It's all very well saying CH should go, he's tactically inept etc. etc. but has anyone actually put a name forward who they think would/could replace him. For a laugh, I tuned in to radio Cabbage after the game, to listen to the usual ****e and drivel and someone actually rang in to say due to our great financial standing and quality players, that there would be loads of quality managers from all over Europe who would jump at the chance to manage NCFC but again, no one actually put a name forward. I'm surprised Alan Curbishley hasn't been mentioned Lol
Hahaha, yeah, the classic "He didn't get in the England team because he didn't take penalties, like Shearer did".
I think the Prem is changing and becoming more like Serie A used to be a couple of decades ago. There have been statistics showing that the goals per game is badly down this season and teams are basing their games more and more on pressing and crowding out the opposition and hoping to nick a goal. West Ham played 4-6-0 yesterday and got their third 0-0 away draw (they have conceded one goal in five games away from home!) Hull almost got a 0-0 at Spurs, Cardiff did it to us. In a sense we are going against the grain in that this season we are actually playing a more open, expansive type of game, and personally I say thank god for that. The second half of last season was awful. I criticised CH a lot last year, but I would ask the people who are critical now, what would they prefer? A 0-0 like yesterday, when we did everything but score and played some nice football? Or a 0-0 like Newcastle last season where we didn't even make an effort to open them up? Hull and Cardiff are poor teams who are using organisation to compensate for lack of class. Fair enough - after Blackpool that is what most promoted teams will be doing. It's what we did in the second half of last season (much to my frustration, because I felt even then we could do more than that). But personally I am happy with what looks like a new style and new approach, and I'm scared that soon CH will revert to what seems to be his instincts and play for 0-0 like half of this league seem to be doing this season. I'm worried about the lack of points (who wouldn't be?) but half of the fans in the league are worried, too. Let's see how things look at Christmas.
Can't beat the likes of Hull and Cardiff doesn't bode well for your chances of avoiding relegation! This shouldn't be a surprise though as you lot always go down in tandem with Crystal Palace.
Thanks Munky, agree with that. RBF, apart from being an old school colleague (not that we ever met), is a great bloke, who never, unlike me, gets in a spat with anyone.
I also think we have to go through this stage if we want to develop beyond being a West Ham or Stoke or Sunderland. It's risky because at times it may well cost us points compared with teams like West Ham and Hull, who play with no ambition whatsoever. But no way would I want to be in the Prem for five/six/however many years Stoke have been around having to watch that crap week in, week out. I also think (but this may be wishful thinking) that as the season wears on, we will have more in our locker than the teams who are successfully grinding out results at the moment.
Count me in on this one too, Vietnam Your stance seems to have softened as our overall standard of play has improved. Can't wait to hear you gushing with praise for the boss man if (god forbid) we actually manage to win a match!
Always going to be ups and downs, right now I believe we are coming up from a down. Hughton has developed as a manager and our (away) performances have improved. You would never have seen us playing 4-3-3 away last season. Hughton becomes more adventurous and the team starts to play together a lot better and we dominated Cardiff. Howson is playing a lot better than he did last season because Hughton finally realised he isn't a defensive player, and Tettey is so much more solid (still can't shoot) than he was last season. Admittedly Bassong, Johnson and Snoddy are nowhere near the form they found last season but I think we can only keep improving from here on out once those key players find their form. Say what you like about CH, he isn't the same manager he was last season and I think we could do with a little more squad depth in midfield but I genuinely look forward to Man U/Man City and I hope we put in a show, would love a repeat of last season's brave play at the Ethiad. OTBC
you make a good point about certain players being off colour. i'd add your namesake russell martin to that list too. but these players are all capable of playing much, much better. they haven't suddenly become crap overnight. if we continue to play well the form will return for these individuals and the results will also follow
Hull and Cardiff, both managed by ex-players who were defenders, are quite deliberately adopting exactly the same strategy as Chris Hughton last season (a judgement amply vindicated by our finishing 11th). Indeed Steve Bruce referred to us explicitly as the model he hoped his team could emulate. All three managers know and understand what the statistics tell any intelligent observer of the modern game, including the Premier League. Another statistic which should be etched into the consciousness of every supporter is that no club succeeds if riven by disunity whether between board and manager, manager and players, within the dressing room, or on the terraces. There is growing disunity in our club, between a section of fans and the rest of us. Just a few weeks after an AGM which demonstrated that, as a club, we are in the best circumstances ever off the pitch, that section of fans seem hell bent on derailing the enterprise. Whatever they think of the current management they need to get behind the team come what may. Otherwise they will fulfill their own prophecies -- and very probably worse. I have seen this happen here in the past; I have no doubt it can happen again.
My only quibble is the highlighted sentence. Actually he IS the same manager as last season, but last season he adopted a certain strategy that he believed gave us the best chance of fulfilling his brief -- survival at all costs. Anybody who has bothered to follow Chris Hughton's managerial career as a whole knows that the second-half of the season performances were not at all representative of the type of football Chris Hughton builds his teams to play. We are seeing that more clearly now, even if there is still some way to go before he get us playing as he intends.
