[Albion] Hughton Article in the Argus today.

[Bold Seagull]

Ali or Propper?

Well, if you're saying has either shown anything that could make you think they could play as a no.10, I would say no. In fact, Propper was effectively in the no.10 position on Tuesday when instead of thinking like a no.10 and getting a shot off, a pass, a cross, he dithered, lost the ball and they scored their first. Jahanbakhsh has played plenty as narrow on the left able to cut in to those inside positions, he also played wide right Tuesday. Earlier in the season he definitely took turns with March to play the no.10 when Gross was out, and doesn't look cut out for it either. Kayal looks a better no.10 than the pair of them - and he's not one either.

 

[Bold Seagull]

What would your rationale therefore be, if when he leaves us he reverts back to being the effective attacking player he was before he joined us?

IF he went to another Premier League team and scored and made assists as an attacking player in a team similar to ours in the lower reaches, then I would eat my socks.

You're rationale is that Hughton is refusing to play him there because of some weird reason Hughton doesn't want the team to be better. My rationale is that he has been tried in almost all our attacking positions apart from centre forward and looks out of his depth.

Maybe next season, he'll be great for us, maybe he will flourish, but right now, we've seen nothing. The only thing you're going off is some highlights reels.

 

[Mellotron]

You're rationale is that Hughton is refusing to play him there because of some weird reason Hughton doesn't want the team to be better.

Nope. My rationale is simply that Hughton hasn't gotten the best out of the £50-70m+ he has spent on attacking players. Partly the players' fault, but certainly partly his for misusing them. Very good defensive coach, but I'm not convinced of his skills as an attacking one.

Eerily similar to what happened at Norwich.

 

[mickybha]

At this stage dont care what it looks like park the bus, its what we're good at,and it might just keep us up

 

[Miami Seagull]

CH is absolutely correct if we keep 4 clean sheets until the Man City game we will be safe, or hopefully nick a goal in one of the games, even an OG.

And the chances of that, however well we play, are almost zero.

 

[seagully]

Needs must. Go back to basics and grind out an away 0-0. Won't be pretty but who cares at this stage. A point at Wolves and one (or three) against Newcastle should be enough.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Nope. My rationale is simply that Hughton hasn't gotten the best out of the £50-70m+ he has spent on attacking players. Partly the players' fault, but certainly partly his for misusing them. Very good defensive coach, but I'm not convinced of his skills as an attacking one.

Eerily similar to what happened at Norwich.

Yes a terrible attacking coach that went from taking a side almost dropping to League One, to 146 goals in the next 92 games. When Newcastle sacked him in the Premier League, not only got them promoted with 74 odd goals, they'd scored 24 in their first 16 games, there was only 4 teams who had scored more!

The parallels with Norwich are that he massively over achieved; in his first season they finished 11th on 44 points scoring 41, then reaped the reward of the club thinking they were an established team and did it on a shoe string. They spent £10m 12/13, £27m 13/14. Even Lambert only spent £9m the season before. That was just £46m over 3 seasons in the Premier League, Hughton had £37m. It was a minor miracle he kept them in there at all, as was proved the next time they came up and straight back down.

 

[Gregory2Smith1]

a sobering stat

in 2019 we've scored 2 goals at home

unless we get a hatful against Newcastle

that must be some kind of record

 

[dazzer6666]

And the chances of that, however well we play, are almost zero.

This. Look at some of the goals we've been conceding.

 

[BensGrandad]

a sobering stat

in 2019 we've scored 2 goals at home

unless we get a hatful against Newcastle

that must be some kind of record

One in each game would suffice if we can keep a clean sheet.in 2 of them.

 

[Stat Brother]

As In understand it, Hughton says the type of player he wants (e.g a ball playing centre half). Winstanley advises who they know of /have scouted that fits the bill. Its assessed for what it does with age profile, home grown player rules etc and a short list is agreed. Bloom and Barber agree the budget etc and barber and winstanley then go do the business.

So unless Hughton said I want a winger who cant cross or shoot and doesnt track back, then its fair to say that Ali J will be a disappointment to him and maybe the other 3 too

It's a really bizarre one. Ali isn't even a winger.

I'll hazard a guess somewhere along the process an extra layer gets added into the mix, when discussing the 'attacking' players, that being:-

'We need someone who can play more than one role"

Because we need to mix and match the attackers so we don't have to buy an out and out striker (Park Lane or Mayfair).

 

[Stat Brother]

IF he went to another Premier League team and scored and made assists as an attacking player in a team similar to ours in the lower reaches, then I would eat my socks.

You're rationale is that Hughton is refusing to play him there because of some weird reason Hughton doesn't want the team to be better. My rationale is that he has been tried in almost all our attacking positions apart from centre forward and looks out of his depth.

Maybe next season, he'll be great for us, maybe he will flourish, but right now, we've seen nothing. The only thing you're going off is some highlights reels.

I reckon Murray has got the Polaroids.

 

[Nixonator]

Quite a damning indictment of some fans who have picked up on this interview, as if he isn't saying what most of us are thinking. The sensible ones anyway.

What would you like us do against Wolves? Attack them? ATTACK ATTACK ATTACK on the back of the last set of results? That's not going to go well, we will get mauled. The time to discuss what went wrong and whether we want to see another season of Hughton football should be left until later. Tony is backing him, we need to back him.

Back to basics, keep things tight, grind out a result of some kind. Hughton is good at that, and judging by the fact he is still in a job implies that he has not lost the dressing room. The only other implication being Tony has accepted the worst and doesn't want to pay him off. I think that's unlikely.

I have somehow got some positivity back, away from home the onus is on them and we might just be able to smash and grab.

 

[A1X]

a sobering stat

in 2019 we've scored 2 goals at home

unless we get a hatful against Newcastle

that must be some kind of record

Telling that this stat has happened at the exact moment Glenn Murray's goals have dried up IMHO. Shows how reliant we were on him, perhaps misguidedly given he's a 35 year old with no pace.

 

[Barnham Seagull]

Problem is I can’t see us grinding out a clean sheet. They look mentally fatigued and making loads of errors partly because we have played like that (ultra tight and defensively that requires a lot of rigid concentration) since being in the prem and I think it’s just now caught up with us. (Second season syndrome)

Wondering if playing Dan Burn and Kayal etc might be worth ago against Wolves they should not be as fatigued

 

[Bodian]

Hughton said: “We haven’t been a big goalscoring team. For what we have, we’re not going to be that."

I'm not sure what Bloom and the scouting team will make of that comment having spent £17.1 mill on Ali J, £15.3 mill on Locadia, £13.5 mill on Izquierdo, £15.2 mill on Bissouma, £5.4 mill on Andone and £11.7 mill on Propper.

That's £78.2mill spent and a combined record of 89 starts (+58 subs), 11 goals. Most telling of all is that above signings have just 6 Prem goals between them - Duffy and Dunk combined have 7!!

Yeah. That comment completely shocked me. The upper management won't be happy about that at all.

That could end up being Chris's far more diplomatic version of Gus's infamous "ceiling" comment.

I genuinely think this is a big clue to things not being right. The idea of Bloom and Hughton falling out seemed utterly ludicrous just weeks (maybe even days) ago. Bloom won't be happy about this UNLESS he is thinking the same, if he is what of Winstanley? It's revealing a crack, somewhere.

Maybe what CH is actually saying is that we're not going to be a freescoring team because we don't create chances for our goalscorers, and the midfield don't shoot/score. That is - he might not be saying our forwards are crap, more like 'if we don't create lots of chances for our forwards, we're not going to score many'?

 

[Mellotron]

Maybe what CH is actually saying is that we're not going to be a freescoring team because we don't create chances for our goalscorers, and the midfield don't shoot/score. That is - he might not be saying our forwards are crap, more like 'if we don't create lots of chances for our forwards, we're not going to score many'?

Whatever it is he’s exactly saying, now is DEFINITELY not the time to be playing down your players qualities in public. Not exactly you want to hear from your Captain when you’re in the trenches about to go for The Big Push.

 

[Mellotron]

Problem is I can’t see us grinding out a clean sheet. They look mentally fatigued and making loads of errors partly because we have played like that (ultra tight and defensively that requires a lot of rigid concentration) since being in the prem and I think it’s just now caught up with us. (Second season syndrome)

Wondering if playing Dan Burn and Kayal etc might be worth ago against Wolves they should not be as fatigued

Absolutely this. I’m completely baffled that Hughton and his team can’t see this.

 

[Kman]

Idk why so much blame goes on Ali J and Locadia. What about all our other signings? Have they performed well? I would say no. when its a bunch of new players not performing well u kind of start to think it might not be the players but the management that cant get the best out of them. I genuinely believe if they left to any decent attacking side they all flourish. My opinion though.

 

[kemptown kid]

To say we aren't a free scoring side is an honest recognition of the reality of our time in the Premier League - much more likely to win 1 0 or 2 1 than 3 2 and 4 2 and, until recently, unlikely to ship 4 or 5 even against the top sides. I am puzzled about the merits of having Duffy up front - especially as he spends half his time raging at his team mates - and not using Locadia in the last 10 minutes on Tuesday - but the idea that CH is somehow preventing our creative/attacking players from creating and attacking is bizarre.