HampsteadCanary

Surman was a part of some of our best football in the first season, such as the Swansea and Wolves games. And who would rather have Fox than Johnson in the middle at the moment!? I think Fer Howson and Fox have enough good attributes between them to boss a poor Crystal Palace team. This was supposed to be the squad with the most depth that we''ve had for years, now its being tested to its limits and coming up short. Any way, we''ll see a return to 442 against Palace, with Elmander and Hooper upfront, and we''ll probably see Redmond on the left, Johnson and Fer in the middle and Howson played wide right like that joke of a line-up we saw against Hull.

Johnson is a hard worker, and needs to be at the top of his game to look good, otherwise the rest of his game tends to go unnoticed, such as hassling the opposition, breaking up play. Its not a glorious role but a necessary one. The problem is Alex Tettey is better at him than all of this. His shooting from distance has not been good since he joined, and his distance distribution has been poor at times as well. I think bringing in better players, or players that are more comfortable on the ball has made Johnson''s limitations more obvious as well.

I think another player of the quality of Fer would be vital....someone with class who can get stuck in as well... and there''s no reason why they couldn''t play together. We have a good DCM in the form of Tettey, and Johnson is capable of playing that role. He just needs to not shoot from 30 yards every time...leave that to Howson!

Surely its a foul, because he makes a challenge for the ball, doesn''t get it. and trips Hooper up. On the topic of diving, anyone remember that Ramires penatly from our game against Chelsea in Lambert''s first season, when he was moving away from the goal and already on his way over before Ruddy got anywhere near him. The ref bought it, and then we were 2-1 down. Clubs like ours need fairer treatment in the premier league, as those margins cost us a lot of money, and the gap is big enough already.

Always have my tea in an NCFC mug before the game :)

I am delighted with the result today, but we really have to push on this time. After each league win so far this season, we have failed to even draw the next game. Newcastle is a great opportunity for at least a point and Crystal Palace are there for the taking. Hughton and the players have to take the lessons from today and the last few weeks and put them into practice. We can''t afford another Hull or Villa. Massive positives from today include three of our attacking options getting off the mark for the season. Hooper, Fer and Snodgrass all took their chances, and a few golden opportunities were wasted as well. How the management fail to see what we see from the stands bemuses me sometimes though. Our best games and performances have come when we press as a team, and we let Howson off the leash! He said he let Howson push forward more in the second half, why did he have to tell him? Its clearly Howson''s best position, so between him and Fer they should be able to decide to push on themselves (leaving one sitting), it shouldn''t take permission from the manager for our best attacking midfielder to attack. There''s too much fear and not enough freedom when attacking. Notice that when Johnson came on, it let Fer push on and get into the advanced position to score. Also, it seemed to me that we were trying to pick that killer ball through a very crowded central area in the first half, when our wingers were actually in space for the first time! Our choices of how to use the ball have been very poor this season, and it has to change. We need a result of sorts at Newcastle, otherwise our unbeaten record this season will remain at 1 game, and that is terrible! Today should give players like Hooper and Fer the confidence to push on, and if they do, then our season will look a lot brighter in 2 games time.

I thought Fer wasn''t really up to his usual standard in the first half. Trying to do too much with the ball too deep, cost us possession a lot. I really thought Elmander had a terrible 90, need to get either a proper partner for Hooper or someone to feed him properly.

[quote user="skippdogg"]4-0 put your rent on it[/quote] to us!? I hope so :)

This! Would solve a lot of our problems....and then we buy a ball playing rock solid centre half for 10 million...SORTED!

The 4-1-4-1 seems to get the midfield working better, as proven in the Arsenal/Chelsea/Cardiff games, as we had good spells of possession against the big clubs and all the ball against Cardiff. We just failed to make it count when we did make chances....look at Elmander with that chance from BJ''s cross against City on Saturday. I think we all knew chances were at a premium last year, so the new strikers were brought in to take that one (hopefully clear cut) chance we were likely to make in each game (thanks to unadventurous tactics). Being clinical is a huge part of being a premier league team, and at the moment our strikers aren''t clinical when they DO get the chance. Most teams in the prem have at least one player who can make something out of nothing, a technically gifted player or someone with blistering pace. Our man is Redmond, I have to say. He''s the only one (apart from occasionally Pilks and Howson) who defenders are shit scared of, its how we use him that matters. I think until he learns how to track back as well as Snod and Pilks do, playing him off the front man is the answer...doesn''t weaken the defence/midfield and gives the opposition something to worry about, which we haven''t done much!

Yes to Ryan Bennett against West Ham....had the Stoke centre forwards in his pocket all game. I wonder if a ball playing CB would be a good buy in January, someone who is able to deal with pressure at the back and get us going forward quickly...

Michael Turner?

We are all aware that Southampton are doing much better than us this season (yes they have money/a good youth academy etc), but the manager that was brought in has kept the club philosophy from Adkins, as has Laudrup at Swansea. Our problem is that Hughton came in and either didn''t agree with the way we played before or didn''t think the players could handle it any more. Therefore we changed our style completely to the rather dull defensive approach that we''ve all been moaning about. Now he brings in some better attacking options in the summer, and decides to revert to the way we played before...good passing football, but leaving ourselves a lot more open to counters. So each system he has introduced has failed in one sense, from the hangover of the previous. Last season our players were frustrated as they were shackled to a shape that they weren''t allowed to break from. However, they got very good at defending with that shape, even though it was very dull to watch and didn''t provide enough goals. They were trained to play free flowing attacking football under Lambert, but were asked to play a rigid formation under Hughton - no continuity. This season, we have tried to get a lot more movement, which was severely lacking last season, but the players still have last season''s tactics hanging over them...so they''re still getting used to being allowed to swap wings, interchange positions, or "break from the shape" as Hughton calls it. However, this has undone all the good work that Hughton put in with the defence, and now we can''t score OR defend! Last season it took at least 8 games for them to get used to Hughton''s defensive tactics, so its fair to say that four league games into this more attacking approach, we''re not seeing the fruits of it yet. Not only have we had to gel the new players into the old system, but a new system has been introduced 5 games into the season. So new players are trying to get used to one system first, then change, and our old players are trying to adapt to a new philosophy as well. We didn''t play this new way in pre season, but looking back at last years football, we should have done! I think what frustrates me as a supporter, is that Hughton hasn''t built on last year''s success (I''m sorry, finishing 11th is a success in my book!). He needed to build on that solid foundation, using the defensive discipline that we nurtured last year, with a lot more freedom for the attacking players.

I don''t think anyone would blame Hughton for going with a more defensive approach on Saturday...stop the rot I say! We can''t afford to ship that amount of goals again to risk playing our new, more open attacking philosophy, so the emphasis should go back to keeping a clean sheet. This approach served us well against the big clubs last season, and as we''ve seen in 3 of the last 4 matches, shouldn''t be dismissed. I would start with Martin Turner Bassoon Garrido Whittaker Fer Johnson Olsson Howson Hooper/RvW Go for defensive stability: Whittaker and Olsson have created or scored 4 of our 6 league goals this season...so playing them higher up and crossing with the appropriate foot might just create for us the chances we''ve been waiting for. And get Howson closer to the striker (which ever is fit....who knows which one of them is actually in the better form!?)

Green and Yella - we''re agreed that we want to see fight and determination in our players! He needs to find a way to motivate them EVERY game...sometimes we look motivated, take the game to the opposition and get nothing, and the rest of the time we look poor and still get nothing. Not sure how much influence the club has over radio norfolk as far as picking the co-commentators go, but most of the pros (McVeigh, Forbes, Eadie, and now Robins) seem to back Hughton all the time. I''m willing to stick with him, as I think he''s the best we''l get!

Oh and Hughton is tactically aware as well! That''s news to me

yeah he doesn''t pay through the nose to watch us get beaten every week

The guy on Canary Call sounds very depressed....DON''T DO IT, you''ve got so much to live for!!!

This is true Stan, but they''d all walk into our team!

All of these players have started premier league games for us this season, and most have had at least one good game. The ones that haven''t started the last 4 games should be doing everything to show the manager they want to be in the 1st team. Our squad is of a pretty similar standard apart from a few positions, so the team selection doesn''t matter to me. Where are the players mentally? Confidence is low...another 4 goals conceded. Maybe we should return to our defensive 4-2-3-1 and try and nick points again, because this more attacking style of play is conceding goals and we''re not scoring either!

How hard is it to create a chance?

So Bassong nor Bennett thought it would be a good idea to pick up the only man in the middle...or challenge for the loose ball. PS Redmond on the right.... :)

Murphy for Hoolahan at half time, play murphy wide left, Redmond wide right, try snoddy in behind Elmander....then try Howson in for Snoddy and Hooper on for Elmander. I don''t know....

That''s a fair point Shack, is Bassong good enough on the ball to be that player? I guess there aren''t many ball playing centre halves that we could afford in January....

I posted this very same idea about 2 months ago, and it had a mixed reception. My idea was Martin - Turner - Bassong Tettey - Fer Snod/Redmond - Howson/Wes - Olsson RVW - Hooper Although the real problem is that are strikers aren''t playing high enough up the pitch, and Howson /Fer aren''t getting close enough to them. RvW is coming short to receive the ball and then isn''t up top when he needs to be. We all know that Snoddy isn''t being direct enough. When was the last time RvW or whoever received a pass into feet on the edge of the D, or we played a 5/10 yd pass from outside the box for the CF to run onto?