Centre mid

chaileyjem said:

Ha ! Hughton didn't say that though did he. He said it was tough, difficult blah blah but "no hope that we'd win the game". He's far too classy to admit to that in public for starters and it was still on the cards, even if very remote, on the 70th minute. but hey.

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Bold Seagull said:

It's within others right to question that opinion and give theirs when you post your opinion on a public forum though right?

As it is, I think people do think that a manager has more control over tactics on the field than actually transpires in a game. The moment that team crosses the line, they have to execute their game against whatever is thrown at them. Gross actually played more as a second striker than I expected, but got pushed deeper and deeper, not by tactics I felt, by the opposition, same with our wingers.

In truth, we were probably more open than other teams like West Brom would have been. City sacrifice width for control of the ball, so with their full backs pushed up as deeper wingers, but beyond their defence, they pushed our own wingers back, and that would only have been alleviated by our ball retention – again, not tactics, that is down to how the players perform.

I don't think Hughton sent them out all guns blazing, but I partly agree with [MENTION=24867]chaileyjem[/MENTION] that we were set up pretty positively given the game, we just couldn't keep the ball. Tactically we could do exactly the same in another game, same directions and instructions from the manager, and we'll create loads of chances and win – same tactics, just different opposition and performance from the team.

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sussex_guy2k2 said:

If we're serious about staying up, Hughton needs to change that mentality and be brave enough to push his defensive line higher up the pitch. .

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spence said:

My main gripe was when we went 1 down. He never changed it. We had nothing to lose then and should have opened up . Instead the inevitable happened and we conceded another

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LamieRobertson said:

I'd agree with that....and didn't see a problem with those tactics at all...and after one game i am not going to start criticising the manager who has served us well for two and half seasons

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trueblue said:

Nice idea in theory. I'm sure he didn't think of that [emoji849]Or maybe he did, and realised it would almost certainly have meant they'd have got their goals much, much earlier and quite possibly humiliated us.

I think it might be better to judge Hughton's 'mentality' when we play teams we have a hope of matching, rather than after facing one of the most expensive and best sides on the planet, who will very likely put 5 or 6 goals away several times this season.

Let's see how we're doing in a couple of months, once we've taken on a selection of sides and our players have had a chance to adapt to the higher level. If we still haven't got a point then, it might be more reasonable to start trotting out the ludicrous Norwich-peddled stereotype about Hughton's negativity. A manager so negative he played two wingers and two up front in almost every game as we battered our way through most Championship opposition for two years running.

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sussex_guy2k2 said:

You're totally within your right to post your own opinion. But the poster that questioned me initially was rather aggressive saying how people that questioned Hughton were shot down at our forum and insinuating I had no such right to an opinion.
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sussex_guy2k2 said:

Criticism is all relative. I didn't enjoy the way we played yesterday and we were incredibly defensive with absolutely no intention of winning the game. You can say otherwise, but our performance was the proof of that.

Plus, the key point in my original post was that I hoped he'd be brave enough not to play like that in future as he's assembled a squad that I think, as I'm sure he does, can stay up. Hopefully we'll see a more proactive approach in the future. But if this type of performance continues, then he should not be immune to criticism, as the reality is he is still rather unproven at Premier League level and he needs to prove he's learned from his past mistakes at Newcastle and Norwich whilst at this level.

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sussex_guy2k2 said:

You're totally within your right to post your own opinion. But the poster that questioned me initially was rather aggressive saying how people that questioned Hughton were shot down at our forum and insinuating I had no such right to an opinion.

As to your post, your make sensible enough points, although I'd disagree with key points of it. Big managers affect the way their teams play in games. We saw it yesterday with Pep and we've seen it throughout with Mourinho. Hughton's post match interview also admitted to have set the team up so defensively.

As to our wingers being pushed back, Hughton didn't seem to question this in game. As to the suggestion that ball retention would have alleviated our wingers being so far back, I'd again disagree. We were unable to retain the ball because there simply was no outlet ball because the wingers were so far back. At times, down the right, March was picking up Danilo with Bruno not actually marking anyone. That's fine, but it often left Man City with either a central midfield player free, or their closest centre back free as a passing option. By nature of this defensive approach (by either Hughton or our players), we were unable to retain possession because we didn't have any options once we'd got hold of the ball.

All of which makes me believe we weren't set up positively and that Hughton was happy to gift Man City the ball in these areas and effectively keep 9 men behind the ball on our 18 yard line.

Still, you're entitled to your opinion.

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NooBHA said:

I think you are correct. Chris did set up defensively but that's his ''default'' position in this division when he comes up against the ''Man City's'' of this league. Keep them out and try and get free kicks or corner further up the pitch and nick a goal.

It won't be like that against everyone and his target is to get enough points to stay up, so you try and target your draws and your victories. Every Manager in the bottom 12 teams if you listen to them ''off camera'' They always say '' If you can't win it you have got to try and make sure that you don't lose it '' - Tony Pulis has done that very successfully for years. It's not pretty but he keeps teams up in that League and that is his remit.

I was a bag of nerves for 90 minutes but being a bag of nerves for 90 minutes got my adrenalin flowing and so although I didn't enjoy it, I most certainly got out of it what I watch football for. Points will come elsewhere because those players on that pitch are as good as others in the PL. They are just not as good as the Man City players.

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BevBHA said:

Did the game finish 0-0 today then?

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spence said:

Strange because i was a bag of nerves right up until they scored. I kept looking at the clock and thinking "lets get a 0-0" that would be a great result. When they scored i relaxed after that because i knew it was all over. We had done nothing all game to warrant something from it.

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sussex_guy2k2 said:

I'm glad you're proud of yesterday's performance. I'm not.

I'd have much preferred that we actually gave City a game of football rather than getting in bed with them, lubing up, bending over and asking them which way they'd like to f**k us. But each to their own.

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sussex_guy2k2 said:

I'm glad you're proud of yesterday's performance. I'm not.

I'd have much preferred that we actually gave City a game of football rather than getting in bed with them, lubing up, bending over and asking them which way they'd like to f**k us. But each to their own.[/QUOTE

We were up against a team that are favourites to win the league, with an abundance of expensively assembled talent playing for an impressive and successful manager. I'm glad we didn't adopt a naive, gung-ho approach. We'd have been picked apart easily and endured a demoralising loss.

As we all know, we do need pace up front. A classic example was Murphy being put through on the counter in the 2nd half and he no passing options at all. He had to stop and pass backwards.

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dazzer6666 said:

Based on the live games I've seen on the telly so far, our defence is better than that of Liverpool, Watford, Arsenal and Leicester.

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