The thing is, I actually thought at times we played pretty well on Saturday and as has been said some of the movement in our midfield was as good as I've seen it in a long time, certainly since last season. If the author thinks we were really, really bad on saturday he should see some of our away performances
So what your saying is you'd be prepared to watch that tripe each week just to say "we're premier league" ? If so then we will soon follow the stoke foot print and even the stoke fans hated that style. If he can keep us up with slick attacking football I'm 100% behind him, if we went down playing quality football I'd stay with him, but it's going to be relegation with ****e football if he stays. If we loose Tuesday, even if its a crapy cup competition he has to go.
and he was quite right to change the team after spurs. what i said i want to see is tettey and hooper come in for our next match because i don't think the team on saturday was quite right and feel that to get the full benefit from fer and howson they need a holding man behind them while i would give hooper a run because rvw is getting frustrated. i would then play that team for two, maybe three games. its a nice setup to face chelsea and arsenal with and i think its a side which could get a result at stoke.
no offence, but i get the feeling you're never going to get behind him, no matter what he does. how many teams have ever been relegated playing 'quality football'??? what even is 'quality football'???!!!
And I agree with you! When you sign so many new players in pre-season there's always going to be chopping and changing for your first half a dozen games at least. Lambert did it two years ago, Mourinho, Pellegrini, Laudrup etc. have been doing it all season... Sorry, I don't see how Hughton could possibly be criticised for this. For some supporters (not you, Supers), it's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't...
I'm a little confused about the point of this big debate. I'd like to see nice football, but I accept that football is a results game. The only debate is whether Hughton is getting points on the board and achieving the position in the table that our club expects. Assessing whether he is doing that takes time - you probably get a very good idea after about 15 games. The bottom line is, no matter how nice he is or how good a coach he is or all the other arguments for and against, assuming there is a clear replacement lined up, if points are not on the board he has to go. I have not one iota of a doubt that McNally will be ruthless if that occasion should arise. Conversely, if Hughton has the points on the board, he has to stay. Part of getting those points or not is the support the fans provide - we all know what effect this can have on a team. If Hughton isn't entertaining enough to get the crowd behind the team and help them get the lift they need to win, then that's also part of his problem. If he manages to get the points irrespective of crowd support, it is very difficult to sack him, but I doubt that would occur anyway - teams rarely do well without the support of their own fans. Ultimately, I don't like seeing fans trying to unsettle the manager - I think that's very poor form and IS the equivalent of deliberately sabotaging the club. I'm not suggesting they should cheer Hughton if they're not happy, but don't actively boo our players when a substitution occurs - how the hell is that going to help? If Hughton is a decent manager, even without wholehearted crowd support, we will be playing well with plenty of points on the board in ten games time. If he is not, and the results will speak for themselves, he has to go. This has been my position since January last year and nothing I've seen will change that. Hughton's job IS on the line because we aren't getting results. He has roughly another quarter of the season to resolve this. Any other debate, be it preference as to style, etc, really is redudant.
I thought that we played some decent stuff on Saturday to be honest and having spoken to Villa fans today their view was that we were unlucky to lose. Just three things for a start - to miss a penalty was poor, the goalline miss from VRW and the goalline miss from Hooper could easily have been three goals and then two defelcted crosses across goal which Guzan saved and or parried and we could have had five. That said Villa always looked dangerous and bassong had a poor game, we looked more solid with Bennett in my opinion. I don't know what is wrong but I am convinced that changing the manager is not the immediate answer and, as has been said, with whom? Let us re-assess after say 10 games and if we are nowhere nearer then there may be a debate but genuinely, a defeat on Saturday was pretty harsh. What has Pilkington done to his hair by the way?
true. i recall chris martin starting up front at old trafford one season! we were about 10 games into the season by that point and were still experimenting! i think a lot of people see me as a happy-clapper or whatever but i totally understand and see peoples concerns, its just that to me, those concerns are not cause for throwing the toys out of the pram. yes we have problems but so do every single club in the premier league today. at least we know what most of ours are and i think most of us are able to identify them and propose suggestions for how to deal with them that don't require a change of manager who may very well end up in exactly the same boat as hughton. its now down to hughton to solve them for real. if he can't then he will get the heave and quite rightly but he's only had five games with his new and improved squad and already, despite some iffy results and performances, there is room for positivity going forward BUT ***patience alert*** it will take time.
Hughton was my only choice as manager when Lambert jumped ship, I couldn't see any better man for the job, but it's become glaringly obvious that was the wrong choice. The man has zero carisma in interviews and that must transpire onto the players. I don't hold him entirely responsible as I think his whole back room staff are to blame also, calderwood did little at Forest & at Birmingham either ! They had one style of play , lump it high to that man mountain zidic and hope for the best. And as to answer part two of your question. Blackpool. They may have gone down but it was always entertaining to watch them. You knew there was going to be goals, they just didn't learn how to quit once ahead ! As for entertaining football I'm surprised at you for this comment? Simply play the game as its meant to be played and try and score more than the opposition ! Swansea, Arsenal they both play entertaining football, attractive to watch and exciting, like we DID under PL.
we weren't particularly attractive under lambert. it was certainly fun and we did play some neat football especially in the championship but were very aggressive and direct at times too - we were good at 'mixing it up'. we were also naive but we surprised a lot of teams and did exceptionally well. why does it matter what he's like in interviews? am i going mad?? did you ever hear fergie or our very own lambert in pressers? charisma is not a word i would use to describe either man when in interviews. i do think there may be an issue with regards the backroom staff and i'd be happy to shake that up a bit. sometimes a manager can get a bit cosy with his team and it all becomes a bit similar - of course, it can also go the other way and if you lose your backroom staff you're never the same again (o'neill a perfect example, clough too). i'd much rather we eject calderwood, for example, and bring in a different coach than remove hughton. fresh ideas, fresh input. you are wrong about birmingham though. this seems to be a myth created by ipswich fans who witnessed them bore their way through a couple of games. fair enough but i saw the blues four times that season. they drew an astonishing game 3-3 at the boleyn ground (best game i saw that season), they won 6-0 at millwall playing fantastic counter attacking football, the draw at ipswich which was poor i'll admit and one other that escapes me but ended in a 1-0 win. blackpool were incredibly naive when they played in the premier league. why do you want to watch naive football? it can only ever lead to disaster. had blackpool shut up shop in just a couple of their games they'd have survived. they lost one and two goal leads in a huge amount of games. swansea are a fair example but as i've often said, they have had a master plan for years and years - we are only now attempting to create our own - it takes ***patience alert*** time! why mention arsenal? of course they are good - they are one of the best teams in europe. if you compare us to them and their style then you will forever be disappointed!
We could obviously disagree all night supers, I'm of a different generation to you, and have seen the club on the brink of greatness before(early ninetys) only to see it all go tits up. We are in a similar place now with the revenue available to us so that's partly why I'm frustrated now with the current situation. I believe in the style of football played back then, creative exciting football, not what I'm seeing under Hughton. I don't like situation that is gathering at CR but I'm not the only one who feels this way. I applaud you for your faith in him, but I think it's also slightly blind as well. He has had ample time get a team playing good football, two full windows and a close season yet still I don't think he's got a clue what his best 11 is ! I agree totally about removing calderwood a forest fan I know used to recon he caused all sorts of problems, one with Holty when he was there. I wouldn't be worried about Hughton being moved to a director of football position if it meant he stayed away from the day to day training ! Though this is a hard task for a new man/ team to deal with working in such an environment . I didn't compare us to Arsenal just as a style of football which is sadly lacking from CR.
I think completely the opposite - he's obviously a first class coach and should be doing the day-to-day coaching, the question is whether he is also up to the job of being a team manager, tactician, motivator, etc.
i saw all the late 80s and early 90s unfold, so we are singing from the same hymn sheet on that my friend! however, i don't think the two era's can be compared because its a different game now, the premier league. you're absolutely right - we did blow a great chance of achieving something and maybe even winning things and making ourselves a bigger club, but its much harder now. having huge finance is all very well but we are not alone - 19 other premier league clubs have the same income and when you consider how many sugar daddies there are, when pieced together we are actually still one of the paupers. our major plus point being that we are no longer burdened with debt - a truly brilliant achievement (almost as great as winning something in this day and age as far as i'm concerned). i too loved the way we played the game back then (especially under stringer) but the fact it wasn't sustained may be a pointer. we aren't a big club. our best players were picked off and its very difficult to keep that momentum going. i'd love to be proven wrong but it'll be interesting to see how long swansea can sustain their levels. i don't think they'll be able to for long. i don't always enjoy the football we play but then i could say that about every single season i've watched. i see no need for panic though. i do not believe he has had 'ample time' to get us playing the way you or indeed i want us to play in the long run. i don't think he knows what his best 11 is and i don't think he should have a best eleven. i think that is another area where football has moved on - you pick a team that can cope with a particular game rather than one that can get on a role. sometimes if things are going well i think its right to keep status quo in terms of selection. yes he's had had two windows to make changes and i think we all agree he's done a bloody good job overall in each window. he came into the job last last summer and had to be quick in assessing the situation. he's had a year to build on his early, good work and although i think we've stagnated a little, he's added more quality this summer so how can he be judged on a transfer market after five games where everyone agrees he's made good signings? hughton to director of football is an interesting idea - not one i'd given any thought to before but i actually think that could be a clever move in the long term but i really don't see us being at that point at all right now - he can still take us forward as a manager and unless it is blatant that he is screwing us up, he should remain in his position. it is most definitely not blatant! you won't find any norwich fan or indeed any fan of any club that doesn't want to watch their team play beautiful flowing football all season. unfortunately, there aren't many teams capable of it and we certainly aren't and haven't been for two decades. we've had good sides and played good football, but its been fragmented and never sustained and as i say, there is good reason for that - its bloody difficult to master!
Highly highly doubt Hughton would accept a move to director of football I wouldn't in his shoes. Been a success at his last 2 clubs still highly thought of as a manager enduring his first hardship, i'm sure there's plenty who would take him as a manager without a second thought. Just not sure he's going to work out at norwich, impossible task to follow and lost all momentum completely. We need a wonder goal in the last minute of the stoke game just for a bit of fan feel good to come back. Doubt it'll happen he's slipping down a mountain and fans are throwing snow balls at him
Got to be wes behind hooper against stoke, ran the show last year at carrow road behind holt. I don't think theres a more un david mcnally manager than paolo di canio
A Chelsea fan tweeted this on Saturday "But why are they booing their team though?...they created so many chances and were just unable to capitalize..funny Norwich Fans" Funny? He'd realise some Norwich fans are completely bloody mad if he read some of the stuff posted on this site since Saturday. Giving the guy a chance to mould his new acquisitions into a team surely has to stretch to more than 5 PL games or have we really become that arrogant after spending a few quid?
