STOKE // It was respite for Chris Hughton. It was wretched for Mark Hughes. This was a tale of two City managers, one seeking to rebuild a fraying relationship with the Norwich supporters and the other discovering his honeymoon period at Stoke has come to a swift end.
Had Hughes’s team won at Arsenal last Sunday, they could have gone top. Instead, disjoined and defeated as the Canaries recorded a rare away win, they find themselves 15th. Shorn of creativity, short of ideas and struggling with the basics of their game, Stoke were dismal.
Yet that should not detract from Norwich’s victory.
“They deserved it,” Hughes admitted. Efficient and organised, Norwich displayed the attributes commonly associated with Stoke. They began purposefully, led deservedly when Jonny Howson scored and defended doggedly. It amounted to a very professional performance and, for Hughton, a very timely one.
“Has there been a bit more additional pressure? Yes,” the manager said. “Before the game we were sitting fourth from bottom.”
Now they are level on points with Manchester United.
It renders it all the odder that a vocal minority of their fans would welcome Hughton’s departure, especially considering that Norwich overachieved to finish 11th last season. Typically calm and ever understated, Hughton said: “It comes with the territory.”
Yet while his £21 million (Dh124.5m) outlay in the summer transfer market has not produced free-flowing football, a theme of his managerial career has been the ability to procure points. This was invaluable – “a big result,” Hughton said – and while an uneventful game will soon fade from the memory, the manager’s decision to bolster his midfield rather than, as his detractors want, select a second striker, was justified.
Stoke were stifled and sterile. “We didn’t see that coming,” Hughes said. “That’s the disappointment and the mystery.”
The concern should be that they failed in every respect. Supposed strengths deserted them. Goalkeeper Asmir Begovic, a paragon of excellence last season, was unusually unconvincing. Norwich exploited his uncertainty, with Howson’s dipping drive beating him. Meanwhile, a sizeable defence tended to be impenetrable at dead-ball situations until they conceded three times at Arsenal.
Their strange susceptibility to set pieces almost brought another goal when a stretching Ryan Bennett reached Robert Snodgrass’s corner and volleyed against the bar. Meanwhile, an age-old weakness – a lack of goals, especially from the specialist strikers – remains. Hughes was unable to bring in a centre-forward in the summer and none of his out-and-out attackers has a league goal to his name this season.
Kenwyne Jones might have won a penalty when tugged back by Leroy Fer, an offence that, to Hughton’s surprise, the Dutchman admitted afterwards, but his drought was extended to 19 games. In his defence, his teammates created next to nothing. Even the half-time introduction of Jermaine Pennant and Stephen Ireland, which briefly offered hope of invention, proved a false dawn.
And so they seemed a side who had forgotten what they were good at in a quest to rebrand themselves. Hughes has attempted to implement a more pleasing style of play, but even the simplest of passes were misplaced. When Stoke then resorted to the sort of direct football they had been trying to eschew, they failed to display the urgency Tony Pulis’s side had showed. There was no bombardment of the Norwich defence, no fraught finale. The game merely petered out.
“We never really got up a head of steam,” said Hughes, who spent much of the match shaking his head in frustration. “It was an easy result for them, which is the galling thing.”
sports@thenational.ae
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Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Company%20Profile
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EName%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Takestep%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20March%202018%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Mohamed%20Khashaba%2C%20Mohamed%20Abdallah%2C%20Mohamed%20Adel%20Wafiq%20and%20Ayman%20Taha%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Cairo%2C%20Egypt%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ESector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20health%20technology%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EEmployees%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2011%20full%20time%20and%2022%20part%20time%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestment%20stage%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20pre-Series%20A%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Padmaavat
Director: Sanjay Leela Bhansali
Starring: Ranveer Singh, Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, Jim Sarbh
3.5/5
The%20Roundup%20%3A%20No%20Way%20Out
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Lee%20Sang-yong%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Don%20Lee%2C%20Lee%20Jun-hyuk%2C%20Munetaka%20Aoki%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3ERating%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3E3%2F5%3Cbr%3E%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
'The Ice Road'
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh
Stars: Liam Neeson, Amber Midthunder, Laurence Fishburne
2/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Specs%20
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Company%20Profile
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: HyperSpace
Started: 2020
Founders: Alexander Heller, Rama Allen and Desi Gonzalez
Based: Dubai, UAE
Sector: Entertainment
Number of staff: 210
Investment raised: $75 million from investors including Galaxy Interactive, Riyadh Season, Sega Ventures and Apis Venture Partners
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
MATCH INFO
Barcelona v Real Madrid, 11pm UAE
Match is on BeIN Sports
How it works
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Our family matters legal consultant
Name: Dr Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
Match statistics
Dubai Sports City Eagles 8 Dubai Exiles 85
Eagles
Try: Bailey
Pen: Carey
Exiles
Tries: Botes 3, Sackmann 2, Fourie 2, Penalty, Walsh, Gairn, Crossley, Stubbs
Cons: Gerber 7
Pens: Gerber 3
Man of the match: Tomas Sackmann (Exiles)
The years Ramadan fell in May
RESULTS
Bantamweight:
Zia Mashwani (PAK) bt Chris Corton (PHI)
Super lightweight:
Flavio Serafin (BRA) bt Mohammad Al Khatib (JOR)
Super lightweight:
Dwight Brooks (USA) bt Alex Nacfur (BRA)
Bantamweight:
Tariq Ismail (CAN) bt Jalal Al Daaja (JOR)
Featherweight:
Abdullatip Magomedov (RUS) bt Sulaiman Al Modhyan (KUW)
Middleweight:
Mohammad Fakhreddine (LEB) bt Christofer Silva (BRA)
Middleweight:
Rustam Chsiev (RUS) bt Tarek Suleiman (SYR)
Welterweight:
Khamzat Chimaev (SWE) bt Mzwandile Hlongwa (RSA)
Lightweight:
Alex Martinez (CAN) bt Anas Siraj Mounir (MAR)
Welterweight:
Jarrah Al Selawi (JOR) bt Abdoul Abdouraguimov (FRA)
