[Archived] Mark Hughes - Good Choice ?

[promoted2001]

What is worrying me is that I have yet to experience any thrill or excitement watching Rovers under Mark Hughes.  Other than the Burnley games - and Ian Duncan Smith could be managing and those fixtures would still be exciting.

347807[/snapback]

You were excited during the 0-0 draw with Burnley at Turd moor?!

[Paul]

Thinking only of this season, I thoroughly enjoyed the Spurs game. Against Newcastle I had expected more of the same, which is the main reason for my disappointment. The team can entertain us

v Spurs

Freidel, Neill, Todd, Nelsen, Matteo, Emerton, Reid, Tugay, Savage, Pedersen, Kugi

v Barcodes

Freidel, Neill, Zurab, Nelsen, Gresko, Mokoena, Reid, Bentley, Savage, Pedersen, Bellamy

Forced changes: 2

Manager's changes: 3

[waggy]

What even though it was him that spent £3m on Lily?  Kind words indeed waggy.

347662[/snapback]

every manager makes mistakes,for every nelsen theres a lily

[T4E]

Pretty unbelievable reaction here. We played fairly well yesterday, we could've easily scored a couple before Shearer's freekick, and if Lucas hadn't been so stupid to give that chance away, I very much doubt Newcastle would've scored.

Hughes came in with a team leaking goals, first objective was obviously to tighten things up. He did that well, and is now looking to even things out in the forward department. Bellamy and Bentley are very positive signings, and he has turned MGP into a completely new player.

The defence has been chopped and changed all season (mainly due to suspension), so has not had a chance to settle. Once it does, Hughes will have a solid platform to build from and I'm sure will start to be more adventurous in his midfield and forward selections/tactics.

The guy has had a great first year in charge, yet people are still judging on the most recent result. It never ceases to amaze me on this messageboard how otherwise very intelligent people can be reduced to such stupidity off the back of one football match.

[92er]

And yet isn't there a continuing pattern? Hughes did well, shored up the defence and avoided relegation. However, results and performances then disappointed. They are continuing to disappoint. His touch line gestures yesterday suggested he was frustrated.

[T4E]

Is frustration at getting beat a bad thing then? I'd be more concerned if he sat forlorn in the dugout like Sven and let Bowen look frustrated.

[RoyRover]

He's the right man for the job, but he needs to sort his tactics out, especially at home.

[John]

Hughes was very angry after the match yesterday.

As I said in another thread it was our pedestrian passing which left him very annoyed. He also said he maybe needs to look again at the balance of the team.

Think there has been somewhat of a knee-jerk reaction on here. The manner of the defeat hurt and the circumstances surrounding the match have added to the painful feeling.

A positive to me what Craig Bellamy who showed that he is quality. He hardly had a pre-season and he looked quite sharp. I am sure we will find a way of getting the best out of him and that will only be good for the team.

I think Scotty mentioned it in the post match thread. Hughes finds it hard to work out what our best line up is. I think he has the same questions marks over 4-4-2 as ourselves because on the message board we have debated at length if Reid can play centre midfield etc. I think ideally we need to look at Savage and Tugay playing our home matches. However, Tugay plays deep naturally so you cannot really have Savage deep as well. At home against lesser teams we should be on the front foot.

However, we can talk tactics all day but too many of our players had off days yesterday and it cannot be put down solely to tactics.

What I do not like about our situation is that we have some particularly tough matches coming up and it could get worse before it gets better.

[BrianPotter]

I think it's too early to start judging MH's ability to do the job, although I am begining to worry a little about our tactical naievety.

We must remember that we've started the season without our new signing in Craig Bellamy (who I thought played very well yesterday to say he's been out injured). The defence has been disrupted due to suspension and injury which means that there is no solid base to the team and has made it difficult to assemble a regular first choice eleven. I personally think that this is the root of the problem, the team changes from week to week are not allowing a settled side to start operating on the same wavelength. Some of the changes have been enforced by injury and suspension but my major concern is the continuous tinkering and changing of the strike force. Hughes needs to decide his two first choice forward's and decide them now, stick with them and give them a few games to see how things go. Its no good giving one combination 60 minutes for one game then changing to another, then changing it again, and again. He must give two players a run of at least four game toghether. And I stress the TWO, one up front, especially at home is not acceptable and to me a main contributor to our inability to put the ball in the net.

Personally I would go with Jansen and Bellamy up front with Bentley playing as an attacking midfielder.

[AggyBlue]

Doesn't matter what tactics he play's, too many of our team can't control a football, pass to a team mate, let alone run with the damn thing.

[BrianPotter]

Doesn't matter what tactics he play's, too many of our team can't control a football, pass to a team mate, let alone run with the damn thing.

347909[/snapback]

I'd have to agree there Aggy. The first touch of some of our players is woeful - it is beyond beleif that they are professional footballers. A circus clown in full get up could control a football better than some of our lot !

[Sparky Marky]

Jansens finished....Stephen Reid isn't a winger....Kuqi is awful..(wouldn't get in my pub team)...Savage does nothing....Lucas is mental.....

Overall we lacked cohesion(i think thats how you spell it)......Nobody comfotable on the ball.....apart from Toogs when he came on....

We should have taken Newcastle apart.....

I'm worried cos we have to go to Man Yoo next week and we could be bottom by then......

[G Somerset Rover]

I honestly think that the difference between Rovers being remotely entertaining, and a pile of dog terd to watch is Tugay. Like marmite love him or hate him-he creates chances and he gives away chances through his sometimes wayward passing. I remember a quote from jon Stead when he signed, he said "everytime I get a chance in training, I look up to see who played the ball and everytime it was Tugay". He will give away soppy passes, but with him and Savage in the middle is a must at home-even against the big teams I think. After all I swear Savage used to get forward and score goals for Brum?!

[John]

Thing is, in charge of Wales this ‘negative’ tag haunted Hughes. Admittedly he had poor players to work with but some would say he is working with poor players now.

With my pessimistic hat on, his time at Wales is being mirrored at Rovers.

False promise at the start followed by a decline.

Edited September 19, 2005 by John

[Kennysuperbuyer]

Extremely disapointed with yesterdays performance under Mark Hughes. I must say i did think his appointment was a good one but the tactics yesterday left me wondering.

The entertainment value was to be quite honest was dreadful and its no wonder crowds are plummeting on such a scale. How can you play one up front at home against a team short on confidence was something i could'nt understand. It was'nt a case of playing one on fire striker either, it was playing a striker who could not possibly be match fit on his own.

I like Mark Hughes as a person but I am beginning to wonder whether his inexpereience in football management is beginning to show. I dearly would like him to succeed in the job as he is a respected man in football.

I am becoming more and more frustrated on how football is going and I know I am not the only one. Please somebody realise that football is on a decline and the common man is fed up with all the things associated with the modern game as it stands.

[John]

Apologies about the length of this post, but some of the articles I have taken from Hughes tenure with Wales.

Familiar reading..........

The Hughes managerial regime can be summed up in three parts, beginning, middle and end.

In the closing 14 months before Hughes left for Blackburn, his reign often bordered on the downright awful.

Hughes, and the sycophants who surrounded him, wouldn't dare admit to this.

But fundamentally bad decisions were made during that 10 games without a win period which cost Wales two bites at qualifying for Euro 2004 and then put paid to our prospects of reaching Germany next year.

The run of matches - and Hughes' decision-making in them - went something like this.

August 20, 2003: Serbia 1 Wales 0: Sparky was accused of being too negative in a game which saw the slide in our Euro 2004 fortunes.

Toshack, had he been in charge, would probably have adopted a bolder approach.

September 6, 2003: Italy 4 Wales 0: The first of the really big clangers as Hughes stuck Simon Davies at right-back.

Sept 10, 2003: Wales 1 Finland 1: Wales hadn't recovered from the Italian mauling and Hughes couldn't lift the team in time for a crunch Millennium Stadium clash four days on.

Nov 19, 2003: Wales 0 Russia 1: Where was the more positive approach? After Davies at right-back, this was major clanger number two as Hughes started without goal sensation Robert Earnshaw, who was on fire at the time.

Earnie was ready to destroy the nervous Russians who, I suspect, would have wilted in front of a 74,000 partisan Welsh crowd.

Instead, Hughes' cautious team selection and tactics enabled the Russians to settle. Vadim Evseev scored after 22 minutes and by the time Earnshaw was sent on, to play out of position on the right wing, the game and our Euro 2004 hopes

The moment he was substituted, Toshack, in his role as a radio pundit, turned to those next to him to query, 'Why on earth is he taking Delaney off?'

October 9, 2004: England 2 Wales 0: Hughes argued you had to learn from your mistakes. Yet, despite the evidence of Milan, he stuck Davies at right-back again.

This time it was Frank Lampard's turn not to believe his luck, as he encamped as a left winger for the second half.

October 13, 2004: Wales 2 Poland 3: Hughes bizarrely took off Gary Speed, his captain, when the game was poised at 1-1.

The defence was left exposed and the Polish midfield ran through the gaps to score two goals within six minutes.

[waggy]

sounds like one or two are very dissapionted in sparky,i was his biggest advocate to become manager,but the football is the worst fare we have suffered since howard kendall and look what he did.

i was stunned when hughes signed KUQI as a centre forward himself surely he must know the guy ain't up to it.but a ex rover pointed out to me KUQI value will be in the january window.

every good team has to be solid at the back,for 80% of hughes tenure we have been,silly mistakes will always happen.no only gripe is no youth

[super_neill]

if we get a good result against United this thread will be long gone

[USABlue]

sounds like one or two are very dissapionted in sparky,i was his biggest advocate to become manager,but the football is the worst fare we have suffered since howard kendall and look what he did.

               

348139[/snapback]

You won't hear any I told you so's from me.

Let's all be realistic here. I think we are all over reacting a bit. It's 6 games in, our main striker is still not match fit, our big man is still adjusting give it a bit more time. We have showed we can play some decent stuff.

I have no clue thought why Hughes decided to go 4-5-1 on Sunday. I was stunned when I heard the line up. That game is gone, a few tough games coming up, we are only 3 points off 8th if we can string a few results together things will look a lot better.

[CAPT KAYOS]

if we can string a few results together things will look a lot better.

348204[/snapback]

Do you want me to start laughing now USA? - seem to have been asking that for quite a while

Seriously though personally I don't think people are over reacting - some questions have to be asked and the criticism being thrown at Hughes or whoever is justified - somehow I just feel there may be some good to all this and somewhere over the rainbow is our pot of gold or something similar if you know what I mean.

[Presty On Tour]

i think hughes doesn't know his best midfield. every game there is a new face there?

on paper they look good options but when they play well

pedersen: quality, well good player no one else on the left anyway(emerton maybe)

emerton: in the team most games, left out v toon army. people think he's #### and seem to think his name is on the team sheet in print form

reid: has played all over the place, well rated by some

savage: always in the side, havent seen the best of him yet!!

axe: seems to be in the side alot more now in front of the defence, don't really need him for home games!!

tugay: most creative player, shame about his age!!

flitcroft: somewhere in the reserves!!

bentley: promising against bolton, didnt know much about the geordies!!

so with 5 in midfield he can select 5, with 4-4-2 he can only choose 4 and then who's up front then!!

[Ronin]

so with 5 in midfield he can select 5, with 4-4-2 he can only choose 4 and then who's up front then!!

Why not be daring and go 3-5-2?

[USABlue]

Do you want me to start laughing now USA?     - seem to have been asking that for quite a while

Seriously though personally I don't think people are over reacting - some questions have to be asked and the criticism being thrown at Hughes or whoever is justified - somehow I just feel there may be some good to all this and somewhere over the rainbow is our pot of gold or something similar if you know what I mean.

348227[/snapback]

The criticism is justified in his tactics for the Newcastle game. All around I think he has done a ggod job. Remember Hughes is learning also, he just does not have the knowledge that us fans do I know what you mean about the rainbow, I think we will get over a hump and do well. Problem is the paying public of Blackburn will have long since been lost and as I have said before it will take something special to get them back.

BTW, I did not see the game but how did we manage to be boring with over 20 shots at goal?

Edited September 20, 2005 by USABlue

[thenodrog]

I'd have to agree there Aggy. The first touch of some of our players is woeful - it is beyond beleif that they are professional footballers. A circus clown in full get up could control a football better than some of our lot !

347912[/snapback]

What are you two on about? The mags defence couldn't even manage to clear the ball on occasions.

On MoTD after the spurs game Hanson whilst criticising our discipline was eulogising about our passing game ffs!

Sunday was simply a bad day at the office imo compounded by Hughes playing Bellamy as a target man and switching Reid to the wing to make room for Bentley. I do admit though that we are so like Jeckyl and Hyde at the moment that I have no idea whether there each match will reult in a good performance or a godawful one.

[Paul]

BTW, I did not see the game but how did we manage to be boring with over 20 shots at goal?

348257[/snapback]

I think most of us are wondering about the twenty shots on goal - I don't know what the statos definition of a shot is but it's somewhat different from mine. Generally I'd say a shot should involve some effort by the keeper or a defender to prevent a goal. We certainly didn't have 20 shots using that definition. Shay Given didn't have to make a single save from open play. The three best efforts were MGP's free kick, Savage's saved free-kick and a Jansen header kicked off the line.

After a couple of days to ponder all this I now realise why I'm so upset about the bar codes result. Spurs game to town, riding high and with the media talking about the wonderful job Jol is doing. He dropped three first choice players thinking Rovers would be easy. We leathered 'em. OK it was 0-0 but I left feeling very satisfied with the team performance. Great, when is the next game?

Nearly a month later, next home game - that's another issue altogether - and it's Newcastle. We have the following factors - Shearer, Owen, Souness, home debuts for Bellamy, Zurab, Bentley plus one would imagine the rest of the squad had something to prove to Souey. Newcastle were the PL's most depressed side, in tatters, injury list as long as your arm etc, etc. They were like lambs to the slaughter. Half their away support stayed at home, now what does that say?

Did we go at in the way we did against Spurs? No. We huffed around, conceded a goal, heads dropped and got stuffed 0-3. I cannot understand the mentality of these players. They know they can do the job but they seem to think that once in a while is enough. It isn't. If we had played as against Spurs and got beat 0-3 fair enough, but that isn't what happened.

Oh bugger they've scored, that's it then, time to pack up and go home.