Now is the time for Hughton to prove his credentials.
Posted on September 13th, 2010 | 191 Comments |
Another reality is that as much as the stats suggest that we pretty much dominated the game and were unlucky to not get something, they don’t change the fact that we didn’t get anything out of a home game against a relegation rival.
That last part is the cause of most of the depressed feeling that is hanging around at the moment, in my opinion anyway. The loss on Saturday ruined my prediction coupon. I, and many others probably, had it down as a home win, but I always had the feeling that it would be a lot closer than a fair few were predicting. That loss now means we have to pick up some extra points on the road if we are to avoide getting sucked into the early season depression cycle of being near the bottom of the league.
For us to pick up points on the road then changes will need to be made, and this is what Chris Hughton is paid to do. There is a feeling that Hughton wil stick with his senior players, which to a point is fair enough, but when those players just aren’t cutting the mustard they need to be replaced. There is no place for loyalty in the Premier League, especially if we have a player/s that are technically better sitting on the bench.
The theory was that signing all of these midfielders, and we do have a lot of them, would increase competition for places. This is generally used as a cliche to inform us that the current crop of player, the ‘old guard’ if you like, will up their game to stop these new faces from taking their place in the team. Sound thinking really, but Kevin Nolan, Joey Barton and Alan Smith all failed to heed the warning of competition, and for that they should pay the price.
The introduction of Hatem Ben Arfa made Nolan look silly. Ben Arfa may have only played a cameo role on Saturday, but he is clearly a player who is as capable as all of those YouTube clips showed him to be. Part of the problem for me is that while Andy Carroll does his job and wins a hell of a lot of headers as he chugs along up front on his own, there is nobody with the pace to get alongside him and get onto those knock-downs. This where I believe that Ben Arfa could be key.
Then there is Joey Barton, who appeares to have forgotten how to pass a football. All the good work and plaudits that he has attracted in the past few weeks will soon be forgotten if he continues in this vein. At the end of the day, everyone has a bad day at the office. Hopefully this was JB’s as there is no doubt that he has the quality needed for us to make a fist of it in the Premier League this season. He just needs to show it on a more consistent basis, but I am willing to see if this poor performance was a one off or whether he was playing above himself in the previous two games.
I can’t say the same for Alan Smith though. I have never been his biggest fan but I will always, always back him on the field. Don’t get me wrong, he hasn’t done bad at times this season, but there is always the possibility that he could make one of those ‘all guns blazing’ rash challenges in a dangerous area, much like he did when he conceded the penalty on Saturday.
I just don’t think Smith brings enough to the team warrant either the wages he is on or his place in the side at the moment. Apparently he is a player that is good for the morale? £60,000-a-week seems an awful lot for a glorified cheerleader! The problem with Smith is how to replace him. Cheick Tiote is very much an unknown quantity to a lot of fans, but there is a feeling that he could be an Alan Smith who can tackle, run and play a bit of football at the same time. If that is the case then it has to be bye-bye Smudge.
Of course it easy for me to sit here and write this, and if I was manager then I would look to be changing things for the next game. We are away at Everton next weekend, which is never an easy place to go to, so I don’t expect that we will change the way the team is setup. I still think it willl be the 4-5-1 formation that we are getting used to seeing that will be used, which is fair enough, but I do think that the personnel within that formation will be changed.
That is what Hughton is paid to do.
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
There in lie the problem – We have been beaten by a team who we will be competing with and it’s at home too.
I only hope that this is a blip and we bounce back, unfortunately we’re playing Everton who haven’t been beaten since Nov 2009 at home!
Would still like to see us play two upfront against lower teams at home.