It's a question of bravery

[Canary02 IV 0]

We know we have good players. All hyperbole of the day aside, these players proved themselves last season.

So we have a situation where good players have played appallingly, where before they played at least adequately.

The difference is obviously in the management the coaches and the tactics.

We played an extremely cautious 4-5-1/4-4-1-1 hybrid formation which not one of our players seemed comfortable operating in. This is the same system that the coaching staff have been implementing for all of pre-season, and which the players have looked equally uncomfortable with throughout that time.

The system is one that CH and his team have decided to be suitable for us to meet our requirements of staying in this division. Unfortunately this requires shoehorning our players into the formation rather than utilising the good players we have in positions that they are comfortable with.

If the result today proves anything, it''s that the system is yet to work and the players are yet to show any understanding of it, or any positive reaction to the last few weeks of training and coaching.

This isn''t a knee-jerk criticism based on one game but it''s something that we have all feared since the pre-season games began.

CH is now at a very difficult crossroads. He can persevere with his Plan A or change tactics. The problem is that he''s played the same system in every match since he arrived here. There has been no experimenting with a Plan B. There appears to be no Plan B. Even today the response to the half time score was just to replace the bloke playing off the striker with a striker but keep everyone else as they were.

I hate comparing CH to PL but for me PL''s biggest positive as a manager was that when one of his ideas wasn''t working, he acknowledged this and changed it quickly. No ego issues. I tried something, I was wrong, I''ll try and fix it with one of the other options that the players are comfortable with.

CH is his own man, but he needs to display similar honesty and humility here. He needs to be brave and change what''s clearly not working and not right for us.

In the same way he has to be brave and believe in the players. We are one of the lesser lights of this division and there are a few games that we will need to go into with an eye on damage limitation more than pressing for the win. But we can''t play that way in every game. And Fulham should not be one of the teams that we have to look to "hang on" against for 90 mins, which is what CH intimated was his hope for us today. They were made to look better than they were today because we were poor. They deserve respect but not undue reverence. If we play like we''re weak and scared we will become prey in this division and we have a young team that if taught to play in a negative, timid, victim mindset will become the epitome of that mindset.

CH has to be brave, change his tactics, and his negativity. We need a manager who wants the challenge of winning matches at the highest level. Not a nice guy who is a bit scared of the big boys and just pleased if the little club he has can show up and not look too bad.

If he isn''t brave then we have a Managing Director who isn''t afraid to make brave decisions.

[morty 0]

Good, common sense post[Y]I do wonder how we got away with our barnstorming tactics last year though, we did ship a hell of a lot of goals.So I can totally understand why he needs to tighten things up a bit.It clearly needs some tinkering though.

[Phillip J Fry 0]

Drop Holt, play a more direct midfielder behind Morison and watch the 4-4-1-1 flourish. 

[Yellowbeagle 0]

Totally agree great post. We will see what sort of manager CH is over the next few weeks is he a guy who can be flexible in approach, tactics or will he be a manager who has one way of playing. He''s a good manager i dont doubt what i am worried about is whether his approach is going to fit with the players he has avaliable to him, the after match interview actually worried me far more than the performance on the pitch today. All can change yet, i just hope he came across differently to how he intended and we''ll see that it wasnt a footballing philosophy he was stating because he''ll have to work a minor miracle to make us a team that can contain Scunthorpe defensively let alone PL opposition.

[barclay seats 4849 0]

[quote user="morty"]Good, common sense post[Y]

I do wonder how we got away with our barnstorming tactics last year though, we did ship a hell of a lot of goals.

So I can totally understand why he needs to tighten things up a bit.

It clearly needs some tinkering though.
[/quote]

"Some Tinkering "  give me strength ................nothing about how we played today ..... or for that matter in the pre season .....has worked in any way !!!!

it needs a major f****ng  overhaul ... !!!

[Hairy Canary 701]

[quote user="Gareth"]Drop Holt, play a more direct midfielder behind Morison and watch the 4-4-1-1 flourish. [/quote]

 

Or we could be more adventurous and play like we did last season when we finished 12th

[morty 0]

[quote user="barclay seats "]

[quote user="morty"]Good, common sense post[Y]I do wonder how we got away with our barnstorming tactics last year though, we did ship a hell of a lot of goals.So I can totally understand why he needs to tighten things up a bit.It clearly needs some tinkering though.[/quote]

"Some Tinkering "  give me strength ................nothing about how we played today ..... or for that matter in the pre season .....has worked in any way !!!!

it needs a major f****ng  overhaul ... !!!

[/quote]So, clever trousers, whats to be done then, sack him after one game?

[Canary Poirot 1]

[quote user="morty"]Good, common sense post[Y]I do wonder how we got away with our barnstorming tactics last year though, we did ship a hell of a lot of goals.So I can totally understand why he needs to tighten things up a bit.It clearly needs some tinkering though.[/quote]

If we got away with barnstorming tactics last year, why can''t we this year?

 

We finished third in the Premiership, once, very long ago. And did you know, we finished 3rd with a negative goal difference too.

 

So who cares if we ship a lot of goals. If it means we win more than our fair share.

 

If we turn up playing 4-5-1 every week we''ll lose 1-0, 2-0, and occasionaly 5-0 and sometimes we''ll draw 1-1, but ultimately we''ll go down meekly.

[morty 0]

[quote user="Canary Poirot"]

[quote user="morty"]Good, common sense post[Y]I do wonder how we got away with our barnstorming tactics last year though, we did ship a hell of a lot of goals.So I can totally understand why he needs to tighten things up a bit.It clearly needs some tinkering though.[/quote]

If we got away with barnstorming tactics last year, why can''t we this year?

 

We finished third in the Premiership, once, very long ago. And did you know, we finished 3rd with a negative goal difference too.

 

So who cares if we ship a lot of goals. If it means we win more than our fair share.

 

If we turn up playing 4-5-1 every week we''ll lose 1-0, 2-0, and occasionaly 5-0 and sometimes we''ll draw 1-1, but ultimately we''ll go down meekly.

[/quote]Okay, prepare yourself for this news.......We no longer have Paul Lambert.Chris Hughton isn''t Paul Lambert. Do you think though, just for shits and giggles he is deliberately doing things differently, or could it be that different managers prefer differing tactics?And I believe that Sir Paul of Lambert has favoured, on occasion,a lone striker away from home.Also, we didn''t have the best of starts last season, the formation evolved, the fitness improved.Sometimes, in the best league in the world you have to play with your head, and sometimes it really is best to play tight, especially away from home, and maybe nick the odd goal. It didn''t work today, for lots of reasons, but thats not to say it will never work.