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westcoastcanary

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Everything posted by westcoastcanary

  1. westcoastcanary
    [Y] Sussex
  2. westcoastcanary
    @Indy_Bones"I find this ongoing defence of Hughton''s massive failings at our club to be bizarre, that isn''t to say that he didn''t perform well at Newc/Brum or that he''s doing badly at Brighton, but his 2nd season with us was beyond dire, and blaming the board for not funding another striker for him to misuse is totally out of order, when it''s clear that the fault lay with the manager and nobody else for our constant failings in any sort of attacking manner..."You don''t mention Hughton''s first season, when he kept us up and we finished 11th. However, it''s the bit I''ve highlighted that I want to comment on. It seems patently obvious to me that the performances we saw in Hughton''s 2nd season (and many in the second half of his first season as well) resulted from his recognising that the brief he had been given by the board to make us into a club capable of surviving in the EPL, required a change of approach from (and I''m exaggerating here somewhat to make my point) a Lambert-inherited prioritising of attacking-at-all-costs on the one hand, to the prioritisation of defensive solidity, becoming a hard team to score against, on the other. IMO this change of approach was absolutely necessary and completely justified (the statistical evidence is overwhelming, and if you aren''t interested in stats just listening to any top manager talking about the prime importance of solid defence should be enough to convince, not to mention the fate of teams who neglect this received wisdom).Fast forward a couple of seasons to our return to the EPL under Neil and, surprise, surprise, we see pretty much the same pattern -- except that in this case AN himself had to learn the lesson the hard way. People rightly point to Newcastle (A) as the turning point, but in fact the writing was on the wall even in our first game against Palace when slick attacking play brought us 2 goals and inability to defend cost us 2 points; exactly the same at West Ham (A) in the first half of which we put on a display of slick attacking football that had Bilic on his knees and the pundits purring but ended up with us dropping 2 points. Since that Newcastle game Neil has been trying to achieve exactly the transformation that defeated Hughton, to mould a team that is defensively solid without castrating it''s attacking threat. So far he has been equally unsuccessful. People keep saying AN is not getting the best out of this squad; they said exactly that about Hughton. But the aim is not "the best" from the squad; it''s achieving the balance between defense and attack that every truly successful team requires. You can have a team playing at its best but consistently dropping points and ending up relegated.
  3. westcoastcanary
    Safari users also need to switch User Agent from the default to Firefox - Mac.Having opened Safari, click on "Develop" in the Menu Bar, hover the cursor over "User Agent" in the list that comes up, then, in the side menu that opens up, scroll down and select "Firefox -- Mac"It''s a bit of a pain remembering to do this each time, but it does ensure that the message board works properly, for example the quote function and other features work as intended. If a more expert Safari user knows of a way to make Firefox -- Mac the default User Agent, maybe he/she would let the rest of us know.
  4. westcoastcanary
    Agree with Daz. Re. Mulumbu, Canos and McGovern, only Mulumbu of those three was a first team signing; McGovern is an acceptable No.2, comparable to Bunn; Canos has been signed for what I call our "team-in-waiting". Mulumbu certainly strengthens the bench but the injury he suffered early on last season  unfortunately limited his first team appearances in the EPL when we really needed him (quality player; remember how good he looked before that happened? Still good enough to be captaining his country in the ANC.)
  5. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="Nuff Said"]It makes me laugh, or smile wryly at least. Posters on here used to get so worked up about Hughtompn being respectful of our opposition in the PL, but when Neil doesn''t fall to his knees and proclaim Lambert the Messiah he''s a blasphemer.[/quote][Y] An object lesson in how opinion moulds perception rather than the other way round. And as a corollary, thank goodness for the ricardos amongst us!
  6. westcoastcanary
    Has the big screen been showing any football or just switching between Lambert and Neil followed by shots of ricardo biting his fingernails? [;)]
  7. westcoastcanary
    Brighton could have been us [:(]
  8. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="Derby Canary"]Transfer windows under this management/board nothing ever happens! Rumours abound, our players are priced out of the market, and we whinge about asking prices. Why? Because the people that control run our Club simply have not got a clue! If they had a clue Sat''s visiting boss would still be running our Club and he would have continued to build a Club that we all could be proud of instead of the laughing stock it is now![/quote]Good grief, have I missed something. Are Bowkett and McNally back?
  9. westcoastcanary
    kc, they are linked by both being decisions that Neil will make; if you say "I have no faith in this manager to make decisions on the buying and selling of players", that refers to every such decision. Since this also include the decisons to e.g. buy Klose, Oliveira, Pinto, Godfrey and Maddison, I''m genuinely puzzled as to what exactly your total distrust is founded on. It seems to me that you are letting the "failures" (Andreu; er, others?) unfairly cloud your judgement.
  10. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="king canary"]@Morty What it boils down to for me now is I have no faith in this manager to make decisions on the buying and selling of players. There may well be nothing in the Pritchard talk but it doesn''t sound unbelievable that Neil would be happy to move on Pritchard- something I think would be a big mistake.[/quote]Then do you also think it "doesn''t sound unbelievable" that Neil would be happy to keep Lafferty? After all, that would be no less extraordinary than showing Pritchard the door!
  11. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="king canary"]Genuine question re Godfrey- does anyone know his best position? I''ve seen him at right back and central midfield, someone on here mentioned centre back, he was listed as a midfielder when we signed him. Any idea?[/quote] "I don’t think centre midfield is his best position, which is why it was so pleasing to see him put in that performance. His discipline and ability to fill holes was pleasing but for me his best position is right centre back. That is where he has operated for the most part in the development side. That is where he will go on and have a career." (AN in the EDP article which prompted this thread.
  12. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="FenwayFrank"]There are plenty of players at clubs that don''t feel they need to speak to someone about their performances. Bradley Wiggins always said he didn''t need any help from a very well regarded psychologist and he seemed to do ok on his own.[/quote]While that''s no doubt true FF, sports psychology is not just about individuals. The psychology of a group is critical to achieving a whole greater than the sum of its parts.
  13. westcoastcanary
    There was a lot of moaning about Maddison being loaned to Aberdeen at the start of the season. Is anybody now of the opinion that he didn''t benefit enormously from it? Does anybody now think it would have been better for Maddison if he hadn''t been loaned out?
  14. westcoastcanary
    Sorry, that was replying to VanWink, not you FF.
  15. westcoastcanary
    [Y] though I think you are rather jumping to a diagnosis from an inevitably incomplete investigation of symptoms. The points I''m making are more general and strategic, to do with resource allocation than the current performance of our team. I''m pretty sure Parma would say that this is another area where English football lags far behind (in contrast to many other sports in this country, especially individual ones).
  16. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="norfolkbroadslim"][quote user="FenwayFrank"]As I said, it''s up to the players whether they use him or not[/quote]Is this the case at most clubs?[/quote]It''s a pretty safe bet it is at "most clubs", as FF says. But we aren''t interested in practice at most clubs; we are/should be interested in gaining an edge against our immediate competition or at least ensuring we are as competitive as possible within the limitations of our means. People tend to think only of the implications of relegation in terms of keeping and paying players. IMO maintaining the supporting infrastructure is actually more important, since on it depends your ability to get the best out of your squad.
  17. westcoastcanary
    I''m replying only to reassure you that something does exist outside your mind VanWink [;)] I''m surprised Ray hasn''t posted about AN having said at some point in some context that he doesn''t attach great importance to psychology. Still, that doesn''t mean we don''t have a sports psychologist working with our players. It would be interesting to know a bit more about the support services/infrastructure available (or not) to coaches and players, not just psychology but physio dept, analytics, and so on. Also to what extent cuts are affecting them following relegation.
  18. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="Rogue Baboon"]These is no reason why Chris Hughton could not have done at Norwich what he has done at Brighton...[/quote]I presume RB is quoting McVeigh. But the source doesn''t matter; a truth is a truth whoever happens to utter it. And anyway, it''s not quite true; there was a reason, namely the short-sightedness of people who should have known better.Thanks to those who were there last night for their more balanced verdicts. As for some others, their agendas clearly matter more to them than truth.
  19. westcoastcanary
    Of course it is morty, like the moon is made of green cheese. Personally I believe Bowkett about why Lambert resigned -- impatience (I presume with the pace at which the club could afford to loosen the purse strings). Whether he wanted to sign Benteke or not I have no idea; what we do know is that he was given a much larger amount to fritter away at the "big club" he rushed off to, the eventual outcome of which we can all judge for ourselves.
  20. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="Salford"]As someone correctly pointed out earlier, perspective means nothing without context. I could sit here and say I''m still learning how to use the toilet. That would be alright if I was two years old, but sitting in wet pants in your thirties isn''t such a good idea. Where we were 30, 40, 50 years ago doesn''t matter so much now. What''s important is learning from the past and using it to make decisions in the present that will have a positive impact on your future. At the moment, I''m not sure our club is doing that.[/quote]On the contrary, that is exactly what I see happening. Twice now our response to relegation from the top tier has been to prioritise an immediate return, the chosen method being to retain as many of the relegation squad as possible, strengthening where necessary as circumstances allow. At the same time, a realistic appreciation of the risks inherent in this approach has seen clever execution of a fall-back strategy, the institution of which was signalled by the signing of Thompson, whereby a much younger, fully motivated and energetic team-in-waiting is being crafted in case the current strategy should fail. There is no shortage of people who think that the "lesson" we should have learned from the recent past is that you have to be prepared to "invest" (= gamble) big money that you haven''t actually got, in the hope of achieving salvation in the form of future TV revenues. That is not learning from the past at all; it is pure wishful thinking on the part of people who can''t distinguish what is best for the club from a headlong pursuit of  their quest for personal gratification.
  21. westcoastcanary
    "A very attack-minded, left-footed full-back with pace who can play the ball out from the back" is how one of his ex-managers describes him.
  22. westcoastcanary
    [quote user="ZLF"]could be ours, aberdeen or the FAs fault. But as an attacking central midfielder was he ever in line for the defensive midfield positions - or further accusations of playing people out of position?[/quote]Or, in point of fact, nobody''s fault. If people are constantly looking for something to blame someone for, all sorts of "faults" can be manufactured out of nothing.
  23. westcoastcanary
    @BroadstairsRFair play to you Broadstairs; all of us get things wrong, not all will acknowledge it.Regarding lower league gems, the fact that we haven''t brought in the type of player you''re talking about (as opposed to the promising youngsters we all know about) doesn''t mean we haven''t had them on our radar. I think it mainly reflects the deliberate policy we''ve pursued up to now (both times) of trying to keep our ex-PL squad together and building from there with players of equivalent or better quality and experience. Look at the kind of players PL strugglers sign, for example Olsson!
  24. westcoastcanary
    First step in a very necessary rebuild. I too wish MO well, a good professional who didn''t let failing to secure a move last year (when Swansea were interested) affect his performances for us. A good move for him at this stage of his career, despite the likelihood that only a backup role awaits once Taylor has recovered, and with relegation a real possibility.
  25. westcoastcanary
    @norfolkngoodI agree that AN has not got the best out of the squad, but there are many different possible reasons why that may be. My own feeling is that it is almost certainly a combination of several reasons and sheer managerial ineptitude is unlikely to be the whole answer. It is simplistic to think that another manager could just come in and sort it out. Villa thought Lambert would go in and sort them out; he didn''t. Sunderland have proved beyond the capacity of several decent managers to sort out. Squads become dysfunctional and need a comprehensive rebuild; that''s where I think we are. If you have followed my posts over time you will know that IMO the seeds of our problems were sown long ago, paradoxically under Lambert, and compounded by our insistence on returning immediately to the EPL when relegated. We were ill-prepared when we first went up, and short-term thinking has meant we are still no better prepared now. I have seen evidence over the last couple of years (e.g. with the policy of signing promising youngsters like Thompson, Maddison et.al.) that the board has seen the light in this respect, and what we are experiencing now is a longer-term strategy being pursued.
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