Most liked posts in thread: Which players do we think Mark Hughes will want to keep for next season?

We need to be urgently talking to Sunderland to get Jack Diamond on loan here next season he was bye far the best forward I’ve seen home and away in this league and if anyone can do it Hughes can.

 

Doesn't look too bad to me Jon, the only one for me is Cook. The lad tries and as you say, he is usually flogged to death but on the whole he simply isn't good enough.
He's far too slow, immobile and has a terrible first touch. If we compare him with the likes of Proctor, Wilson, Smith, Dunn to name but a few, we see just how immobile he is.
Sorry to disagree but we do need better, a lot better, than Andy Cook if we are to progress next season.

 

I remember Nhaki Wells getting "injured" for City in match and less than 7 days later he was racing around in Town shirt like a Jack Russell.

 

Its a good point. Its easy enough for us as fans to debate who should stay and who should go, but you can only really rationalise that if you have a view of the players wages. Take O'Connor for example. He's a fairly average L2 Centre Back who I think is worth keeping. But we signed him in L1 I think? If he's on League 1 wages, there are likely much better ways to use that money.

 

Not one player at this club has had anything other than an average season. There are mitigating circumstances of course but to suggest any player has had a good season is simply not true. A different case in point when we were relegated was the form of Lewis O'Brien. Stood out like a sore thumb despite our shambolic season, this time out we don't have that quality of player at the club.

 

I agree. There has been a lot of emphasis on mistakes made by the defence. However, it is my contention the lack of attacking football and in particular the lack of goals that has caused our demise, not the defence.
This was mainly down to Adams’s negative football tactics. If you are creating and attacking there is minimal pressure on the defence. If you are constantly long balling to players who cannot hold the ball up it simply comes back on the defence. We have very little width, so no outlet on the wings, the midfield becomes congested and nowhere to pass forward, and are easily pressed and marked. I am hoping MH will sort out our midfield and striker problems.

 

Paudie is bang average league 2 defender. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn’t watch enough football. He’s slow, has terrible positioning and is always on the edge of a red card. He’d do a job at someone like Acrrington or Fleetwood possibly in a relegation scrap but other than that he’s not good enough. He’s easily replaceable and imo we should look to do so. This team stinks of mediocrity and we need a full clear out.

 

To bring the thread back to what Hughes might do in the summer..... I had a look at Hughes last long run at a side, Stoke City. Just to see what type of boss he is for selections, just to maybe give an indication of what we can expect player wise. I didn't do the 17/18 season as he got sacked half way through or the Southampton spell as it was only 20 odd games in charge, but these were his last 4 full seasons in management. Looked for guys who featured often, to see if he had a dependable line up or setup. He liked to rotate... a lot. He never had more than 10 players start over 20 PL games a season.

13/14 - Players with over 30 PL starts
Begovic GK - 32
Pieters LB - 34
Wilson RB - 30
Nzonzi CM - 34
Shawcross CB - 37
Cameron CB - 37
Crouch ST - 30
With 10 players starting over 20 PL games

14/15 - Players with over 30 PL starts
Begovic GK - 35
Nzonzi CM - 38
Shawcross CB - 32
With 10 players starting over 20 PL games

15/16 - Players with over 30 PL starts
Butland GK - 31
Pieters LB - 35
Whelan CM - 37
Arnautovic ST - 33
Wollscheid RB - 30
With 9 players started over 20 PL games

16/17 - Players with over 30 PL starts
Pieters LB - 35
Allen CM - 34
Arnautovic ST - 32
Martins Indi CB - 35
Shawcross CB - 35
With 9 players started over 20 PL games

He has a dependable spine with a solid CB & CM/DM and the rest really do get rotated a lot. A majority of his midfielders, especially the wingers and attacking mids had around 15-22 starts and about 15 sub appearances. In terms of players used, it was around 30-33 players every season in the PL at least played once. It didn't look like a lot of players really got a long run in the starting 11 or really a set shape, unless you were in that spine. They'd employ another DM against a top 6 club club and drop a forward, or he'd drop both wingers and start two quicker strikers out wide like a Jonathan Walters type for a break.

His final season at Stoke for example, the rotation was so frequent.
GK - Butland 5 starts, Given 5 starts, Lee Grant 28 starts
RB - Bardsley 14 starts, Glen Johnson 21 starts, Wollscheid 3 starts
CB - Muniesa 6 starts, Martins Indi 35 starts, Shawcross 35 starts
LB - Pieters 35 starts, Cameron 3 starts (Cameron had 15 starts at DM)
DM/CM - Cameron 15 starts, Charlie Adam 17 starts, Allen 34 starts, Imbula 9 starts, Whelan 26 starts
W/AM - Afellay 3 starts, Bojan 5 starts, Sobhi 8 starts, Shaqiri 21 starts
ST - Arnautovic 32 starts, Crouch 17 starts, Berahino 8 starts, Bony 9 starts, Diouf 15 starts, Walters 13 starts

None of his attackers or wide men produced great amounts of numbers just due to them barely getting a long run in the side, Crouch top scored with 7. Looking through his past seasons, he tends to do this every year, just has a lot of options in forward positions and tries to give all some time. Obviously, he wont have the resources here, but i saw in The Athletic that this summer has the most amount of contracts expiring in the EFL since the change of format to Champ/L1/L2. In theory, it could be the biggest pool of free agents to take a look at to fill a squad with not many people contracted into next season.

 

Completely agree. Then, review in January. And I hope we don't go down the route of 'holding budget back for January'. Bollocks to that, our season is generally over by then. If we're in a strong position come January, then its down to Sparks and Rupp to find a bit of extra cash to make a final push. We need to go all out for the best squad we can build, ready for day 1. Better use of the loan market is key too, and hopes Hughes contacts will help in that regard.

 

Thankfully we resolved the issues around fitness and injury last summer…

 

I think Hughes may want to retain Watt, Cooke, Vernam and Paudie out of the out of contract lot and maybe the two full backs Foulds and Hendrie on a year deal as back up. That’s probably it.

 

Yeah and I answered “none of them”. They’ve done sweet FA.
Sadly, not having a direct link to Mark Hughes’s prefrontal cortex, I can only speculate who I think he should keep or not. But thanks for the CAPITALS.

 

Same applies to Evans. Been great for Hughes but one of our higher earners, so a parting of ways seems inevitable

 

Paudie
Watt
Vernam
Foulds

rest can go for me
No centre back who can bring the ball out and spray passes
Not enough going forward from the right sided full backs
No bite in midfield
Not enough goals from midfield
A seriously immobile front line

big rebuilding job in the Summer for all concerned.

 

I was counting yesterday.
Headed duels attempted - 15
Headed duels won - 15

Paudie has shortcomings, like most L2 CBs. But in most games, as with yesterday, he is dominant in the air.

He's currently playing out of position on the left, to accommodate Songo'o. Put him in his natural right side position, with a more mobile footballing CB next to him and he'd be fine. McArdle was dominant in the air like Paudie, but not great on the deck, and needed an organiser like Davies or Burke alongside him to be at his best. It's about good combinations

 

We currently don't have one player at the club who can't be realistically replaced by a better standard of player in their chosen position. What we do have is a nucleus of players who, if fit, can play to the standard expected of a Mark Hughes side. What we currently don't have is either the quality nor the balance of player with the ability to get us promoted.
And this balance and style of play is all important when discussing the merits of who to and not to keep.
It's clear Hughes favours an expansive possession based game where players are comfortable with the ball and being able to pass. Straight away that brings up our forward line and our centre back pairing, non of which are good enough with ball at feet. A new striker is an absolute must, one of who can run the channels and have good hold up and link up play, whether as part of a two or a lone striker. Angol is a good example but without the fitness issues. At centre back, you can take your pick of either O'Connor or Songo'o, but both together will not get you promoted.
Amongst the others, we have players who if still here can take on a role in Hughes team, players such as Elliot Watt, Callum Cooke, Perriera, Vernam. Players like Hendrie and Ridehalgh are willing workers who could fit into a good team ethic of the right quality around them was improved.
Get the key positions right of CB, CM and striker first and the rest will fall in line.

 

No, Reece Burke is a top end Championship player.

Saying Paudie could get into League One clubs isn't the same as saying 'he's Reece Burke', is it?

It's this ludicrous idea we should expect two more Reece Burke-quality defenders next season that's just bizarre.

People thinking Paudie isn't good enough for League Two are delusional, I'm afraid. You're right, he's played in one of the worst defences we've had in recent years, but he's consistently been the best part of the defence.

If we can get ONE quality centre back in through the door this Summer, it will be mission accomplished in terms of a settled centre back pairing next season.

The last thing we need to be doing is searching for TWO.

 

Now he was a combative midfielder we are missing. He used to scare the refs!

 

Who cares about this current bunch of players. They’ve achieved nothing whilst being at the club. Ship them all out and start afresh. I’m sure Hughes wouldn’t have signed if he hadn’t been given some indication on transfer budget next season. He’s not a mug.