The old Chris Hughton discussion thread

[EthiGeordie]

    He was  tactical naive tonight. Why we played so high in the second half after we drew is mind boggling an experienced manager might tighten things up by bringing Campbell and STaylor.  I love CH but it would be great if he hire some one old and experienced  as his assistant. I would Suggest George Graham.

[The Prophet]

Thought his tactics were alright to begin with. An unchanged in from side, if it ain't broken and all that. It's not like he can prevent the basic defensive errors that cost us goals tonight. Add the fact his most creative player is on the treatment table and  I don't think he did a lot wrong. I'd of perhaps brought Rouledge on instead of Ranger but you can see why he made the change he did.

[JH]

If given the choice, I'd give up victories at Arsenal, Everton and West Ham for wins over Stoke, Blackpool and Blackburn.

 

At least we'd have won the games we should have and lost those we're expected to. Itd be easier to make sense of.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

If given the choice, I'd give up victories at Arsenal, Everton and West Ham for wins over Stoke, Blackpool and Blackburn.

 

At least we'd have won the games we should have and lost those we're expected to. Itd be easier to make sense of.

 

Definately, but at the same time beating the better sides makes me think we're possibly not as bad a side as the defeats to the poorer sides suggest.  That just makes it more annoying though.

[JH]

It makes things more confusing. We've shown how well we can perform, so why do we insist on looking like a completely different side.

 

At least it would make sense if we won at home and lost away.

[Guest Heneage]

I'd disagree Jonny, better to beat good sides as we know we can play well, if we were getting beaten off them, then you'd have to question our quality.

[JH]

Yet four pathetic home performances doesn't put a question mark on our ability?

 

How would it question our ability? Its Arsenal and Everton man. They're miles better than us. We'd have just licked the wounds and got on with it. Noone ever expected us to get anything from them.

[Ronaldo]

My only worry for Hughton is that we'll win very few games at home, and a lot at SJP don't care about the away games, to some extent. The crowd will eventually forget where we were last season and begin to demand results.

[Liam Liam Liam O]

My only worry for Hughton is that we'll win very few games at home, and a lot at SJP don't care about the away games, to some extent. The crowd will eventually forget where we were last season and begin to demand results.

 

 

I can't realistically see us keeping up the rate we're collecting points away from home, which is why we need to sort the home form asap.

[Beren]

Thought his tactics were alright to begin with. An unchanged in from side, if it ain't broken and all that. It's not like he can prevent the basic defensive errors that cost us goals tonight. Add the fact his most creative player is on the treatment table and  I don't think he did a lot wrong. I'd of perhaps brought Rouledge on instead of Ranger but you can see why he made the change he did.

 

Good post.

 

The way I see it, we were tasked with breaking down a side that had very little footballing ambition. That's just a fact that had to be dealt with - and we succeeded. Carroll scored.

 

Unfortunately, we also made two fairly uncharacteristic gaffs in our box and they got two goals. They didn't really have much of an attacking sniff, those two mistakes aside.

 

Maybe we could have created more going forward, but I don't think we were impotent by any means - Ben Arfa out, Ameobi carrying a knock, Ranger vastly inexperienced and a thin squad - nothing we didn't already know before kick-off.

 

Not much Hughton has done wrong here.

 

With retrospect, I think Campbell would have played fantastically tonight - pretty much tailor-made to deal with Roberts' brawn. That said, hindsight is 20-20 and dropping Colo/Willy after Sunday would be rather strange if it was done for anything other than fitness reasons.

 

Roll on Fulham and redemption. 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

Think that's a pretty good post Beren, nothing Hughton can do about Tiote gifting them a goal right at the start of the game.

 

He does need to find a way to help the players break down these defensive teams though, that's a big part of the challenge this season. We probably don't benefit from teams being open against us as other "newly-promoted sides".

 

I would have liked to have seen him go with Routledge tonight, to stretch the game a bit and give their left side something to think about.

 

Can see why he went with the same team after a great performance at Arsenal, I'm not so sure why the players resorted to long balls and hopeful diagonal passes so often.

[madras]

dunno like, i think the tactics tonight were pretty straightforward and poor, get it wide, get to 40yds and lump it for andy.

[Yorkie]

Don't think Hughton had many other options tbh. When you take into account how rigid Blackburn were, as well as being so deep and so pressing - our personnel had nothing to counter. Not forgetting a team that was clearly heavily fatigued from the Arsenal shift, a draw at best was all we could have got out of tonight. I still can't make heads nor tails of the winner - we were worth the draw.

 

I don't think he did owt wrong tonight tbh. Ranger in for Shola was a bold move but i thought we were better for it - Shola was garbage in the first half. Carroll was winning every header but Shola pre-empted nowt. In his case, being lazy is just a bi-product of the fatigue and he brought nowt to the team tonight. Ranger had a bit of zip and determination, and he complimented Carroll better. Didn't disagree with Hughton's decision there at all.

 

I wouldn't have bothered with Routledge either tbh. Their winner came out of nowhere. I expected a draw but if anyone was gonna win, it was us. I wouldn't have withdrawn the likes of Nolan or Barton cos we were doing okay.

[mrmojorisin75]

there not an argument for throwing Vuckic at these teams who come to SJP and shut up shop until HBA makes his return?

 

it really seems like what Hughton is trying doesn't work all that well against the Blackburn/Stoke gameplan so why not throw the lad in

[Shak]

dunno like, i think the tactics tonight were pretty straightforward and poor, get it wide, get to 40yds and lump it for andy.

 

Didn't see the match, but we're going to have to get used to being a pretty direct team in general given the nature of our squad. We've got a hardworking, energetic midfield but no real guile or player who can constantly get on the ball and dictate the tempo from deep and allow us to play an expansive passing game.

 

And up front it's not much better, nobody with the ability to come off the front and produce a bit of magic and open things up. Hard to blame Hughton for that, as he hasn't had the money to go and get a player like that and the one we did manage to bring in on loan, Ben Arfa, is sidelined.

 

What we do have though is a big bastard who'll get something on most balls that are launched in his general direction and a couple of players in Sholan who have a knack for getting on the end of chances. Much as I would love to see us play some prettier football, I have hard time blaming Hughton for going with such an approach at this time.

 

Blackburn are a terrible matchup for us in this regard, and yet it sounds like if it weren't for two individual blunders from our defense we'd still have gotten something from the game.

[Skirge]

Can understand why he went ubchanged.. they offered no threat but got two lucky goals.. not going to slate Hughton for the defeart.. we play football they ruin it.

[Benwell Lad]

Think that's a pretty good post Beren, nothing Hughton can do about Tiote gifting them a goal right at the start of the game.

 

He does need to find a way to help the players break down these defensive teams though, that's a big part of the challenge this season. We probably don't benefit from teams being open against us as other "newly-promoted sides".

 

I would have liked to have seen him go with Routledge tonight, to stretch the game a bit and give their left side something to think about.

 

Can see why he went with the same team after a great performance at Arsenal, I'm not so sure why the players resorted to long balls and hopeful diagonal passes so often.

 

I think that goal has been waiting to happen. We do like to play short passes and over-elaborate in dangerous areas, we've got away with it so far but it has to go wrong some time.

Also can never understand, assuming that the purpose is to get crosses into the box, why when that opportunity arises we like to play another 6 passes before we get the cross in and often end up going backwards and losing possession in the meantime.

A basic in playing football is, when it opens up - do it - because that opportunity will very quickly be closed down if you don't.

[gray]

Oh wait I thought we were outsmarted by the greatest manager the world has seen?

[wormy]

there not an argument for throwing Vuckic at these teams who come to SJP and shut up shop until HBA makes his return?

 

it really seems like what Hughton is trying doesn't work all that well against the Blackburn/Stoke gameplan so why not throw the lad in

 

I see where you're coming from, we need a player that has a bit of skill, unpredictability, open teams up. Really can't see Vuckic being the one though, he hasn't impressed when I've seen him. Will he really be an improvement on what we're currently doing?

[mrmojorisin75]

there not an argument for throwing Vuckic at these teams who come to SJP and shut up shop until HBA makes his return?

 

it really seems like what Hughton is trying doesn't work all that well against the Blackburn/Stoke gameplan so why not throw the lad in

 

I see where you're coming from, we need a player that has a bit of skill, unpredictability, open teams up. Really can't see Vuckic being the one though, he hasn't impressed when I've seen him. Will he really be an improvement on what we're currently doing?

 

i really don't know, pretty isolated football-wise these days so was just wondering if he's that kind of player - presume not then?

[oldtype]

Vukcic looks a minimum of 2~3 years away from regular first-team Premiership football. I won't pretend to be qualified enough to assess whether he's showing promise or not, but in the here and now, he's not the answer.

[Ronaldo]

Can understand why he went ubchanged.. they offered no threat but got two lucky goals.. not going to slate Hughton for the defeart.. we play football they ruin it.

 

Like Blackpool, Stoke and Wigan ruined it?

[SGSC]

Can understand why he went ubchanged.. they offered no threat but got two lucky goals.. not going to slate Hughton for the defeart.. we play football they ruin it.

 

Like Blackpool, Stoke and Wigan ruined it?

 

Stoke did tbh.

[womblemaster]

ic ray wilkins is now free....

[Ginola]

We conceded from 2 defensive errors and our final ball let us down going forward against Blackburn. Can't really blame Hughton for that like. We have looked like a one trick pony though with no alternative game plan at times though in a few games this season. That needs to be addressed.

 

With regards to Vuckic, it might be worth giving him a try. He could rise to the occassion of playing in the PL and have a great game or he could flop and do nothing, only way to find out is by giving him a couple of games really.