Most liked posts in thread: Mark Hughes your football is...

I'm puzzled that Hughes has been so consistent with team selection, because I had him down as a horses for courses type, someone who would switch things up regularly - and at first, he was kinda doing that.

Lately, however, it's the same old 13-14 players, and several are off form.

But I'm not going to say he should play X instead of Y, when X (Levi Sutton for example) has been here a long time and, for me, looked no better than Gilliead.

I think we have a bloated squad, and could lose a few players and never notice - and no, we won't replace half a squad in January - but I think we need 2 or 3 players in, and 4 or 5 out.

A good Elliott Watt-type ball player in the middle alongside Smallwood.
A better impact substitute striker.
An attacking midfielder who can hit the target.

If one or more could take a mean set piece, that would be swell.

I don't think we'll get better than Cook, Wright, Banks, Smallwood, Lewis, or Crichlow. Chapman, Halliday, Foulds and Platt can all do a job under the right conditions.

But we do need an injection of real quality - and I'd be looking at that first and foremost.

Part of me genuinely thinks if we had a midfielder scoring, they could have a field day in this side. Unfortunately, we haven't got that bit right - whether from the deep lying midfield position, or from the attacking midfield position. Maybe Walker is the answer, but it's only a maybe for me.

 

Surely he's seen enough of this league to work out what works and what doesn't.
That's what worries me, it just seems obvious to pretty much all of us that we can't just stick with what we're doing.

 

One up top is easy to defend against if the 3 behind offer nothing as we’ve seen. I’d love to see 4-3-3 which is the formation Northampton play and others. I’m struggling to see the reason why Hughes thinks our current formation is going to work. It hasn’t looked comfortable from day 1 and here we are halfway through the season and the same frailties are obvious to all.

 

If the midfield was working properly there would be more chances created and Cook's presence would have some worth. I agree he has his limitations and he can't hold the ball or bring others into play, but that's never been in his skillset. He does have an ability in the box, facing goal as he's shown in patches. The glaring problems are around the midfield and our lack of ability to turn a defence and get the ball in the box with our players facing goal. Cook's failings are a complete distraction even though they're easy to see.

 

It just becomes a fantasy topic for some.

"Who isn't playing, or doing anything? Why can't they be better?"

Happens often with keepers.

Now it's happening with non-goalscoring strikers.

 

if they where top players then they wouldn’t be gracing league 2 would they ? And Orient looked good the other week because we allowed it to happen ( yet again ) we actually looked good when we went for the throat from the off but what happen once we revert back the messing around at the back football ???? We get torn apart yet again ????
I would love us to see us pass it around at the back and keep hold of the ball but we can’t .......... look at Stevenage a poorer squad on paper who play the long ball game and look at the points difference ????
Sorry I don’t care who he brings in come January that style will not get us out of league 2 ............ teams have sussed it out we are simply an easy touch to play against ............. it’s like a written law that we have to play that way because the top clubs do ............ just have a holding midfielder an attacking one ........ 2 flying wingers ....... a big brute up top with a goalscorer beside him is that to much to ask ???

 

so you go months and months playing a style that doesn’t work then ???

 

Bang on @Dennis . We just aren't seeing any improvement to suggest is worth sticking with. It's only in the last few games that we decided to mix it up a bit by going long occasionally. Crichlow was an early culprit of passing backwards more than forwards, even when there was a pass on. Platt is being asked asked to play football when he's an out and out defender. One of the reasons he was released from Blackburn by Mowbray was because he wasn't good under pressure and couldn't do what Hughes is trying to instil here. I think it was the Barrow commentators who said from the start of the game, that they should press Platt because he's weak under pressure. It was also the game plan adopted by Northampton and others.

The biggest flaw or neglect in the recruitment is the ball carrying / creative centre midfielder. Now if the plan is to bring one in then that will help, but for me, becoming less predictable and actually playing to the strengths of the personnel at hand is the way to go. Back end of last season saw Hughes improve performances and results using the limited squad at hand. This season despite having the majority of transfers complete before the friendlies, we're still a long way from looking settled and look more and more like a work in progress.

 

Tomorrow really feels like a ‘crossroads’ match doesn’t it.

There is the humiliation at losing to Harrogate every year and after a bad result at Carlisle we’ve dropped out of the playoffs and could soon be bottom half.

The signs had been there for a while and neither the form table, nor our xG, has made pretty reading lately.

Time and time again we approach matches in the same manner and end up with predictable disappointment.

Hughes has now hinted there could be changes, so let’s see you do something Mark, as if we line up with that terrible 4-2-3-1 again tomorrow there will be sighs from the stands.

A cold, wet, damp night and the prospect of more home disappointment. If we don’t win this, that will be it for many.

however, we have three homes coming up and these should be games we should win (just the type of game we bottle) to kick on and get back in the playoffs.

carpe diem, lads, show some balls, ambition and have a go tomorrow. Entertain us, you know, like you are supposed to, or at least win the damn game.

time for Eisa to be binned off and Gillead/Smallwood needs breaking up. The whole system needs changing. Banks, walker and Wright MUST start if fit. I wanna see big Vadaine bullying their CBs and Cook with a rocket up his arse - he best not be coming back in bad condition after Xmas.

Crich will sort us out at the back and we just need to get some belief back in a system that works. Nobody but Hughes, and maybe Hodges, believes 4-2-3-1 is the answer - what the players are (not) doing on the pitch proves it, and the noises from the stands and on the forums/social media show the fans hate it too.

Let’s bloody av it.

 

Can’t be bothered with tomorrow’s match, going to Alhambra instead.
Swapping one Pantomime for another

 

I think we agree Broncs that the issue is he has brought in loan players who might be from a higher division, but who are not fit or match ready. I just don't see the point. If they were permanent signings then I could possibly see the reasoning, but there is absolutely no point in bringing in loan players in January if they are not ready to make an immediate impact.

The one player who has looked ready was Nevers, but was he even on the bench at Stockport? I also thought Clayton did OK.

 

To be fair he looked a very good player today, his all round game looked high end league 1. Brings others into the game and can score a goal from nothing.

 

He actually said he was born and lived in Wrexham less than three miles from the ground.
I believe he lives at **, xxxxxxxx ROAD, ALDERLEY EDGE, SK9 xxx

 

As results stand, a mindblowing 17 points behind little old Stevenage.

Hughes is failing big time

 

One of the hardest jobs at City is filling a 2 minutes highlights vid for YouTube .....

 

Just don't mention that in the Sunwin Stand as the Happy Clappers who defend all manner of garbage on show, don't like it

 

Cook may have scored more goals this season but, performance wise, I don't think he's improved. Hughes even dropped him. Gilliead hasn't improved and I wouldn't pick him. He just happens to be a favourite of Hughes. Lewis's performances have been good from the time he arrived and he's maintained that form. He was a reserve team 'keeper with a Premiership club and his ability reflects that background. Hughes has no part in his development anyway. That's Colin Doyle's job.

 

I agree on Lewis from game one he showed he’s a class above this level. But you can’t say that then dismiss Cook, under Hughes Cook, Vernam and Wright have all had their best goal scoring ratios of their careers. Two of them have moved onto a higher level as a result, just for some balance of course.

 

you get a striker that can get 20+ goals in a team then you should be part way of winning a battle sadly we have a man who seems to bypass actually trying to feed him ............ the same happened with Doyle deemed as crap deemed as lazy and yet magically he fooks elsewhere and he’s suddenly a world beater ............ said it time and time again you put a manager at the helm who knows what he’s doing then this squad would be in the top 3 ......... we on the whole have been crap this season and yet we are 8th now stands to reason that if the set up was right we would be higher up ?????
How many goals have we actually lost down to peeing around with it in dodgy areas ????? Saturday was the latest in a long line of it ............. and I ain’t gonna blame who loses it in them areas I’m gonna blame the daft sod who continues to let them players take the blame for his crap set up

 

Joe Cooke