What is it with the majority of suporters on here. When we appointed NW there were cries of woe with all the usual derogatry comments before he,d picked a team and before to long we had won the league and got promoted. Now we have MH and it all starts again. How was he going to turn this around ???. He,s done what any new manager would do bring new players in and hope we get out of the s**t. If you asked him he,ll probably tell you he doesnt fancy 75% of the players in the team but what can he do about it. For me TF has made the first positive step for the future of the club by bringing in MH but unfortunately we will have to go backwards before we go forwards. Please give it a rest with the MH comments, he,s staying until the end of the season and thats it. Its depressing enough watching without coming on here after the game and reading comments about who,s responsible. Our recent timeline will explain why we are in this position and thats got nothin to do with any of the present management, MH included.
The problem I had with Hughes's appointment was that if we went down he could simply leave and have a new job in the Prem by Xmas. Warnock was spot on when he said he wanted players with something to prove. The sad thing is we have too many players who'll have it in there contract that if we get relegated they can simply leave. What makes this problem even bigger is that they are good players who will sign for another team no problem. You can hardly expect Cisse, Young, Onouha, Ferdinand, Taiwo etc to hang about in the championship. If we go down. They leave and have another season in the Prem. If we stay up. They have another season in the Prem. They dont have enough incentive aside from personal pride to stay up. Look at Hill yesterday. God knows this is his only shot at the Premiership and it showed yesterday. When SWP missed he was literally bent double lying on the pitch head in hands and the same at the final whistle. When you're in a scrap you need players who have to both prove themselves at this level and have incentive to stay up. Too many people at the club could just simply move on.
Hughes signed diakite. A player unavailable to us for 3 key games in ACON who in his debut gets a red card and a further 3 match ban. Can anyone tell me how much it's cost to employ him so far for 32 unproductive minutes? A completely rubbish signing for so many reasons Why not sign a player with prem experience who was immediately available??? It shows me that MH was taking survival this season for granted and was building for. Ext season. He should have realised that first we needed to stay up!!
Mate, cant disagree with your post except to say that i think Diakite will be and is a good player.....The rest of the post is factual and un-debatable!
With great respect he was the best player by far on the pitch until he got sent off. Looked proper class. Far from rubbish
The winter transfer is not a good time to pick up prem players as most of the players available are wanted by there club even though they may not be playing regular football,(Pienaar,krankjar etc etc).Hughes had to buy someone and time will only tell if Diakite,Taiwo etc prove to be good players.They are not the players you need in a relegation battle but we dont know what they have been told or what the clubs long term objectives are.
Agree to get off MH and players back. Hughes was desperate for this grudge march win and maybe that was part of the problem - too much desire can lead to desperation. It is possible this also partially explains Zamora's absence for most of the game. I was pleased with second half performance with 10 men. We almost nicked a point had swp had more skill / presence of mind. He had time to either nip around goalie or square for Mackie. I guess that sums up his, and our, season. Amazingly, Shearer reckons we will "just" stay up!! We can hope.
Also managerial wise Im at a loss to understand Hughes's thinking. Warnock was lamented time and again for playing the same system and not making changes but Hughes took that to a brand new level. Both yesterday and against Wolves we played an hour with 10 men but the system just didnt change and we payed the price. Against Wolves we stayed one up front and it didnt work. Yesterday, okay, we went two up top but that lead to us playing 4-3-2 with the only real presence in midfield Barton and bloody hell was he as average as always. With ten men you have to break play down and win second balls but how do you expect to do that with a central midfield containing SWP and Taarabt let alone against a 5 man midfield of Fulham. This ridiculously narrow outset led to a 5-a-side like set up when we reached the box with everyone crowded around the D with no ****ing movement looking like if you actually made a run into the box you'd concede an indirect free kick as if you were down your local rec. Obviously it wasnt working so substitutions had to be made ESPECIALLY as we'd been playing with 10 since 30mins but a change didnt happen till the 75th minute with Traore and even that was enforced. By the time he made an actual change it was too late. If you expect to get anything playing with 10 men you have to take the game to them not wait and see how it pans out. Late pushes wont work. Your players are knackered. Changes (note plural) around 55-60 mins up the pace of the game from our point and gives everyone a lift. Take the game to Fulham and dont let time simply wind down. Use your changes and change the system when it becomes stagnant. Hughes's seems guilty of the same mistakes Warnock was accused for. He can say we need time to blend etc but that's time we dont have. The 6 matches he's been in charge for was our chance to push away from the drop zone with the only game left where in normal circumstances a point wouldnt be considered a good result is Bolton. I pray that a push or some sort of emphasis is made soon but I dont see where it's coming from.
Shearer is not looking at the fixture list. If he was he would know it now needs a miracle for us sadly. On this plus side I can see Diakite coming good. Just not with us in the Championship.
Another plus, if you can call it that, is that Diakite will miss only one match as he was sent off for two yellows not a straight red. God, I'm really clutching at straws...
I don't know about best player on the pitch. Best player at conceding fouls! On this basis he'll struggle to complete 90 minutes by the end of the season
Ok will it help if i say the guy is an absolut c### and i hope he goes back to France and never plays for us again. Better ?? And he is only banned for the Everton game...... And IMO and many around me he WAS the best player on the pitch.
That's the problem, probably, where he thought he could literally walk in to LR, clear house and start over right at the Janunary Transfer window.
You're right, 2 yellows is only a one match ban. He and Cisse will both be back for Bolton. Let's hope they can both stay on the field all match.
