Hate to be picky, but...

[Tetteys Jig 851]

...are we ever going to win by more than 1 goal?

[BarclayCanary (Former HDDH) 0]

Stop moaning, a win is a win be happy.

[Bill 1,788]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"]...are we ever going to win by more than 1 goal?[/quote]

 

yes

 

 

[ImDrunky 0]

Still get the 3pts no matter how many goals you get.

[Branston Pickle 4,149]

To be fair, without their keeper we would have won by at least 2 or 3, but there are no more points for having a bigger win so who really cares - 3pts is 3pts; has to be said that our negative goal difference looks a little odd among all the others in the top half - but again, who really cares!

[Crispy 4]

CH is not a win by more than 1 kind of guy.

Slender wins & mature controlling of the game is our new style. Slow & steady wins the race, not all guns blazing.

[BroadstairsR 2,273]

A win is a win and it really shouldn''t matter about the margin. This is the Premiership and no team is going to  give up and down and die. Even lowly Wigan looked more than useful for most of the game.

 

The last time I glanced at the league table we were an extremely comfortable seventh. Quite spectacular considering our comparative spending.

 

What on Earth is there to be "picky" about that?

[a1canary 0]

I might have said the same earlier in the season crispy but having seen the game today completely blew away the idea that we don''t play to win or that we''re ''conservative.''

We absolutely bossed that first half and Hughton was constantly waving them up the pitch. He was been irritated a few times now by us not taking bigger leads when we''re in command and but for Al Habsi and a bit more luck it would have been just like Swansea and a 3-0 half time lead. Playing like that i expect us to have some bigger winning margins in the second half of the season.

[yoda 0]

I think the day we win by more than one goal will be the same game we get a penalty !

[drurys testamonials V 15 0]

[quote user="Branston Pickle"]

To be fair, without their keeper we would have won by at least 2 or 3, but there are no more points for having a bigger win so who really cares - 3pts is 3pts; has to be said that our negative goal difference looks a little odd among all the others in the top half - but again, who really cares!

[/quote]

 

It''s points what count not goals. Remember we went into Europe with a negative goal difference under Walker.

[Salopian 1]

We do need more goals. Among the "top" teams we stand out like a sore thumb in having a minus goal difference and it''s minus 6. In the run-in at the end of the season, and not expecting to be relegated now, each position higher means a million pounds more Sky money, and to fail by one or two goals would be a pity.

 

The other thing to say is that we have some difficult games coming up, and as we are no longer keeping clean sheets, we shall be punished if we fail to make passes count and also fail to take our chances.

 

I buy the 1-0 is as good as 2-1 or 3-2 assertion, but there are these other factors.

[Graham Humphrey 13]

We did, of course, finish third in 1992-93 with a negative goal difference so it''s not something to get overly concerned about I think.

[Jacko 0]

The only criticism I had yesterday was that we could and should of had a greater cushion at half time. But ulimately a win only counts for 3 points whether you win 5-0 or 1-0. Credit to the team once again for showing they are made of really strong stuff as well. After the equaliser went in some teams may have thought it wasn''t going to be their day, having dominated the first half and seen an abysmal refereeing performance. But they kept going and got the rewards.

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="a1canary"]I might have said the same earlier in the season crispy but having seen the game today completely blew away the idea that we don''t play to win or that we''re ''conservative.'' We absolutely bossed that first half and Hughton was constantly waving them up the pitch. He was been irritated a few times now by us not taking bigger leads when we''re in command and but for Al Habsi and a bit more luck it would have been just like Swansea and a 3-0 half time lead. Playing like that i expect us to have some bigger winning margins in the second half of the season.[/quote]

We were negative earlier in the season and were settling for draws and the management were rightly criticised after 8 games without a win, but it appears that Hughton eventually realised that relying on draws is a dangerous philosophy. We now have a good balance between attack and defence and I don''t give a toss about clean sheets. Winning is what counts.   

[lake district canary 0]

[quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="a1canary"]I might have said the same earlier in the season crispy but having seen the game today completely blew away the idea that we don''t play to win or that we''re ''conservative.'' We absolutely bossed that first half and Hughton was constantly waving them up the pitch. He was been irritated a few times now by us not taking bigger leads when we''re in command and but for Al Habsi and a bit more luck it would have been just like Swansea and a 3-0 half time lead. Playing like that i expect us to have some bigger winning margins in the second half of the season.[/quote]

We were negative earlier in the season and were settling for draws and the management were rightly criticised after 8 games without a win, but it appears that Hughton eventually realised that relying on draws is a dangerous philosophy. We now have a good balance between attack and defence and I don''t give a toss about clean sheets. Winning is what counts.   

[/quote]

We were not negative earlier in the season - we were trying to win games.  We were just getting used to a new manager.   Simples. 

[Aggy 944]

The other factors are a bonus first and foremost though Salopian. Even with where we are in the league now, the main aim is staying up still. Now we''ll probably achieve that comfortably, but if we finish 10th, equal on points with 9th but with a worse goal difference, I won''t be moaning too much that we''ve lost out on £1million, when we''ll be getting however much you get now just for staying in the division anyway.

It''s also worth remembering how terrible we were at the start of the season. Since the Chelsea game, our goal difference is plus 5.

Does anyone think that if we were to play Fulham, Liverpool or even Chelsea now, we''d lose by the same amounts? I don''t. And if we had have played against those teams in the same manner as Hughton has got us playing now, our goal difference would be pretty much the same as those teams around us.

So, do we go all out to try and catch up on goal difference with the teams around us? No, because that would potentially sacrifice the system and style we''ve been playing and cost us points. It''s just unfortunate that we were shocking in the first few games of the season. Next year, if we can continue to build and improve, we won''t be conceding 4+ goals three times in the space of only a few games and won''t have a -11 goal difference to catch up on.

[paul moy 235]

[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="a1canary"]I might have said the same earlier in the season crispy but having seen the game today completely blew away the idea that we don''t play to win or that we''re ''conservative.'' We absolutely bossed that first half and Hughton was constantly waving them up the pitch. He was been irritated a few times now by us not taking bigger leads when we''re in command and but for Al Habsi and a bit more luck it would have been just like Swansea and a 3-0 half time lead. Playing like that i expect us to have some bigger winning margins in the second half of the season.[/quote]

We were negative earlier in the season and were settling for draws and the management were rightly criticised after 8 games without a win, but it appears that Hughton eventually realised that relying on draws is a dangerous philosophy. We now have a good balance between attack and defence and I don''t give a toss about clean sheets. Winning is what counts.   

[/quote]



We were not negative earlier in the season - we were trying to win games.  We were just getting used to a new manager.   Simples. 


[/quote]

We were trying to get points with negative tactics. QPR, West Ham and Newcastle were prime examples. Even Hughton himself said he didn''t want to make a change to attack QPR for fear of losing the game. We have lost the fear, the balance between attack and defence has definitely changed, and are getting results. Simples. We will have to agree to disagree LDC.

[Scooby 0]

We''re saving the 4 goals for Chelski [:D]

[lake district canary 0]

[quote user="paul moy"][quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="paul moy"]

[quote user="a1canary"]I might have said the same earlier in the season crispy but having seen the game today completely blew away the idea that we don''t play to win or that we''re ''conservative.'' We absolutely bossed that first half and Hughton was constantly waving them up the pitch. He was been irritated a few times now by us not taking bigger leads when we''re in command and but for Al Habsi and a bit more luck it would have been just like Swansea and a 3-0 half time lead. Playing like that i expect us to have some bigger winning margins in the second half of the season.[/quote]

We were negative earlier in the season and were settling for draws and the management were rightly criticised after 8 games without a win, but it appears that Hughton eventually realised that relying on draws is a dangerous philosophy. We now have a good balance between attack and defence and I don''t give a toss about clean sheets. Winning is what counts.   

[/quote]

We were not negative earlier in the season - we were trying to win games.  We were just getting used to a new manager.   Simples. 

[/quote]

We were trying to get points with negative tactics. QPR, West Ham and Newcastle were prime examples. Even Hughton himself said he didn''t want to make a change to attack QPR for fear of losing the game. We have lost the fear, the balance between attack and defence has definitely changed, and are getting results. Simples. We will have to agree to disagree LDC.

[/quote]

The real reason we have improved is that the team  have learned to stick with the way Hughton wants to run things.   The team has simply improved. No real changes in tactics, imo, the same things apply as they have all season.  Hughton doesn''t change - he is consistent - that is the secret of his success.   Everyone knows what they are doing because of that and it breeds confidence. We haven''t lost the fear, we are simply expressing ourselves better as a team.  The first few weeks were simply a learning process - for us fans as well as the hughton and the team.