Expectations

[Steve180 0]

This is my first post. I''m really getting fed up with all the in/out talk, and I want to see just what people''s expectations are.

The way I see it, there are two elements - league position and style of play. Surely we all want to be as high up the league as possible and play as attractive football was possible.

Neither of those things are where we want them to be, at present. Are they separate,nor are they inextricably linked?

Does anyone think we should be finishing higher than about 9th, or that our ambition should be any higher than that, realistically? So we''re talking about getting something like 50 points over a season, to finish there. More than that are we would be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Everton etc.

Our current style of play is on course to achieve about 40 points. Last season it achieved 44 points. So could a different manager get two more wins than last season out of the same set of players that would see us to the 50 point mark and achieve our ambitions?

When it comes down to it, that just means winning three games that we ended up drawing last season, it''s that fine.

[nutty nigel 7,511]

We won''t know until the end of the season. At the moment we are 3 points off relegation and 3 points from the top half. I guess most people would take being 3 points off top half but not being 3 points off relegation. Unfortunately right now they are the same thing.

 

 

[Insidersknowledge 0]

I couldn''t care less the style of play we adopt. The most enjoyable thing about sport is winning. You win in what ever way is possible. That''s the only thing, as a sportsmen you should worry about. Style of play comes second to winning. At this moment in time, we need to start winning. Weather it''s attractive or not, I frankly don''t care.

[Steve180 0]

Agree with that. If we win the next game, and sit top half (could happen...) does that then mean we are hitting our targets, fulfilling our ambitions, and it''s a good season?

That''s kind of the thrust of my argument. I think there are lots of fans who take issue with our/Hughton''s style, not with our league position.

[Indy 3,286]

[quote user="Steve180"]Agree with that. If we win the next game, and sit top half (could happen...) does that then mean we are hitting our targets, fulfilling our ambitions, and it''s a good season? That''s kind of the thrust of my argument. I think there are lots of fans who take issue with our/Hughton''s style, not with our league position.[/quote]

 

And on the flip side if we play as rubbish as normal and lose we could be in the bottom 3! So is it that Hughton''s style is not only cr*p but we are not getting the results!

 

That''s the thing, 1 game away from doing a good job or utter tripe.....not easy to make a call either way on results alone!

 

If we were sitting on 27 points playing this tripe then anyone can have the right to argue that results come first, but we''re not! And I''m pro Hughton!

[ricardo 7,348]

There should be a closed season for fishing[:)]

[Salopian 1]

Many of us were anticipating a finish as good as last season, or slightly better, in May.

It may look unlikely at the moment, for a number of reasons:

- we have a better squad, but so have other clubs - few have come into 2013-2014 without improvement.

- we suffered an unfortunate run of injuries - Benno, Hooper at first, then RvW and Tettey, and finally Pilks. These were longer than the average hamstring or knock problems, and were more serious because it delayed the introduction and bedding in of new players.

- our management team far from displaying experience of the EPL seem to be learning as they go, and still seem obsessed with attacking down the wings and settling in to defence once in front or on terms.

I''m sure that there are other factors, and if they they can learn how to supply RvW and Hoops properly I would expect some improvement. I hope that we shall survive, but I doubt whether we shall improve enough to finish higher than last year.

It should be remembered that last season we gained some fairly surprising points, at Hawthorns and Etiad, Otherwise our position could have been very lowly. I think that we would be very fortunate to gain such "bonus" points this season.

[Jim Smith 2,314]

[quote user="Steve180"]This is my first post. I''m really getting fed up with all the in/out talk, and I want to see just what people''s expectations are.

The way I see it, there are two elements - league position and style of play. Surely we all want to be as high up the league as possible and play as attractive football was possible.

Neither of those things are where we want them to be, at present. Are they separate,nor are they inextricably linked?

Does anyone think we should be finishing higher than about 9th, or that our ambition should be any higher than that, realistically? So we''re talking about getting something like 50 points over a season, to finish there. More than that are we would be rubbing shoulders with the likes of Everton etc.

Our current style of play is on course to achieve about 40 points. Last season it achieved 44 points. So could a different manager get two more wins than last season out of the same set of players that would see us to the 50 point mark and achieve our ambitions?

When it comes down to it, that just means winning three games that we ended up drawing last season, it''s that fine.[/quote]

You are right it is that fine but is Hughton a manager who is going to turn draws into wins and ensure we stay the right side of that fine line? I really don;t think he is and my fear is that his inherent conservatism, inability to change games during play and poor coaching staff mean we are much more at risk of relegation than this squad of players could or should be. Quite simply i believe that there are plenty of managers who would do better with the same squad of players and under whom the risk of relegation would be less. Hughton''s approach makes fine margins inevitable, I do not think it has to be the case.

That said I have accepted he''s not going anywhere now (post palace was the time to change if we were doing it) and his one saving grace thus far has been his performance in the transfer market. I therefore hope that if we can buy a decent player (or two) this January then that coupled with the return to fitness of the likes of Pilks, Tettey and RVW will see us improve and ease clear of the bottom 3. That in turn may give Hughton and the team a bit more belief and lead to the more expansive football we are all hoping to see.

[Reggie Strayshun 0]

To be fair , every individual has slightly differing expectations . There are people who claim(though I personally find it hard to take seriously) that they don''t care about league positions as long as we play attractive, expansive football. Then there are the "win at all costs" merchants. Most of us are shades of grey in between.I''d wager that most NCFC fans, hoped that with the calibre of acquisitions over the summer, that Hughton would''ve adapted the style of play to suit them, and thus win more games /be higher up the table. As yet, it patently has not happened. I suppose that, in any walk of life the natural wish is to improve year on year, and as you say, it''s looking increasingly unlikely in 2014.The law of averages says that at some stage between now and May we will win some fairly surprising points (as per Arsenal, MU and Citeh  last season) . But,  lets cut to the chase, will those few "extra " points be supplemented with enough regulation ones to keep us up? Only time will tell.