While Hughes is our manager I cant see our position changing....he is a very poor manager, both tactically and in his team selection. He has masterminded our single worst start to a campaign ever (or at least as long as I can remember). He has never won a game away from home. He didnt bolster our defence where it was needed (in the centre). He left our Young and Helguson of the 25 which would be perfect cover for areas we are light in....and included players like Ephraim who will NEVER play. He signs a number 1 goalie on big wages and then quickly gets another leaving a high paid player on the bench every week. He refused to play a CDM for huge periods of games where a CDM was desperatley needed. Im not one to call the head of a manager and I shant do so now......BUT im 100% convinced that while Hughes is manager we will be going nowhere....but possibly down. We have a mix of some real quality players (Granero, Faurlin, Tarbs, M'Bia) but we are also playing with some real donkeys. (Hill at FB, Onouha, SWP, Park on the left) As the gap starts to widen between us and the midtable teams it will be a slippery slope back into the Championship where we will miss out on the increased money from Sky and huge wages in a sh*t league!
The answer seems very obviously a No to me. We are bottom of the league. Possibly we have the players to get us out of the bottom 3, but we have a Manager who is not changing things when players are obviously out of of form or playing in the wrong position, plus he didn't buy the obviously needed CB and Striker. I don't think we have looked like winning 1 PL game yet this season including the Spurs game, there is no solidity defensively, and I don't sense much belief from the players that we will win (though I have watched the games on TV only, perhaps I miss seeing that key belief that we will win from the players, by not being there). Still from what I see Hughes must go now.
In what world could this not be said after each round of Premiership matches ... The table doesn't lie who could say anything but we deserve to be bottom. 7 games a fairer point would be to make this daft point in another 12 games so each team has seen each other. Form, fixtures etc are ALL factors here. We have played what we have played and got 2 points. My thoughts are therefore this is a daft opinion
I think the logic in the âas things standâ bit comes with the observation that even with everyone fit, our defence is so poorly balanced itâll continue to leak goals no matter what we do tactically. As for our chances of scoring enough goals to make the necessary difference, we lack the reliable finishers just waiting for chances up front. Not talking about the few thatâll come from holders or creators like Zamora, Taarabt and Hoilett. Last seasonâs Cisse wouldâve been an asset this term, but would need an understudy to ensure we always have an arrow tip in place. (No idea why Cisse hasnât been a regular starter, but without a goal-scoring back-up, the less he plays the less likely he is to get his confidence and game balances right.) My OP probably wasnât clear enough, but it ainât about tactics, hope or whatever. Itâs about the tools we simply donât have at our disposal. Bit like hoping a plane will fly without wings or engine atm imho.
Almost. I think 68/69 (our first jaunt in the top flight) was a bit worse. A narrow home win against our fellow promoted club, Ipswich, came in the 10th game if memory serves. Didn't help much though - relegated on just 18 points (3 wins and 12 draws was it?).
In 1968/69 we had 3 points after 7 games. Home draws against Leicester, Sunderland and Man City. You are right though - we only had 5 points after 12 games and our first win came against Ipswich. 4 wins and 10 draws.
You've not been cut adrift. As bad as things may seem now they will get better, your going through your bad patch now but it will come soon for the teams above you. A win means you leapfrog several teams and all of a sudden begin to look up. Season Starts after the International Break IMO. (Generally Speaking)
My only concern is the fixtures coming up. It's not my place to come on here and be all negative nor my intention but if God forbid you don't beat Everton at home the run up to Christmas for you guys is Premier League Arsenal v QPR Sat 27 Oct 15:00 November 2012 Premier League QPR v Reading Sun 4 Nov 13:30 Premier League Stoke (A) Sat 10 Nov 15:00 Premier League Southampton (H) Sat 17 Nov 15:00 Premier League Man Utd (A) Sat 24 Nov 15:00 Premier League Sunderland (A) Tue 27 Nov 19:45 December 2012 Premier League Aston Villa (H) Sat 1 Dec 15:00 Premier League Wigan (A) Sat 8 Dec 15:00 Premier League Fulham (H) Sat 15 Dec 15:00 Premier League Newcastle (A) Sat 22 Dec 15:00 Premier League West Brom (H) Wed 26 Dec 15:00 Premier League Liverpool (H) Sun 30 Dec 16:00 January 2013 Premier League Chelsea (A) Wed 2 Jan 19:45 Premier League Tottenham (H) Sat 12 Jan 15:00 Premier League West Ham (A) Sat 19 Jan 15:00 Premier League Man City (H) Tue 29 Jan 19:45 =================== So amongst those you have United, Chelsea and Arsenal away as well as City at home. Stoke away from home will be tough also and the last thing any side wants is two trips to the North East on a Cold Wintery Night Sunderland (A) and Newcastle (A). It's important that QPR get at least a point from Everton at home with a positive and defensively sound performance. Hughes needs to adjust the tactics. It's not panic stations yet but could be if things don't change over the next 5-6 games.
I sincerely think we are better than West Ham. I think the real issue is that the league is still too new
No easy games and form will dip and rise for all teams IMO ... The fixture list is what it is. Any one see Liverpool a game away from being relegated as they are now? Chelsea outstanding start yet Roberto still claims hardest match so far was QPR
Early days. We have been good. We have had injuries. We have had a tough run of games to open with. Lots of ifs involved but I'm far from despondent about things at the moment. Of course it's quite possible that our luck becomes even worse and Taarabt, or Granero (or even both) get a season-ending injury. However remember this. We need to get three - five more points than the clutch of teams hovering just above us in the table, most of whom will still be in the drop zone by then. Is it really that impossible?
We really deserved three points against Spurs and perhaps a point from WBA. That would have left us in 15th and might have made this a cheerier forum. I am sure it will get better. On the positive side, we cannot sink any lower down the table.
On the other hand we really deserved to lose against Norwich and I would say a point from Spurs and WBA. We havent deserved much because we just keep on shipping basic goals while needing to create to very good ones to get back into it. Its just the defence and the Park/SWP thing that needs to be sorted.
We have also had some rough luck for some of the goals we have let in ... Tevez's shot spun off to Toure, His own goal hit his knee/shin. Nolan's effort to Javis, Faurlin's own goal. Anton's slip last Saturday ... lets not start on the misses ... or the great saves we have forced it is what it is goals win games and the table don't lie. We held the league leaders and European Champions. Took 4 points off Everton last season. where did i leave my straws
Shore up the defense and we will be OK. We have had some narrow losses with sh1te defending recently.....but....we have finally start to score goals. The goals will continue to come and if we can build a brick wall 8ft high and 24ft wide (ie confidence at the back) we'll be fine. Think positive U Rsssss!