Back from the game

as, since a recent move, home games are now a 400 mile round trip for me.
I thought we were very disappointing.
Since Wes was so good v Palace I thought he'd start but it seems Hughton has now rebanished him. If ever a game was crying out for him it was today, against a side who we knew would allow him to play.
Our lack of creativity was clear as midfield players and defenders regularly (especially in the first half) looked up to see very few options ahead. I don't share the general view that Elmander was good; his lay off for the goal was neat but otherwise he was ineffective despite being busy and committed.
I thought pretty, pretty Swansea were there for the taking after their exhaustive recent schedule but again we did not go for it. After conceding a schoolboy goal Hooper's brilliant strike should have set up a second half cavalry charge but sadly that means nothing to our management whose cautious excessive respect for the opposition means that we are never truly aggressive.
Bradley Johnson is simply not good enough technically; he wins the ball, yes, but gives it away far too frequently. Compare him to Swansea's midfield players and his shortcomings are massively highlighted. Our inability to keep the ball (just as at WBA last week) was really frustrating.
Fer is out of position on the left and consequently unable to impose himself as we know he can. Redmond is tremendously exciting but his lack of end product whether shooting or crossing is reminiscent of a young Aaron Lennon. He may be young but surely he can be coached. The excellent Hooper (who reminds me a lot of Ted MacDougall) deserves better.
Our reliance on high angled balls from Johnson for about 80% of our free kicks is another horrible indication of the coaching regime's lack of ideas.
People keep saying Hughton is a top class coach. To my mind modern top class coaches are characterised by the flexibility of shape of their teams. We, on the contrary, have the most rigid 'set up' imaginable, with the obsessive mantra from the bench of 'keeping shape' resulting in our weekly failure to 'unlock' defences.
Again today the failure to make meaningful substitutions until 75 minutes plus (the most telling aspect of the inflexible management -inability to change games from the bench) was evident.
I agree with the view that Hughton may well keep us up. However, I do not agree that is the 'be all and end all' of his job. Honestly, despite my huge love of the club, the ground and everything concerned with Norwich City, I doubt that I will renew my season ticket if Hughton is still in charge next year.
We are being crippled by conservative coaching and, for me at least, it spoils my enjoyment of the game.
I understand all the arguments about it being better to finish a pragmatic 16th than to play reckless football and get relegated etc but at the moment I just think we're pretty horrible to watch

Posted By: BillySteele on December 15th 2013 at 21:08:13

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