How did Hughes look on Thursday?

[HatterDon]

It's just a feeling, but I'm thinking that if he looked a half-step slow or uncertain partnering Hangeland, that could be it for him as our first choice CB. I didn't see the match, and only heard the 2nd half, so ...

... how did he look?

[TonyGilroy]

He was fine.

We have no problem with him or with Senderos or Baird in his place.

[Lighthouse]

I think he was a pace slower than he has been. It has been some time since he played in that position. But the real problem was that he was covering for Kelly some of the time. But not as much as Brede covering for Riise. Brede spent most of his time trying to cover Riise. We seemed to be very narrow at the back and allowed so much room to their wide players.

Tactics just seemed odd. I agree that we have no problem with any of our centre half pairings. We have those positions and Keeper pretty well sorted. Now for all the other positions?  063.gif

[richie17]

and how to integrate all this into a coherent whole. 

I sometimes wonder if Jol wouldn't be better off being a bit more ruthless with our players.  We seem to be a in a bit of a compromise between the past and the future.

And because we have a new manager we can't tell if it's that, or just a bad run of form that's troubling us.

Tricky.

[richie17]

The other thing with Hughes is that, while always a decent, underrated middle of the road player, he was very much a Hodgson product, taken from ordinariness into excellence by Hodgson's coaching and system. 

Without Hodgson he may be dropping back to previous levels to the point where - as noted above - Baird or Senderos wouldn't be a terrible thing (or may be a better thing given that Senderos is young and therefore 'the future'.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

The other thing with Hughes is that, while always a decent, underrated middle of the road player, he was very much a Hodgson product, taken from ordinariness into excellence by Hodgson's coaching and system. 

Without Hodgson he may be dropping back to previous levels to the point where - as noted above - Baird or Senderos wouldn't be a terrible thing (or may be a better thing given that Senderos is young and therefore 'the future'.

I think Hughes has always been a good player and whilst was defnitely helped by Hodgson, is a good player in his own right. Hangeland and Schwarzer also fall into this category. Hughes has been consistently good wherever he has played, with several clubs struggling when he was shipped out.

Players I consider to have been playing above their level under Hodgson were Pantsil and Konch. That they are both now playing in the Championship is really telling.

[MJG]

He does seem a little slower this year but it has been very stop start for him, and its not been helped with him playing at RB.
I think I heard last night that it was only the third time in three months that Hughes & Hangeland had played together (too busy to check).

[bigalffc]

I don't understand why Jol split up the hangers/Hughs pairing. They worked damn well together. hughes couldn't just step back in and it work as before, you need some game time. Does Jol consider Hughes just as cover? Is he making change for changes sake? or is there a good reason?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

I don't understand why Jol split up the hangers/Hughs pairing. They worked damn well together. hughes couldn't just step back in and it work as before, you need some game time. Does Jol consider Hughes just as cover? Is he making change for changes sake? or is there a good reason?

This has been one of the most overstated grievances over the last few months.

Jol tried to see if he could get his best defenders into the line-up and allow JAR to bomb forward. It has not quite worked and with the added complication of injuries, we have had an unsettled back line. Despite this, we have a good (particularly for our current position) defensive record, which will aid our survival this season.

The real problem is going forward. Few questions have been asked about Zamora and AJ, but they have been woefully under performing of late.

[MJG]

I don't understand why Jol split up the hangers/Hughs pairing. They worked damn well together. hughes couldn't just step back in and it work as before, you need some game time. Does Jol consider Hughes just as cover? Is he making change for changes sake? or is there a good reason?

This has been one of the most overstated grievances over the last few months.

Jol tried to see if he could get his best defenders into the line-up and allow JAR to bomb forward. It has not quite worked and with the added complication of injuries, we have had an unsettled back line. Despite this, we have a good (particularly for our current position) defensive record, which will aid our survival this season.

The real problem is going forward. Few questions have been asked about Zamora and AJ, but they have been woefully under performing of late.

I think last night was a little bit of a turning point for the fans regarding Bobby. from the boards, twitter etc it was pretty much to a man that this was a poor performance too far. Yes you could say he was alone up front, but the basics are just not there and his moaning non stop has now spread through the team.
I play for a vets sunday side and ok we are not that good, but two of the best players we had have moved on. They were also the most vocal players in the team at just moaning, both at team mates, refs and the other team. We are now playing better without them as we are more of a TEAM.

One reason why the youngsters are not in the team could be how much support are they getting from some senior players? Does Jol sense that the seniors don't want their little gang broken up.
I saw Murphy last night fly into Frei about something. FFS he is 17 and if he makes a mistake ok tell him why but don't knock him down.

Sorry little bit off track with this thread but I'm really quite annoyed about the performance last night (ok we might have got a draw but thats not the whole story).

[ScalleysDad]

I don't understand why Jol split up the hangers/Hughs pairing. They worked damn well together. hughes couldn't just step back in and it work as before, you need some game time. Does Jol consider Hughes just as cover? Is he making change for changes sake? or is there a good reason?

This has been one of the most overstated grievances over the last few months.

Jol tried to see if he could get his best defenders into the line-up and allow JAR to bomb forward. It has not quite worked and with the added complication of injuries, we have had an unsettled back line. Despite this, we have a good (particularly for our current position) defensive record, which will aid our survival this season.

The real problem is going forward. Few questions have been asked about Zamora and AJ, but they have been woefully under performing of late.

I think last night was a little bit of a turning point for the fans regarding Bobby. from the boards, twitter etc it was pretty much to a man that this was a poor performance too far. Yes you could say he was alone up front, but the basics are just not there and his moaning non stop has now spread through the team.
I play for a vets sunday side and ok we are not that good, but two of the best players we had have moved on. They were also the most vocal players in the team at just moaning, both at team mates, refs and the other team. We are now playing better without them as we are more of a TEAM.

One reason why the youngsters are not in the team could be how much support are they getting from some senior players? Does Jol sense that the seniors don't want their little gang broken up.
I saw Murphy last night fly into Frei about something. FFS he is 17 and if he makes a mistake ok tell him why but don't knock him down.

Sorry little bit off track with this thread but I'm really quite annoyed about the performance last night (ok we might have got a draw but thats not the whole story).

But you may have something there. Scalley noticed this and I sort of caught it through my boredom haze but Riise wellies the ball upfield towards Frei who had no chance of getting it. Riise is yelling at Frei, BZ is arm waving at Frei and Frei himself is looking totally bemused. If I were him it would have fully justified to yell back at Riise "that was a rubbish ball and you know it" and to BZ a simple salute with one or more digits would have sufficed. With Murph yelling as well perhaps the culture of nurturing talent and the future of the Club does'nt exist with this lot. Murphy was guilty of yelling at Briggs a while back and the poor lad looked mortified. Hangeland tapped him on the head as he walked past him which spoke volumes for the man who should be captain.
To expect a hand holding regime would be ridiculous but to ball young players out especially when they are not to blame indictaes even more problems in the dressing room.

[horse1031]

i think he looked a half a step slow.  Maybe not speed slow but his decision making seemed a little slow to me.  it has been a pretty tough year for aaron who has been pretty consistent for about 4-5 years now.  i cant believe i am saying this but senderos might be the better option right now.