A question to the Hughes Outers

[Fuzzmaster101]

But why play three central midfielders against a side who don't play through the centre of midfield? It makes no sense. I know Barry pushed out Left and Johnson went out right quite often but it still left Viera and De Jong in the centre and very little going forward from anywhere. No crosses coming in for almost all of the game and three players in the middle doing very little offensively. I think the result was excellent, no miraculous for the performance we put in. I don't think you can blame the players though, we have absolutely no shape whatsoever.

I would say that our defence is not/ hasnt been good enough and to be fair I cant remember brilliant crosses coming in under MH

Hughes played a 4-3-3 for the most part which is more about balls up to the central striker and then played off to the two wing attacks and the attacking mid with 2 DMs sitting behind. Mancini plays 4-4-2 (today with both RSC and Ade up front) yet doesn't set his team up to play crosses into the box. Can you not see how ridiculous this is. RSC's positioning is excellent and was again today but almost nothing came in for him to attack. What's the point in this formation? Stoke play the long ball game almost exclusively so why the need for so many midfielders sitting back? We never seem to have any good outlets of attack when we win the ball and need to play it forward. It looks awful can you not see that?

 

[Anonymous]

Who are the three defensive midfielders though? We only have one as far as i am aware in De Jong.

Barry and De Jong are considered as holding midfielders, ok Vieira maybe more box to box, but definitely holding. Against Portsmouth we had no need to play them all at any one point during the match. We showed little creativity and lacked any kind of breaking down of Pompey, and whilst we got the points, we didn't 'do' them like we did under Hughes, and Portsmouth were a far better team then and we didn't have last summers investment. Yeah that may be a daft arguement considering the draws we had under Hughes, but its also a fact too. People wanted Hughes out because we were not beating the teams we should or putting on the performances people thought we chould be putting in, given the squad. Whilst we may be gathering points, we aren't doing it very convincingly, and some would say we should have gone to Hull and won. Not me, I think we are making good progress, but my point is people wanted Hughes out so we would progress, well i don't think we have progressed any further than we could have under Hughes. Noone knows what results he would have got with Mancini's fixtures, perhaps he would have bettered them, maybe not. People wanted him gone though and he's gone, but we are not doing that mcuh better so are they now wanting Mancini out too, or does he get different treatment? It just seemed to me, at the time, that people didn't like Hughes no matter what he did.

No one knows what kind of results we would of got under Hughes but i know one thing for sure is that i feel alot safer now than i ever did with Hughes. We don't look as shaky or vulnerable at the back, we actually ook like a solid outfit.

Disagree that we aren't doing much better, we are, the stats and points will show you that. The performances won't but i'd take below par performances and picking up points than showing some attacking intent and losing points left, right and centre.

 

[Shooter 83]

Hughes atleast was clued up on them throw in's. Leave 3 smallest men on half way line and that kept them back, and we wasnt troubled by them.

Mancini take note.

 

[Blue Train]

Who are the three defensive midfielders though? We only have one as far as i am aware in De Jong.

Barry and De Jong are considered as holding midfielders, ok Vieira maybe more box to box, but definitely holding. Against Portsmouth we had no need to play them all at any one point during the match. We showed little creativity and lacked any kind of breaking down of Pompey, and whilst we got the points, we didn't 'do' them like we did under Hughes, and Portsmouth were a far better team then and we didn't have last summers investment. Yeah that may be a daft arguement considering the draws we had under Hughes, but its also a fact too. People wanted Hughes out because we were not beating the teams we should or putting on the performances people thought we chould be putting in, given the squad. Whilst we may be gathering points, we aren't doing it very convincingly, and some would say we should have gone to Hull and won. Not me, I think we are making good progress, but my point is people wanted Hughes out so we would progress, well i don't think we have progressed any further than we could have under Hughes. Noone knows what results he would have got with Mancini's fixtures, perhaps he would have bettered them, maybe not. People wanted him gone though and he's gone, but we are not doing that mcuh better so are they now wanting Mancini out too, or does he get different treatment? It just seemed to me, at the time, that people didn't like Hughes no matter what he did.

You're talking nonsense. Our owners wanted Hughes out because he could not get results even though he'd been given ample time and the biggest transfer war chest in Premiership history. He failed. The owners took the decision after a run of draws, home and away, that represented relegation form, not breaking the top 4 form (which is what they'd given him the money to achieve).

Mancini is getting much better results with the team that Hughes bought and that's why we are now in the top 4 with a game in hand. He is succeeding. If you find that 'unconvincing' then it's not Mancini you have a problem with, it's reality.

 

[Pigeonho]

Barry and De Jong are considered as holding midfielders, ok Vieira maybe more box to box, but definitely holding. Against Portsmouth we had no need to play them all at any one point during the match. We showed little creativity and lacked any kind of breaking down of Pompey, and whilst we got the points, we didn't 'do' them like we did under Hughes, and Portsmouth were a far better team then and we didn't have last summers investment. Yeah that may be a daft arguement considering the draws we had under Hughes, but its also a fact too. People wanted Hughes out because we were not beating the teams we should or putting on the performances people thought we chould be putting in, given the squad. Whilst we may be gathering points, we aren't doing it very convincingly, and some would say we should have gone to Hull and won. Not me, I think we are making good progress, but my point is people wanted Hughes out so we would progress, well i don't think we have progressed any further than we could have under Hughes. Noone knows what results he would have got with Mancini's fixtures, perhaps he would have bettered them, maybe not. People wanted him gone though and he's gone, but we are not doing that mcuh better so are they now wanting Mancini out too, or does he get different treatment? It just seemed to me, at the time, that people didn't like Hughes no matter what he did.

No one knows what kind of results we would of got under Hughes but i know one thing for sure is that i feel alot safer now than i ever did with Hughes. We don't look as shaky or vulnerable at the back, we actually ook like a solid outfit.

Disagree that we aren't doing much better, we are, the stats and points will show you that. The performances won't but i'd take below par performances and picking up points than showing some attacking intent and losing points left, right and centre.

Not really. When Hughes was sakced we were 6th and in the semis of a cup. Now we're 4th and out of the cup. 2 places in the league? No saying Hughes couldn't have done that. And to say we look like a solid outfit, are you serious? I am cringeing evertime the ball goes anywhere near our CB's at the minute, they are totally clueless.

 

[Anonymous]

Before i carry on, are you on a windup deniro as i can't beleive you are coming out with these sorts of comments. It's not like you, normally you are level headed and realistic and your comments recently are anything but.

Probley just got back from Stoke having watched that. I feel the same atm will probley calm down after a good sleep. Sunday is massive now.

Mancini was getting alot of abuse from fans after the game when he was walking into tunnel.

I was on row 3 in block 39 and the only abuse i heard after the game was to Wiley and Pulis. Nothing but claps for the boys and the backroom staff.

 

[Shooter 83]

Barry and De Jong are considered as holding midfielders, ok Vieira maybe more box to box, but definitely holding. Against Portsmouth we had no need to play them all at any one point during the match. We showed little creativity and lacked any kind of breaking down of Pompey, and whilst we got the points, we didn't 'do' them like we did under Hughes, and Portsmouth were a far better team then and we didn't have last summers investment. Yeah that may be a daft arguement considering the draws we had under Hughes, but its also a fact too. People wanted Hughes out because we were not beating the teams we should or putting on the performances people thought we chould be putting in, given the squad. Whilst we may be gathering points, we aren't doing it very convincingly, and some would say we should have gone to Hull and won. Not me, I think we are making good progress, but my point is people wanted Hughes out so we would progress, well i don't think we have progressed any further than we could have under Hughes. Noone knows what results he would have got with Mancini's fixtures, perhaps he would have bettered them, maybe not. People wanted him gone though and he's gone, but we are not doing that mcuh better so are they now wanting Mancini out too, or does he get different treatment? It just seemed to me, at the time, that people didn't like Hughes no matter what he did.

No one knows what kind of results we would of got under Hughes but i know one thing for sure is that i feel alot safer now than i ever did with Hughes. We don't look as shaky or vulnerable at the back, we actually ook like a solid outfit.

Disagree that we aren't doing much better, we are, the stats and points will show you that. The performances won't but i'd take below par performances and picking up points than showing some attacking intent and losing points left, right and centre.

Yes the time had come for Hughes. But Mancini is not the man. We should be attacking teams with the attacking players we have. Hopefully is just untill the summer unless he has a major rethink on his tactic's(which I doubt he will.

 

[masterwig]

Hughes oversaw a period of unprecedented change at the club. It was never going to be easy. I wanted him to stay because I felt that this second half of the season was his real test. He'd got things in place, his players had been together a decent amount of time and it was time to see the results of that work. Sadly we will never know what could have happened. Instead we jumped the gun in appointing a new man who doesn't seem to have improved performances at all. If anything he has simply made it less enjoyable to watch City. Not only that but there seems to be genuine doubts as to whether he will be here long term or not. So now we have a squad which has to adapt quickly to a new manager with new ideas and systems whilst also not being sure of their futures at the club. Mancini's methods seem to be very different from Hughes' so it will take time for them to be adopted fully by the players. If the owners are going to back Mancini and give him time (at very least until the end of next season) then I'll support that. If he is here as a caretaker until the summer then I think they've dropped a bollock.

 

[scorer]

Highly delighted...

we lost last year at Stoke...

We lost last year to Brighton

we lost last year to Forest

We are the only team not to have beaten Burnley at home

,,, hardly a glittering cv I think you'd agree... given the amount of money that Hughes had to spend.

Mancini is a much better coach and I think if he stays and spends in the summer it will put paid to the dyimg yelps of the Hughesophiles

 

[Fuzzmaster101]

Barry and De Jong are considered as holding midfielders, ok Vieira maybe more box to box, but definitely holding. Against Portsmouth we had no need to play them all at any one point during the match. We showed little creativity and lacked any kind of breaking down of Pompey, and whilst we got the points, we didn't 'do' them like we did under Hughes, and Portsmouth were a far better team then and we didn't have last summers investment. Yeah that may be a daft arguement considering the draws we had under Hughes, but its also a fact too. People wanted Hughes out because we were not beating the teams we should or putting on the performances people thought we chould be putting in, given the squad. Whilst we may be gathering points, we aren't doing it very convincingly, and some would say we should have gone to Hull and won. Not me, I think we are making good progress, but my point is people wanted Hughes out so we would progress, well i don't think we have progressed any further than we could have under Hughes. Noone knows what results he would have got with Mancini's fixtures, perhaps he would have bettered them, maybe not. People wanted him gone though and he's gone, but we are not doing that mcuh better so are they now wanting Mancini out too, or does he get different treatment? It just seemed to me, at the time, that people didn't like Hughes no matter what he did.

No one knows what kind of results we would of got under Hughes but i know one thing for sure is that i feel alot safer now than i ever did with Hughes. We don't look as shaky or vulnerable at the back, we actually ook like a solid outfit.

Disagree that we aren't doing much better, we are, the stats and points will show you that. The performances won't but i'd take below par performances and picking up points than showing some attacking intent and losing points left, right and centre.

I've not felt comfortable watching city for a while now because I just don't get what I'm looking at. It looks a mess and the performances bare that out if not the results (largely due to blind luck). I think I can sum it up like this. Hughes was not a great manager and had zero luck. Mancini is not a great manager but has a lot of good luck. I've said it elsewhere, when is this blind luck going to run out? If it never does then we may win something, but I doubt it and we'll look terrible doing it.