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HampsteadCanary

Fitness/Pressing/Desire

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Under Lambert, we saw our squad as fit as they could possibly be, coupled with huge amounts of desire. ''Larger'' players like Holt would close players down for 90 mins, and still be popping up with match winning goals in the last 5 mins of games.

I can''t remember a time when we had so many first team players out missing, and I can''t help but think our fitness is linked to the injuries AND performances. We seem to huff and puff in most games, with the whole team seeming a yard or two off the pace. The one game where we looked good for the whole 90 mins was Stoke, where we played a high line, and pressed the opposition back. How it hasn''t occurred to Hughton or the players that this is the best way for us to play is beyond me. Man City played like that against us, and we''ve played like that against Stoke, so why can''t we play like that against the other teams. If its good enough for the top teams, then its good enough for us, and we''ve seen the rewards it can bring us. Its not about ability, its about desire. We can only show that level of desire if the players are at their peak physical condition.

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[quote user="HampsteadCanary"]Under Lambert, we saw our squad as fit as they could possibly be, coupled with huge amounts of desire. ''Larger'' players like Holt would close players down for 90 mins, and still be popping up with match winning goals in the last 5 mins of games.

I can''t remember a time when we had so many first team players out missing, and I can''t help but think our fitness is linked to the injuries AND performances. We seem to huff and puff in most games, with the whole team seeming a yard or two off the pace. The one game where we looked good for the whole 90 mins was Stoke, where we played a high line, and pressed the opposition back. How it hasn''t occurred to Hughton or the players that this is the best way for us to play is beyond me. Man City played like that against us, and we''ve played like that against Stoke, so why can''t we play like that against the other teams. If its good enough for the top teams, then its good enough for us, and we''ve seen the rewards it can bring us. Its not about ability, its about desire. We can only show that level of desire if the players are at their peak physical condition.[/quote]

I (almost) completely agree mate. How can he not see that a pressing game keeps the momentum going, keeps adrenaline up, keeps the crowd on your side and means the opposition concede possession closer to their goal? We do, as you point out, see glimpses of this approach. But, as is the age old question under Hughton, why is it so damn inconsistent? I think perhaps the reasons for the short bursts of this pressing, energetic game, are the little boosts in confidence we get from scoring. Look what we were like after Hooper''s pen against WH, then after Fer''s header against Newcastle. One of the big problems is that they don''t have any self-belief going into a game, despite winning the game before. Probably because everyone expects them to lose an away game? But then why can''t they use that as fuel to fire a performance to prove everyone wrong? And surely if we just took the game by the scruff of the neck and asked questions of the opposition, this would breed confidence?

This, for those of us who want Hughton out, is the crux of it I think. Yes, we''re not in the bottom 3 right now, but with these sorts of performances and efforts, surely we will end up there.

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Very often it seems that the desire and fitness are missing, and we don''t press. I suspect that it is fear which dominates, or a lack of belief.

 

 In the game against Chelsea we came back so well that the Chelsea manager was worried. If we can do it against such a team, why can''t we do it more often? Even against Newcastle, if we had taken one of our two chances it could have been a very different game. This is the difference between our present manager and the previous one. Lambert sent his teams out to win, convinced that they could score, whereas I am not sure what the present team feel when they walk on to the pitch. They seem uncertain and go through the motions.

 

The team need someone to drive them on. It can be too late at half time and a pep talk. It has to happen from the touch line, but more than that it has to be on the pitch. Who, of the present squad, can urge the rest to give it their all. This man ought to be captain and leader.

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[quote user="HampsteadCanary"]Under Lambert, we saw our squad as fit as they could possibly be, coupled with huge amounts of desire. ''Larger'' players like Holt would close players down for 90 mins, and still be popping up with match winning goals in the last 5 mins of games.

I can''t remember a time when we had so many first team players out missing, and I can''t help but think our fitness is linked to the injuries AND performances. We seem to huff and puff in most games, with the whole team seeming a yard or two off the pace. The one game where we looked good for the whole 90 mins was Stoke, where we played a high line, and pressed the opposition back. How it hasn''t occurred to Hughton or the players that this is the best way for us to play is beyond me. Man City played like that against us, and we''ve played like that against Stoke, so why can''t we play like that against the other teams. If its good enough for the top teams, then its good enough for us, and we''ve seen the rewards it can bring us. Its not about ability, its about desire. We can only show that level of desire if the players are at their peak physical condition.[/quote]

According to physioroom.com we have 6 players out injured, coincidently Villa also have 6 players out injured.

Maybe under Lambert we had a run where we were lucky that we didn''t get too many players injured, sometimes it works out like that.

  

                

 

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I think the difference between Lambert and Hughton is that when a first team member was out injured under Lambert, whoever came in to replace them would perform to try and keep their shirt....eg when Holt was out, Morison had a good run and scored 8-10 goals that season as our reserve striker, with Holt scoring 15 I think. Under Hughton, whoever has come in to the 11 seems short of confidence and match sharpness eg Fox, Hoolahan, now Johnson. Players don''t seem motivated to keep their place when given a start, probably because they know that when the other player is fit again, they''ll lose their place.

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To put it bluntly, under Lambert, even though we were the new kids on the block, we played liked we belonged here, that this was OUR yard (even on the road) but under the current managerial regime we too often approach games like we''ve been neutered and like we don''t really belong here.

We need to grow back the missing pair and don''t take sh!t from anyone. Ya we got smacked around a couple of times with Lambert but we never played scared.

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absolutely this !!!

Some pretty sensible posting and discussion on this forum at the moment, with the exception of a few of course!

[quote user="Houston Canary"]To put it bluntly, under Lambert, even though we were the new kids on the block, we played liked we belonged here, that this was OUR yard (even on the road) but under the current managerial regime we too often approach games like we''ve been neutered and like we don''t really belong here.

We need to grow back the missing pair and don''t take sh!t from anyone. Ya we got smacked around a couple of times with Lambert but we never played scared.[/quote]

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A lot of it is to do with our diet and nutritional regime.  Since Lambert took the nutritionist to Villa, I understand Hughton''s hired someone to drive to KFC at half time and get the bargain buckets in.  This is clearly not good enough and another reason Hughton should be sacked.

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[quote user="Houston Canary"]To put it bluntly, under Lambert, even though we were the new kids on the block, we played liked we belonged here, that this was OUR yard (even on the road) but under the current managerial regime we too often approach games like we''ve been neutered and like we don''t really belong here.

We need to grow back the missing pair and don''t take sh!t from anyone. Ya we got smacked around a couple of times with Lambert but we never played scared.[/quote]

Exactly this. Very succinctly put!

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Oh come on, i don''t think he meant to be racist!

I do think we sometimes seem a yard off the pace, especially in the first half of games.

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I wonder if the two are related, that the players don''t feel in good shape and therefore not up to the demands of the game. As someone else posted on here, its only after a goal goes in that they believe they are good enough. They ARE good enough, Hughton doesn''t seem to be able to get them to believe it

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Pressing and desire coupled with good fitness has to be our way forward, Ch''s ''negate the opposition'' approach just doesnt seem to work. We do have good players but asking them to hand possession over and wait to get the ball back rather than forcing mistakes by pressing is really shackling the team. t''ll be interesting to see how we start against Palace, are they lowly enough for a pressing game?

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