At what point do we blame the players?

[CDMullins 436]

We can blame selection, tactics, system and Hughton in general all day long,But at what point can we blame the players? And in particular the senior players,Ruddy''s poor form cost him his England chance and he now appears third choice,Bassong hasnt been anywhere near the player he was last season, not just defensively but his distribution has been shocking,Neither Turner nor Bennett are standing out and grabbing that starting place,Snodgrass and Pilks have provided nothing,BJ''s form has caused him to be ''in and out'',Martin has been consistant, consistantly average

So are we allowed to criticise the under performingplayers, or is it really just Hughtons fault?

[TIL 1010 4,722]

Well there was me thinking it was the players as I have seen it posted several times that it is not the manager. [*-)]

[Tetteys Jig 830]

As much as i do the manager. He has marginalised our back up options and made it easy for the first choice to keep their place. He also picks the team and their negative way of setting up. I am just bored of our team at the moment, Hughton''s tactics are so dull it''s unbelieveable.

That said, the players are underperforming as well despite the tactical inadequacies.

15th or whatever is an acceptable position, but due to the manner of the games we''ve played, I highly doubt we''ll stay up if Hughton stays in charge, i only see it getting worse.

The fact is, we can''t do anything until next month regarding the players, but the manager could be replaced today if we wanted to.

[GJP 79]

Sometimes the players can have the finger pointed at them for not doing the basics right on the pitch, of course.

 

But overall everyone knows the buck stops with the manager. He picks the team, he puts those players on the pitch and it''s up to him to get the best out of them individually and as a unit. That is his job. He knows that when he takes it on.

[Gingerpele 0]

I don''t think anyone has ever said they players aren''t too blame?

There have clearly been bad individual performances, consistent averagenes. The second part, is partly Hughton''s fault. He needs to stamp that out and/or replace the players at fault. He did with Johnson, so why not Martin, Snodgrass?

I don''t really think Ruddy has been that poor. As far as I can remember he made one mistake before England games? His kicking has been a bit suspect this season, but Forsters is worse (still, thought he might have improved that..) and he''s made a couple mistakes since. But even yesterday, he made 3 or 4 top quality saves second half and commanded the box fairly well, despite being beaten by unstoppable Suarez strikes.

Bassong had one very good half season, second half last season he wasn''t really that good. He wasn''t bad. And was probably never really fully fit with various niggles. I actually think Bennett has been playing pretty well. Don''t see any real problem with him, he let Suarez have a bit too much space. But so do lots of defenders.

Pilkington never gets the ball. We insisted on attacking down the right with Snodgrass 90% of the time. Whenever Pilks gets the ball he does something, two home games in a row his first involvement in the game (one of the two was about 5 mins in...) were winning a corner and a decent shot. His crossing is fairly consistent, and he still has a decent shot. And he''s scored. In open play.

Snodgrass basically didn''t have a game to any of last seasons standards until West Ham second half. Crossing was poor, had some nice link ups with Martin. All set pieces were fairly average to poor, then he hits a class FK puts us in the lead and everyone who loves him have probably forgotten pre-West Ham.

Consistant average/below par performances are something the manager needs to deal with. If his players aren''t confident enough he needs to get them that confidence. If they have just lost their edge, needs to get it back or get rid of them. If they just aren''t up for it, he needs to get them up for it.

Its clearly not all Hughton''s fault, and no one is saying you can''t criticise players, people have been doing all season. Seen some of the worst abuse too some of our players. Elmander is being treated like a mass murderer by some of our fans for some bizarre reason. The players have been at fault. But Hughton has also been at fault, and unless he turns around and says the players aren''t following his tactics in performances such as Palace second half, West Ham first half etc then he''s at quite a lot of fault. We can''t just have non-halves of football on a regular basis. Home and away. And we also can''t roll over against every big team, we beat Arsenal, Man.U, Man.C last season. Drew with Spurs, I think Chelsea too. Had Arsenal away taken from us by terrible refereeing. We played much better in all bar one or two games against the top 5 (ignoring Liverpool of course) last season.

Criticise the players all you want, some won''t agree with you on certain elements of course. But can''t see why you think you''re/we''re not allowed too.

[Juggy 0]

Never, it isn''t their fault.

[King of spain 5]

the fact is, hughton instilled the negative tactics into this team a long time ago. It''s got to the point where even they don''t know how else to play, and that is evident when watching, but it started with Hughton, and it ends with Hughton (hopefully this will have a literal meaning in the next few days).

Even when we play well, the minute a goal goes in we almost know we''ve lost; we surrender, because the players know that as long as they stick to the game plan (which, without starting a revolution, they have to) they have no chance of getting a goal back. the confidence drains. we had a great opening 10mins vs liverpool, but as soon as suarez scored the first it was really a question of how many. For this, we have Hughton to thank. These are good players. But this is no good system. [:S]

[Kolin Kob 0]

[quote user="Jimmy Smith"] He has marginalised our back up options and made it easy for the first choice to keep their place. [/quote]Simply not true.Last season this was the case (and was something that annoyed me), but this season which outfield players have not been given a chance? (aside from Becchio)

[BOO 0]

Interesting question. Individual players are making mistakes, that''s what happens, as the team moral and motivation drops off it will happen more and more.

These are top athletes playing in a very testing environment, they all have great ability, the difference is in the top three inches.

Confidence is the difference between poor / mediocre performance and top level maximum use of your skills. That''s where we are failing and it is getting worse.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I don''t blame the players for lacking motivation or belief at the moment away from home. He is the least inspiring manager I''ve ever seen and his lack of confidence in his team and belief we can win has transferred to the

[Highland Canary 76]

Tone from the top. The management team is responsible for selecting the team, tactics and motivation.

[Mister Chops 7]

[quote user="CDMullins"]

At what point do we blame the players?[/quote]That''s easy.  They fit in a long line afterHughtonMcNallyThe BoardDelia & MichaelArchantThe Carrow Road pitchNeil DoncasterPaul LambertThe Premier LeagueBillionaire ownersSt. Winifred''s School Choir