Chris Hughton: Mr 'Nice' or Mr 'Stubborn'?

[BOO 0]

I am not depicting doom and gloom, but it is an interesting point and something that really frustrates me during games.

You may be right, our movement off the ball is purely a function of how confident the players are, presumably you mean that if players are not confident they don''t want to show for the ball and make themselves available for a pass. That is certainly part of the problem, what is being suggested though is that there is a structural problem which either isn''t working or which players don''t understand.

Interesting point which I don''t know the answer to.

[lharman7 39]

[quote user="lake district canary"][quote user="Vanwink"]When in possession our movement off the ball is very poor and has been for a long time, limited passing options leading to balls being passed back, hoofed by the keeper and lost, or misplaced passes going astray and being mopped up by the opposition.

I think we all see this week in week out LDC and you havnt really addressed that point.[/quote] I have addressed this on several occasions.  When we are playing with purpose and confidence - which we do sometimes, believe it or not - we do pass and move well.   That is doesn''t happen often enough is obvious, but it is not the doom and gloom scenario that some like to make out.  When we are confident it works well.   Confidence is still shaky in my view, but will improve - I would say is improving.  Look at the last few results. 2-0, 1-1, 0-0, 1-2, 0-1, 1-1.    Not a doom and gloom scenario at all, results wise, could be getter of course.  Not great, but in those matches, where were we good?   WBA - good defence.   Good on the break. Swansea - a tough game for most teams possession wise, but still emerged with a pointSunderland - a good performance with lots of good passing and movingFulham - well, it could have gone either way, but yes, not great.MU - excellent play first half, MU showed their class second half.CPalace - I thought it was a good performance to come away from there with a point.Confidence is the key for me - and it is improving - but slowly.  Its not all bad..............

[/quote]

Disagree with this. Winning games gives you confidence and we haven''t done a lot of that lately have we?

As for the results you state 4 out of the 6 games vs teams around us in the league every one expected more points from.

Surely this doesn''t give the team confidence?

[TIL 1010 4,718]

[quote user="lake district canary"]
"Zonal sh ite" which has seen us improve our goals against quite markedly.

[/quote]

Absolute nonsense.

[TIL 1010 4,718]

[quote user="lake district canary"]


There is no need to deconstruct your points as I am not interested in your pathetic attempts to sound knowlegdable. 



[/quote]

Irony and insults so early in the day.

[Indy_Bones 441]

[quote user="lake district canary"]"Zonal sh ite" which has seen us improve our goals against quite markedly.[/quote]Err...noLast season after the same amount of games we''d conceded 32 goals, this season it''s 33 and under Lambert was 35 - so a 2-3 goal against improvement (with a much improved squad to boot), but at a massive cost - As under Lambert we''d scored 30, compared to 23 and 17 (declining each season) under Hughton...Some trade off![quote] "they close us down which leads to more desperate passing to get the

ball to our own players - which usually means we lose the ball

.......conversely we will not close own on players as it means our

players having to move out of their ''alloted space''"They close us down like all teams do, innacurate passes, or slow to release the ball  is the only thing that makes us lose the ball.[/quote]The point City was making is that we get closed down quickly, which due to our more static positioning and movement makes it easier for them to do this and anticipate a potential pass, whereas we don''t apply the same sort of pressure to the opposition in most cases. If we were more mobile and fluid it would be harder for them to do this and thus harder for them to gain possession back.[quote]"the problem

with Hughton is that he is a very weak manager, stubborn and dictorial

he may be, but a man waving a whip about is not necessarily a strong man

or character"Weak to the extent we finished 11th. last season and are in the mix for tenth place this (yes I know we''re three from 18th as well)[/quote]Weak to the extent that he''s taken a team of players who fought tooth and nail to get results, and turned them into a group of players who look dull and uninspired, whilst turning the exciting, attacking football we had under the previous manager and changing it into highly defensive, counter-attacking football that simply doesn''t work most of the time, with no noticeable improvement on defence and marked decline in attacking prowess...[quote]"time and time again we have seen substitutions

where he simply swaps like for like on the basis that it is not the

formation or tactics that need to change, but one of the players who

have tried to implement those tactics - a more assured and competent

manager would have seen what was needed, or perhapswhat might work

better, and swapped things around"This is not always true.  Even if it was, like for like subs happen all the time in football.   Its only wrong in Hughton''s case because to some people he can do nothing right.[/quote]When you''re 1-0 down with 15 minutes to go, you don''t take of Tettey and bring on Johnson, you take of Tettey and bring on Hooper etc.Hughton''s willingness to settle for draws or even to accept damage limitation and take the loss is one of his most frustrating attributes. I''d rather we lost 2-0 whilst trying to get something out of a game than meekly submit to a 1-0 defeat...[quote]"his weakness was clear to see with Becchio, when after comments were published in the media he immediately gone onto the pitch"No.  Becchio said his piece, Hughton must have said alright then, lets see what you can do - and did Becchio do anything to show he should be picked more regularly?[/quote]Was that in 10 minute ''opportunity'' against Palace, the 1 minute against WBA or the 15 mins against Swansea then LDC???If you seriously think that this is giving someone a fair chance, then I really do have to wonder what you''ve been smoking...[quote]"at the moment we are being over coached, smothering the players natural ability"No we are not.  We are being coached to learn how to achieve a balanced footballing approach.  It doesn''t always work and will take time and upgrades to come to fruition.[/quote]That''s right, a balanced approach where we concede twice as many as we score and spend most games playing dire football that 90% of the fans are hating to watch...[quote]"for

the time being I feel he should give Redmond a break and let him spend

his Sat afternoons on shooting practice and if there is no improvement

then move him onto practicing crossing and passing to his team mates

when he gets near the box .... and if the players are not allowed to

close down the opponents then at least remove that requirement near our

own 18 yd box"  How can you give one of our best players a break when all the other wide options are injured.?[/quote]But they''re not are they?Both Garrido and Olsson can play left wing (not saying either is perfect btw), Johnson has played there before (and Howson I think), not to mention we''ve got Murphy as well, and even Elmander could do a shift as the left side of a front three.There''s also the shocking suggestion that Hughton could actually change his formation *GASP*, and indeed we could even play the classic diamond, thereby reducing the need for out and out wingers, with Fer and Howson on the sides of the diamond and the likes of Fox and Hoolahan on the other tips...Really isn''t that hard to change things for a game or two is it?

[lake district canary 4,531]

[quote user="lharman7"]

Disagree with this. Winning games gives you confidence and we haven''t done a lot of that lately have we?

As for the results you state 4 out of the 6 games vs teams around us in the league every one expected more points from.

Surely this doesn''t give the team confidence?[/quote]

Its a slow process and confidence doesn''t just happen.   The setbacks we have had earlier in the season and the injuries would affect anybody''s confidence.   Its an unquantifiable aspect of football but one that a lot of us overlook.  

Its so easy to talk about the things that go wrong, we all want to do well, after all.   Footballers have to be thick skinned but the bottom line for a team is building confidence - recognising the good things that happen and trying to build on them.   I don''t even think winning is the main thing that gives you confidence, although it helps of course.   That first half against MU would have helped the players recognise some of their strengths as a team.  On an individual level, little things can contribute to confidence building.  

As I say, to build confidence you have to recognise good things and build on them.  Hughton seems good at keeping players motivated despite setbacks and playing against stiff opposition - and they are all stiff opposition.

Also, I don''t go along with this view that we should "expect" to win any particular game.  Every game is winnable, but the expectations of fans doesn''t match the reality of the situation.  If we think a game is winnable, then you can guarantee that any opposition we come up against is going to think the same thing.