weejockmcplop
Vital Champions League
"Murray was well past his sell by date, Knockheart was a dead loss and Taylor a complete waste of time.""An attacking force of Lolley, Knockeart, Grabban, Ameobi, Mighten, Taylor and Murray could have been near the top of the goals scored column at least."
Yeah, that looks good on paper, but lets have a look at the reality; Lolley was out injured twice last season, as was Grabban, Ameobi blew hot and cold as he always does, Mighten was attempting to establish himself during his first full season, Murray was well past his sell by date, Knockheart was a dead loss and Taylor a complete waste of time.
Not quite so good when you break things down.
There were valid excuses last season; but no one liked the football being played, and if Hughton is to be believed, neither did he.
The theory that Hughton's default position is a defensive one is also incorrect; there was nothing remotely defensive about his time at any of the clubs he managed in the EFL.
He did adopt a defensive attitude last season, partly through necessity and partly because we did not have the players to play attractive football; there are, however, signs that the defensive attitude is changing; we looked well in control at Coventry until we ran out of steam and played reasonably well against a decent Bournemouth side.
We did not get the desired results in either game so far, which is unacceptable, but the recruitment boys have to share some of the blame for that.
I have seen enough in two games to convince me we will do a lot better than last season; will that be enough for the people who have been starved of success for so many years? I doubt it.
We will not see the kind of improvement needed to challenge for anything until we have a suitable replacement for Grabban; it does not have to be a prolific goal scorer, but it must be someone capable of being the focal point for our attacks; we have not had that in either league game this season.
The report by the Brighton supporters alludes to their two seasons in the PL under Hughton when they finished 17th and 15th; they certainly had no complaints when he managed to get them promotion from the EFL.
I think its worth pointing out that Hughton's replacement has manged them to the dizzy heights of 15th and 16th in his two years at the club, so he can get ready for his very own in depth report.
The same happened at Norwich; the Norwich faithful complained about his time there but fail to mention that he managed the team to their highest place in the PL since the mid 90's, a position they have not got close to since he left.
Fickleness amongst supporters is certainly not unique to Forest; it is evident at every club up and down the country.
And you can forget any chance of attracting managers like Howe to the club; the cost of him and his entourage would be totally unaffordable; you can get ready for an unknown from somewhere in Europe who is prepared to work under the new structure.
Hughton has to work because the alternative will run the risk of pissing a lot of people off.
I have to think that there are managers around who could have got something useful out of all 3 of those players.
The main problem I have with Hughton is from my earlier post... There isn't a single player who has hit their peak form while he's been in charge.
Our players are getting worse: With the possible exception of Mighten and Garner, almost every single player who played for us last season had a worse season than the one before.
That's shocking.
Maybe we'll find some good transfers and he will turn it around. I'd rather not change manager again but so far I have seen zero evidence that Hughton has the capability to find a good run of form longer than a month at Forest in the Championship as it currently is.