For those who booed when Elano was replaced

[bizzbo]

ok, let's keep this pointless dispute going a bit longer

watch the highlights again. Elano got treatment early in the second half, but when his name came up, he was giving the thumbs up to the bench, saying, nooo, im alright, let me carry on. so either a: hughes has exaggerated his injury in the press to get the heat off his back, or b: elano was just putting on a show for the fans, messing about with their perception of hughes, knowing full well he had to come off.

in fairness hughes line about protecting players doesnt really ring true when we've played and injured so many half fit ones recently

but elano is a very cheeky chappy

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

I was pissed off when i saw Gelson Fernandes coming on.

If we need 3 defensive midfielders on the pitch, at home, to bottom of the league who are fucking shite, to see out a match we are winning then there is something seriously wrong

Which leads onto another point.
We're constantly starting a game with two defensive midfielders and yet since the turn of the year in twenty matches we've kept a clean sheet on only four occasions. Obviously something aint working.

These tactics are what annoy me with Hughes. At home, i don;t see the need for 2 defensive midfielders. Away from home yes, but not at home.

But then the other side of the argument is that we have the 2nd best home record behind the rags, so it must work

Playing two DM's allows the full-backs to get forward and should give some cover when they are caught upfield. But at the moment neither VK or NDJ is fully match fit and even Bridge isn't fully up to speed (and is also carrying an injury).

The problem with our away form is that we don't have the ability to get behind teams by going down the flanks and this tactic should help us with that. Next season, when everyone is fit again and up to speed I would expect it to work better.

 

[Dancini]

And i think this is where my problem comes in. Hughes could have made a TOUGH decision and taken out Dunne, leaving us with two more options to alter the game in our favour. Moving Kompany backwards would've freed up the options.

It's called taking the risk to progress. Maybe you understand Hughes' thinking, cos I don't.

As others have said we needed to replace Elano and Zabaletta more than Dunne, when a manager can't trust his vastly experienced captain to not get sent off things are fucked. Also while sticking a lot up front is good when the balls in and around the box it leaves you fucked outside of it. We needed a midfield to dominate the game and possesion, I just think that although Hughes could have taken more of a risk the true criminal in all of this is Dunne. I agree Hughes could and probably should have with hindsight taken more of a risk but he always had the second Hamburg goal on his mind.

 

[bizzbo]

christ almighty if we dont have the ability to play with enough pace and width to get behind full backs

and you are right about the two dms being there to cover the fullbacks in a 4-2-3-1 but it's not worked well for us

 

[The Cyber Goat]

The booing was totally out of order block 111 is full of cocks! What the fuck was it supposed to achieve? Can't wait till we fuck that primma donna off maybe the tossers can go watch him at lazio you are an embarrasment boys if u all know so much why don't u manage premier league clubs that's right because ur a bunch of numb cunts .. Singing section my arse!

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

and you are right about the two dms being there to cover the fullbacks in a 4-2-3-1 but it's not worked well for us

For the reasons I've said plus it's still new to the players. Don't forget we don't have our two main pace players, Petrov & SWP either. Hughes prefers 4-4-2 so will probably switch to that when both are available and we have two decent forwards.

 

[bizzbo]

i think our tactics have generally been crap this season, and judging by the way everyone is more or less doing their own thing on the pitch, week in, week out, some of the players probably think so too

if we are talking tactics

WBAs second goal

what on earth was that about?

tactics start at the back. in fact, all too often, we are not organised at the back, in the middle, or up front. I've lost count of the number of ex managers and pundits who've pilloried us as disorganised at one time or another.

I'm sick of it, so please excuse me if im not giving hughes the benefit of the doubt and saying 'it'll all be better with a few more players'

 

[The Cyber Goat]

But we are not talkin tactics, we are talking about players physically exhausted and struggling to see the game out and what do our "12th man" do? Exactly! Complete disgrace yesterday we were winning for fucks sake! In a week where we finally get a bit of good press the idiots undo it all with a boo and moronic chanting and the press have another reason to slate the club well done boys!

 

[Ajay]

he was knackered - end off!

MH did the right thing to protect him....

 

[bizzbo]

look, boing isnt helpful, i agree. but theres a lot of controversy surrounding hughes treatment and use of elano, so i'm kind of torn here. I can see that elano may well have been tired. But i also am still angry that we played a half fit SWP in midfield ahead of him in hamburg, i am angry that we chose two totally unfit bulgarians and kelvin etuhu ahead of him for the fulham game, i think taking him off on thursday was over cautious when we needed another goal, and thats without even going back to the days when vassell was ahead of him in the pecking order.

coupla things tho. we've been playing the 4-2-3-1 all season. nothing else. how long does it take to learn a system?!

and honestly, good press for one good performance where we didnt even get the result we needed? who cares about that?

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

 

[Rammy Blue]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

pointless mate, Hughes is God 'cos we won a game.....

 

[allan harper]

I was in southstand and loads around me were booing because they wanted petrov on not gelson. to be honest id of rather had little s.w.p come than gelson !

Did you see how quick he was to get the ball to a city player !

shauny wright wright wright ! (petrov was pissing himself laughing)

 

[bluemanc]

And this from the Times

With his team leading 3-2 and 15 minutes remaining, Hughes was heckled by large swaths of the City of Manchester Stadium for bringing off Elano, despite the Brazilian being visibly shattered and the manager wanting to bolster the midfield by introducing the more defensive-minded Gelson Fernandes.

It was a puzzling reaction in the extreme, with the City fans seemingly forgetful that Elano, like the rest of his team-mates, had expended enormous amounts of energy during the 2-1 victory at home to Hamburg in the Uefa Cup only three days earlier and that the midfield player had spent the ten minutes before being substituted yesterday motioning to the dugout to be taken off.

Do you know, I think the fans' reaction is towards Hughes, rather than the decision. Far enough the lad was injured, but Hughes has refused to recognise the obvious talent Elano has and instead of playing him through a bad spell(which he has done with Richards, Evans, Vassell, to name a few ffs!), he's sidelined him, which has contributed to our league position.

This is why Hughes get the "You don't know what you're doing!" chant now! Many have come back to the championing of Elano over the battle of wills with him and Hughes and is virtually untouchable to be sold, by next season.

Do you know, I think the fans' reaction is towards Hughes, rather than the decision.

You don't think that at all,you made it up.

 

[Gelsons Dad]

I wasn't there but if i was i would have booed too.
It is the most obvious way the fans can show their displeasure with the manager. It is pertinent to do it when Elano goes off because the mishandling of Elano this season has been the most obvious of the managers many mistakes and so represents the easiest way to show that the booing is directed against Hughes.

 

[dannybcity]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

Rubbish. People booed because they were too stupid to see what was going on. And anyway, it wasn't a bad a idea to bolster the defence when defending a lead against a team that badly needs to win. Hughes (and I) clearly saw the opportunity to allow them to push up, bring on two fast forwards (Petrov and Sturidge) and hit them on the break and you know what IT WORKED!!!!!!!

 

[Marvin]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

Yes it was WBA, but couldn't you see City's midfield was knackered?

We played on Thursday in case you had forgotten, and WBA were gambling and throwing men forward, and our midfield did not have the legs to track them back.

Some of you criticise the manager relentlessly, but you really are clueless if you can't get your head around this substitution.

Zabeleta's injury was probably caused by fatigue, and the midweek games affected Chelsea, Arsenal and United in the FA Cup games so why should we be any different?

 

[Bluemoon115]

Face it, you all boo'd because the person next to you did so you thought you'd join in to be a hard man.

 

[DontLookBackInAnger]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

Rubbish. People booed because they were too stupid to see what was going on. And anyway, it wasn't a bad a idea to bolster the defence when defending a lead against a team that badly needs to win. Hughes (and I) clearly saw the opportunity to allow them to push up, bring on two fast forwards (Petrov and Sturidge) and hit them on the break and you know what IT WORKED!!!!!!!

Thats the whole point adding a 3rd DM player doesn't bolster the defence at all it invites the opposition to control the game, because every time you clear the ball it's returned because everywhere else on the field you are out-manned(as you have 8 players in the final 3rd of the pitch). As for it working, yes we were able to score a breakaway goal against the team with the worst record in the league. Of course the countless times it hasn't worked have to be glossed over.

 

[Joycee Banercheck]

It was more the fact we added a 3rd DM player that was the issue, this was WBA for fuck sake not Brazil! When we play that 3DM player formation it just invites pressure because you run into a wall with everyone sat so deep, it's not rocket science!

Rubbish. People booed because they were too stupid to see what was going on. And anyway, it wasn't a bad a idea to bolster the defence when defending a lead against a team that badly needs to win. Hughes (and I) clearly saw the opportunity to allow them to push up, bring on two fast forwards (Petrov and Sturidge) and hit them on the break and you know what IT WORKED!!!!!!!

Thats the whole point adding a 3rd DM player doesn't bolster the defence at all it invites the opposition to control the game, because every time you clear the ball it's returned because everywhere else on the field you are out-manned(as you have 8 players in the final 3rd of the pitch). As for it working, yes we were able to score a breakaway goal against the team with the worst record in the league. Of course the countless times it hasn't worked have to be glossed over.

Not on here they aint!