By JASON ROBERTS Last updated at 10:30 PM on 11th January 2012 The boys at QPR will have discovered the bad news about working with Mark Hughes when they did their first session. Some of them might have never trained at such a high intensity. The good news is that within three or four weeks they will have never felt as fit, or better able to deal with the demands of the Premier League. They will play a lot of football in training, but all of it will be short and sharp, and at a level that is harder and faster than in a match. I spent my first two seasons at Blackburn working with Hughes, and it was an education. Eddie Niedzwiecki and Mark Bowen, who have followed him to QPR, were excellent coaches but made big demands on you. You got used to playing that way, and at Blackburn one of our main things was that we could play at a high tempo for a long time. Some teams couldnât live with that. I donât believe they will have changed their outlook. As a striker, to work for Hughes was amazing. There were a few other clubs trying to sign me when I left Wigan in 2006, but he didnât need to be, and wasnât, a big salesman for the club. You are buying into the idea of working with somebody who was one of the best front men of his generation. Heâd give you tips. For me it was about physicality, how to hold the ball, the way you back into a defender, and how to retain the ball from different positions. If you ever watched his tapes youâd know he was very physical, but there is a technique to it and heâd get that over. Tactically he keeps things very simple. Weâd train a specific way for a specific team, and would build up the sessions to really know what we would be concentrating on. By the time a match came we all knew our jobs. It was 4-4-2, in peopleâs faces and aggressive, and we were very fit. Sports science is massive. Most of the development had happened before I signed but I believe he played a big role in it â and all the data about your performance was fed back every day, looking at ways to add an extra one or two per cent. QPR fans will be wondering about who he signs. Well, he must be a good judge of a player because he bought me! Seriously, you only have to look at how he made a modest budget work and brought in the likes of Chris Samba, Ryan Nelsen, Roque Santa Cruz and Benni McCarthy to know how good he is. Everything with Hughes is about the group. That means it isnât always easy for the individual player if youâve got an issue. Dialogue with a player isnât one of his main lookouts. If you fall by the wayside it is your job to find a way back, because the club is all that matters. Some managers have different styles, but you canât argue with his record. We finished 10th and seventh in the two seasons I worked with him. If he can do anything like that at QPR then their fans and players will be more than happy. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2085363/Mark-Hughes-insight-Jason-Roberts-tells-QPR-theyll-train-hard.html#ixzz1jCGKnA3F No more prancing about at Harlington. Good article by Jason Roberts.
"It was 4-4-2, in people’s faces and aggressive, and we were very fit." I like the sound of that.
The reason why our home form was so dire is because warnock didn't have that attacking, in your face attitude. That in turn would've lifted the crowd and really made it a cauldron. NW really wasted home advantage, pretty sure MH won't.
Nothing would please me more actually than to see one of the outcasts, and someone written off by the fans, impress Hughes and also perform well in the league. Stranger things have happened! If, any thoughts on who that may be?
Is that Joey Barton's version of 'in their faces'? Seriously, I would be delighted to see a high tempo style but please let's not forget about the football MH.
Bullsh*t. NW didn't waste home advantage. Neil's' teams often played with "in your face attitude". The players have not been good enough in the PL for us to make full use of home advantage, and that we didn't have good enough players to do this was hardly his fault - he would have been fixing that now given the chance. Let's hope MH can.
Not sure I do. 4-4-2 is often out-played these days by teams playing more fluid formations and outnumbering you in midfield. I will be very interested to see how MH plays it.
Didn't Barton say that QPR training was easy when he came from Newcastle? Seem to recall reading that on this board at some stage??
Agree there Col. At our best, and I'm thinking Newcastle home, Wolves away in particular when Adel was playing well as I recall, we played very fluid, varied stuff in a 4 -2 - 3 -1 with players (particularly the attacking 3) rapidly interchanging positions and confusing defenses. I'd love to see us doing that again, but expect MH to play more cautiously with more fixed formations especially to start.
This sounds very promising. However it is known it takes Hughes a few games before his team really gets into it. I am worried we havent got a lot of time. We need instant results. I am very happy with his appointment in the long run though and im praying he keeps us up. If he does next season should be interesting to say the least!
This is the best news we've had in ages. Was it just me who thought that players all looked a little unfit?
Really excited about the sports science bit. Bunsen burners, dissecting Hulse and will the lab coats be in the home or away strip?
