I’m not sure I agree that we don’t have options from the bench. I would agree that those options haven’t lived up to the hype this season, but we can’t call having Knockaert, Taylor, Lolley and Freeman for most weeks before the last couple as ‘not having players who can change a game’.
If somebody said they’d be your bench at the beginning of the season, you’d probably have suspected we’d got promoted or certainly that we’d be vying for it this season, because all those players have been game changers or frankly starters for the last few years. Why aren’t they now?
Not saying it’s Hughtons fault, but I’m not convinced that good players suddenly go bad overnight. I’d also add that Hughton never ever turns to his bench to know if they’d make a difference. He brings players on far too late and usually always the wrong option.
Whether that’s him sending a message I don’t know, but if he gets the chance to add his own players in next season , I’d hope what does improve is his ability to utilize his subs when the game clearly demands it.
But the players you mention, Will, have not gone bad overnight.
Lolley was far from at his best last season as well; there might be mitigating reasons why his form dropped last season and the hangover from that could well have carried over to this season.
There is no question that his performances this season have not warranted a place in the side, but at least he was displaying determination and signs of getting back to his best before his injury struck.
I certainly would not be writing him off for next season.
Freeman only played 11 games for the Blades last season and struggled to break into their side; he arrived here with an injury, the injury was misdiagnosed and eventually needed an operation.
Allowing him to play his way back to fitness was never on the cards and he has struggled to hold down a place since.
Missing a large part of the season does not make him a bad player; if we could get him for the right price and on the right wages I would take him.
Knockheart has been hugely disappointing since he arrived and has not deserved his place in the side; he just has to be better than what we have seen so far, but on the basis of what we have seen I would not buy him with forged money.
If Knockheart has been disappointing, Taylor has been a complete waste of time; he has not displayed the slightest interest in fitting into the side or playing for the team, he just coasts through games waiting for a chance.
As for his substitutions; he is obviously doing what he thinks is right, and if moving the team from bottom 4 to mid table is anything to go by, he has been quite correct in what he has been doing.
If you go back a few Months, some people were describing him as insane because he was doing the same thing repeatedly; he turned out to be correct on that one as well.
Hughton will turn out to be very good for this Club, and despite a few supporters in Norwich and Brighton, there are still plenty of supporters at other Clubs who would have him as manager tomorrow.
You might not be aware of it, but there are a good few Bristol City supporters who regret him not being appointed as manager and would dearly like him to be so.
I was reading through the comments of the oppositions supporters last night and they would love him at Ashton Gate.