Mark Hughes your football is...

Happens every season.
Players not playing are always better than the starting eleven.
It will be Cooks fault that Chapman has consistently failed to even hit the target on numerous occasions this season.

 

course it works at the top levels because they have the players to play that way ........... we don’t you can see that there uncontrollable with it so why keep doing it ............. we are so effing easy to play against it unreal .......... we offer little going forward from our non existent midfield ......... we continue to give the ball away when a team high presses us .......... we are relying on Cook because frankly the rest can’t hit a barn door ..............This has gone in for months now and it’s only the away form that’s kept us up there and now that’s failing my god the commentary from Carlisle where actually buzzing that we set up that way ............. now if they can see it why can’t Hughes ????? Sadly I don’t feel nothing will change on Thursday night and in the long run if he continues down this route then he will be the reason that thousands will go missing next term

 

Btw regarding Cook now I ain’t saying drop him but surly another system was in place before he hit his form ????? Surly that system revolves around Oliver him being our prime striker at the start of the season

 

You're making two distinct claims here:

1) We don't have the players to play this way (at the minute, this looks accurate)

and also

2) That's because our players aren't top players (I don't think this is fair, or accurate)

I can't possibly agree that a League Two side cannot adopt these tactics because they're somehow so demanding, only elite-level, world class players can master this style.

We know that's not true, and we've just played Leyton Orient who play in a very similar fashion, but are better at it than we are.

Just because we're not immediately good at something doesn't mean we should stop trying.

It's a lesson in life that we learn as kids, but forget when it comes to the emotional rollercoaster that is football!

No, we aren't perfect at what we're trying to do. But also no, that doesn't mean we won't get there with a few changes to the playing squad and a little bit of perseverance from the fan base.

 

The clamour was starting to build around Harratt right before we sent him packing lol

It's just too tempting for some to assume a non-playing player must be ace, and needs an opportunity.

 

He was brought in to replace Cook, who to his credit went away and got fit and now is reaping his rewards. Players like Oliver are getting a few minutes here and there in a way of playing which doesn’t suit him.

 

Hughes way of playing is possession for the sake of it very little variation. It’s arrogance to say it’s my way or no way. The test for him now is can he adapt it to get the best out of the players if he can he will be lauded if he can’t with the backing he has had then it will be abject failure and we know from experience where that leaves managers

 

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 my question is why he sign him then ?????

 

Btw for all our tidy football employed by the majority of managers over the last 20 years isn’t it odd that the so called hoof ball system brought greater rewards ............

 

You think he should just say "play however you like, lads!"

How's it arrogant to manage your squad, lol?

 

Orient look good every week - that's nothing to do with us.

I know they're not top players, we agree on that, I'm saying you don't need great players to play a basic brand of modern football. It's a myth that people are peddling because they're uncomfortable with not winning every week.

There's no correct way to play football, but the wrong way is to flip-flop and change your mind every week in a panic because you've got no strength of character and no confidence in your methods.

I wouldn't want that kind of manager at this club, and thankfully, we don't have one.

 

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

 

Who's the ultimate example of this in our history because it's such a pertinent phenomenon it needs to be named after someone so that in future we can refer to it as '__________ syndrome'.

 

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.

 

Play Offs? This club should be aiming for automatic in this poor league.

 

Correct.The ambition and rhetoric before the season started led us to believe that Hughes had assembled a squad to not only get promotion, but do so automatically. It'll take a massive reverse in form for the top 3 and then ourselves to get anywhere near 3rd place.