Now is not the time

[Canary02 IV 0]

I''ve been more critical of Hughton than most in the past. Nice guy, has the support of everyone he works with and buys good players but I hate his tactics and his negative, timid approach.

But we''ve been hitched to his wagon all season and we''re now past the point of no return. I''ve never advocated getting rid of Hughton and to do so now would be suicide, so like him or his tactics or not, we''re set now for the next seven games. We have to stay up, and our best chance is to unite and get behind the boys.

I''ll be the first to scream "Hughton Out" if we do stay up, bring players in, and then continue to play this brand of insipid, uninspired dross next year, but for now we need to cheer the boys across the line, and hope he has the courage to open things up next year. We all want the same outcome and our best bet is to come together as a club. Good things always happen when we do that.

[Sussexyellow 55]

Good post. Agree with every word.

As a sensible post it will no doubt be largely ignored.

OTBC

[Ha ya got a loight boy? 0]

To be fair to Hughton, he was brought in because he has a certain philosophy and ability that we wanted.  He knows how to set up a team.  Now he has come in and gone about things in the right way.  He started off with what he thought would work - it didn''t so he changed and adapted to find a system that would work and a lot of the time it works. We are hard to score against - and that is good. The problem is that the players are not good enough at this level to play the way Hughton wants.  The defence are,  but the midfield is still too ponderous and lacking bite.     I believe the strikers are not to blame either, for the same reason.     Hoolahan has his limitations.  Snodgrass is slow.   Bennett seems to lack a cutting edge, Pilkington is not effective often enough.  Johnson still can''t pass well.  They have ability, but not for the highest level.   On their day they can get a result, but over a whole season the limitations are there for all to see and I don''t think it''s the manager''s fault.I just hope there is enough there to get us over the line and away from trouble.

[Canary02 IV 0]

I agree totally with the limitations to certain players not helping. I''m not entirely on board with the idea that the squad we have isn''t good enough to have won more games though. We''re limited in this league certainly, but we''re capable of a lot more.

I know mentioning a certain ex-manager in a discussion is tantamount to invoking the Nazi''s as a juxtapoint, but one of the key differences for me is that PL instilled belief in players and made them greater than the sum of their parts. I''ve yet to see that with CH. Only when Kamara''s infectious enthusiasm forced Everton to capitulate have we seen any "magic" this year. Any sign that we''re being aggressive. Sure we beat Arsenal and Man United but as pleasing as the results were, they were the outcome of a defensive game plan coming off. And while that''s not a bad thing against the biggest teams, we can offer so much more against the mid-lower range teams in this league.

The Lambert attacking philosophy had to change and we had to be more defensive. But other than Snodgrass and Tettey (bar the recent additions of Becchio and Kamara) the midfield and forwards are the same that were creating chances left, right and centre last season. They have it in them in my opinion, but the current philosophy doesn''t allow them to show that.

[Sussexyellow 55]

I am still agreeing with you canary02.

Nailing my colours to the mast I do not care how we get to the point where we stay in the division so long as we do.

I agree that we have more potential than we have shown this year. If we do fail to stay up I think we will be haunted by a feeling of what could have been had we have given it more of a go against some of the lower placed teams. But that is not the way it is or is going to be this season, let''s just hope current tactics get us there.

However longer term football is fundamentally about entertainment. We pay substantial sums of money to support our team with an expectation that going to the game will be an exciting experience and that we will leave the ground feeling a "buzz". Yes there will be disappointing games but it should not be as frequently as has been served up this year.

Whilst we all understand the importance of staying in the division to benefit from the riches I expect the vast majority of supporters go along with this in the anticipation that it will lead to bringing in better quality players which will make us more competitive and in turn entertaining. Hopefully the signing of RvW is a sign of this intent.

So your point Canary02 that next year must herald a change is absolutely right, as this year it feels more like supporting an organization to achieve its business objectives than supporting a team win football matches.

OTBC