In defence of Mark Hughes

[Rammy Blue]

tbh and just as an aside i watched everton last night and Villa at weekend and neither side has any continental world class players yet both teams pressed, closed down and worked their bollox off for the full 90 mins.

surely there has to be some logic to the argument that if you can get a team that works hard AND has a couple of superstars then we should go far in the new year.

 

[bluemoondays]

I remember reading a few years ago after Paul Jewell had taken over as manager at Wigan when results were not going in their favour, Jewell had a meeting with their chairman, Dave Whelan, and he confessed he was at a loss as to how to motivate the players.

Whelan went to the training ground, gathered the players around him, and told them in no uncertain terms that Paul Jewell was the manager, that whatever happened on the pitch Paul Jewell would still be the manager, and it was them, the players, who were playing for their futures.

Wigan got promoted to the premier league.

Now that I would have paid money to see ;-) and wasn't it Chimbonda that spent a bit of time stuck in the reserves at Dave Whelan's insistence? Even Ferguscum is supposed to have said to Ronaldo he'd prefer to see him rotting in the reserves rather than sell him to Madrid.

It appears to be obvious that a few players aren't putting in a shift and there's quite a few players in the squad who, even if they aren't 1st team certs for a team to compete with the Scum, Chelski etc, would be capable squad players still earning a big bundle like Bridge, John O'Gay, Bendtner, SWP at Chelsea (for example) and also still picking up their medals if we get where we want to be.

I'd be busting a gut now to prove I was worthwhile keeping for a squad position at least, because if not they'll end up at places like Wet Spam, Smoggies, Bolton, Blackburn etc and never have a prayer of getting a medal and probably on worse wages than being a squad player at City!

If there's one team now that can afford to have a bunch of highly paid prima donna's sat rotting in the reserves and not give a shit about selling them then that's City.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

For the past 24 hours Ive thought long and hard about the position of our manager, I think its well know Ive never wanted him here in the first place and I still dont. However putting my own personal opinions to one side I honestly think that we have to stick with him at the very least until February/March to see if we can get out of this mess. If we're still struggling then we'll probably need a new manager to give us the impetus to get out of it.

Why my sudden change of heart, well its not really a change of heart but more a taste of realism, its true we have problems with certain players that wont or dont want to fall in with the party line, I can't blame Hughes for that as he is the manager and the manager must have the final say on how he wants to run the playing side of the club or else its going to lead to all sorts of problems. If certain players dont like his style then either they should fuck off or buckle down to some small hardships of hard graft and buy into the team ethic. Theres things about my job I dont like but hey thats fucking life.

The reason why Hughes needs at the very least one transfer window is to try and weed out some of the players that are
a bad influence, with the January signings lets see if he can improve the results and if he does then he should be allowed the summer to rid the club of those he couldn't move on this coming January. If he can't improve things by mid February then fair enough pay him off and move on.

Wow, you've gone from making the worst thread ever to posting this. I agree. Although it's becoming more and more likely that Hughes isn't the man for the long term, I still think we should stick with him for now (til the end of the season hopefully), unless results continue to be very bad and we're forced to hit the panic button. I am hopeful we might see an improvement in the window when Hughes gets rid of a couple of the bad eggs who aren't prepared or cut outfor the hard work that they ened to put in.

He could really do with playing the right players in the right positions, though

 

[Chippy_boy]

I have to confess I really don't know what to make of all of this. I can see merit in both sides of the argument.

However, there is one thing that I find rather distasteful. That is the general slurring and disrespect from some people here of many of our players.

"disruptive influence"
"they should buckle down" (i.e. implying they are not buckling down at the moment)
"the ones who have the talent but wont for whatever reason implement it and I'm thinking of Elano, Johnson, Jo and possibly even Robinho"
"Elano is a difficult customer"

It's endless.

Well I don't know if ANY of this is true. What I do know is that when Elano joined his football was breathtaking. I want a manager who can bring that out in him. Not one who says "buckle down or fuck off". Michael Johnson was simply terrific at the beginning of last season. Nedum Onohu was featured on MOTD as being a total star in the making. The other day on the TV (I can't remember which game) one of the commentators was overwhelmed by how good Danny Sturridge was. Everyone knows what an impact Micah Richards made in the beginning. I can go on and on and on.

These players are still here. They haven't suddently lost all their ability, but for some reason they either aren't producing it, or aren't being picked and being allowed to produce it. We have *tons* of talent here at MCFC. Some players who might be taken to other big clubs and turned into superstars. And our only answer is "shape up or fuck off". Not very sophisticated management is it.

I am not saying we have no dead wood. Clearly there are 1 or 2 who are past it or just not up to it from a footballing perspective. But you have to *seriously* worry about the manager and not the players when you even go and buy the most expensive player in UK history - a world superstar on any stage - and half way through the season some are talking about getting rid. Utterly unbelievable.

Where would it end? Sign Kaka and 13 weeks later he's a tosser too? I do NOT want a team of 11 Paul Dickov's and MH keep picking Darius Vassell (for all the wrong reasons imho) worries me that that is the direction we are heading in.

 

[King Kinky]

I'll add my 2p's worth if I may...

I think he needs to be given a bit of time. Let's see what he can do in January with some money available. He did a decent job at Blackburn with limited resources so now he has those resources. He's made (imo) a bad signing in TBH but good signings in Zabaleta, SWP & Kompany. Kompany to me was a hell of a find. I think the loss of Petrov has unbalanced the team and a lot of individual errors has cost us points. You can't legislate for those errors. In addition the lack of a decent striker has added to the problem. At the end of the day we have scored more goals that the current league leaders, so it's the goal against that is the real problem.

I'm not a huge believer in all this "motivation" bollox. If players need motivating to go out and win games, play their best etc. then they shouldn't be at the club. What is needed is the ability to instil some confidence in a team that at times look a bit shell shocked. Also some players need a kick up the arse and that is something I think Hughes can do (wasn't he sent off a while back when playing for doing that!).

I'm not his biggest fan and I wasn't too keen on his appointment, however I think now he is here he needs to be given a chance and above all City need our support. That support was one of the main reasons why ADUG chose City as the club to take over.

 

[forevermancity]

Elano out
Bellamy in

What a great jan this is going to be

 

[Chippy_boy]

Elano out
Bellamy in

What a great jan this is going to be

Brazil international replaced by a £10k a week donkey from West Ham. Progress.

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Elano out
Bellamy in

What a great jan this is going to be

Brazil international replaced by a £10k a week donkey from West Ham. Progress.

Not as simple as that though is it, not even a replacement cos they play in different positions.

I'm not in favour of bellamy in, but I am in favour of Elano out

 

[Eric Wirral]

If certain players dont like his style then either they should fuck off or buckle down to some small hardships of hard graft and buy into the team ethic. Theres things about my job I dont like but hey thats fucking life.

The reason why Hughes needs at the very least one transfer window is to try and weed out some of the players that are
a bad influence, with the January signings lets see if he can improve the results and if he does then he should be allowed the summer to rid the club of those he couldn't move on this coming January. If he can't improve things by mid February then fair enough pay him off and move on.

Spot On.

 

[Mike D]

If certain players dont like his style then either they should fuck off or buckle down to some small hardships of hard graft and buy into the team ethic. Theres things about my job I dont like but hey thats fucking life.

Just to pick this bit out. I don't agree with it. Just because he is manager does not mean he is right. He could go to Chelsea and Lampard, Terry, Anelka, Deco and Carvalho (i.e all their top players) might not like his style, would you say that they should fuck off if they don't buckle down to his style of training or how he wants them to play and work?

Having that hard man and hard work ethic approach will get the best out of journeymen and average players to play above their ability at clubs like Wigan, Bolton and Blackburn and that will get them to 6th-mid table but when you want to progress even further and be successful you need players who will win a game for you and provide that bit of skill that could do that, you need a mixture of flair players and hard workers. Chelsea and the rags have that. They both have players who will work hard for the team and are valuable members that never get the praise they deserve sometimes such as Essien, Mikel, Terry, Drogba, Hargreaves, Rooney, Tevez ect but they also have the flair players that will not work as hard as the ones mentioned above but will provide the flair and skill to win games such as Ronaldo, Deco, Anelka, Berbatov, Kalou ect. They both have that in abundence which is why both teams have been at the top for the past few years and is why Arsenal who have lots of flair and skillfull players but no hard working players and Liverpool who have lots of hard working players but hardly any flair and skillful players have not been as successfull as Chelsea and the rags.

I get the impression that Hughes wants a team like he did at Blackburn and Wales. Eleven players who will work hard for him and be tough to beat but that will only get us flirting between 6th and 10th. He doesn't strike me as the kind of guy who wants a player like Robinho in your side which you need if you want to be successful.

The question we have to ask ourselves is what do we want? Do we want 2-3 years of being mediocre and flirting between 6th and 10th and having that stability we all crave for while playing negative football but getting the results which Hughes will give us or do we want to aim higher and be ambitious which the money we have available allows us to be because with Hughes in charge we won't do that. I prefer doing the latter and that is why i don't want that rag twat in charge of us.

I agree that MH is obviously capable with over achieving with average players but clearing not able to achieve with good players and superstars. If we had a team full of Bellamy's and Robbie Savages then we'd be in a lot healthier state than we are no.

TBH I think handing MH a further £40 mil is potentially suicidal on the arabs part and thus giving him he opportunity to move on perfectly good players a recipe for disaster. When the invitable does happen and MH is moved on
How much damage will he have done to the dressing room?
How many average players are we gonna have in the squad clogging up the reserves and halting the youngsters progress?

IMHO the budget should be slashed to a minimum and MH made to make do with what he has and see how good he really is after all there is more than enough talent to see us through to at least a top 10 finish