TRon

I agree with that. I suspect there are only a handful of managers in the Premiership who would be likely to succeed wherever they went. A very small and talented elite. And I doubt we are capable of attracting one of them. I would certainly not preemptively sack Hughton for some journeyman manager who happens to have more experience in being mediocre in the Premiership than Hughton does. And I wouldn't sack him for someone without that experience either. It isn't worth the risk involved in potentially destabilizing the club and unsettling the players that seem to have his confidence. Without a billionaire to speed things up, then consistency is your best path to success. I've noticed a strong correlation between success on the pitch and not replacing your manager four times in one season. Very well said. There are far more shite managers out there than good ones. Unless we have someone exceptional lined up I'd rather spend the money on players tbh.

This basically.

Wasn't he meant to be an impact signing, a players who could get us goals in this division immediately? If things go to plan we've only got three months left in the CCC so how long does he need (considering he's been playing in it all season already?) I wouldn't say I'm on his back, I just think he's a poor player even at this level and it bemuses me why we've signed him. The only reason I can think we signed him is that he's good at being a target man rather than scoring goals for fun. Because despite their height, neither Shola or Carroll are much use at holding off defenders and bringing other team mates into play. Probably Ranger is the best with the ball at his feet but he's still learning as well. For what he's cost I'm not too bothered about the Best signing. He's 23 and costing 15k or less. Hardly a disaster signing in the overall scheme of things.

Depends on what you were looking at. I didn't think he was shocking although he got plenty of flak. Similarly Laurent Robert used to get loads of criticism by TV pundits but that doesn't necessarily mean they were right.

So he's done a poor job or an average job? Average, but far from good enough. So he hasn't done good enough? Despite exceeding most fans expectations. Or are you merely saying he's far from good enough for the premiership? If the opposition weren't such piss-poor finishers, we wouldn't be where we are - that's his fault. The fact we are top has been down to a little touch of quality from certain players and some luck. Our midfield has been over run in most games same as last season, so all these claims that we have a quality squad are not really true. Strikers like Carroll and Shola weren't exactly highly regarded either before we went top so I'm not sure it's just about quality. I think we have been fairly well organised all season and that has a lot to do with the defensive success. True we've looked fairly dire going forward but with a static midfield there's not much you can do about that unless you change the personnel. Routledge arriving has given us some options and we have seen a couple of encouraging midfield line ups since the transfer window. West Brom and Forest for all their supposed slick football are still looking up at us from a fair distance so we aren't doing so much wrong it seems.

and not at all down to the players ? why not widen the post to say, the 3 home games before that ? Why not widen it over the season for accuracy sake? Which players are you referring to?

Smith needs dropped first anyway & we don't have the players to drop both of them. If Routledge is fit, Smith needs to drop back out again. What's happened to Smith? he was getting a lot of praise earlier in the season, now we've all gone back to despising him a bit. Is he just knackered? or has he returned to last years headless chicken and yellow cards form? He's only capable of playing a defensive midfielder role these days, the problem is the other central midfielders all want to play the same role.

Worst case scenario would be a draw for me.

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Good points raised there. For the record I also don't think he's going to cut it at the top level. I doubt he'll be ruthless enough to cull players like Nolan from the squad next season but he can't be judged on something that hasn't happened yet. He's done well this season, and considering there are probably lots of managers in this division with bigger reputations not doing so well, he deserves some credit without a doubt.

Source? They didn't lend him the money.

Why not? He gets into enough scoring positions so given a run of games it's not the craziest assumption he might score goals in time.

Whatever the opinion on Ashley, the fact is it was reported Barclays were unwilling to back Barry Moat to the same tune during his somewhat pathetic takeover attempt. Like the saying goes, the grass isn't always greener....

Colo and Williamson for me. Taylor hasn't done much wrong this season but local bias aside, Williamson looks better for the big stopper role and Colo is the most accomplished defender at the club.

Unless we play with one striker I don't really see much alternative as Ranger and Shola are similar types as well. Agree though that Best and Carroll doesn't work, quite often they are going for the same position when the ball is crossed in.

It's just a damn shame he might get us promoted this season though...what a sickener

They call Anelka Le Sulk but Charlie blows him out of the water with his Pout Factor if you ask me. Cushty player though.

That's because he is. Some people like to be sniffy about Ranger because of his fanboys on here but that's just as pointless as over-rating him in the first place.

I was disappointed Pancrate didn't start so we could have kept our shape and Guthrie in the middle. Worked out in the end I suppose.

Bit of a daft signing really. Not because he's particularly shite as he hasn't had much of a chance to show his worth, but because the likes of Ranger are now out of the picture when he clearly has made an impact whenever he's had some time on the pitch.

Or maybe they just call it as it is? He's dangerous in the air, but pretty mediocre at bringing team mates into play.

That was almost a compliment. Grudging praise tbh. Otherwise he'd have mentioned he's good in the air when we are defending set pieces as well.

Well said. I'm a critic of Nolans fall from the heights. But let's hope he's accepting his responsibility to get back to producing the goods at last. No shortage of effort from Smith but a HUGE shortage of ability or effectiveness for months. In fact it talies with Nolans drop out of the goalscoring stakes good point, never thought of that but i'd also say that smith's performances, in my opinion weren't that good from late spetember onwards. I think the key to good midfield performances is playing only one of Nolan, Butt or Smith. I'm not really fussed which one if Jonas and Routledge are the wide players and the other central midfielder is either Guthrie or Barton.

Have to say so far he's looked far better than I thought he was. I was expecting him to be quick but have no end product whatsoever, but he whips in quite a decent cross, and he's played in some clever passes on the deck too. He does tend to try and beat one man too many sometimes but for what we paid he looks a very useful player. I think him and Jonas are going to make each other look three times their value, as when both play together it's much harder to double up on them.

Agree with all of that, but he's scoring goals so he's doing something right. His team play is fairly crap but at least he's got the knack of getting in the right position to put them in. It will do for now, but he might be another one who is more effective at home.