What a Stoke fan had to say about Hughes on another forum: I don't think Hughes would be all that bad for Southampton. In fact, he could be extremely good. A lot of the problems at Stoke were very much from in the end transfers not happening for the players needed/wanted for the formation. He wanted attacking fullbacks/wingbacks and all he had at his disposal was 1 recognised (defensive) left back in Eric Pieters, not the best suited to getting up and down the line constantly. Glen Johnson was on the scrap heap, Josh Tymon was nowhere near Premier League standard. To start the season Mame Diouf was our first choice right back, and various players were getting a go in that position because we had no right back. Lemina opted for Southampton over Stoke and the clubs 3 big signings to try and provide Hughes with a strong spine in Wimmer, Berahino and Imbula turned out to be catastrophic. Hughes went along with the transfer vision the club decided on when getting rid of Tony Pulis, and they let him down massively. Ultimately at the cost of his own job. With the signings added in January, I actually think Hughes could've quite comfortably kept Stoke up. The squad at Southampton is more suited to how he likes to play.
Wouldn’t be my choice, and not really one to get the blood pumping, but he’ll of course get my full support if it is him. (Unless he’s ****, in which case I will moan on here).
Do we have any faith LR will get it right this time? The last 2x, definitely haven't been a good fit & now he's got his back up against a wall. Personally, I'm dismayed at all the goings on. MP's appointment was dismal (yep easy with hindsight but surely the clubs "ITK's" failed & I'm looking at the bigger picture of not having right personnel for his tactics / board not supporting in windows, etc. And undoubtedly, we got rid of MP,months too late. Some might say, nice sentiment but I feel that was just the board hoping to save face. Well it's all imploded & now LR et al have another opportunity to show how good they really are.
Sure it will be Hughes and although not hugely exciting, realistically he’s the level of manager for a club in our position. A bit leftfield but I’d take Hoddle. I know he’s been out of it for a long time but I still think he’s tactically better than most lower end Prem Managers and would get ya playing to our strengths (if anyone can remember what they are!?)
I’m not sure how Hoddle would go down with the fans, with his past history... he is a good tatician, and does bring through youth though. I would probably prefer him to Hughes actually.
Puel didn't fit with the fans and isn't a smooth media man, but I don't agree that he was a mistake. Nothing wrong with 8th and a cup final....and don't mention how close in points we were to being near the bottom of the table....the league is pretty similar this season and Puel managed to be 8th and not 17th. And he was given only one season!! He was supposed to have lost the players....well, apparently Pellegrino hadn't....and look what that got us. He should have been backed and the players told he is your manager....go and bloody live with it. And that goes for the fans as well. If he didn't achieve in his second season, it would have been fair enough to try with someone else.....but I would bet that we wouldn't be 17th or lower.
I think you’re re-writing history a little bit here. For the last 10 games under Puel, we were absolutely terrible. He only seems like the messiah as we appointed a complete idiot straight after him. Would we be where we are now with Puel? No. We would be higher. But sacking him was still a logical decision at the time.
Everybody (conveniently) forgets to factor in the effect" on the team that the "raumatic loss" at Wembley had and, thereafter, had little to play for ~ no cup matches, safe in terms of league position. Still he didn't get the chance of a second season...... water under the Itchen Bridge now!
My recollection of that final was that the team played brilliantly and were praised by all and sundry including Jose Mourinho. We didn’t deserve to lose, but I can’t see that being robbed of a cup win would render the team incapable of raising themselves for the subsequent league run-in.
Tbf I agree with Dell here. Every season there are a couple of teams with nothing to play for whos form drops off a cliff in the final 8-10 games. Could be that they can't be bothered and are looking forward to their holidays, could be that the teams they are playing have more to play for so are naturally more up for it. Yes it was a terrible run in for Saints last season, but I think fans had already made their mind up on Puel and didn't give him the benefit of the doubt like, say, Pulis got virtually every year when West Brom hit 40 points.
