Middlesbrough - Nottingham Forest

[Tricky]

Not a game I'd have expected us to win under most managers, but what worries me is Hughton's overall approach. We never start on the front foot, and we aren't making use of our attacking players.

I could understand that under Sabri, because we'd 1 recognised striker, and if anything happened to him we were screwed. So making defending a priority made sense. We also had Cash & Ribero, so driving from the back made sense too.

Now however, we've 2 15+ goal strikers, another workhorse striker as backup & to compliment, and enough wingers to rotate semi-regularly too. We also don't have fullbacks the of the quality we had last year. So it seems strange to adopt a similar approach.

We really need to get at Cov & Wycombe from the off.

Yeah, I agree. I’ve criticised his decisions each match. We needed someone who is going to get us playing football and attacking. I’d love to see high energy and rotating wingers but the only player with pace is Mighten and he isn’t getting a sniff. 

I’d caveat that with us seemingly missing the no 8 who can link play to the attackers. We lost Silva but don’t have a better replacement. I guess Arter is the closest we have but assume he’s injured.

That said I fear Hughton is part of the problem not solving it. Unfortunately I think we’ve hired the wrong guy.

The schedule really isn't helping the situation either.

Match, next day in for winding down, rest, then light training as there is a match the next day. None of this is allowing Hughton to get his message across to his players, or enable him to mix them up to see who plays better with who.

The timing of Sabri's sacking was completely wrong as it hasn't allowed CH the time to get to know his squad, working with them on the training ground and instil his ideas and strategies into the playing staff.

The club had enough time to dismiss Sabri before the new season started, so a new manager could come in and start working with the squad before the pressures of competitive matches took hold. But they decided to give Sabri the chance to redeem himself instead.

But we cannot dwell on if's and but's. We have to accept what we have got and hope that at some point, this squad of players will start to gel and work well together and start lifting us up the table. We are only 9 points off the play offs as we stand. That's 3 wins. Obviously, those sides above us will be picking up points as well, but if we can just get a run of wins together, before we know it, we will be there or there abouts. I think we may see a transformation after the next international break. But in between now and then, we have two games that are certainly winnable, although they will be tough matches as both Coventry and Wycombe will want to beat the two times former European Champions.

Keep the Faith

[ThePromisedLand]

Are we really questioning Hughton’s appointment after just 5 games?

[Long John]

Are we really questioning Hughton’s appointment after just 5 games?

Not for me. I think we have the right man. No magic wand here. This will take time. Sabri should have gone after stoke, then we wouldn’t be in this mess.

[Sabricadabra]

Are we really questioning Hughton’s appointment after just 5 games?

Laughable isn’t it?


His first job was to steady the ship. Today was always going to be a tough match.

[stirred]

Are we really questioning Hughton’s appointment after just 5 games?

Yes, I am. I questioned his appointment when we made it. Fundamentally I don’t want a manager who plays defensive, dour football. That was the rep he came with, and what he has done since he arrived supports that reputation.

I think today was the first match I haven’t watched either in person, as a season ticket holder, or on tv/I follow since pre-Sabri. I don’t regret the decision, life is too short for that shit, but it pisses me off that I had to make that decision.

I grew up and started supporting Forest under Brian Clough. I’m not going to hark back to the ‘old days’, I don’t expect us to be winning trophies regularly, but I liked our football and I liked the way people spoke about us. Now I hate our football and, quite justifiably, other supporters call us dour and boring and negative. 

I don’t lay all the blame for this at Hughton’s door, but he seems to be an appointment who follows what for me is the wrong approach.

[ozzyten10]

30 games and we are the worst club in the championship...

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Nothing has changed other than the amount of dross we`ve brought in, and as far as Hughton goes, it`s hard to tell if Sabri has actually left, we really have gone totally backwards, this is some of the worst times I have seen as a Forest supporter.

I don't remember people calling them dross at the time. Read back through the transfer thread. People were waxing lyrical about them.

'We need players with Championship experience'. Tick.
We don't need a foreign manager, we need a manager with Championship experience'. Tick.

You got what you asked for.

[bostonred]

The formation we play doesn't suit the players we've got. We're relying on the full backs getting forward and putting in crosses but they aren't good enough. 
I'd play 4 1 4 1. Just 1 of colback or yates, both of them do the same thing and are nowhere near watson level for starting getting us moving forward. 
Get the wingers wide and stick there, too often we get the ball and have no options wide, the full backs aren't forward enough and our wide players are tucked on as part of the 3. 
Play Taylor up front with 2 of Freeman, arter and knockaert behind. 1 drops deep to link up play when our defensive players have it. Both get closer to Taylor when playing to him so he has options for a pass or flick on. We can at least try some forward defence splitting passes to run onto them as we never do it now.
Currently picking the same players in the same formation expecting a different outcome.

[northeastred]

Should of kept sabri, were no different to him if not worse, folk saying give hughton time, how much does he need? If hes not top 6 by xmas you know he will be gone, reading brought a attack minded coach in and turned them into a high scoring attacking fast tempo team, goals win you games, we go for managers who like 1.0 smash and grabbs, mighten will be gone in jan too, i remember evangelos wanting appiah involved more, when he sacked a manager, it never happened to he sold him, its so upsetting to see the team we had last year destroyed when all we needed was a few quality players not 14 add ons

[TrentEnd]

Hughton has proved he is good enough to get teams out of this division. He needs time. I'm as disappointed as anyone with the poor style of play, but he needs to get to grips with the squad. Give him the time and I am sure he will repay us, it just may be next season not this and we need to be prepared for this.

[Salvatore Matrecano]

Hughton has proved he is good enough to get teams out of this division. He needs time. I'm as disappointed as anyone with the poor style of play, but he needs to get to grips with the squad. Give him the time and I am sure he will repay us, it just may be next season not this and we need to be prepared for this.

You know as well as I do that he wont get next season.

[TrentEnd]

Hughton has proved he is good enough to get teams out of this division. He needs time. I'm as disappointed as anyone with the poor style of play, but he needs to get to grips with the squad. Give him the time and I am sure he will repay us, it just may be next season not this and we need to be prepared for this.

You know as well as I do that he wont get next season.

I suppose you are right but the approach has to change sometime! 

Got a lot of Derby supporting friends. They are really upbeat about the fact they are playing along of young players and seeing them develop. A long term approach but getting support, even though the results are not great for them yet