Jump to content
Sign in to follow this  
Tetteys Jig

Hughton opinions now?

Recommended Posts

You know, I don''t mind people criticising the manager - or players - if what they say stands up to questioning and if they are being realistic.  The facts speak for themselves.   We all know we''ve had some frustrating performances, but they haven''t all been bad and we''ve had some dubious decisions and bad luck along the way.  We''ve also seen in spells what a Hughton team can do - away at Swansea - and MU/Arsnl at home - including that ten game unbeaten run - and including today - and some other good performances.  Even though it got a bit difficult at times,  overall it has not been a bad season - and you have to look at both sides of the game.   Just to focus on the negative things is doing what you accuse Hughton of - being negative. 

A terrific day and  people still want to criticise him.    If the team is doing badly the manager is responsible - when the team plays well the manager is responsible.   Credit where credit is due. 

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="ref89"]Lots of cloud cuckoo land idiots with eggs on their faces tonight.

Hughton kept a very poor squad up with some defensive performances and some attacking performances where needed.

All that rubbish about losing the players can be seen for what it is from their reaction with him at the final whistle.





[/quote]

 

Would that be most of the very poor squad who scraped 12th last season?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Anyone whingeing today is no fan of Norwich City, I really can''t believe some of you.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="morty"]Anyone whingeing today is no fan of Norwich City, I really can''t believe some of you.[/quote]Not aiming this just at you Morty, but the thread was asking for opinions about Hughton after today''s result (be it about purely the game itself or even the season as a whole), so that''s exactly what people are posting - be it positive or negative towards the guy.I also don''t see posters who still have their concerns about the manager overall as simply being ''whingers'' and therefore not real fans either...If opinions about this sort of thing aren''t wanted, then posters shouldn''t start threads asking for them should they...?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

A real dilema for me this, his remit was to keep us up, this he has done. It would be churlish and unfair to say otherwise, as my feet were set firmly in the anti camp I must add that if you could quarantee we would play like this next season then I''d have to give CH more time.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Guest
Make no mistake, keeping Norwich in the Premier League for another season is a huge achievement.  If Hughton''s job remit was to finish 17th or above, on those terms he''s been a success.However, the stats over the second half of the season have been worrying and will provide food for thought for the board over the coming weeks. It will be an act of faith to hand next season''s transfer budget to Hughton. I''ve said before that, based on this season''s evidence, there are better managers out there. But

if the board stick with Hughton he needs serious backing in the

transfer market in a way that didn''t happen this season.The board will have to believe that the new players he brings in will enable Hughton to develop the side away from this rather stifling defensive approach that has plagued so many games this season, particularly away, which led to a nervy finale.If Hughton can change, and change the team along with it, then next season could be an exciting prospect if RVW is a sign of new players to come. However, if we start next season as the low scoring, uncreative side that has been on show for much of 2013, you fear for how next season will end. Well done today - top marks. But don''t ignore the warning signs from this season.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="ref89"]Lots of cloud cuckoo land idiots with eggs on their faces tonight.Hughton kept a very poor squad up with some defensive performances and some attacking performances where needed.All that rubbish about losing the players can be seen for what it is from their reaction with him at the final whistle.

[/quote]

I completely and utterly agree. OLE OLE OLE OLE! STAYING UP UP

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
My opinion initially was "oh really?", then after the Fulham away game (I was there) and reports from the friendlies (I wasn''t), I thought we''ve got a long season of mediocrity and crap ahead of us.  I couldn''t see what he was trying to do, what the shape was, or where the goals would come from.  A few signings later, I saw the shape, and when we beat Arsenal against all the odds I started to think maybe he was onto something.  I probably got a bit complacent during the infamous 10 game run and started taking points and results for granted, then our run over Christmas started the nerves jangling - and 2013 has been a long, painful slog.At times I think he is his own worst enemy with some of the away performances being baffling in their negativity, and some of the home performances being toothless and one-paced.  It''s taken me a lot of matches to get used to the change in the pace of play, especially at home, and I have found the last six weeks more stressful than they needed to have been because of our inability to win at home (the players, mostly) and our inability to try and win away (Hughton, almost entirely).I am delighted we''ve stayed up (duh) and hope this is the start of a reinvention of the squad, starting in centre midfield but including the right wing, left back and centre forward positions.I trust him with the transfer budget and I trust him to get rid of passengers and "nearly men", which may mean saying bye to Korey Smith, Tom Adeyemi, Fox, Surman etc etc.  Sad to see most of them go, but he''ll strengthen the squad in absolute terms.In terms of style and performance, I never want to witness a season like this one under Hughton again.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="ref89"]Lots of cloud cuckoo land idiots with eggs on their faces tonight.Hughton kept a very poor squad up with some defensive performances and some attacking performances where needed.[/quote]Poor squad my arse.... This squad has stayed up two seasons in a row now.  It is not poor by any stretch.  You personally may think our players are sh!t.  But that is your opinion and it is wrong.As for attacking performances... 8 of todays side were last season''s players and during this game we played nothing like we have done for 6 months. Our squad played with freedom, rather than being stuck in Hughton''s rigid defensive formation.I hope Hughton learns from this, because if we repeat the 2 win in 19 game run at the start of next season, he won''t last long.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
[quote user="Robert911"]Wow. 1 game and everyone forgets the dross from the rest of the season.[/quote]

Rest of the season? Pipe down mate we were 8th half way through the season!!!

If we had a poor first half and good 2nd everyone would be saying how great he is!! Chill out, on to the next season!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I admit, I''ve slated Hughton over the last few weeks, but I think he deserves a chance next season. His Job was to keep us in this league. Job done :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
my opinion is as it has always beena Better manager than Lambert, job done keeping us in the division and the right man for the job going forwards.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Last weekend sort of brought out the frustrations of the last half of the season for me, and I found myself questioning the faith I placed in Hughton. We have been found out at times and played poorly, but for me the biggest positive is that I get the impression that Hughton has recognised it too and will have learnt from it. All too often  football managers can get stuck in their ways and just wont change regardless of what is put in front of them, with Hughton I sense that we have started to see indications of him trying to change with the resources avilable; the Arsenal game and today being much more an example of the football I think we as fans want to see. The signing of Van Wolfswinkle shows that we want to carry along the philosophy of the passing game, he isnt a Stoke ''lump it and hope'' player, and will demand quality service to bring out the best of his game. Today means that Im happy to see Hughton stay for the summer and the first 10 games of the season, hopefully with a summer of transfer activity and a pre-season of work we can start to see the benifits of a strong defence coupled with a creative midfield and improved strike force. That said like any manager, Hughton, Lambert, Fergie whoever... if we dont get the results next season then I expect the board to act. But hopefully it will never come to that! Onwards and upwards

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
My opinion hasn''t changed, still not up to it! The clue comes from Holts interview on Norfolk, when he said " we were allowed to go out and express ourselves unlike previous games!"

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
If you cannot see how momentum and an exceptional manager got a poor squad up to 12th last season then you should just get on picking you knuckles off the floor.[quote user="drurys testamonials V 15"]

[quote user="ref89"]Lots of cloud cuckoo land idiots with eggs on their faces tonight.Hughton kept a very poor squad up with some defensive performances and some attacking performances where needed.All that rubbish about losing the players can be seen for what it is from their reaction with him at the final whistle.

[/quote]

 

Would that be most of the very poor squad who scraped 12th last season?

[/quote]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
A better squad than villa?  Sunderland?  Newcastle? Stoke? Wigan? If you can''t see we are a poor squad the you are an arse.[quote user="Citizen Journalist Foghorn"][quote user="ref89"]Lots of cloud cuckoo land idiots with eggs on their faces tonight.Hughton kept a very poor squad up with some defensive performances and some attacking performances where needed.[/quote]Poor squad my arse.... This squad has stayed up two seasons in a row now.  It is not poor by any stretch.  You personally may think our players are sh!t.  But that is your opinion and it is wrong.As for attacking performances... 8 of todays side were last season''s players and during this game we played nothing like we have done for 6 months. Our squad played with freedom, rather than being stuck in Hughton''s rigid defensive formation.I hope Hughton learns from this, because if we repeat the 2 win in 19 game run at the start of next season, he won''t last long.[/quote]

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

As with everything there are many ways to look at it. If we say that the end justifies the means, Houghton did a fine job. From the perspective of our dull games the entertainment value has not been always great, but to be fair despite some of the drab stuff we mostly looked a resilient, hard to beat side. The next season may bring improvements due squad strengthening and Hughton''s resulting change of approach, although I don''t think he''ll do everything differently.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Delighted at the result, and also for the likes of Holt, Snodgrass, Hoolahan, Bassong, Turner and Bennett*2 who I think have done pretty well considering (and in Holt''s case struggling with dire service and negative tactics which have starved him of confidence and chances). Great to see Ruddy back- did that give them that extra bit of stability and confidence I wonder?

 

As to CH, in reply to the OP''s question, I haven''t changed my own mind. Of the posts above Indy Bones comes closest to my own thoughts. Harsh as it may seem I would still like a change. I would love to believe in CH and that there is some master plan, but the odd decent performance here and there does not answer the concerns I have had since those pre-seasons.

 

This week is a time to rejoice that we are still part of the elite, but save for Swansea''s win last Tues this could yet have been very different. The Board need to have absolute confidence that CH and team are the coaching set up to take us forward, not to go about meekly and apologetically. For many people it is as much about the style and attitude of how we nearly slipped out of the Prem as much about the results.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I''ve supported him all season and continue to do so. Getting on the managerial merry go round will not benefit us. We need stability. He did very well at Newcastle and Birmingham and I suspect his somewhat negative (but necessary) approach will be different next year, particularly once we have some better players coming in.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
As an away supporter as well I still don''t understand why we were quite so negative. At times it felt we were setting out To play Man U away not QPR, Reading, Wigan, Stoke etc. one away win all season says it all.

At home we''ve been too one dimensional, especially since Newcastle. And only at Arsenal did I feel Hughton realised we were in a fight. This carried forward to Reading which brought a much needed win. And then yesterday we saw what might have been. A resurgent Holt, Howson played in his best role, more movement in the midfield, and look what it brought - entertainment and victory.

So we can look forward to Man City away - and then the Summer. I hope we''ve learnt that we don''t have to play like this. A new creative midfielder at least please.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Hughton has delivered what was expected in my eyes: we were good enough to stay up/there were three teams worse than us. There are many reasons to think he can build something here (as in stick around and help us establish ourselves). I look forward to next season. In terms of who he bought in at Newcastle and who has bought here I trust him with the Clubs biggest ever transfer budget. Did I say I look forward to next season?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Mellow Yellow"]I''ve supported him all season and continue to do so. Getting on the managerial merry go round will not benefit us. We need stability. He did very well at Newcastle and Birmingham and I suspect his somewhat negative (but necessary) approach will be different next year, particularly once we have some better players coming in.[/quote]
I agree here. He never really had the full summer to tinker with things to how he wanted to I bet with the whole Lambert situation that took up some of the summer. This year was about keeping in the league with what we have and I hope to see some impressive signings over the summer. We should give him some time to prove what he can do and who he can bring into the club now that we will have a much bigger transfer budget. If things are not going well by the end of October then he should go. With RvW already on the way I think it just show what type of players he will be after, exiting times to come I hope!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
My opinion on Hughton hasn''t changed because of one result or because he''s kept us up. Nice bloke, done some good things with the team which have made us more solid and means we will give anyone a decent game but I feel his inherent conservatism has held us back and made life tougher for us in the second half of this season than it needed to be.

I am however prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt and see what happens over the summer and in the first couple of months of next season. it will depend if the conservative play we have seen is down to his approach to the game and is inherent in his psyche or whether it was due to the fact that he did not have much faith in the attacking prowess of the players he inherited from Lambert and therefore thought defence was our only hope of surviving. If the latter then hopefully things will evolve as he brings in his own players up front and we will see a different approach to certain games next season.

I hope as much as anything that he has learnt a bit from the last couple of months because for me the recent games where he has taken off the shackles a bit (Villa, West Brom and to an extent Arsenal) have seen much improved performances from certain players (Howson, Martin, Holt) and generally seen the team play better (even though we lost the Villa game). If he has the managerial/coaching nous that we hope then he should have noted this for the future.

Despite the struggle since Christmas there are many reasons to be optimistic for next season. With players such as Howson and R Bennette starting to show they can hack it at this level, Ruddy back and RVW on the way I really think that with 2 or 3 further quality additions we can have a good season next season if Hoot is prepared to attack the weaker teams and be more positive away from home.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
In reply to your post Jim, unlike you I do not have faith in him.

I do think that he had a hard act to follow, and this is not just because he was following a manager who had given us one of the most successful periods in our history, but more so because we as fans had enjoyed the sweet taste of success, had been spoiled with the spectacle of attractive and exciting football matches which were pretty much a given, home or away, win or lose! Last season was a continuation of the pervious ones, finishing 12th in the prem was just as exciting as having been promoted in the previous seasons and a result way above the expectations of most.

I didn''t expect that upward curve to continue, as it wouldn''t have done under Lambert, anyone expecting that and blaming Hughton because it has not been delivered is wildly unrealistic.

I cannot claim to have stood up when he was appointed and said, he''s not the man for us, For me he was a name, I knew of him as I a manager who I had thought had been badly treated at Newcastle, and also a bit about him at Birmingham.

My concerns kicked in after Christmas, with the odd exception our form declined and player confidence ebbed away, we played a system and style that I thought was never going to bring success, what really brought it home to me was at Old Trafford, I didn''t go there expecting a result of course, but when I looked at the team they appeared clueless, the precipitous moment was when I saw Pilks get the ball and make a great run, about 20/25 meters come to the edge of the Man U box and just freeze, even if there had been nobody in the box last season he would have twisted, turned, held the ball up or run at a defender in the box, but he just stood there like a rabbit in headlights, turned round and went backwards again.

That''s only one player and one minute in a game but it got to me and worried me and seemed to reflect a much bigger problem in the team.

Form that point on I lost my faith in Hughton and the more I saw the worse it became.

My concerns are that he seems unable to motivate the team, we are not a bad side as was shown yesterday, I''ll give him credit for a fantastic day but I think the motivational aspect took care of itself. I do believe however that he adopted a mindset after the first few games that he was managing a pretty poor squad and has stuck with that ever since. Even if thats what he believed I think a good manager would have worked hard on the motivational and confidence building aspects to get the best out of what we have, I haven''t seen that!

Yesterday may have been just as much of a revelation to him, as it was confirmation to me of how good we can be.

He has also been inflexible, again he seems to have adopted a mindset of how we will play and pretty much stuck to that irrespective of the opposition, there are in my view many games where 1 point could have become 3 if he had been prepared to change things a bit, Reading away being one that sticks in my mind as I was there.

The hope for me is that as a young manager he will have learned from this season, he is a bright lad and as such will go away and reflect on how things have been and what he can do better himself as well as what improvements can be made to the squad. His signings have been good so far.

So as things stand and based on what I have seen this season my opinion is he should go, I know that wont happen and sincerely hope that he will have learned from the season and will show the ability to change, which to date has not been evident!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="Pyro Pete"]Make no mistake, keeping Norwich in the Premier League for another season is a huge achievement.  If Hughton''s job remit was to finish 17th or above, on those terms he''s been a success.

However, the stats over the second half of the season have been worrying and will provide food for thought for the board over the coming weeks. It will be an act of faith to hand next season''s transfer budget to Hughton.

I''ve said before that, based on this season''s evidence, there are better managers out there. But if the board stick with Hughton he needs serious backing in the transfer market in a way that didn''t happen this season.

The board will have to believe that the new players he brings in will enable Hughton to develop the side away from this rather stifling defensive approach that has plagued so many games this season, particularly away, which led to a nervy finale.

If Hughton can change, and change the team along with it, then next season could be an exciting prospect if RVW is a sign of new players to come. However, if we start next season as the low scoring, uncreative side that has been on show for much of 2013, you fear for how next season will end.

Well done today - top marks. But don''t ignore the warning signs from this season.

[/quote]

I''m sure you''re right but would you care to name a few?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

[quote user="barclay_boy111"]My opinion on him has not changed, I still don''t think he''s the man for the job 3 wins in 20 games is defiantly not premier league material.[/quote]

Just to remind you - a season consists of 38 games and every Club finishes where they deserve to finish. It is sometimes worth remembering these facts.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
I have been blessed on this MB as one of the Hughton haters. However, I do not hate the man at all, just the brand of football that he brought to the field for the bigger part of this season which culminated in the position we found ourselves in yesterday.

Yesterday we played without fear. It cannot be lost in that Grant Holt in after match interview openly admitted that our game plan was changed for this game. Personally I feel Howson was the instrumental change in style in that he was allowed to play further forward, and closer to Wes in a more attacking role, which gave Wes space himself to play. CH was continually signalling for Howson to push on, and what a difference it made. Having read CH''s own views on the game, and in his defence, and bearing in mind I have been critical of him, perhaps too much pressure was brought to bare on him at the very outset of his appointment. Mr Bowkett made it clear at the AGM that CH was under no illusion that failure this season was not an option. Did this make for the over cautious approach after the 10 match unbeaten run which became prolonged the longer we went without winning. Yesterday CH made positive choices based on having to win one game. It was really the only option, but was the option to be overly defensive in the preceding 18 matches or so orchestrated by the boards demands? Maybe now that pressure is lifted, perhaps he should be given time to further build his squad to take us to the next level. Yesterday showed that we do have some quality, and if allowed to play to strengths, we can play an attacking game with CH at the helm. Whilst critical of him this season he has completed the boards mandate under great pressure of losing his job in the first year. Perhaps with no mandate of applied pressure he will take us onwards and upwards.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
Sign in to follow this  

×
×
  • Create New...