It seems an awfully long time since I described a City victory.
That I’m about to try and unpick a 7-0 defeat says a lot about the direction in which we appear to be heading right now; the spirited but ultimately fruitless showings against Chelsea and Arsenal now little more than a distant memory.
And while I’ll defend Chris Hughton the man, until I’m yellow in the face – his dignity in defeat yesterday a lesson to many – I’m rapidly running out of reasons to defend Hughton the football manager. To ship seven when in reality it could have easily been ten smacks of a complete horror show… which it was from start to finish.
That our best player was John Ruddy by a country mile says all you need to know, and ironically – on a day when England number one Joe Hart was dropped in the Man City goal – the big man was given the perfect platform to showcase his England credentials. The fact he delivered – or had to deliver in such an emphatic way – was as fortunate as it was tragic.
One of the biggest disappointments of yesterday was that we all saw it coming. A midweek catastrophe in the other half of Manchester had already sent the alarm bells ringing – injuries to key players etc – and so we all knew we were up against it before a ball had been kicked.
Yet at the back of all our minds we hoped that – as is sometimes the case – with the odds stacked against them they’d find, from somewhere, a display of guts, grit and determination that would level the playing field; one that would see City ‘get in their faces’ and give them not a second to settle on the ball.
It’s happened plenty of times before. In the face of adversity a team drags itself up from the bootstraps and confounds everyone with a display that sets the pulses racing and makes the hairs on the back of the net stand up.
Alas, yesterday’s ‘performance’ was the very antithesis of that scenario.
It’s impossible to even attempt to dissect the wrongs – there were that many – but never has the ‘rabbit dazzled in headlights’ cliché seemed more appropriate.
From the very first minute, when Ruddy had to scramble Zabaleta’s near-post cross off for a corner City were on the back foot and, as Hughton admitted afterwards, at no stage of the game did his side get anything close to resembling a foothold in the game.
Short of Bassong and Turner waving the white flags there was little more City could have done to play the role of submissive opponent to a side that needed not the slightest encouragement.
With the riches available to formerly Roberto Mancini and latterly Manuel Pellegrini the gulf in quality was always going to be evident but none of us expected it to be *quite* so stark. As mentioned earlier, we’ve successfully gone toe-to-toe with Chelsea and Arsenal recently and while both emerged victorious, both knew they’d been in a game. Yesterday not so. It was the epitome of a stroll.
Other than the over-worked goalkeeping department, not one single part of the team functioned as Hughton would have wanted, the back four in particular now looking a shadow of its former self. It goes without saying that eighteen goals conceded in the last five games – which includes the clean-sheet against Cardiff – is not good enough.
That the one area where Hughton has always trumped Lambert is no longer a strength speaks volumes and further undermines the credibility of those, like me, who have defended his tenure throughout.
Of course, when you reach a low ebb Lady Luck typically deserts you and sure enough Hughton and his troops are currently on the receiving end. With yesterday’s bandwagon kicking off with that slice of Aguero fortune the tone was set and with Russell Martin deflecting Nastasic’s header in for the third it was a classic case of football kicking a man when he’s down.
But that doesn’t excuse the lack of heart… or fight. Hughton admitted afterwards that the travelling faithful had been badly let down for the second time in five days and you can only but feel for those hardy souls.
It would be wrong to single out individuals in a performance that was found wanting in so many ways but the quality of passing by some was of an ilk that would be more befitting the Thurlow Nunn League than the top level of English football. It was shocking.
If poor defending has been one that’s returned to haunt us, the ability to keep the ball is one ill that has never gone away. And for that one you can’t blame the manager; the ability to successfully shift the ball from A to B while under pressure a pre-requisite for any top level pro.
So… where do City go from here?
If Hughton survives to next weekend – McNally of course has history of taking action after 7-0 defeats – then it will very much be in the realms of the Last Chance Saloon. Failure to overcome a team in claret and blue when staring down the barrel invariably ends badly for City managers – just ask Worthy.
It’s going to be a long week…
I cannot begin to imagine how you put that together Gary. Words fail us all but you have, as always, summed events well.
You cannot take away from CH what he has done for the club since his arrival and I have always been firmly in his camp but after my trip Tuesday and yesterday I am now a doubter. As you have said, interesting week for CH, indeed IF he lasts the day.
Enjoy your Sunday mate. Me…… I am avoiding all TV and radio……
The hunger and desire to get forward and take the game to the other side has, but for odd, sporadic displays been completely sucked from the squad by the all consuming notion that defence & organisation is everything and goals will take care of themselves. Well, so much for our defensive maestro & coaching staff!
Sorry Gary you don’t want to pick out individuals, but I have to. Bassong as a player has been poor for weeks, he was awful yesterday. To me that’s massive, he’s a captain with a total lack of leadership, that could be putting pressure on his game. I wrote some weeks ago about has Houghton got man management skills, when Snodgrass took the penalty, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, but the answer is now clear he hasn’t. take the captaincy away and give it to Martin. Give Bassong a rest play Ryan Bennett with Turner or Martin. The other amazing thing to me is, why play 2 big centre half against teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, even Liverpool, the only time they cross a ball in the air is at corners, not very often at free kicks. The openings are made on the floor, just play 3 at the back with 1 centre half, 5 in mid field a 2 up front, push up and reduce the space for them to play in, currently our front man might as well sit on the bench as whoever it is, he’s running about like a headless chicken with no chance of scoring.
Sorry but some thing has to change Mr Mc.
I don’t know how you have kept as calm as that! Hughton’s record since Xmas, has been dreadful, culminating in two defeats in 5 days, For 0 Against 11. I feel that unless we win, and well against West Ham, ( highly unlikely, you have to score a goal to win) then Hughton and Calderwood are gone.
A good article on another sad day for our club. I used to enjoy watching us, win lose or draw, it would be entertaining, there would be spirit, there would be missed chances or goals. Now I’m just happy when I see a full back allowed to overlap into the opposions half. It’s a sad situation when you take good attacking players and proceed to strip out of them what made them good in the first place. As for the Bassong debate, I think people should be looking even harder at Turner. He is pedestrian, lacks judgement, misses so much in the air and is a complete liability. Bassong has to cover him all game, it’s tough doing the job of 2 men as well as captaining a sinking ship. Quite why Ryan Bennett who in my opinion galvanised us and potentially kept us in the League when Turner was injured last season, is being kept out the team simply baffles me. That decision only Hughton understands but I genuinely believe that Turner is the problem, not Bassong.
I agree that things are bleak. But the rush to condemn Hughton weeks ago led by Canary Call has not provided a stable platform to turn things around. City are not the only strugglers. Sunderland and Palace are in even worse shape. Fulham are poor and so are Cardiff. Even the “successful” Hull could only beat 9 man Sunderland by one goal.
The problem has been that the strikers have not fired. Hooper was injured and only came into the team when we were already up against it. RvW has played ok but then picked up a foot injury.
I agree with another comment that Bassong has been poor. Remember he was relegated with Wolves and so has not always been as commanding as he was last season. We need steady determined characters and players whose heads do not go down when we fall behind. Bennett should be given a try as he is a determined and athletic centre back.
We also need to rethink the midfield in the absence of Tettey. Howson and Fer are doing well but Johnson either passes backwards sideways or to the opposing team. A few weeks ago City seemed to have options in all positions but now the cupboard seems bare. This is partly because City are trying to play a better passing game which finds out the less skilful and those who do not make space to receive the ball.
If City can dig in and get wins against West Ham and Palace the picture will look different.
Changing the manager may be the solution but I am sure David McNally is going to be careful that we don’t go from the frying pan into the fire. Only if a GOOD replacement is available would it make sense to change managers now.
I’m not saying it is the right descision, but i can’t help feeling that we’ll soon see Malky Mackay in our dugout…
A depressing day to be a Norwich fan. Something has to change or we a doomed to championship football. Sacking CH is an easy answer but is not a solution unless we have a clear idea of who to replace him wih. It is to be hoped that when the time comes DM has such an idea, Pullis or Warnock are not the answer. I do believe that we if we are not to make a managerial change now we need an attacking coach to get the best of what on paper is a strong group of attacking players. They have to learn to play together and make chances for each other, not head down run and shoot. While I know life is tougher in the Prem, our Strikers have scored 5 goals in all competitions. The ones we sold in the summer have scored 14.
Summed up for me was the fact that Fulham after half-time v Man Utd fought and tried to regain some respect. Whereas the canaries flew the white flags and were an embarrassment. Time for Messers Hughton and Calderwood to find pastures new.
The problem is of course the calibre of replacements – there’s no obvious name but as mentioned above Mackay and Co or someone alongside Phelan maybe. I think Hughton will be in charge next Saturday but failure then will cause the axe to fall
Over to you Mr McNally
When CH said he was taking us to the next level, like many others I thought he meant forward not back.As a manger when you make a statement like that and don’t deliver in any form or results it’s goodbye hopefully . Di Mateo he has got what Lambert had a champions league medal.
They say ‘ If it ain’t broke don’t fit it ‘, but right now,we certainly are. I’m definitely in the Ryan Bennett alongside Bassong camp and Bassong needs to drop his ‘casual moments’ which occur most games. Feel sorry for Hooper and Ricky V who need something to ‘dine on’ up top. How many minutes has Becchio had in the Premier League this year? Yesterday I felt Pilks,Howson and Murphy were small bright sparks in our general ‘no show’ .
Throughout Hughton’s tenure as manager, a lot of supporters have effectively grinned and bared it in the hope that the club was evolving. We winced our way through the negative football, put up with always being relegated to last on Match of the Day, shrugged when supporters of other teams compared watching us play to being in a coma – all in the sadly forlorn hope that we had a progressive manager who was taking us the hard way to bigger and better things. It is clear from the shambolic performances that have littered this season that this was an illusion, and a pretty unforgiving and soul destroying one at that. A fan of another club summed it up perfectly when he said to me yesterday: Chris Hughton may be a nice guy and a good coach, but in this division you need a leader.
Call me an outer, a keyboard warrior or whatever. But for the sake of the club we all love he must go – and preferably before we have to endure an afternoon of rancour and bitterness against West Ham.
I’m with Matt, in what I have continued to hope that the team would gel, and the performances against Chelsea, Arsenal and Cardiff gave me some hope. But I really am struggling to find a glass half full at the moment. We shouldn’t have to be thinking that other teams are worse, so things aren’t so bad. I want to be proud of my team, and at the moment I’m a tad embarrassed, I’m sorry to say. Big game next weekend – make or break…
The thing that bothered me about the criticism of CH is that it started way too early. It was a hard task last season, and he deserves a lot of credit for achieving 11th place. For him to be denied that credit because some of the football was a bit dull is very harsh.
Similarly this season was going to be a challenge, and a very different one. Building a new team, and changing our style to offer more attacking threat. This takes time, and again I think the calls for his head are premature. Make no mistake, this has nothing to do with Hughton supposedly being a nice guy. That is irrelevant, and I’m sure McNally would agree. We all want what’s best for the club, and I appreciate the CONSTRUCTIVE criticism found on this site, but I still believe right now that continuity and patience is better than the big axe.
l’m sure Arsenal fans are glad the board ignored their calls for Wenger’s head just a few weeks ago. I hope we’re in a similar situation.
Of course I can’t possibly defend the ‘performance’ at Citeh, which was truly shocking, and I feel so sorry for the fans who endured it, but I’m confident we won’t be that bad again for a long long time.
Let’s get right behind the team on Saturday. Your club needs you, now more than ever.
By the way, Bassong was relegated with Newcastle as well as Wolves. However he won player of the season for them that year, so it seems the Toon Army didn’t apportion too much blame to him. But I agree he often crosses the fine line between composed and casual, last season too. He’s fallen well short of what we demand of a captain, not helped by Turner, but breaking up a centre-back partnership is a big call for any manager. And we aren’t likely to splash out 12 million on Chris Samba in January!