Can they do the same here?
Rob, whilst I think 3-5-2 could work, we'd need some confidence in the centre backs before I'd be prepared to trust it! Also, playing all 3 fit centre backs means we'd have nobody on the bench to cover any of them, so any injury would result in a reshuffle.
I'm staying positive: If Stoke fail to win against Palace, a seven goal winning margin against Hull will move us to 10th place. Simples.
True in respect of confidence, but if you look at that team, given Whittaker's form it's quite likely that this will be the eleven on the pitch, with perhaps Hoolahan making way for Pilks/Redmond, just that the formation will be different. I'm not sure Hughton has much choice other than to have no CB on the bench
This seems an oversimplification, and I thought you were interested in the psychology underpinning performance. they could put on the best performance all so far this season and it would not mean they were behind him- its not Hughton or the club that they play for, they tend to play for themselves for a myriad of reasons.
