Are we being 'over coached' ?

[Mr Jenkins 0]

Hughton will develop us into a steady mid prem team who are really well organised and very difficult to break down.

The players are not over coached, but they are trying to play to a system which they may not like or may not be fully competent at doing. It was clear on Saturday, the way Pilks was coming more into the centre of mid field, till he went off of course, and several times the space he left on the left was filled by Holt. So instead of getting forward where we all want him to be his first thoughts are about cover.We are risk averse and rather than giving players freedom to break forward they are more concerned with ensuring that our shape is right. With the quality of players we have at the moment to survive in the Prem this is the way I believe we have

to go. It will result in some poor games like yesterday but that''s just the way it is for now.

[dpit 1]

[quote user="City1st"]

[quote user="dpit"]Dearie me. What corner of Suffolk did this poster crawl out of? "From what I gather Snoddy was talking today about playing how the manager wants and the suggestion is this is not the normal run of the mill tactics stuff, but a more rigid formation approach." Please state where it says he said this. "Holt has been woeful at times and certainly a shadow (not literally, I''m afraid) of his previous form. The debate seems to be one of why not that he is or is not. Holt has always struck me as having the knack for getting in the right place at the right time - now it looks like he is saying to himself "should I be here, should I be doing this ?" More anti-Norwich drivel. If you are going to call City players woeful and make allusions to them being fat, I suggest you just come clean and nail your blue colours to the flagpole. "It all starts again in August, something needs to change or whatever players who come in will simply be obliged to play this rigid formation that grinds out 0-0 draws, which will give us 38 points, assuming we don''t get stuffed by Man Utd, Liverpool, Fulham etc" What are you saying needs to change? This is the team that has beaten Man Utd, Arsenal, and Spurs this season and enjoyed a ten match unbeaten run. With 9 games left we should be looking at 10th place and next year pushing for a top 6 finish. Get off your knees. By their words you shall know them.[/quote]

 

Dearie, dear me someone is wetting his/her pants again,

 

this time I am from suffolk and I support the binners !

 

dearie me 

 

ps for the rest on here, Snodgrass''s remarks were on Radio Norfolk shortly before the game

 

 

[/quote]

Oh dearie dearie dearie me, someone needs to look up Poe''s Law

[vos 155]

To return to the main theme of the subject I do believe Lambert, or more likely Culverhouse, concentrated on improving individual skills and then left the players with a lot of freedom and keep it simple. After all they would not be professional footballers at this level  if they had not already shown they had a "football brain". Under the previous regime I felt most players improved their individual skills each season and you could see how they were becoming increasingly better at controlling the ball, looking up and finding space, and generally persist with an attacking outlook. They were a young side who would never be able to consistently trouble the big boys, but they were also blessed with high standards of teamwork and encouraged by their manager.

I vividly remember one of the first games I saw under Hughton, the friendly against Ajax. The difference was dramatic. Yes we were up against a class team but we never changed from a rigid two lines of four for the whole of the match. Ajax had all the time and possession in the world and we just camped on the edge of the penalty box. Apart from our goal from, you''ve guessed it, a set piece freekick, we barely crossed the halfway line. On this display I thought we were in for a tough season.

I would accept the defence has improved since last year, but with the midfield rarely showing any attempt to move forward, even when well placed to do so, then we should be conceding a lot less. (Did someone say the other day we have actually let in just as many as last year?) Yes we did also have a very good run with luck running for us for a while, which is what football is all about. But my overriding feeling is that we are sticking to a rigid defensive outlook which some supporters applaud as they see it meets our desperate need to stay in PL. Fair enough, and I hope we succeed, but we must be under no illusions that next season under the same regime there will be very little change.