HampsteadCanary

Surprising that when we get our best technical players on the pitch we look good! Wes and Hooper, Olsson and Redmond, and Snoddy and Martin combining well. Russ particularly looking back to his marauding best. Just need to sharpen up on our shooting...looking good though, COYY!!!!

So our wingers have not been producing (although three of them have been out for periods of time during the season) so why not try a formation that doesn''t use them? Players like Snodgrass and Redmond if they''re not producing on the wings could be tried inside, or in different positions. Just because they played most of their careers in one position, doesn''t mean they won''t be effective in another. See Wes. 4-1-2-1-2 diamond would solve that. Ruddy Martin-Turner-Bassong-Olsson Johnson (Tettey when he''s fit) Fer - Howson Hoolahan RVW - Hooper Wes reverts to his free role, has two forwards ahead of him to pass to, Johnson stays as far away from the opposition''s penalty area as possible (at least four wasted long shots on Thursday!) Then introducing one winger if we''re struggling for Johnson, the team still has a good balance. Ultimately, we just don''t move around the pitch enough to give the player with the ball options to pass to. They look like statues sometimes, and they need to want the ball, and look for angles to get it. We have moments in games where the one touch football looks beautiful (see Elmander and Hooper''s flick ons in the WBA game) but really, the midfield don''t offer enough movement OFF the ball to give the defence an option to pass to. Therefore most of our moves actually break down around the half way line, or just inside the opposition half. That invites more pressure. Then when we DO get the ball near the penalty area, we slow the play right down. The tactics are god-awful, its horrible to watch, the players don''t look motivated, and I can see us being right down there at the end of the season. Don''t want to be a gloom monger, but Hughton really needs to buck his attacking ideas up.

I can understand the pessimism, but don''t you think Malky would be a much better shout that Gunn, seeing as he actually has PL management experience, Neil Adams has won the youth cup and prides himself on tactical awareness and Hucks just had unbelievable tekkers.... Deehans spell managing the club was hardly successful and he hadn''t been part of the management side of the game for a long time, Gunn was out of his depth and Crook was managing in the fairly weak A-League

scarlett johansson replaces Delia....

Just saying, imagine these three leading our club forward in a few years....defensive nous, midfield class and true attacking prowess. Formidable ex-players who love the club, all gaining good experience at different levels of management and training young players. Could even get Greeno in as GK coach, he''ll be retired in a few years!

I''m sure you realise it was tongue in cheek JDT, however his value in the dressing room is second to none IMO. If players like Russ, BJ, Wes and maybe Ruddy move on in the next two windows, most of the players that have shown strong leadership on the pitch and the longest service to our club would be gone. Real long term dedication to the club is not to be sniffed at.

We don''t play them until 1st March :( Maybe we''ll have re-signed Holt by then as well!

Did any one else notice his little choke when he mentioned losing to Villa last season? I wonder if it hurts the players losing to Judas Villa more than other teams as much as it does us supporters. I would LOVE us to thrash them next time we play them....just saying! Hate seeing that smug little face in the away dugout at CR even though he''s an NCFC legend.

that Huckerby goal against Birmingham when he dribbled from inside his own half beating about 7 players and then slotting it in from the edge of the box, that was pretty special! I remember Robert Fleck scoring an outrageous flick in his second stint with us, facing away from goal and hooking the ball backwards over the advancing keeper and into the far post. The goal was disallowed though as the ref had blown for a free kick when he should have played advantage. The Zola cup back heel was nice too!

I seem to remember us being linked with Liam Bridcutt a lot over the summer, although I''ve never seen him play...

Kelly Brook will be dead by then

Do most of you subscribe on here? Starting to get a bit fed up of it, no sign of the Hughton WBA press conference even though there are bits of it up on the club''s Youtube channel. Doesn''t seem to be a point any more if they''re just going to upload it all to Youtube anyway. The highlights are rubbish as well, its all filmed in HD for sky so why is the quality always so poor. The whole website is shocking, hard to use and tacky! Rant over, sorry!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW9NWKUKKrY&feature=c4-overview&list=UUzdkZv6--BWsUQ9rKUtQ1TQ

Manc - I agree about both types of wingers having their benefits, but its about making sure it suits the rest of the team. Having pacy direct wingers seems to suit Hooper (and probably RVW, they''re quite similar) a lot better. RVW scored from whittakers a right ring cross (although I think it was actually a left footed slice) and hooper''s scored from two first time balls when he was facing goal. Our wingers need to be highly productive, scoring goals if they''re inverted. So far Snoddy has scored one free kick, and not got an assist as far as I can remember. We have scored twice from Olsson''s early crosses. Redmond''s shooting boots have left him since that first game, so playing him on the right where he''s less likely to shoot but more likely to create something special for someone else is the better bet until he gets his eye in again. Snoddy wasn''t delivering on the right, Redmond does. I too think Redmond will be amazing, and better than Snoddy, but Snoddy does have experience on his side. I''d rather see Redmond start as he is young, exciting, direct and nearly always has the beating of his man.

Graham I think you need a higher quality of centre forward than we have to play that back to goal style: think of Dzeko''s goal against us this season, or some of Michu''s play from last year. Those players make something out of nothing, but we need to get good service to our forwards as they''re not quite as creative. I guess an inverted winger simply doesn''t create the best angles to cross (given Holt''s record last season) or play in strikers or advancing midfielders. Some of the interplay, 1-2s, and reverse passes we haven''t seen at Carrow Road for a long time, and I put that down to Wes. He never got to play with Fer as he was out for the Everton game and Wes never got back in the team.

The problem is, do you play our best players even though they might not make the best team!? For example, Snoddy won''t provide the kind of service that Hooper/RVW need, but is obviously a better player than Redmond (at the moment). Picking the best team isn''t necessarily picking the best players.

I think you''re right Newcastle, although I''d be tempted to put a fully fit Pilks on the left, and bring Redmond on as an impact sub. Is Redmond more effective than Bennett on the right though? We didn''t see much of Bennett last season due to Snoddy''s heroics! Beautifully presented as well!

Has anyone notice that our goal on Saturday came from a right footed winger on the right wing, running at pace towards the box, knocking it to a central midfielder supporting the striker on the edge of the box, to a left footed player on the left wing, who played the ball to our centre forward in the penalty area, with his face to goal, who kicked the ball into the net. And it was all one touch football apart from Hooper''s sublime first touch to get it out of his feet and score a simple winner. These are things we''ve been talking about on here as the solution to our attacking problems, and its taken a series of injuries for Hughton to discover how to get the most out of our strikers. I also think we were unlucky not to get more out of that first half, with Elmander''s unbelievable effort from Redmond''s right footed free kick from the right hand side, and a possible penalty for obvious shirt pulling on Bassong, we could have been 3-0 up. However the second half performance still left a lot to be desired. Carry on with that sort of approach play and we''ll score a lot more.

4-2-1-3 Martin - Bennett - Bassong - Olsson Howson - Fer Wes Redmond - Elmander - Hooper Allow a fluid front four, keep the scouse back three occupied, and it doesn''t really matter about restricting Howson and Fer to sit a little deeper, as they would be doing that anyway against a team with good movement and players like Liverpool, especially with Hughton in charge. No surprise we played some inventive football in the first half on Saturday when we got out best technical players combining on the pitch (thank you Wes!!)

I wonder if the two are related, that the players don''t feel in good shape and therefore not up to the demands of the game. As someone else posted on here, its only after a goal goes in that they believe they are good enough. They ARE good enough, Hughton doesn''t seem to be able to get them to believe it

I think its a toe injury, seems to be a rather long running saga, should have been fit weeks ago. Maybe we should just forfeit the rest of the season and let Pilks, Bassong, Tetty, Benno and RvW have 8 months off and get fully fit and start again next year! Pilks'' fitness is terrible, always injured!

Ruddy Whittaker Bennett Bassong Olsson Redmond Fer Hoolahan Howson Murphy Hooper/RVP

Villa have played a game less than us and are 3 points ahead....

I think the difference between Lambert and Hughton is that when a first team member was out injured under Lambert, whoever came in to replace them would perform to try and keep their shirt....eg when Holt was out, Morison had a good run and scored 8-10 goals that season as our reserve striker, with Holt scoring 15 I think. Under Hughton, whoever has come in to the 11 seems short of confidence and match sharpness eg Fox, Hoolahan, now Johnson. Players don''t seem motivated to keep their place when given a start, probably because they know that when the other player is fit again, they''ll lose their place.

Under Lambert, we saw our squad as fit as they could possibly be, coupled with huge amounts of desire. ''Larger'' players like Holt would close players down for 90 mins, and still be popping up with match winning goals in the last 5 mins of games. I can''t remember a time when we had so many first team players out missing, and I can''t help but think our fitness is linked to the injuries AND performances. We seem to huff and puff in most games, with the whole team seeming a yard or two off the pace. The one game where we looked good for the whole 90 mins was Stoke, where we played a high line, and pressed the opposition back. How it hasn''t occurred to Hughton or the players that this is the best way for us to play is beyond me. Man City played like that against us, and we''ve played like that against Stoke, so why can''t we play like that against the other teams. If its good enough for the top teams, then its good enough for us, and we''ve seen the rewards it can bring us. Its not about ability, its about desire. We can only show that level of desire if the players are at their peak physical condition.