Hughton's defensive tactics

[Paris]

Look on the positive side people. We could be Leeds.

 

[stss30]

Yeah but you think this is purely down to tactics rather than to do with performance. I don't believe Hughton is shouting instructions onto the pitch for the players to start defending deep - I believe they do that through their own performance and the opposition getting a foothold in the game. You have to give Villa some credit, we were crap, nothing tactical about it, we just couldn't pass the ball half the time. You obviously feel Hughton at some point gave instructions to start defending, but this makes no sense if he had a substitution still to make but he left on March, Baldock, Knockeart and Murray. If you believe it is 'backs against the wall tactics' as instructed, then you would substitute Baldock for a 3rd central midfielder.

Manager's don't control as much as you think. Players respond to their own performance, and what the other team are doing. We had our foot on their throat after the penalty, but we kept giving the ball away and not taking our chances. I suspect if you chatted to CH, he'd be just as annoyed as you the team ended up defending so deep, I seriously doubt it was instructions from him.

I'm sorry but it must be tactical, we have seen it so many times, or our players have no bottle. I appreciate the general attitudes of players is to defend when they have the lead, but every time we seem to be leading in a tight game we have very little forward outlets and keep piling the pressure on ourselves.

 

[perseus]

Possession football is the best defensive tactic when defending a lead. That's why I despair when we give the ball away when we are 1-0 up. No Albion player seems either particularly good or bad at keeping hold of the ball.

 

[BensGrandad]

Our problem was that defended 20 yds too deep anc gave them possession between our box and the halfway line. With them having 10 men we should have pushed them up and played between the halfway line and their box to stop them pushing forward. It didnt help, however, our wide men having poor games.

 

[samtheseagull]

Manager gets us promoted on a budget which is a lot smaller than others and we still find ways to moan. Cant wait for next season.....

 

[Bold Seagull]

I'm sorry but it must be tactical, we have seen it so many times, or our players have no bottle. I appreciate the general attitudes of players is to defend when they have the lead, but every time we seem to be leading in a tight game we have very little forward outlets and keep piling the pressure on ourselves.

It isn't. You haven't seen it that many times, not really, not compared to a lot of teams. We've won 28, drawn 9 of 46, scored 74 conceded just 40. 50% of those wins have been by 2 clear goals or more.

Today, I didn't see us tactically defending, we're continuing to try to get forwards, we were just a bit crap at keeping the ball. We had players forward of the ball, but if you can't keep it, the other team can press. Yeah, no one likes backs against the wall, but it tends to happen organically on the pitch rather than a manager passing on instructions. The only way a manager can influence it that late on is with substitutions. Had he gone 5 in midfield you might have a point.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Our problem was that defended 20 yds too deep anc gave them possession between our box and the halfway line. With them having 10 men we should have pushed them up and played between the halfway line and their box to stop them pushing forward. It didnt help, however, our wide men having poor games.

As I said to stss30, we did have player's forwards, but if you can't pass the ball because you're playing a bit crap, the pressure comes. If you push up and keep men forwards, you HAVE to keep the ball well. We didn't, once you lose the ball, players have to track back. That is how last 5 min pressure builds.

It is essential that your defence and midfield can keep the ball if you keep players up. Unfortunately in those last 10 mins, it was ball retention rather than tactics that cost us. At times we had simple passes just going straight out of play.

 

[BensGrandad]

The problem was the front men keeping possession, which they didnt do. As I said our wide men were non existent as the game wore on. So much so that they were able to take the best left back I have seen at The Amex off even when down to 10 men. Mind up until then he had again mastered AK.

 

[stss30]

It isn't. You haven't seen it that many times, not really, not compared to a lot of teams. We've won 28, drawn 9 of 46, scored 74 conceded just 40. 50% of those wins have been by 2 clear goals or more.

Today, I didn't see us tactically defending, we're continuing to try to get forwards, we were just a bit crap at keeping the ball. We had players forward of the ball, but if you can't keep it, the other team can press. Yeah, no one likes backs against the wall, but it tends to happen organically on the pitch rather than a manager passing on instructions. The only way a manager can influence it that late on is with substitutions. Had he gone 5 in midfield you might have a point.

So the other 50% were one goal wins? We have seen these tactics plenty of times, and most of the time in this division they have been successful as our defence is pretty solid. I just think it's a stupid strategy when the opposition are down to 10 men. Plus these tactics will be much less effective against better teams next year. I think we'll have to agree to disagree on this one!

 

[TheDuke]

Norwich fans moaned about them, admittedly we haven't seen many adverse affects in his time here, but 11vs10 1-0 up in the last match of the season with a chance to win the Championship and we stack 11 men behind the ball instead of pushing for a 2nd, against a team with nothing to play for. Doesn't omen well for next year...

We got 93 points in a bloody tough league. I would certainly trust CH and his 'defensive' tactics EVERY time

 

[NooBHA]

Norwich fans moaned about them, admittedly we haven't seen many adverse affects in his time here, but 11vs10 1-0 up in the last match of the season with a chance to win the Championship and we stack 11 men behind the ball instead of pushing for a 2nd, against a team with nothing to play for. Doesn't omen well for next year...

It would have worked again today, barring the goalkeeping error. How could he have legislated for that ?

 

[trueblue]

On what planet was Hughton responsible for stacking 11 men behind the ball? It's just human nature that players drop back in that situation. We still had 2 wingers on the pitch FFS. Anyone that falls back on this defensive cliche is just showing themselves up as an idiot who heard some Norwich fans say it once, and now repeat it like it's gospel.

Ironically, if he had employed the defensive tactics these numpties bang on about and brought on an extra midfielder, it's a lot less likely Grealish would have had a chance to shoot from the edge of the box. But that's just hindsight for you. Very easy now.

 

[sussex_guy2k2]

Oh Blimey, you will be kicking off in early September then. And reading some of today's comments it won't be 'constructive criticism' just frustrated uninformed assertion about lack of effort, players who should have been shipped out and aren't up to it in PL, new players who have played 5 games and clearly rubbish, CH can't manage in PL, TB lacks ambition (yes, even that one does come out occasionally)

Let's be clear: we will not win most of our games next season, there are only five teams in PL who have won most of their games. WBA in 8th place have won 12 out of 35. We really do need to get adjusted to this before it happens.

Did you just poo your pants? I mean I'm a little bit shocked you've managed to take that from what my post said. It was a positive post, focusing on the positives of promotion.

As to the kicking off, I'm not really a kicking off kinda guy on account of the fact I'm an adult who can rationalise a game of football. With regards to the part of my initial comment that you've picked out and got all worked up about, I've mentioned my frustration at CHs tactics at various times and throughout this season, as I think they've cost us even more points at times. HOWEVER, I can also appreciate those same tactics have won us a lot of points and got us promoted, but probably won't have the same effect next year when we step up a level. That isn't kicking off, that's just being rational. So please, for all our sakes, clean up your mess.

 

[kevo]

Doesn't make it any less dreadful, goalkeepers are remembered for their mistakes unfortunately

Baldock's miss was just as bad. That would have sewn it up. What was he doing?

 

[Seagulltonian]

Look on the positive side people. We could be Leeds.

We could be Blackburn, with shit owners!

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

Irony is that draws cost us in 2015-16 -oh how we could have done we 3 straight draws at the end of this season..

 

[warmleyseagull]

Did you just poo your pants? I mean I'm a little bit shocked you've managed to take that from what my post said. It was a positive post, focusing on the positives of promotion.

As to the kicking off, I'm not really a kicking off kinda guy on account of the fact I'm an adult who can rationalise a game of football. With regards to the part of my initial comment that you've picked out and got all worked up about, I've mentioned my frustration at CHs tactics at various times and throughout this season, as I think they've cost us even more points at times. HOWEVER, I can also appreciate those same tactics have won us a lot of points and got us promoted, but probably won't have the same effect next year when we step up a level. That isn't kicking off, that's just being rational. So please, for all our sakes, clean up your mess.

Of course it was constructive, I was a being a bit pedantic in response to your point that there will be constructive criticism when we are not winning most of our games, which I agree was not the main point you made. But you did say that, and the point remains that we shall not win most of our games. So no mess, just a bit of clarity.