On a point of tactics, the only thing that concerns me

about Hughton's comments after the game was saying if you play too far forward these teams will pick you off.

To me that smacks of a lack of confidence in his players' ability to compete, which I'd have thought they pick up on and does little for their own confidence.

We simply don't press the ball as a team, giving the back four literally all the time in the world to play it out and inviting wave upon wave of pressure. That's fine if you've got genuine pace as an outlet, or a target man who can hold it up. Barring Redders, we have neither of these, so we end up trying to play it through the team in a slow and ponderous way, and ultimately losing it quite quickly because the opposition are already high up the pitch and pressing *us*.

This was the same last season, and many of us were crying out for us to just play 10 yards further forward, irrespective of the formation.

We did it at Swansea strangely, and it worked. We also did it at Man City when the pressure was off. I just get the sense - and it's no more than that - that there's a general lack of belief from the management team about our ability to compete, which manifests itself in our dismal away performances.

And personally, I *would* rather lose 3-2 than 2-0. Because then there's at least a chance that you'll win a handful of away games.

I'm not a Hughton outer, but I just don't really like his approach to football. Don't think that's a crime.

Posted By: duke of york, Sep 16, 10:50:08