JohnMaddocksAxe
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 30 Apr 2008
- Messages
- 2,854
Just a quick one. Not a debate about whether Hughes is the right man or not - he's not, in my view and never will be. The results speak for themselves.
However, answers to this one please.
After the Everton game I questioned why people were rewriting history and denying that prior to the start of the season (and especially at the end of the transfer window) they considered the performances and results so far to be completely unacceptable and to represent just about the worst possible job that could be done with this squad. ie: they would have thought that any manager taking this squad to the bottom three did not deserve much support.
People were making all sorts of excuses that they know they would not have even considered making and would have laughed at the impossibility of it all if the scenario was put to them at the start of the season.
Anyway, at that point the most ardent Hughes backers were strongly in favour of the next three games (Hull, West Brom and Blackburn) being the turning point and many were of the opinion that this is where it is turned around, with at least six points being the only valid return - proof that Hughes is taking us places. In fact, they were extremely vocal that to judge him before this run of games was not on.
Well, 4 points from these games and now I spy people trying to turn it around and spin it into something positive. A nice bit of "4 points from 2 games" statistical spin thrown in there too, completely ignoring the first game of the three.
So, my question to those who think that the long ball dirge served up yesterday (combined with an inability to obtain decent possession for massive periods against a team with one less midfielder and a 37 year old in the middle) was anything that even slightly resembles progress is this:
Please show me where a single person stated, prior to the West Brom game, that 4 points from the last 3 games would be a decent return. Failing that, does anyone want to try to claim that prior to the West Brom game they thought that 4 points from 9 was what we should be aiming for and would be something that is anything other than more underperformance from the team that the manager is leading?
Cos there were plenty of people pointing to the potential 6+ point returns on offer from these games as a defence of Hughes being given time or making progress.
(Ps: don't make this into a - "you can't sack him now, the timing is not right, the window is about to open, he'll turn it around then with more signings" thread. We all know that a dead monkey could turn it around with another £80m worth of signings to go on top of the £80m he's already had. That has no bearing whatsoever as to whether he has produced anything like acceptable results and performances.)
However, answers to this one please.
After the Everton game I questioned why people were rewriting history and denying that prior to the start of the season (and especially at the end of the transfer window) they considered the performances and results so far to be completely unacceptable and to represent just about the worst possible job that could be done with this squad. ie: they would have thought that any manager taking this squad to the bottom three did not deserve much support.
People were making all sorts of excuses that they know they would not have even considered making and would have laughed at the impossibility of it all if the scenario was put to them at the start of the season.
Anyway, at that point the most ardent Hughes backers were strongly in favour of the next three games (Hull, West Brom and Blackburn) being the turning point and many were of the opinion that this is where it is turned around, with at least six points being the only valid return - proof that Hughes is taking us places. In fact, they were extremely vocal that to judge him before this run of games was not on.
Well, 4 points from these games and now I spy people trying to turn it around and spin it into something positive. A nice bit of "4 points from 2 games" statistical spin thrown in there too, completely ignoring the first game of the three.
So, my question to those who think that the long ball dirge served up yesterday (combined with an inability to obtain decent possession for massive periods against a team with one less midfielder and a 37 year old in the middle) was anything that even slightly resembles progress is this:
Please show me where a single person stated, prior to the West Brom game, that 4 points from the last 3 games would be a decent return. Failing that, does anyone want to try to claim that prior to the West Brom game they thought that 4 points from 9 was what we should be aiming for and would be something that is anything other than more underperformance from the team that the manager is leading?
Cos there were plenty of people pointing to the potential 6+ point returns on offer from these games as a defence of Hughes being given time or making progress.
(Ps: don't make this into a - "you can't sack him now, the timing is not right, the window is about to open, he'll turn it around then with more signings" thread. We all know that a dead monkey could turn it around with another £80m worth of signings to go on top of the £80m he's already had. That has no bearing whatsoever as to whether he has produced anything like acceptable results and performances.)