Hughton Explains His 'Strange' Substitutions

Last updated : 28 September 2010 By Footy Mad - Editor

Chris Hughton: “I was looking to win the game.

“With Jonas, he can be more direct in the way he runs at the ball, and for Tiote because he’s very much a defensive midfield player.

“What I had left on the pitch were two strikers in Andy Carroll and Shola, and a midfield player in Kevin Nolan, that are all capable of scoring goals.

“I wanted to leave goalscorers on the pitch.

“Tiote’s a good player, and they’ll certainly like him here.

“What you see is what you get from him.

“I felt we needed to score a second goal.

“We knew the threat they posed from set plays and about dealing with them.

“It was a combination of a couple of things – not doing enough in that second period, and also conceding.

“I couldn’t fault the commitment of the players.

“Even going into that last few minutes, I thought we could get back on level terms, but we didn’t have enough to break down a very resilient back line.

“For me, this was a missed opportunity.

“We’re at home and leading 1-0, and played well enough in that first half without being on our best form.

“We weren’t able to cap off a very good week.”