It's always the same with Hughes: when he takes over he has them playing what David Cameron would call "robust" football, then after a few seasons decides to ditch that in favour of expansive football - only for a total disconnect in the side, as the attacking players don't track back while the defensive players don't push up, and they become remarkably less resilient as a result. The exact same thing happened at QPR.
Spending £18M on Imbula was baffling. Hard to see what the reasoning was. Stoke This confusion led to the brain freeze, which resulted in £18M being paid for Imbula.
I don't think that he gets teams playing robust football, but takes over sides that normally do so. Warnock and Pulis were in charge before he took over at QPR and Stoke, for example. Hughes takes over solid, aggressive, organised sides and adds goods footballers to them, due to his contacts in the game. He relies on the players that are already at the club to provide a good defensive base and the new additions add some quality. It works well in the short term, as it gives his teams good balance. The things that are there when he takes over don't last over time, though. He doesn't coach defenses well and the solidity and tenacity disappear as he fails to keep up the coaching that put it there. Then the teams become frail and easy to beat, which negates any additional quality that they might have. He's still relying on players like Whelan, Crouch, Walters and Shawcross for graft and grit and most of them are getting on a bit. Shaqiri, Arnautovic, Allen, Bojan (though he's gone) are capable of playing very, very well, but they need a platform to do so. It's just not there any more.
Maybe no longer Tottenham Hullspurs, but wishing Daws all the best this afternoon. And hope he makes it to the Lane later!
Sky have Palace v Hull on their free to air channel - Sports Mix if anyone doesn't have the sports package
Being stuffed up by the ref so far. Not given them a clear penalty and missed a handball in the run up to Palace's second goal.
Even 2 goals now would be enough with the goal difference to you guys. Not like Spurs concede 5 to relegation fodder on the last day.
They need to beat you and better our score by at least 7 goals. A draw would have finished them today too
Hull going down without a fight. Disappointing end for them. At least it means we don't have to send them down. Playing against a relegated team again on the last day. Hope it goes better than the last time.
