Chris Hughton's Defensive Deal With The Devil - Blog Post

[Legend Iwan 30]

A little bit about why we shouldn''t all worry at the moment.

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[TCCANARY 263]

Chris Hughton''s Defensive Deal With The Devil

No-one will have been over-joyed with Saturday’s result, especially as it leaves us with a run of six matches that if you’re inclined, as I am, to indulge in those game prediction simulators, doesn’t make for pretty reading by the end of October. But as we all know from last season, and you only have to turn a casting eye here to see how difficult Mark Lawrenson found it, forecasting results is not as formulaic as it first seems.

A win at Tottenham, home draw with Chelsea (including our first clean sheet of the season) and draw away to Arsenal were never realistic possibilities at the time - if they had, Ladbrokes would be severely out of pocket. But the reassuring difference this season - whilst we have not picked up the supposed points that many would have hoped for and, in some cases, expected – is the significant strength and resolution to task in our starting back five.

I cannot remember a time when we’ve looked so secure or when the defence has consisted of the same personnel for three consecutive matches and the likelihood it will continue that way. Now, I’m not saying Chris Hughton is part of the illuminati, not directly anyway, but if he has sold our soul to the defensive devil in a bid for Premiership survival, as it seems he may, then there is no reason why it shouldn’t pay off.

After all, the benefits of this ploy are plain to see. Too often tweaks were made last season to our defence, some uncontrollable through injury, which meant a lack of consistency to the side. Whilst we may tinker with the attacking line-up - an expansive array of talent that will prove valuable as the season chips away - on a weekly basis until a solution is found with our struggle to score, the backbone of the team has been constructed.

In truth, the real issue over the past three games is not the supply of chances and a negative setup dictated by Hughton, as some would have you believe – we had 20 shots against West Ham and 11 on target - but the simple misfiring of our forwards. Those same naysayers are also pointing at Grant Holt and, with the authority of a kangaroo-court judge and the characteristics of a bloated anteater, pronouncing his case as a “one-season wonder” while wailing profusely for a proven Premiership goalscorer in his place. The irony is wasted on them.

That’s not to say he should make the next starting 11, quite the contrary, but the response to his lack of scoring in the first four matches is boarding on pathological. There is no reason, just as last year and the year before, why Holt will not prove his worth once again. Many choose to discount the past and focus solely on the present - the here and now. It’s a plausible stance to take, after all, so much has changed; a new manager has taken the reins, the line-up is a hybrid to the fledgling side we witnessed against Wigan and there seems to be a mental shift within the supporters’ psyche that we should no longer be simply targeting survival but equaling if not bettering our previous finishing place. It is all about progress, no?

Yet Lambert had two seasons with Norwich prior to embarking on the Premier League challenge and could only muster two points from our first four matches. The teams we’ve faced his season are of a similar stature to then, and Hughton has gone beyond that total with just a preseason to gauge the squad at his disposal and plan for following nine months. This doesn’t excuse the substitution in the last 25 minutes against West Ham; we looked flat and exhausted of ideas in midfield, however, the memory of the mauling at Craven Cottage is likely to resonate still and losing to the Hammers’ in that situation would have been unforgivable. While we may be failing to win matches, we’re doing so without losing them - a test we couldn’t overcome before.

posted on 16 September 2012 22:24 by Legend Iwan