Snodgrass - gone backwards this season and looks increasingly desperate to find something he's lost Bassong - also gone backwards this season and looks increasingly uninterested RvW - succeeded everywhere he has been but now seems to have lost confidence and/or interest Fer - started looking a class above the rest but now seems confused and uninterested Olsson - looked great for a couple of games, especially offensively, now run of the mill full back no better and no worse than the others Hooper - maintaining his quality after a start interrupted by injury Holt - would have declined anyway, but maybe not as catastrophically Fox - third in POTS (in the Prem for those people who sniffily say he's not Prem class) now a Barnsley reject Butterfield - did he ever play for us? a promising career hit the buffers Becchio - not the most talented footballer, admittedly, but three minute cameos can't have done much to help Elmander - a regular for Sweden, don't forget. Hardly likely to improve much at his age to be fair R Bennett - bags of potential. Has he improved? Marginally, perhaps, but this is the age at which he needs to be improving by leaps and bounds Redmond - wonderful feet, nothing between his ears. No significant change from when he came. Murphy - coming on leaps and bounds, but Adams has been the guy developing him until recently. Let's judge once CH has had him for six months and told him that the key responsibility of a winger is to defend. Ruddy - another player who seems a shadow of his former self. Bunn - not enough evidence this season to make an informed statement. Turner - solid. No significant change. Garrido - reliable. No significant change. Martin - i'm biased on this one, because I think he was such a perfect fit for PL. His brand of intelligence and flexibility and ability to adapt to different positions and formations was ideal for a manager like PL who was always restlessly experimenting with various systems. Except for occasional dips in form, has continued to put in a decent shift. Hoolahan - has kept his confidence amazingly well since CH has tried several times to marginalise him. Then, when he needs to save his job, pulls Wes out of the hat yet again. But at his age is not improving. Johnson - perhaps his passing has improved a little. Or at least he's realised he can't pass, so he leaves it to other players. Tettey - every time he starts to show improvement he seems to get injured. Unlucky. Pilkington - also unlucky with injuries, but I wouldn't say CH has improved him at all. He just does what he has been doing since the days of PL. E Bennett - long-term injury makes it hard to judge. Howson - Yes! He's improved! Definitely a more complete player now than before (although some of this may be due to having been played out of position for most of last season and therefore increasing his skillset). Sorry if I've forgotten anybody. So there it is. One player who has, in my opinion, clearly improved; a couple who might have improved a little; several who have stood still; and many who have gone backwards (and interestingly it is the most talented ones who have regressed the most). I have been banging on for a year about how CH fills the players with fear, and I have been patronised by posters on here who say 'how can you know what CH says to the players?' or 'oh, you can see inside the players' minds, then?'. No, I can't, but I think we have the evidence we need out on the pitch week in, week out. We don't score because midfielders won't take the risk of moving into the box, we make crass errors in defence because we seem scared of our own shadows. We are a micro-managed, over-coached, fear-ridden team. It's such a waste of talent.
One of the things that puzzles the hell out of me is how some threads get little or even no replies, and other seemingly similar ones generate endless debate. Is it, I wonder, more to do with who creates the thread than what the subject is? Excellent post this one, and perfectly encapsulates what the problem is with Hughton - he coaches the skill, ingenuity, flair, passion, inventiveness and confidence out of players. I've got a mate who is a Newcastle fan, and he certainly endorses this view. Best hope we have is that we stay up narrowly, and then replace Hughton the second the final whistle blows to give the new man the whole summer to reignite the confidence and creativity in some highly talented players.
It might simply be that there isn't a lot to argue with! That or people might not fancy going through a player-by-player analysis themselves as a riposte to the original post. So whilst it's an interesting read, doesn't generate a lot of replies.
I remember the old 606 and the star rating, I always preferred to get 1 star rather than 5 stars. I personally don't bother reading long articles or posts. I've lost count of the long articles I've began and nearly finished only to not bother because I found it tiresome to read.
Without dissecting the whole squad, but I mentioned on another thread that I thought Bassong and Snodgrass had both gone backwards this season. Injuries to start with, granted, but enough games by now to get back to last season's heights - if they're ever going to replicate that form This thread is making me question why this sad thing has happened.
Or possibly because it´s just a repeat, with a few embellishments of this, that was posted not long ago http://www.not606.com/showthread.ph...essantly-Berate-Hughton-For-Being-Incompetent just basically the same thing all over again, only with out´ers specs on.
Charming. That explains a lot, clearly you watch the first ten minutes of each football game, get bored and base your analysis on what you imagine you saw.
I'll give it a go. Generally agree. I think you've been a little unfair on the following though: (1) RvW - he was clearly injured from very early on and has only just returned to completing 90 mins. I think we also have to be forgiving for players coming from the smaller leagues because the Prem is a culture shock. You don't meet West Ham in Portugal. (2) Redmond - obviously still a long way from the finished article, but these last few matches have seen him make better decisions and he is gaining an awful lot of experience (3) Johnson- admittedly not so much this season, but he came on leaps and bounds last, which let's not forget was under Hughton. Yes, his passing leaves a lot to be desired, but it has improved marginally, it's everywhere else that he is better. (4) Pilkington - it's obviously undeniable that injuries have hampered him, but over the course of last season he turned into one of our leaders on the pitch, honed his decision making and he is the one player (other than maybe Howson) who I believe we seriously miss to injury at the moment. I've said before we are much much better team with him in, whereas under Lambert that wasn't so much the case. Otherwise I agree, it has been disappointing. Not sure much conclusion can be drawn on Butterfield I suppose as there were some odd circumstances with how he fitted in
Sorry I didn't make it clear, what I mean is articles I've started to write and got bored and not bothered finishing them.
