A thought about Mark Hudson

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Hudson is a club great, a great defender who read the game brilliantly even if he wasn't the quickest.

I was optimistic that, between Hudson (a defender) and Morison (a forward) that they have the knowledge to: a) get us scoring more goals and b) keep things tight at the back.

Since Hudson came to us we've had 10 games without a clean sheet, no change in formation despite it not working, and we've shipped 17 goals in 10 games, conceding 3 in 3 of those 10 games.

I'm not trying to deflect blame from Morison, who I'm thinking is out of his depth. Perhaps I'm wrong to think Hudson's arrival would have seen us tighten up defensively, but we haven't. We conceded 23 in the 10 games before he arrived so 17 might seem like a bit of a result, but 40 goals shipped in 20 games is a massive problem. One that Hudson (and Morison) have no clue how to solve.

At the moment I can forgive our youngsters for not being the most creative in attack as they learn about the game. I can forgive a certain amount of toothlessness with the lack of top Championship talent we have up front. I can't forgive the endless defensive cockups that keep costing us and, more so, our management keep trying the same old fecking disastrous thing, expecting one week that it'll all be good.

We're now 3 games away from equalling a rather horrific club record of games without a clean sheet. I have absolutely no confidence in us defensively.

[Pedro de la Rosa]

Buck stops with Morison, and McCarthy. And the rudderless board. The formation is apparently down to a lack of pace at the back. Too much credit is given to assistants. Morison picks the team and the tactics. If we stay up, it's down to 2 sides being horrifically bad and points deductions.

I keep banging on about it but this formation does us no favours. It opens us up at the back, and it leaves us short of numbers up front. It should/could be used better but there's no point in that. We've had it for 12 months, and it's been bloody awful for 10 of them.

[LeningradCowboy]

Hudson is a club great, a great defender who read the game brilliantly even if he wasn't the quickest.

I was optimistic that, between Hudson (a defender) and Morison (a forward) that they have the knowledge to: a) get us scoring more goals and b) keep things tight at the back.

Since Hudson came to us we've had 10 games without a clean sheet, no change in formation despite it not working, and we've shipped 17 goals in 10 games, conceding 3 in 3 of those 10 games.

I'm not trying to deflect blame from Morison, who I'm thinking is out of his depth. Perhaps I'm wrong to think Hudson's arrival would have seen us tighten up defensively, but we haven't. We conceded 23 in the 10 games before he arrived so 17 might seem like a bit of a result, but 40 goals shipped in 20 games is a massive problem. One that Hudson (and Morison) have no clue how to solve.

At the moment I can forgive our youngsters for not being the most creative in attack as they learn about the game. I can forgive a certain amount of toothlessness with the lack of top Championship talent we have up front. I can't forgive the endless defensive cockups that keep costing us and, more so, our management keep trying the same old fecking disastrous thing, expecting one week that it'll all be good.

We're now 3 games away from equalling a rather horrific club record of games without a clean sheet. I have absolutely no confidence in us defensively.

Hudson had been out of work for over a year when he joined us in November and before that he was a coach for a crap Huddersfield team. I'm not sure why you thought that he was going to turn things around defensively.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Hudson had been out of work for over a year when he joined us in November and before that he was a coach for a crap Huddersfield team. I'm not sure why you thought that he was going to turn things around defensively.

Perhaps it was just a case of putting 2+2 together and coming up with 5.

[life on mars]

Being a club great or a good defender I guess doesn't tick every coaching box , he is an old skool plodding defender , which suited the older game perhaps younger minded coaches .

Perhaps the club took him as a cheap holding position bit like Mo(r)ison and both will be gone at season end as a safety cost thing ?

We need defenders with pace and vision sadly they are 10 million plus upwards to purchase, as are quick defending wing backs .

[tforturton]

One clean sheet all season? That is simply appalling, and things have not improved one bit since Hudson brought his apparently extensive defensive knowledge to the club. Yes, they're getting on a bit; yes, some are out of contract in the summer; and yes, some of them are probably not happy with the management style. But it's basically the same defence we had last season (in fact, with McGuinness, it should be better), and they weren't too bad. So what's gone wrong? Confidence? Injuries? Or coaching?

[Eric the Half a Bee]

One clean sheet all season? That is simply appalling, and things have not improved one bit since Hudson brought his apparently extensive defensive knowledge to the club. Yes, they're getting on a bit; yes, some are out of contract in the summer; and yes, some of them are probably not happy with the management style. But it's basically the same defence we had last season (in fact, with McGuinness, it should be better), and they weren't too bad. So what's gone wrong? Confidence? Injuries? Or coaching?

I've just looked back at last season's stats. When Harris was sacked our defensive record was distinctly average, even if we did manage a run of 3 successive wins with clean sheets.

When McCarthy took over we conceded 10 in his first 15 games by reverting to a back 3. Much of this was due to our midfield working much harder than they did before - our pressing and tackling was far more intense. We then lost 5-0 at Hillsborough.

Is it a case that our defenders have been getting worse for some time and it was mainly our midfield last season that papered over the cracks until they burned out?

[tforturton]

I've just looked back at last season's stats. When Harris was sacked our defensive record was distinctly average, even if we did manage a run of 3 successive wins with clean sheets.

When McCarthy took over we conceded 10 in his first 15 games by reverting to a back 3. Much of this was due to our midfield working much harder than they did before - our pressing and tackling was far more intense. We then lost 5-0 at Hillsborough.

That would suggest that our players can't deal with playing three at the back.

[2b2bdoo]

Doesn’t always work like that, someone like Mark Hughes a striker was a very defensive manager. Hudson is only here to coach.

[dembethewarrior]

Buck stops with Morison, and McCarthy. And the rudderless board. The formation is apparently down to a lack of pace at the back. Too much credit is given to assistants. Morison picks the team and the tactics. If we stay up, it's down to 2 sides being horrifically bad and points deductions.

I keep banging on about it but this formation does us no favours. It opens us up at the back, and it leaves us short of numbers up front. It should/could be used better but there's no point in that. We've had it for 12 months, and it's been bloody awful for 10 of them.

It's mad, because Derby had Curtis Davies and Phil Jagielka combined age 75, at the back in a 4 man defence and they're doing considerably better than us defensively. They can't be too hot off the mark..

[Rjk]

Buck stops with Morison, and McCarthy. And the rudderless board. The formation is apparently down to a lack of pace at the back. Too much credit is given to assistants. Morison picks the team and the tactics. If we stay up, it's down to 2 sides being horrifically bad and points deductions.

I keep banging on about it but this formation does us no favours. It opens us up at the back, and it leaves us short of numbers up front. It should/could be used better but there's no point in that. We've had it for 12 months, and it's been bloody awful for 10 of them.

Our biggest problem isn't the manager, or the coaches, or the formation.

It is the fact that we are operating with by far our smallest footballing budget for many many years. and a huge chunk of it is tied up in over the hill players who aren't contributing a proportional amount to the team. We have utterly wasted the premier league money - twice with mostly short term thinking.
Warnock is a big part of why we find ourselves where we are today.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

Our biggest problem isn't the manager, or the coaches, or the formation.

It is the fact that we are operating with by far our smallest footballing budget for many many years. and a huge chunk of it is tied up in over the hill players who aren't contributing a proportional amount to the team. We have utterly wasted the premier league money - twice with mostly short term thinking.
Warnock is a big part of why we find ourselves where we are today.

Money and reliance on the kids has been one issue this season, for sure. I think most of us agree that the kids have rarely let us down; we've almost had the opposite where there have been glimpses of talent that bode well for the future.

As for players being over the hill, Flint is 32, Morrison is 31 and Nelson is 28. That's hardly over the hill, especially for centre backs. Morrison in particular has Premier League experience. Have these players suddenly become shit? I don't see it. Sometimes centre backs don't compliment each other. I remember when we had Purse, Johnson and Loovens as our 3 main centre backs. Purse and Johnson together never really worked, but that wasn't necessarily because Loovens was streets ahead of the other two.

You say don't blame the formation, manager or coaches, but we're 4 games away from creating a club record of games without a clean sheet. You were positive that we'd shut out Bristol City on Saturday and you believe in the back 3. I don't. Not one bit. Morrison and Flint (in particular) have had seasons of playing with a flat back 4. All of a sudden they're being asked to play as a back 3 with different responsibilities, including having to play out from defence. I fully admit that I'm no football expert but I can see how this might cause a huge problem for them. It's a bit like relearning how to play the game. This uncertainty means we keep seeing individual fck ups on a weekly basis.

You don't have a formation you like and get the players to adapt. You work out what's best for the players you have. That's the skill of management. All this talk of us being short of money etc is right enough, but we're still operating a budget better than other teams in the division. We've still got some very good players.