Bob'n'weave
Well-known member
That piece reeks of assumed wisdom and has little insight. It simply trots out the stereotypical view of Hughton and applies stats that support the argument. Yes Hughton is cautious and defensive in this division, but this approach is one of pragmatism because of the squad available to him. Its an approach that has taken Burnley to heights that few pundits predicted this season. Dyche's squad is a couple of years ahead of Hughton's in terms of aquisitions and top level experience. He obviously didn't see the Liverpool game. Anyone watching that could see that the attacking play of Liverpool would have destroyed virtually any team in the league that day. They put four past Man City. Does that make the Champions elect not 'a proper Premier League Team'?
It is not the defensive duties that have prevented the wingers from providing. It is lack of possession and poor delivery when opportunity against better defenders arises. Hughton's Norwich side were relegated at the end of his second season in charge. The previous year they were a very respectable 11th. If he is to be criticised for his tactics in the Premier League, a more appropriate comment would be that Hughton's defensive sides do not have the bite of Dyche's. At no point this season, do we seem to have taken Aspinall's advice to get in the faces of the opposition. We let teams play in front of us, hoping to break quickly when the ball is given away. Players like Hazard will not give the ball away unless they are denied space and we gave him all the space he wanted. It was this reason, not Hughton's cautiousness, or our squad's lack of quality that proved this bloke's prediction to be right.
This.