...or was yesterday´s non- performance all to do with the players, and not very much to do with the manager, and before any of you start to get twitchy, I´m not defending Hughton just for the sake of it. But in all honesty, what more can the man do? - the players are professionals for heavens sake, that is their job, that is what they do. I played as a professional in various Symphony Orchestras around the world for 35 years, and if they´d performed to that level in any professional orchestra, they´d have been out of a job this morning, unfortunately that doesn´t happen in football, but I sometimes think it would be good if it did. Russell Martin was saying a few days ago, that all the players were fully behind the manager, well they need to start showing it then, and whether they find him inspiring or uninspiring is totally irrelevant, there has to be a minimum, acceptable level that they all play to every single week, and they´re blatently not doing that at the moment. When they can play so well against Chelsea and Arsenal, and then turn up and produce that sort of show yesterday, then perhaps the problem, if problem there is, is as much with the players, as with the manager. I´m not entirely deluded though, and it´s clear that even one more performance remotely approaching that will almost certainly force McNally´s hand, but I´m far from convinced that Hughton is the whole cause of whatever isn´t clicking at the moment, nor am I convinced that replacing him, will necessarily be a cure.
Mods!! - would you please close two of these, as for some reason they were triplicated, I think one is enough
Completely agree the players were not good enough and that can't all be blamed on the manager. Although not sure (evidently they werent) that the tactics were right so CH should take blame as well. As I said on a previous thread it is a team game and that includes the players, manager and all the football staff at the club. Everyone must take responsibility win and lose as a team.
It's a tough call RBF, but I would add................. Some will say that we are getting what we asked for - a team that is not so negative and defensive, reap what you so etc... and up to a point that is correct, but there are times when 11 men behind the ball should be considered, and away to the top 6 are the games where it should be at least considered if not fully implemented, to try and concede as few as possible. After all, there will be another 26 games in which we can attack to our hearts content. This is where some of CH's decision making may be lacking. He has responded to the calls and criticism of being too negative (or so it appears), and trying to appease the fans, but is taking it too far the other way now - perhaps?
Agree 100% RBF. Me,you and thousands of others would have been shown the door after a performance like that. Unfortunately footballers are regarded as something special because they can kick a ball. Another point I have tried to make on other threads, but have been shot down by the majority is that the players we signed were no better than what we had. Paying £8M for a player was an inflated price due to all PREM teams having £60M + to spend. IMO RvW is worth £2M,Hooper £1M,but we had to pay considerably more because the market is inflated. Agents and players once again reaped the benefit and the poor supporter gets **** all. CH is the best we can wish for,the players are the problem.
How can you possibly say that? HE identified them as (first) choice targets and convinced them to come to the club at great expense. They are HIS players, to coach, motivate and chastise whenever needed. Hopefully a large dose of the latter today.
Not sure about your valuation of Wolf and Hooper yarco, but certainly the market is grossly inflated, I´m convinced they´ve both got the potential to make it at PL level, but they´ve both had a bit of a rocky start. Either of them finding a bit of form would go a long way to easing some of our problems, but injuries haven´t helped.
I agree that they are his players,but paying the inlated prices he was forced to pay does not make them better than what we already had. The average fan looks at the price and believes that they are top notch players.They are not. CH was forced to shop for the same calibre of player as he was previously,before the £60M windfall as all players valuation were inflated. A manager can only shop where he can afford to. RvW,Hooper are not much better than Holt,Becchio,Jackson. I hope I am proved wrong and will be first to admit it if I am.
I agree with all the points raised in the OP it's just if worst comes to worst (I think we are a way off yet) we can't get a new squad, but we could try and get a new manager to make better use of the existing squad. Pointless really because we will start winning soon OTBC
