Nice to rejoin this thread now that the all the sniping appears to have died down Some very good points made especially his intransigence and unwillingness to alter things whether we're winning or losing. Doesn't matter about drawing, as he's clearly delighted when we do that, especially if it involves a(nother) clean sheet
Fair point, my only counter to it would be that Hughton only really signed defensive players, and very few teams have anything other than a flat back 4, so those signings would be just as valuable to any manager. It's further forward where managers tend to differ in their styles, and whilst Hughton is currently using mainly Lambert-players to play his system, either Hughton or a new manager would spend this summer getting in the players they want in attacking positions. Oh, and Rob, Munky - there's an ignore list built into the site so you'd never see each others posts again. There's no point leaving because you've had a disagreement with a single person.
I think it's entirely possible Hughton may sign attacking players this summer and our standard of play will improve Oh look, he's signed one already. Ricky van.. What?!
Tell me about it Cromer gets a bit old after a while. I was wondering if we were to loose to Swansea would Mcnasty take a Sunderland type of decision and get some "blood and Thunder" in to get us over the line? Given the cash available if we do stay up it would not be outside the realms of possibility.
I can't think who that could/would be, another reason for not wanting change just at this moment in time. Better the devil you know and all that (for now)
Hell, no. Of course he wouldn't. Any chairman/board rocking the boat at this stage of the season clearly needs their head examining. Look at Sunderland, dismiss an experienced, wily old campaigner and replace him with an unproven - at this level, hothead who knows where the self-destruct button is Compete madness, imho. Unless we get Warnock in and send Hughton to our primary feeder club in part exchange!
....but they might get away with it and looking at the fixtures ahead for the "Cats", survival would seem to be something of a minor miracle and PDC would become a demi-god in the space of two short months.
That is, of course, one possible outcome - but it's not the one I'm expecting. But surely McNally wouldn't part company with CH with only 7 games to go?
To me, there's no point sacking a manager at this stage unless someone clearly better is available. The fact that Atkins is back in a job at Reading, and Di Canio is at Sunderland, to me shows there's no obvious replacement right now, so we'd do better to stick than twist. I'm hoping we get 3 points this weekend and all this discussion becomes purely academic!
IMO i think we should keep Hughton until December at least, give him the full summer to make the forward signings the team needs, and see if things change. I havn't been too suprised about the way we have played this season, it was always going to be a season of caution, to try to avoid second season syndrome. Hughtons requisite was to keep the team up this year, hence he built a good defence, which i dont think anyone can disagree was massively lacking last year. Then hopefully his plan is to kick on climbing the table in the coming season (providing we stay up) by making attacking signings and bolstering the rest of the squad. Changes dont happen over night, he couldnt have made all the defensive and attacking signings all at the start of his reign for squad harmony and budgetry reasons. I think if i look at the teams around us adn their striking options (i know i will get some abuse for this) but in my opinion(!) most teams have better attacking options, both in midfield and actual strikers. QPR - Remy, Taarabt, Holiett. Dont really rate anyone else in their team (in my defence). (I am trying hard to be objective, as I despise Koo-pee-ah). Reading - Pogrebnyak, Le Fondre (Not neccesarily better but Le Fondre seems to always pop in the right place at the right time) Pog looked good last season not really done it this season but still a good player. Aston Villa - Benteke, Weimann, Agbonlahor - Pains me to say they would all probably get a place in our team. Wigan - Kone, Di Santo - Kone has pace to burn, Not overly convinced by either of them though, but would be better than the back up we had for Holt at the start of the season. Mcarthy and Gomez are both good players going forward. Sunderland - Fletcher, Graham, Sessegnon, Johnson, Gardner. All good goal scorers, but the team is not doing so well this year - I would be more frustrated if we had these guys and couldnt score. Newcastle - Cisse, Cabaye, Ben Arfa. Each of which would walk into our team. And they had Ba for the first half of the season. Southampton - Lambert, Rodrguez, Puncheon, Ramirez, Lallana. Lambert and Holt are on a par IMO but Rodriguez is a good back up. Puncheon probably over performed this year. Ramirez is quality! Same goes for Lallana. Now purely objectively can many of you say that our options going forward are better than those around us, and for that reason shouldn't we be satisfied that we are above them despite not scoring much. Barring Snodgrass and in some cases above, Holt, they do have better options going forward. Reading and Wigan are the only teams comparable to us and thats only because Wigan are the only ones whom had a comparable budget to ours and Reading had only just been promoted so struggled to make the signings they could probably have afforded. If you look at our attacking options all have come from championship level or lower. Well thats my reality check over, I await the impending abuse, but before you do just know that I am a true fan, I do love our club and all its players! But can also appreciate the strengths of other squads! On a side (sneakily trying to divert attention from the rest of my post ) I think next season Hughton will shift to playing more like a 4-2-3-1 formation rather than 4-4-1-1, Not too much of a system change but allows greater attacking fluency and can easily be dropped back into the 4-4-1-1 when defending a lead or taking on the top 4.
I think you have made a reasonable assessment of other teams striking capability to be honest, yes even Remy from QPR is ahead of anything we currently have, though not so sure about the Sunderland or Reading strikers.
To sum up I am completely behind Hughton and the board and fully expect him to make the required changes for next season. As many have also said the only thing that does irritate me is the substitutions coming too late, maybe with some players he trusts they might come on for 10 mins instead Another point id like to make is do people think it is working well with Kamara starting games ( i've only seen live streams of his starts), IMO he is best used as a impact sub (last 20mins) or starting alongside Holt or Becchio.
If Hughton didn't have the players to work to his system, then what on earth is he doing making the choice to proceed as he has. Managers have to adapt to the situation, he hasn't. When Lambert initially came he was a self declared 442 man. He then changed his system to accomodate Hoolahan, Holt and Martin and kept with it for three years. Where as Lambert adapted, Hughton has stuck with this regimented, flat, cumbersome and outdated modal. Even when its not working!!!
Well, like I said, Lamberts massive effectiveness at working and adapting with new players is clearly working dividends! What a frigging genius! Worked effectively well when they lost 8-0 to Chelsea. Working with new players is easy in league one, not so easy in the premier league. Little bit different.
I haven't really said much on this thread, but I find the fact that people are even considering Hughton's future outside of Norwich is crazy. Without Hughton I fear we would be much, much deeper in the mire than we are now; given our home form I am sure we will be over the line without too much fuss. Of course I am hugely dissatisfied with the performances, it is isn't good enough to produce a couple or no shots on target against opposition like Wigan and Southampton (I was a paying spectator at the latter) but only so much of the blame can be reasonably attributed to Hughton. Injuries have been a problem and some players have simply underperformed; Howson, whom I hold such high hopes for seems barely able to pass the ball at present and Grant Holt, who used to bully defenders at all levels of the game now looks distinctly ineffective.
Picking out one game is pretty cheap beef, if you look at there squad they should be the first team relegated in my opinion. I think he'll keep them up which would be a great achievement. IF a better manager becomes available we should go for it in my opinion.
I'm not picking out one result, they have good players like weimann, benteke etc and have under performed and are currently below us in the league. You haven't got a stat to sit on. Lambert has failed to adapt to his new players. That's not an opinion, it's a fact. And it's what you are accusing Chris Hughton of being weak at and lambert being strong at. If both of us survive we will both be strong next year. You can bank on that.
To be honest, he needs to start attacking games a lot more, there is no sign he is doing this and performances are dipping further and further. I don't mind the guy but he needs to show he can adapt to situations which he hasn't done at all yet. If we don't do that next season I think we will be screwed to be honest. I also think we'lll survive this season, but it should have been a lot more comfortable. I don't understand how we have a much improved defence yet we play with two defensive midfielders who have barely any creative freedom, therefore it's relied upon Wes to produce magic or the wingers to hammer the ball in the box. It's predictable and hasn't changed. 2 weeks ago I would have said it was mad as well, but if a better manager becomes available in the summer we should go for it.
