There has been a lot of criticism directed at Hughton recently on these boards. Alot of it has been because he only started one striker against Fullham, yet he said he had planned to use two prior to Holt's injury. What was he supposed to do, start Jackson who has been effective in most matches or Kamara who had only trained twice? Also, I should point out that most of the stuff people complain about; play David Fox, start two strikers etc, every time we have tried that this season it has never gone well. Get off the guy's back and support your team! OTBC IHWT
My only one frustration which I think a lot of people have is that he makes his subs too late for them to be able to get in the game and make a difference. I'm still fully support Hughton and our team, I'm sure they will work harder to sort out our goal drought, as you can see his not really happy with it.
Criticising someone doesn't mean lack of support or intelligence. Its like criticising someone who puts: "start Jackson who has been effective in most matches" when you know that person means the complete opposite! And yes, he could have played Jackson as well. Who is to say it wouldn't pay off? And I don't know if you have noticed, it ain't going well now!
Its easy to say he was going to play two strikers AFTER the match, which was a dull affair, would he have made that statement had we won with just Becchio up front? I'll always support the team, who ever is manager, but it doesn't mean i have to agree with the tactics or lack of them. I think we have all been spoilt over the previous seasons with Lambo's attacking football that CH's style is a little difficult to adjust to. But not enjoying his style doesn't make me a Hughton basher !
The Jackson and Fox ones delight me. All I have to say is "Luton" I'm not saying they are useless, just that they blew their chance. If they get another one, they'd better try harder. Till then the core first team is fine with me. Hughton all the way. Lets get this season finished and let him build his team in the summer.
chippy, he said it well before the match, in a press interview. He didn't say "definitely" (how could he?), but he left the interviewer convinced that that was his intention at the beginning of the week.
I personally like just one striker. My criticism is the distinct lack of freedom given to the midfielders when we attack regardless of the situation, its like a blanket ban. Hoolahan has the ball and there are no options no one to pass short, they are either stuck out wide and level with him or one person in the centre. No one running from deep. No one, twos, no through balls. If you have one striker then you have got to have good movement from the midfield. How are you going to create anything with that scenario? Despite Fulham sitting back and defending, being the away team, playing for a draw they still dominated possession. With the exception of Bennett the players didn't play badly, it was how they were set up.
Another of those threads with a subtext - anyone who criticises in any way is a traitor. These are becoming increasingly common on here. Of course we support Hughton - even if we got relegated I'd want him to stay - but **** on a stick is **** on a stick and to pretend otherwise is not what a fan should be doing, at least between matches. During matches, of course, get 100% behind our team, but that's a different point.
i think the one thing that hughton can be criticised over is the timings of his substitutions. he tends to react too late to influence a match and that for me is the only thing we can truly moan about right now. as for the way we are playing, he's doing what any good manager does when they first come into a tricky job (and it is a tricky job following lambert) - making his team difficult to beat. even redknapp, a very attack-minded gaffer has made qpr defend deep and make them more difficult to break down. as for us, the rest will follow as a result of being better at the back. its much harder to play open football and if results go badly, try and convert to a more defensive mindset. much easier this way around. my word of the season = patience.
The only time Fox/Jackson did well, was against Peterboroough, whereas when they've played in the PL, they have been poor this season. I'd also add that I think E Bennett hasn't played as well this season as he did last season.
Yes Supers, have to agree re the lateness of substitutions, but we are now inching towards safety and all it really needs is 9 points I feel to guarantee our place in the PL next year. I'd prefer we didn't get those by 0-0 draws, but if that's what it takes, then so be it. Quite an interesting article by Steve Gedge - http://www.pinkun.com/home/norwich_...792?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed
worth a read and a reasonable analysis of recent games. 11 draws would be fine with me. a win of any variety would of course calm the nerves!
He (Gedge) is, however, slightly critical of the way we behaved and performed like the away team versus both Fulham and Newcastle - something that some contributors both on here and on twitter have been 'pilloried' for having the audacity to suggest? Just saying.
Under Lambert, we got used to seeing positive substitutions, the team often snatching something from a match we would never have expected. We've probably forgotten that sometimes substitutions can go badly wrong as well. That's not to say I wouldn't like to see Hughton act a wee bit earlier, I am saying the three 0 : 0 draws we've endured over the last weeks could just as easily turned into 1: 0 defeats.
i personally think we only need 6 more points to be safe. its gonna be a low points total to survive this year unless there is a dramatic late charge from at least two teams at the bottom.
well he's entitled to his opinion as we all are the 'don't lose' approach will come under pressure in the next two games you'd have thought, especially at OT (although to be fair you wouldn't expect anything other than defeat there normally)
Which shows how fine the balance is. Three 1-0 wins, we're all but safe. Three 1-0 defeats, we are in deep poo-poo.
yes it's basic maths, unless there is a late surge as you say. the points to games ratio for 18th hasn't changed that much all season - now we have reading on 23 pts after 26 games, so 0.88 per game. over 38 games at that rate would be 34 points to fill 18th, so 35 for 17th as you suggest Supers. although, this route, if we got to 35, would mean squeeky bottom time for us
