[Albion] Is this the first big question mark over Hughton's managerial ability?

[Icy Gull]

If we lose the next 3 games then there will be a question mark against him , he needs to wise up soonish

I thought we’d pretty well all agreed post promotion that we should stick with him even if we go down? Is that out the window after three losses in 4 games?

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

I think he is being very loyal to certain players but changes should have been made as even the best players in the world get ‘rotated’ at this level.

I think it’s strange that Kayal cannot get a game at all, we cannot realistically expect Stephens, Propper and Gross to play every single game and perform at their best without a break at some point, IMHO of course.

find it hard to think of how we have 'better players' ?

 

[Whitechapel]

FWIW, I think this entire thread is a massive overreaction.

I'm far from thinking everything is brilliant, but I also don't see any real need for concern from our last 4 games.

Man United: Away to a team undefeated in 35+ home games, bossed the game and lost to a complete freak deflection.

Palace: A game where both teams set up not to lose, which giving the fact it was a derby game is totally understandable. Could have easily won it.

Liverpool&Huddersfield: Going to stick these two together for the simple reason that they play a very similar style of football, and it's one we struggle with massively. Anybody who has watched us over the last 2/3 years would be able to tell you that any team that comes to press us high up and not give us any time on the ball will probably get the better of us. The two teams who do this the best in the Premier League are Liverpool & Huddersfield. Playing them back to back has done us no favours, but if those two results weren't right next to each other then nobody would bat an eyelid.

Now, you can argue that our inability to adapt to teams who play like this against us would be a valid criticism to leverage against Hughton and I'd tend to agree however this thread is OTT IMO (TBH). I think the team we saw today with an attempt to deal with that style of play, with Brown and Schelotto preferred due to their workrate, however it simply hasn't worked out. Too many players had off days. If one player isn't at 100% then the team can still perform around that. But if 4/5/6 players have an off day then there isn't much you can do. A mixture of 'bad day at the office' performances and players who aren't used to playing together results in us looking very average against a relegation rival but to simply write Hughton off is bonkers.

For every time he makes a questionable selection in the line up and it backfires (like today) there are plenty of times where it works (Iziquierdo over March v West Ham, Gross v West Brom after 3 poor performances etc). We have a tough run up from now until the New Year, with Spurs & Chelsea away as well as Burnley who are shit hot this season at the Amex. However I'm more confident about getting something from those 3 games than I was about getting anything from our last 3 as they are teams who we match up with better from a style of play point of view.

Our season will be made or broken on our run of games from 30th December (Newcastle away) through to 24th February (Swansea at home) where Bournemouth, West Ham & Swansea all come to The Amex, and we have winnable away games at West Brom, Stoke & Southampton. Being in the relegation zone after we play Chelsea on boxing day won't be the end of the world, as long as we're still in touch with 17th and take advantage of that easier run of games in the new year.

 

[The Gem]

For me, unfortunately CH's naivety in the premier league has shone through today.

He took us to a gun fight with a knife.

 

[Ernest]

I thought we’d pretty well all agreed post promotion that we should stick with him even if we go down? Is that out the window after three losses in 4 games?

Did we

 

[Sussex Nomad]

There is absolutely nothing wrong with asking certain questions about tactics and performance after a bad performance or a defeat; however, where in the league did everyone expect to be at this stage in the season. Every clubs fans with probably the exception of Man City are doing the same on certain occasions after game.

Brighton will be in a relegation battle. They won't go down but if anyone thought we would gradually sail away from relegation trouble due to the fairly decent start is deluded. The squad though decent is nothing special. So I would dig in for the fight because it won't be an easy ride and I think the Manager has now become a victim of his early success - To be 4 points clear of the drop zone with 7 teams below us is a decent if not exceptional position to be in when you are playing in one of the top leagues around the world

Pretty much in agreement, we have a troll or two online tonight.

 

[Weststander]

find it hard to think of how we have 'better players' ?

This.

The Albion squad is mediocre at best and tiny, in terms of PL standard.

CH, with some undoubted mistakes, is making the best of what he was served up.

Bloom and Winstanley controlled the purse strings and recruitment last summer.

 

[Bold Seagull]

Amazing how many people not at the game suddenly judge a defeat on the manager. 22 players contest a football match, it may come as a surprise to some, but 11 players can lose a game no matter how they're set up. I think we are lacking some performances from one or two hence we are looking at more changes recently rather than when things were going well.

 

[neilbard]

Bore off

 

[Blues Rock DJ]

Amazing how many people not at the game suddenly judge a defeat on the manager. 22 players contest a football match, it may come as a surprise to some, but 11 players can lose a game no matter how they're set up. I think we are lacking some performances from one or two hence we are looking at more changes recently rather than when things were going well.

don't understand. OK, wasn't at the match, but imo we don't have the back-up players to support changes ?

 

[Bold Seagull]

don't understand. OK, wasn't at the match, but imo we don't have the back-up players to support changes ?

This is a thread about the manager. I agree, he's only got what he's got to work with.

 

[el punal]

In answer to your thread title - no. People were questioning his capabilities in the first four months of his tenure. You know, the time when we were shit. He did what he had to, he stopped us being relegated and in the summer built a new and successful team.

Ok, the team are off the boil at the moment but it's hardly disastrous. We're 13th in the league and like ALL teams we are having a bad patch. I, for one, trust Chris to turn it around. It may take the January transfer window to change things with new players coming in. Just remember we haven't even reached the halfway point of the season. A bit of patience eh?

 

[Ernest]

Huddersfield coming off a 4 match losing streak yet we set up like we're scared of them, Hughton seems to revert to brainless changes under pressure

 

[Weststander]

Huddersfield coming off a 4 match losing streak yet we set up like we're scared of them, Hughton seems to revert to brainless changes under pressure

[MENTION=1416]Ernest[/MENTION]. Do you rate the Albion squad as rich in PL quality?

 

[Seagull by the Sea]

find it hard to think of how we have 'better players' ?

Maybe we don’t have ‘better’ players and this is NOT me slating CH or saying he is to blame for today’s ‘performance’ but....I cannot believe that CH with all his experience in the game, has played virtually the same ‘spine’ of the team for every game UNLESS he honestly believes that, for example, replacing Propper with Kayal for one of those games seriously weakens the team. I am using Kayal as my example because he is IMO an excellent player and has a lot to offer. I could also say that Rosenior could have played a game or two to ‘rest’ Bruno.

Now, whether Kayal or Rosenior are ‘better’ is obviously open to debate depending on each person’s opinion but surely if the team had been rotated a little bit more we may have had players perform better today on the assumption that they would have been ‘fresher’. I recognise that you play your strongest team for every game and you can’t just assume you will lose to Man Utd or Liverpool but have a better chance against Palarse or Huddersfield but it is a worry for me that CH has been a little naive or perhaps over optimistic that he could keep playing the same players through this run of games and that they would play well enough every time.

For me personally, the time to shake it up a little was after Palarse, for the Liverpool game, as a lot of players looked leggy and a little out of sorts. I would have rested AK, Propper, Murray and Bruno for the Liverpool match and brought in March, Kayal, Hemed and Rosenior thus allowing the 4 rested players to return today just that little bit fresher.

It’s a game of opinions and I’m not for one minute suggesting CH is out of his depth at this level but today’s performance lacked any ‘oomph’ from us at all and pretty much all of the players looked lethargic from the off.

 

[Whitechapel]

Maybe we don’t have ‘better’ players and this is NOT me slating CH or saying he is to blame for today’s ‘performance’ but....I cannot believe that CH with all his experience in the game, has played virtually the same ‘spine’ of the team for every game UNLESS he honestly believes that, for example, replacing Propper with Kayal for one of those games seriously weakens the team. I am using Kayal as my example because he is IMO an excellent player and has a lot to offer. I could also say that Rosenior could have played a game or two to ‘rest’ Bruno.

Now, whether Kayal or Rosenior are ‘better’ is obviously open to debate depending on each person’s opinion but surely if the team had been rotated a little bit more we may have had players perform better today on the assumption that they would have been ‘fresher’. I recognise that you play your strongest team for every game and you can’t just assume you will lose to Man Utd or Liverpool but have a better chance against Palarse or Huddersfield but it is a worry for me that CH has been a little naive or perhaps over optimistic that he could keep playing the same players through this run of games and that they would play well enough every time.

For me personally, the time to shake it up a little was after Palarse, for the Liverpool game, as a lot of players looked leggy and a little out of sorts. I would have rested AK, Propper, Murray and Bruno for the Liverpool match and brought in March, Kayal, Hemed and Rosenior thus allowing the 4 rested players to return today just that little bit fresher.

It’s a game of opinions and I’m not for one minute suggesting CH is out of his depth at this level but today’s performance lacked any ‘oomph’ from us at all and pretty much all of the players looked lethargic from the off.

The problem is he's dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't.

If he'd rested players for the Liverpool game and we'd got gubbed, and then he swaps all those players back in for the Huddersfield game and we lose then there would be posters on here stating it was his fault because the changes had ruined momentum, that he was tinkering too much and him dropping players was ruining their confidence.

If he'd rested players for the Liverpool game and we'd got gubbed, and then he swaps all those players back in for the Huddersfield game and we win then people would still moan that we "threw" the Liverpool game and that Hughton had potentially cost us 3 points in a "winnable" home game! It's the NSC way, people aren't happy until they've got something to moan about.

I miss the days of Withdean Wanderer, he was massively negative almost constantly, but he'd back up his negativity with valid points and observations, which is something beyond a few people in this thread.

 

[Ernest]

[MENTION=1416]Ernest[/MENTION]. Do you rate the Albion squad as rich in PL quality?

Better than Huddersfields for sure

 

[Seagull by the Sea]

The problem is he's dammed if he does, dammed if he doesn't.

If he'd rested players for the Liverpool game and we'd got gubbed, and then he swaps all those players back in for the Huddersfield game and we lose then there would be posters on here stating it was his fault because the changes had ruined momentum, that he was tinkering too much and him dropping players was ruining their confidence.

If he'd rested players for the Liverpool game and we'd got gubbed, and then he swaps all those players back in for the Huddersfield game and we win then people would still moan that we "threw" the Liverpool game and that Hughton had potentially cost us 3 points in a "winnable" home game! It's the NSC way, people aren't happy until they've got something to moan about.

I miss the days of Withdean Wanderer, he was massively negative almost constantly, but he'd back up his negativity with valid points and observations, which is something beyond a few people in this thread.

Absolutely agree, it’s all about decisions and hindsight is a wonderful thing!

I’m not saying my opinion is correct either but I just think that logically, we HAVE to rotate our ‘better’ players to keep them fresh and whether we like it or not, we ARE punching above our weight for the division we are in with the squad that we have. Frankly, anyone who honestly believes that we have as much chance of beating Liverpool as we do Palarse at this moment in time is not being realistic!

 

[Weststander]

Better than Huddersfields for sure

That's damning of CH then. Taxi?


I disagree. Offensively, I think we are so lacking, so I pin it on the summer lack of recruitment in that department. Which puts CH and ultimately the defence under unnecessary pressure.

 

[studio150]

It neve ceases to amaze me how the glass goes from full to empty based on one performance.
Half the team knee what to expect from Huddersfield as they played in the poor performance away game last season.

How can CH be questioned in Murray decides its time to raise his offside count. We knew we would be pressed but couldn't effectively break out of it. We were left just scrambling the ball upfield.

Given the lack of time on the ball it shouldn't be overlooked that the goals we conceded were poor from a defensive view point and didn't really have much to do with the management decisions from CH.

File todays game under 'one to forget' and look forward to Wednesday when hopefully the opposition and ground will enthuse whichever players are selected to turn up and perform as they have been doing prior to the latest international break.