gut feel, and that's all it is, we would have lost at Fulham under CH, by a heavier margin, and be in the same position. this is based on the previous away performances under CH. The liverpool game? this is the one i'm not sure about (whether we would have been more likely to get something out of it)
I think whatever happens we will be in better position to move on now for next season. I can imagine the board approaching Malky and a few others to test the water in preparation for next season. This would of been difficult with CH still with us. To be honest I think that CH may have got something from the Liverpool game, but what your talking about is an individual error from a player that gave them the winning goal. Our defence has been very brittle this season, the one thing that CH was supposed to be good at has been a bit of a mess to be honest. I think it's 50/50, the way we were playing in the second half we could of nicked a goal and could of scraped a draw. With CH it probably would of been a very dour performance aimed at solely stifling Liverpool, which history tells us we are not very good at. Especially against Liverpool. Personally I preferred the way we took the game to Liverpool, it was entertaining even though we lost.
I understand the point you´re making K E M P, but personally, with the best will in the world, I can never find losing entertaining, and anyway it´s results we need now, not entertainment.
See, this is one of the things I fail to grasp. It costs a bomb to attend a Premier League match. That being the case, surely it's better to see your team try (and come perilously close to getting something out of it) and win the match vs the 'champions elect' than watch them stifle the excitement and passion out of the occasion by setting up from the onset for a 0-0 draw, which is fairly predictably what would have happened under the old regime? Otherwise known as going out with a bang, rather than a whimper, if that's what the footballing gods have ordained for us
And I sort of get what your saying, but if we had taken the game to our opposition more this season instead of trying (and failing most of the time) playing for draws then I don't think we would be in this position.
Not strictly true that, I've paid just £25 for my ticket to the Chelsea game, which is the same as I paid for trips to the Emirates and Upton Park, and more than I paid for two games at Fulham and one at Crystal Palace. You'll pay more than that to watch some Championship games, as I fear we may find out next season.
You're certainly not in the minority. If it was garanteed staying up with depressing Hughtonball then I'd of taken that and I think thats what the board were thinking in keeping him way beyond when they should have. But that dull football looked nailed on to be taking us down. It isn't a straight choice but those of us happy to see the back of him are enjoying the slight optomism afforded by his departure. I still think we are better off without him and that we would now be on the same points but another 3-4 goals negative in the goal difference charts. Bah!
You see, I'm not in fear of the Championship. It may do us some good to get some confidence back in the team and learn to attack teams again rather than just hold the ball in midfield and pass side to side. Also, if you are ST holder you get more bang for your buck.
It should certainly be a lot easier!! I think too many people overlook just how bloody hard it is in the Premiership these days! Hootun got continually slated for telling the media about the quality of the opposition, but I feel too many of our fans refused to give credit to the fact that the league is full of top quality, international quality players from top to bottom. If people would rather see us playing more open football against Brentford, Yeovil and Bournemouth than the privilege of seeing us pit our wits against players of the quality of Suarez, Ozil, Hazard, Aguero, Toure etc etc etc then that is perfectly their right to do so. I don't understand that mentality myself, but as this forum had told us we all have our different ways of looking at things, and nobody is necessarily right (apart from me of course, I'm always right I am )
The most annoying thing is that CH had by far the largest purse any NCFC manager has ever had and spent circa £25m - and didn't even manage to tread water, in fact it's plainly evident that we've gone backwards. I realise we'll never be the type of club to sanction transfers of £15-£40m for one player, but expectation levels were raised - not helped by all the club-fuelled media hype about RvW's arrival and as a collective unit, it (the squad) hasn't yet done what it suggested on the tin. I know we've had more than our fair share of injuries to crucial players, but that's why we name a squad of 25, so not that much of an excuse.
But everyone spent a shedload of money this season, £25m really isn't very much at all in the Premiership climate - don't you get it?? This is exactly what I'm talking about, not giving credit to what our opposition are up to and the quality they have added to their squads, it's short-sighted and means you're not lookig at the bigger picture. Cardiff spent £35m, Southampton spent £35m, Hull have spent £25m, Sunderland spent £28m, West Ham spent £25m, Palace spent £20m (including some amazing bargains in Ledley and Puncheon) so I don't really get your point? And as you correctly say, of the £25m we spent, RVW, Hooper and Fer have all spent considerable time on the treatment table so we've not been able to get full value out of any of them all season - though those injuries were probably all Hootun's fault according to some.
Perhaps it's time to start using the tactic they use to make em run quicker - stick a rubber band round his knackers and watch him fly!
The difference I have seen is there seems to be a lot more spirit within the club. That includes the players, the fans etc. Something required to get us out this mess. You're probably right Munky in that Adams, as a manager, is no better than Hughton and we look likely to go down now, but with the spirit restored we stand the best chance possible to survive. We wouldn't have survived had Hughton been in charge, and we may not with Adams either. As many pro- Hughton accused the anti- Hughton camp to get over Paul Lambert, maybe we should do the same with Hughton and try to lift the team in these next few matches.
The point is we had a higher starting position than Hull, Cardiff, Sunderland, West Ham and Palace. Despite our outlay the play showed little progression. And in addition, I DON'T agree that the opposition has been fantastic. You could count on one hand decent performances by the away team at Carrow Road. The quality in the premiership is ****ing atrocious given astounding money spent.
In what sense? We had a cheap squad and the lowest wage bill. Cardiff spent a fortune on players with premiership experience to get promoted from the championship. They then outspent us when joining the premiership, and you say the standard of the premiership is crap anyway. So where does our higher starting position come from?
Well, as supporters of Hughton have spent twelve months pointing out, we finished eleventh last season. Palace scraped up through the play offs. Hull lost a record number of games for a team getting automatic promotion. Sunderland and Stoke had finished below us, and Sunderland had been neutered by the box of frogs that is Di Canio. Only West Ham of the strugglers mentioned actually finished above us in the previous season, so, yes, we were ahead of the pack.
I'm afraid I just don't follow your logic. I was delighted to get 11th but clearly our squad achieved more than could be expected of it. In no way did it give me some sense of entitlement that it was our rightful place in the scheme of things. If anything it made me think that it would be hard to match it this year. You say that Sunderland had been neutered by Di Canio, so presumably that means they under achieved under him? So if we over achieved and they under achieved, wouldn't that lead to a reduced expectation of us being better than them the following year? Similarly, there was no reason to expect Stoke to finish below us this year simply because they got two points fewer last year. I will concede that I expected us to do better than Palace and Hull although Hull bought exceptionally well. 7 clubs finished within 3 points of us last year and the top of the Championship would probably beat the bottom of the PL. If there was any logic at all in us having "a higher starting position" than all those clubs it would have shown up in the bookie's odds.
