Maybe I am old fashioned but my thoughts on making substitutions is based on the following; Players not playing well Tactical changes to either match the oppositions moves or where you see weaknesses Injury or sendings off Waste time at the end So yesterday I am watching a game were we have gone 1-0 up and are starting to build a little momentum. At this stage I'm thinking OK we have not been that good today but are getting ahead of the opposition and looking dangerous, especially Wes. Then I see a sub coming on and say to my mate , who agrees " why are we looking to change things at this stage? " ( based on my criteria above). I see it is Howson so no problem with that but it dawns on you that he is changing things with no need and taking off a player who is doing well, Wes. Now I am putting aside all the Wes "issues" here and it may well have been that if he had stayed on the result would have been the same, but why change things when the team where doing OK at that time? I just don't get it! His second substitutions I get as my second criteria applies but it could be argued that the first sub affected that as we were totally devoted a la Hull in breaking 10 men down.
Totally agree I thought at the time Wes must have taken a knock because if not why would you change it? I didn't agree with the second change though, for me Elmander is a total waste of time & I just don't see what he has to offer us. I would have put Pilks up front with Hooper and just got balls into the box from either wing. Just another game CH managed to fail with his inept substitutions.
Agreed Chippy Pilks would have been a better sub, I wonder if Wes not having played all season means he's not match fit and that why he went off I'd have taken off Johnson for Howson and tried to get a second and push the game away from stoke as it was we were crippled by the time we needed to get a goal by the earlier subs.
Before Stoke game: - Wes must never play for Norwich again - Hughton is too slow to change things After Stoke game: - Wes must play every 90 mins - Hughton must not make subs
That is not what I am saying at all. It's about the rationale behind the substitution. It just happened to be Hoolahan yesterday.If he had been playing badly, then get him off but that was not the case. We were doing Ok At the time so why change it? There have been plenty of times this and last season when there has been a need for change but nothing. If you had asked me before the game whomI would have chosen to start , I would have started with Howson and had Wes on the bench. If Howson had tired then replace with Wes and that would have worked well yesterday.
Its the playing style which doesn't change. Its no accident that the game so often (in fact everytime) fails to change. It is why Hughton is such a poor manager, there is no denying he has the imagination of a lobotomised slug.
I said before kick off that if we do get to see Howson, it will sadly be at Hoolahan's expense. Michael Bailey of Archant / Musterd TV said the same thing when summarising at the final whistle. Why play 2 holding / defensive midfielders vs Stoke, who by and large bypass the midfield with long balls pumped up to Crouch and Walters As Bath said, I'd have taken Johnson off, left Tettey in front of the defence and given Howson AND Wes a chance to work together to probe an opening for that 'killer' second goal. But not cautious Chris, oh no, he takes off the one player who had looked like breaking Stoke down for 70 minutes, rather than giving him a little support. Pathetic and totally predictable.
Hi Carrabuh, I agree he did OK but I got those subs, 10 men so put on two a trackers ( although that us an interesting word to use for our strikers). The bottom line is why change things when nothing really needed changing at that time ( forget it was Wes) ?Maybe with 15 minutes to go but no, he brings of Wes for a more defensive Howson. I like Howson but the excuse that Wes was tired is bollox!
I remain unconvinced Hoolahan should be playing given his little display last week. Despite his apology for any offense caused he still failed to deny he did it and why, it sits rather badly with me and I don't think he should be playing. On a strictly playing note, I wouldn't have taken him off because he was the only person doing anything. Stoke were dug in very deep paticularly after they scored and frankly 1 and a 3/4 seasons of this one dimensional play was not going to unlock that defence again (yet again another goal from a set peice). To be honest whether we are in the Prem or not I cannot wait until next season because there is no way he will be here to bore everyone to death again. At least a drop down in Division will prove to be more entertaining and we can actually watch our own team have the ball.
Agree Carrubuh, I just want this miserable season to end. Obviously would like it to be in the Prem but the more I think about it that is only due to the money now and not the football. The tripe we saw on Saturday does not scream quality. The club seems more interested in survival than wining anything these days. I bet the Wigan fans are over the moon after yesterday when they actually went out to win. The joy of watching Norwich has been sucked out of the club over the last two seasons. Hopefully change wherever we are playing will bring that back to the fans
Yes, Rosler might be a good choice for next season. Sadly, I think Lennon is probably already signed and sealed if we stay up.
Was looking at the Sackrace site and Malkay is still favourite with Claudio Ranieri second favourite!!!
Thats the sad truth of small clubs in the prem. They seem scared to go for it due to the potential financial implications of relegation and in many ways you can't blame them. Money is more important then performance and the main reason they want to win if for the money. Plenty of examples of smaller clubs who have done well in a cup then struggled, Portsmouth, Wigan and Birmingham to name a few.
He works very hard and did get on the wings a bit and put some balls in. I feel he would be far better suited if he was getting in the box at every opportunity knocking the ball down for hooper not trying to make a good pass playing as an AM.
We've scored barely any set piece goals this season Carrabuh, so I don't get your point. This is the big issue with this season - we're ineffective and inconsistent all over the park. At least last season we offered some sort of threat from set pieces. Now we can't even do that. I wish people wouldn't make up things without any evidence.
We've scored barely any goals full stop Rob. Your not baring in mind the context that freekicks are productive for us. From our last 5 goals, 2 have been set peices. I'm sure if you look back a similar pattern will be there. There is basically 3 types of goals we score, long cross, long range and set peice, thats it.
