Mark Hughes - NEW POLL

The problem for me is that he seems to have no game management which is shocking for someone with his experience at a high level.

Playing 4-1-2-1-2 at home is fecking stupid. Playing the same team for 6 games in a row is poor management. You could see that a few were tired after 30 minutes and he refused to change it. The formation change for the second half was more positive but Costello should have been hooked after 55 minutes.

Substitutions… why wait until the 89th minute to make three? Why was Chapman not on the pitch?

 

Edited mate

 

wasn't aware of that but its evident that's he's not accustomed to League Two football an should be given cameos off the bench, rather than consistent full starts

 

Wright - Was due to sign permanently but reneged at the last minute after his agent got him a gig at Plymouth
Chapman - has been played out of his preferred position but did little to warrant gametime after lacklustre performances
Nevers - who?
Banks - Has shown form at times and should be getting more minutes. Good ball for Cook but his poor finishing cost us the win
Oliver - isn't really a foil for Cook and Cookie ain't ever getting dropped for him again like Hughes did after the Carlisle game.
Perriera - done bugger all to warrant anything
Eisa - Still on the comeback trail after injury but has shown anything to suggest he should be getting game time.
Young - got a rare start at Barrow today, subbed after doing nothing. Not good enough for us.
Derbyshire - probably the best option but injury has prevented him getting game time.

Of course our opinions could be different if these players were played under a different manager and system. As it stands if Cook picks up an injury we may as well plan for next season and that might be ultimately what costs us promotion if it does somehow happen. For an attacker himself I'm somewhat perplexed at how Hughes sets out his team at Valley Parade.

 

Agreed, I saw him at Burnley, there's a player in there, but not in a L2 environment.

 

haha love that

 

Theres several systems that Hughes could deploy that could be more effective than our current setup :

4-2-3-1 - Didnt work earlier on in the season due to the wrong personal being deployed. the midfield 2 needs energy. Gillead & East offer the most. But Gillead lacks in the technical department. Other alternatives are Clayton who is good technically but hasnt got the legs to cover the pitch. As we have all realised, Smallwood is more of a CDM. The only player who could compliment him is East. A front 4 of Cook, with Walker in behind an a winger on each side would maximise our attacking output an keep us solid defensively

5-3-2 - A back 3 of Stubbs, Crichlow & Platt with Halliday at RWB an Bola at LWB as Ridehalgh isn't dynamic enough to be effective in that position. Once again we'd need to tweak the midfield but Hughes seems reluctant to do that. The formation can transition into a 3-5-2 when in attack or in games where we dominate possesion. Would provide us width

3-4-3 - Gives us plenty of width. May be a formation where Perriera an Chapman would become effective. Even Costelloe to an extent

4-4-2 - A robust formation. But we need someone to partner Cook. Id say Oliver, as we have two wide players an 2 full backs to overload the wings an get crosses in. 2 Target man in the box would be lethal

The options are there, the personnel is available. Hughes just does not want to tinker with the team unless its been a month where the current formation hasn't worked

 

Sackinggl

 

His day will come but Hughes will be here for the foreseeable

 

with this squad would be interesting.

 

As much as i am not happy with Mr Hughes and the home form, we have to stop this manager bingo and give someone more than a season. If we miss out on promotion this season and i think we will probably lose in the playoff's , we have to stick with him . For the foreseeable future. If come December we are no better, maybe then roll the dice. We are not that far off being a reasonable team.

 

Some people looking from the outside may say we're being deluded in wanting a manager change when we are 5th an firmly still in the race for promotion but I think it ultimately comes to this

With 3/4 of the season gone, we have all come to the conclusion that there is some real quality in this team. Id argue that Lewis is the best shot stopper in the league. Numbers speak for themselves when it comes to Cook's exploits in front of goal. Players with real pedigree have been brought in. The likes of Smallwood from Championship side Hull, Walker from the SPL, Chapman, Stubbs, Oliver from League 1. With the exception of Walker's injury, we haven't really been in a position where we lack cover. The squad is well stocked.

Ultimately the performances fail to decieve. We very rarely dominate games or win comfortably with some notable exceptions. The squad isn't being utilised properly. The likes of Harratt, Young, East, Banks are/have been given very little minutes. The likes of Smallwood & Chapman have heavily been played out of position or in systems that they are not accustomed to. Changes are made too late. Whether the team has not been setup correctly from the get go, certain players are putting poor performances in or players are looking knackered with a large portion of the game still to go, The management seems reluctant to make proactive changes. Opting for a reactive route which has its obvious downsides.

I don't want to see us start from scratch again, its painstaking ripping up the squad every season an hearing the line "the squad needs to gel" come August/September. Hughes needs to realise thats its best to get out of League Two whilst you can. There's no benefit in playing it safe in League 2. He needs to take more risks an be less cautious. We got 9/10 games to go, potentially more if we end up in the Play Offs so lets just see how it goes an hope it turns out for the best

 

If we keep doing the same thing, then we will keep getting the same results.
That may just get us into the playoffs but auto’s no chance

 

Have you EVER contributed a positive post on this forum?? Unbelievably negative every single time

I want to see a manager in charge for at least 2 seasons, we have lacked any sort of consistency and continuity since PP. Of course it is frustrating at times, but we’re in LEAGUE TWO ffs….the most inconsistent league ever, full of inconsistent managers and players. Even if you browse Orient or Stevenage forums (for example) their fans still piss & moan about how they could be better. We are not alone. Some of our fans have learned absolutely feck all over the past few years

Absolutely fecking pathetic thread IMHO

 

Would anyone seriously be contemplating the sacking of Mark Hughes, seriously give your heads a shake, we're sat in a very good position to STILL CHALLENGE for an auto place and even if we don't achieve that IMO we'll stay in the play offs, yes it does boil down to the best team on the day but to be even thinking of sacking Hughes is beyond belief.

 

Absolutely Broncs, has i stated in a in a earlier reply the thread is ridiculous, sometimes the mentality of some is mindblowing

 

The daft thing is, even on the back of an insipid home performance this season, where VP has gone very quiet, more fans are turning up to watch and witness imo a playoff failure
YET
With Hughes and his merrie band of OAPS strolling around City could well achieve over 15,000 season tickets next time out.
Amazing, who says failure does not pay.
There is always next year!

 

This thread is so far of course we can hardly see it. Even we end up in this league at the end of this season I would say he gets two years. It takes that long to get a substantial squad together. Let’s remind ourselves how bad we have been in previous years. At least we are still talking about auto’s at the end of March.

We have had so much improvement and yes we are disgruntled and frustrated because we are not giving every team a good spanking. In my saner moments I do understand it takes time.

 

Sparks has been very savvy selling season tickets now and setting a deadline for the discount for a date before the end of this season so we don't know which league we will be in. So I think most will renew on that basis, hoping of course the cheap tickets will get them league 1 football next season.

 

The seasons far from over how can it be classed as failure ?.....................