The key to staying up? A direct, physcial approach.

[The Prophet]

With the season at an end Hughton will have to start preparing for next season. Before considering how he will strengthen the squad he will have to consider what approach we will take in terms of tactics and game plans and for me that should be a direct, with an emphasis on an uncompromising defence and set pieces.

 

Reading, Birmingham, Derby, West Brom, Boro, and of course ourselves have all been relegated in recent years. Stoke, Wigan and the Mackems have been the only sides to establish themselves. The teams that have gone down are largely comprised of squads recently promoted that have tried to survive playing football while the teams that have stayed up have adopted a more direct style of play. While the Mackems and their reliance on Bent may be the exception Wigan under Bruce and Stoke both placed an emphasis on making life as uncomfortable for the opposition as possible.

 

With limited funding available it is unlikely Hughton will be able to go out and buy the quality that will allow us to play great football so for me the first and most obvious approach to take is to make ourselves as difficult to beat as possible. Bolton, Blackburn and Stoke all currently use this approach and while it isn't pretty it works. It is also worth noting how Everton have adapted under Moyes. He began by making them difficult to break down when they didn't have the ball, they were also notably decent at set pieces. Since he has gradually added the quality need them to make them a side that regularly qualifies for Europe. Big Sam took a similar approach at Bolton, things weren't pretty to start with but he gradually got them competing for Europe.

 

Of course it remains to be seen if Hughton has the know how in the transfer market and the tactical know-how to employ this kind of approach at the highest level but for me, with limited funding available it is the way forward. We need focus on making ourselves hard working, physical bastards who teams can't stand playing against, then we can focus on adding the quality to take us to then next level.

 

[traeir]

Just get Owen back..  He'll guarantee 20+ goals a season the rest will take care of itself!!

[tmonkey]

If we could land Owen on a 5 year contract, and tempt him with 100k per week wages (expensive, yes, but that's the price on the ticket for a natural goalscorer!), who knows, we could easily be in Europe within a few years. Possibly even next season - if you take our points tally in the Championship, divide it by two, add on additional points that Owen would win us (I'd say 20), we'd have 75 points. That's 4th spot in the Premiership next season right there.

 

Come on Ashley, make it happen! 

[Neil]

If we could land Owen on a 5 year contract, and tempt him with 100k wages, who knows, we could easily be in Europe within a few years. Possibly even next season - if you take our points tally in the Championship, divide it by two, add on additional points that Owen would win us (I'd say 20), we'd have 75 points. That's 4th spot in the Premiership next season right there.

 

Come on Ashley, make it happen! 

 

LOL! Typical delusional Geordies!

[tmonkey]

LOL! Typical delusional Geordies!

 

You won't be saying that though when 20k turn up to see the second uneviling of the Owen!!!

 

:idiot2:

[nufc4eva]

We need to be organised and physical. If you look at most teams from everton downwards they are mostly physical and organised in their approach. Its gonna be a long hard season if we don't get a midfielder, striker and right back I feel

[Neil]

(Points in the Championship / 2) + Owen's goals = VICTORY!

[Nobody]

Step 1: Sign Owen

Step 2: ??

Step 3: Europe

[nufc4eva]

I hope owen plays at st james next season. I also hope he suffers a career ending injury that day

[Neil]

Step 1: Sign Owen

Step 2: ??

Step 3: Europe

 

There is no Step 2!!!  :omg:

[Guest malandro]

We spent the first half of 09/10 keeping it tight and lumping long balls at Carroll. It’ll be interesting to see if Hughton reverts to this approach again at home or sticks with the passing game that served us well for the last three months. Away from home it will be 451 with Nolan getting into the box to support AndyC again.

 

The only problem with adopting the Stoke approach is that Stoke will be better at it than us, as will Blackburn and probably any other current Premier League team that uses it.

 

[ponsaelius]

Ahh I'd rather not. I think we could stay ahead of 3 other teams next season without reverting to this. I also don't think we have the players to go for this approach.

[JH]

Step 1: Sign Owen

Step 2: ??

Step 3: Europe

 

There is no Step 2!!!  :omg:

 

Step 2 is quite clouded. It involves some sort of injury to Owen, relegation, an attempted club sale and the change of managers.

[James]

I think Step 2 involves a human sacrifice to the god of football.

[cubaricho]

Ahh I'd rather not. I think we could stay ahead of 3 other teams next season without reverting to this. I also don't think we have the players to go for this approach.

 

This.

[maybe_next_year]

I think Step 2 involves a human sacrifice to the god of football.

 

that explains step 1 then, finally we found a use for Owen

[AyeDubbleYoo]

You don't need world-class players to play good football. We already have the core of a team better than most that come up from the championship, we just need to address our main weaknesses to be OK.

 

Obviously leaving yourself open at the back by being cavalier is suicidal, like West Brom, but that doesn't mean we have to turn into spoiling team.

[Darth Crooks]

I thought a significant number of our current midfielders were supposed to be 'physical?' If so no thanks. Or we could just spend the owen money on cloning Jose el toro loco.

[JH]

I think Step 2 involves a human sacrifice to the god of football.

 

that explains step 1 then, finally we found a use for Owen

 

He's got the sacrifice bit down to a tee, but human? Wouldn't we be stretching it just a bit...

[Darth Crooks]

I think Step 2 involves a human sacrifice to the god of football.

 

that explains step 1 then, finally we found a use for Owen

 

He's got the sacrifice bit down to a tee, but human? Wouldn't we be stretching it just a bit...

 

Could have it to coincide for when we get Nicky Butt finally euthanised. Win Win.

[Foluwashola]

With a few good signings, don't see why we can't play decent, organised Fulham-esque football.

[The Prophet]

We need to be organised and physical. If you look at most teams from everton downwards they are mostly physical and organised in their approach. Its gonna be a long hard season if we don't get a midfielder, striker and right back I feel

 

It's interesting how Wigan's approach to trying to play pass and move football has led to them from mid-table to relegation candidates. I think Bruce was aware of the limitations of the players he had on his books and opted for a more direct approach. Agree with the positions we need to strengthen like.

 

We spent the first half of 09/10 keeping it tight and lumping long balls at Carroll. It’ll be interesting to see if Hughton reverts to this approach again at home or sticks with the passing game that served us well for the last three months. Away from home it will be 451 with Nolan getting into the box to support AndyC again.

 

The only problem with adopting the Stoke approach is that Stoke will be better at it than us, as will Blackburn and probably any other current Premier League team that uses it.

 

 

Aye, if we were going to take the physical approach two big b****** midfielders on the cheap would be nice. I think Nolan has to played off the striker or he's pretty much useless.

 

You don't need world-class players to play good football. We already have the core of a team better than most that come up from the championship, we just need to address our main weaknesses to be OK.

 

Obviously leaving yourself open at the back by being cavalier is suicidal, like West Brom, but that doesn't mean we have to turn into spoiling team.

 

We need to address our weaknesses but the question is do the players making the step up have what it takes to carry on what they're doing at a higher level? How many teams have come up, tried to play football and gone straight back down? I think unless you have genuine quality it's hard to do. Birmingham have done it to an extent this season but they've struggled in the second half, I wonder if they can keep it up next season and avoid the dogfight?

[Thespence]

The Prophet  - Fancy whacking in few suggetions of players you would bring in.

 

I think we have been playing direct & physcial a lot this season esp away from home.

[Guest fraser]

I think so; a player like Barton might come into his own in a team like that. Ability to play good passes (for example to Routledge and Lovenkrands recently) and able to be strong. We clearly need players to support first-teamers for injury and the like and an OCD holding midfielder (sorry Alan) would be a good addition too.

[Cajun]

James Beattie would be a decent signing if we were to play ugly...