Has Hughes been unlucky?

[n_mcfc]

I posted this exact post after the WBA game and I still believe in the basics of what I said.

I reckon Hughes is a gonner, but, has he not been slightly unlucky?

I mean, he was appointed by Thaksin, expectations when he arrived, top 10. Then he was given a 'present', called Jo, for £19M, who, he felt pressured into playing. Then, he signs 3-4 players. Kompany - Good Signing. SWP - Good Signing. Zabaleta - Best Signing. Once all these players came in (bar Zab), against Sunderland, we saw what we were expected to see all season. Elano playing well, SWP back to his best, Kompany the midfielder we've needed, forever. But then, he gets a new boss, who happens to be one of the richest people in the world, and our expectations change dramatically. Hughes is then given another 'gift', this time, it's £32M worth of Robinho. So, now, Hughes has to adapt his team to accompany, Jo and Robinho, something which is bound to upset other players, and one of them happens to be a Brazilian, Elano, who seems to be leading an anti-Hughes group. Also, we now here stories of players being slightly pissed off how Hughes adapts his policy to accompany Robinho.

Now, it seems to me that Jo and Robinho are what's causing this rift between Hughes and the squad, as he has been forced to change his whole personality as a manager to make sure he doesn't piss the two owner signed players, and ensure he keeps them happy and doesn't lose his job. Ironically, by doing this, he's ended up pissing off the rest of the squad, as well as the two owner signed players and the pressure he tried to reduce has been increased. Ideally for Hughes, (allbeit slightly unbelievable) the signings of Jo and Robinho are two that Hughes could have done without. Only on 3 occassians has Hughes got the tactics right really, Pompey, Stoke, Arsenal (I may be wrong) and in these 3 games, we've been up against teams who have played crap.

I don't support Hughes enough that I want him to stay, but, I think that when you actually look into the problem that's been created, Hughes has been desperately unlucky and now the fans seemed to have turned against him, something has to change. Unfortunately for Hughes, there are too many players to ship out that aren't committed enough to the cause, which means the only other alternative, is for him to go.

After giving it a read over, today's performance, and taking in some information I have gathered, I'm supporting Hughes all the way. Today summed up for me what is wrong with the squad and why Hughes cannot seem to make us play outstanding football week in, week out. Players like Elano, who couldn't give a rats arse about Hughes, and by being a prick with Hughes to damage him, he is ultimately damaging the club. Look at the players Hughes has brought in, bar TBH, they have all been quality signings. Bridge, I suspect, will be another. Hopefully, Hughes will bring in his own type of midfielder, (i.e. someone who wants to play for him. His own striker (i.e. not an owner signed player), and the team/squad Hughes wants will begin to develop. Hopefully, the owners are aware of this, and realise that Hughes has to shift a lot of the deadwood, that, basically, isn't good enough for the club. (i.e. Ball, Elano, Hamann, Benjani, Vassell, Mills, etc). If it was possible, Hughes would release 10+ players in January, and bring in 10 of his own, and we'd see a different team. Unfortunately, this can't happen and we seem to be stuck with a mediocre squad for 5-6 months, and at most, a finish of around 9-11th. Next summer, if Hughes is still here, he will begin to build his own squad that should be capable of winning trophies, and, after that season, if it isn't good enough again, his time will be up. But, especially after today's showing, it is evident that the majority of those players know that their time at this club is coming to an end, and rightly so, because they're shite, so they couldn't give a flying fuck about the FA Cup, or us fans. Rather than sack a manager who the players don't like and don't want to play for, sack the 10+ players that don't give a shit, and let Hughes get on with his job which keeps getting harder when players like Elano spit their dummy out, causing more unrest.

 

[mancity1]

I posted this exact post after the WBA game and I still believe in the basics of what I said.

I reckon Hughes is a gonner, but, has he not been slightly unlucky?

I mean, he was appointed by Thaksin, expectations when he arrived, top 10. Then he was given a 'present', called Jo, for £19M, who, he felt pressured into playing. Then, he signs 3-4 players. Kompany - Good Signing. SWP - Good Signing. Zabaleta - Best Signing. Once all these players came in (bar Zab), against Sunderland, we saw what we were expected to see all season. Elano playing well, SWP back to his best, Kompany the midfielder we've needed, forever. But then, he gets a new boss, who happens to be one of the richest people in the world, and our expectations change dramatically. Hughes is then given another 'gift', this time, it's £32M worth of Robinho. So, now, Hughes has to adapt his team to accompany, Jo and Robinho, something which is bound to upset other players, and one of them happens to be a Brazilian, Elano, who seems to be leading an anti-Hughes group. Also, we now here stories of players being slightly pissed off how Hughes adapts his policy to accompany Robinho.

Now, it seems to me that Jo and Robinho are what's causing this rift between Hughes and the squad, as he has been forced to change his whole personality as a manager to make sure he doesn't piss the two owner signed players, and ensure he keeps them happy and doesn't lose his job. Ironically, by doing this, he's ended up pissing off the rest of the squad, as well as the two owner signed players and the pressure he tried to reduce has been increased. Ideally for Hughes, (allbeit slightly unbelievable) the signings of Jo and Robinho are two that Hughes could have done without. Only on 3 occassians has Hughes got the tactics right really, Pompey, Stoke, Arsenal (I may be wrong) and in these 3 games, we've been up against teams who have played crap.

I don't support Hughes enough that I want him to stay, but, I think that when you actually look into the problem that's been created, Hughes has been desperately unlucky and now the fans seemed to have turned against him, something has to change. Unfortunately for Hughes, there are too many players to ship out that aren't committed enough to the cause, which means the only other alternative, is for him to go.

After giving it a read over, today's performance, and taking in some information I have gathered, I'm supporting Hughes all the way. Today summed up for me what is wrong with the squad and why Hughes cannot seem to make us play outstanding football week in, week out. Players like Elano, who couldn't give a rats arse about Hughes, and by being a prick with Hughes to damage him, he is ultimately damaging the club. Look at the players Hughes has brought in, bar TBH, they have all been quality signings. Bridge, I suspect, will be another. Hopefully, Hughes will bring in his own type of midfielder, (i.e. someone who wants to play for him. His own striker (i.e. not an owner signed player), and the team/squad Hughes wants will begin to develop. Hopefully, the owners are aware of this, and realise that Hughes has to shift a lot of the deadwood, that, basically, isn't good enough for the club. (i.e. Ball, Elano, Hamann, Benjani, Vassell, Mills, etc). If it was possible, Hughes would release 10+ players in January, and bring in 10 of his own, and we'd see a different team. Unfortunately, this can't happen and we seem to be stuck with a mediocre squad for 5-6 months, and at most, a finish of around 9-11th. Next summer, if Hughes is still here, he will begin to build his own squad that should be capable of winning trophies, and, after that season, if it isn't good enough again, his time will be up. But, especially after today's showing, it is evident that the majority of those players know that their time at this club is coming to an end, and rightly so, because they're shite, so they couldn't give a flying fuck about the FA Cup, or us fans. Rather than sack a manager who the players don't like and don't want to play for, sack the 10+ players that don't give a shit, and let Hughes get on with his job which keeps getting harder when players like Elano spit their dummy out, causing more unrest.

No he has underperformed as have the vast majority of our side for the vast majority of our games this season.

Injuries etc are part and parcel of the game.

We have been spineless far too often this season and Hughes is partly to blame for that.

22 points from 20 games and early exits from both domestic cup competitions is just not good enough for Manchester City.

We have 18 games to get the 7 wins we need that should ensure safety and thats all we have to look forward to in a season that domestically is fast becoming one every supporter will quickly want to forget.

 

[mancmackem]

My issue has been how he sets teams up at times. I don't want to repeat what i've already said in other posts, but to sum up: -

Injuries have played a part.
Playing players out of position has not helped with results.
Playing the right players in the right positions (Elano instead of Vassell) won us the Hull game.
Glaring tactical errors (Prime example being WBA when he played Kompany and Hamman, left a massive hole in the centre when the ball bounced into the middle from Ched Evans who struggled to hold the ball up, this IMHO won them the game).
Lack of a plan B (We still had 1 up front today as Sturridge played on the left, why not Garrido with 2 up front?)

These inconsistencies apart from the formation with how Hughes sets the team up, for me, are worrying. I also did not like it when he held his arms out wide, sat down in the dugout when we were 3-0 at one point. Well if you don't have a clue Hughes, and the players don't, then who does on how to get some sort of a consistent performance level that gets us points?