Useless springs to mind...

[General]

Just watched the game from start to finish and it strikes me of being a typically "hughes" style performance... almost inept.

It was almost as if we weren't really there and it seems to be a growing trend - what are our stats now - 2 wins, 3 losses and 7 draws.

I think I realise now just how special Roy arguably was, and I thought he was amazing when he was here.. it's a big drop from his high standard to get in Hughes who if we're all being honest isn't a very good manager ... what's his record during the end of his man city stint and his fulham tenure so far?

We seem to lack any purpose and bite... we've gone from being a team to being a group of individuals again and it's worrying as we could easily end up back fighting it out at the bottom again, somewhere which I had hoped was a long gone prospect.

Dembele looked lost too which is a shame as I was excited by his early performances...

[FatFreddysCat]

Chelscum have just equalled a club record of 8 clean sheets in a row at home , so shows what we was up against with an injury ravaged side. Admittedly Dembele isn't the Superman we thought he was, but with a bit more experiance he will be the nuts.

[Lighthouse]

Not sure I agree with any of that General. No fit forwards. Injury problems all season and both first team full backs injured. Hughes has shown that he would prefer to attack than put 11 players behind the ball like Roy always did.

I still prefer watching Fulham put Chelscum under a tiny bit of pressure in the last ten minutes then Fulham crumple in the last ten minutes because they got a lucky goal and were holding on ever since. So in the first half it was a very Roy type performance. At least we gave it a sort of go.

Roy suffered few injury problems when he was in charge. No I think being harsh on Mark Hughes is just a bit unfair.

[Aldo]

Do you think roy would have got a result there tonight? No disgrace in 1-0 at Stamford Bridge, despite the desparate defending in the first half!

Had 'em rattled at the end though!

[ron]

"Let's draw positives" as they say.....

Briggs showed that he has got a lot to offer.......

We made Chelsea fight to the final whistle....

..and finally, it was multi trillionaire Chelsea that we managed to hold to 1-0.  

[michaelread]

 :hook:

[ImperialWhite]

Dembele was on average, according to the stats, a million miles away from his team mates for most of the match. You can hardly blame him for not having the best ball retention.

I'm still not sure about Hughes. Maybe he hasn't had enough time. I do agree that we don't really seem to be a team anymore. We show a little more attacking intent (see the Craven Cottage Newsround article) but we don't seem to get much out of it (we're scoring only 1.2 goals a match, about the same as under Roy) but we are also conceding more. 3 clean sheets and only 2 wins. We're too close to the bottom, for my liking.

On the plus side, for the last ten minutes or so, we looked great.

And it is only a 1-0 loss. To the league champions. Who haven't conceded at home.

[FatFreddysCat]

Ah a seven post newbie, perhaps a   :wum:   :hook: from the offal ? either that or a very demanding supporter. Didn't see much of the first half(sounds like i didn't miss much) , but the second half we at least made them a bit nervous. One thing i was dissapointed with, was our set pieces, we was terrible with them, and to be honest would be our best chance of scoring, but to keep putting it on thier first defenders head was poor. All in all we done ok, could have been a lot worse and a lot of teams will get a lot worse. COYWS.

[General]

The thing is though Roy won us games. Under Roy we thrashed and made Liverpool and Utd etc look ordinary. Maybe it is a bit early to be too critical of Hughes but they're feelings based on a genuine care for the club and the way it's going...

Our record this season is bad, we have a bad record and performances haven't been upto a level that we all know is acceptable to stay in this league comfortably enough not to worry about getting caught up in the relegation fight!

Yes players have been injured but for every player who's out injured you have another perfectly good one sitting on the bench - see pantsil and Gera for proof.

Hughes has favourites, he's stubborn and he doesn't seem to have the players utmost respect... maybe that's a downside of having Roy who the players loved - it's gone from professional wok to play time almost with the difference in structure of training sessions.

I'm just voicing concerns which I know I'm not the only one who has.

[FatFreddysCat]

:hook:

Bloody hell Michael you beat me to it by 6 minutes.

[FatFreddysCat]

Master Jezamy Bates ?

[General]

Ah a seven post newbie, perhaps a   :wum:   :hook: from the offal ? either that or a very demanding supporter. Didn't see much of the first half(sounds like i didn't miss much) , but the second half we at least made them a bit nervous. One thing i was dissapointed with, was our set pieces, we was terrible with them, and to be honest would be our best chance of scoring, but to keep putting it on thier first defenders head was poor. All in all we done ok, could have been a lot worse and a lot of teams will get a lot worse. COYWS.

It's tktd here on a different account - haven't signed into the other yet!

[ImperialWhite]

For kicks, here are Roy's equivalent results for the games we've played so far:

Bolton Wanderers    A    0–0
Manchester United    H    3–0
Blackpool                    A      n/a
Wolves                   H    0–0
Blackburn Rovers            A    0–2
Everton                    H      2–1
West Ham United            A    2–2
Tottenham Hotspur    H    0–0
West Brom                  A       n/a
Wigan                    H    2–1
Aston Villa                H    0–2
Chelsea                    A    1–2

13 points from these results (we're sitting on 13 points currently), but Roy didn't play either Blackpool or West Brom, but here are the three scores for the away games against the newly promoted:

Birmingham City    A    0–1
Burnley    A    1–1      
Wolves    A    1–2

edit: So you're a WUM if you don't think Mark Hughes is as good as Roy Hodgson?

[Mr Fulham]

"Let's draw positives" as they say.....

Briggs showed that he has got a lot to offer.......

We made Chelsea fight to the final whistle....

..and finally, it was multi trillionaire Chelsea that we managed to hold to 1-0.  

....Hughes was again outstanding.


+ we now know that we need creativity in midfield. Next stop David Bentley or Jamie O'Hara please.

Anybody seen that shot from Bentley against Sunderland just before half-time?
This is just what we need. Either controlled shots on target from long range or players who are able to cross or to dribble into the box.

[FatFreddysCat]

Ah a seven post newbie, perhaps a   :wum:   :hook: from the offal ? either that or a very demanding supporter. Didn't see much of the first half(sounds like i didn't miss much) , but the second half we at least made them a bit nervous. One thing i was dissapointed with, was our set pieces, we was terrible with them, and to be honest would be our best chance of scoring, but to keep putting it on thier first defenders head was poor. All in all we done ok, could have been a lot worse and a lot of teams will get a lot worse. COYWS.

It's tktd here on a different account - haven't signed into the other yet!

In that case i take it back TKTD, but take a chill pill, it was only 1-0 to the team romping the league who have a 100% home record conceding 0 goals , against liitle ole Fulham with players out injured.

[Rambling_Syd_Rumpo]

I think your being really really harsh here,I thought we did ok,if we picked the right pass when we in position we could have sneaked it.1-0 away at the team that did the double last year and us with no left back,no right back and our main striker out and we went at them when we weren't defending,which we also did very well at.A lot of positives to be taken considering thinks me :045: And young Briggs played well,another one for the future :59:

[jarv]

Fulham did ok. It's all been said, 2 reserve full backs, no real striker, etuhu returning from lay off etc etc. The only goal they got was Fulham's one major mistake, a free header. I don't recall too many other serious errors, despite having a lot of shots rain in. On the whole, kept shape, defended well. First half was a bit boring though.

[ScalleysDad]

Take away the time to put the kettle on and I've just got back. Lets get back to the title of the thread shall we and add woeful to it. AJ must be wondering why he strived so hard to get back. He is what 5'8" ish. So heres a great plan. Against West Brom, Villa and tonight lets pump high aimless balls up to him and see if the likes of Dunne or Terry are having a nap. Its never going to happen. Quality pitches get the flipping thing on the floor !!!!     aaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrgh !
The first game of the season where there has been some on the pitch discord though. Perhaps our anxiety is multiplied 100 fold on the pitch so the team ethic/bond thing will be tested. A degree of sympathy as there has had to be countless rotations due to injuries but tonight, excluding the last ten minutes, woeful.

[JBH]

Lost 1 - 0 to Chelsea when we had to make changes at the back due to injury and without a recognised fit all out striker.

Yeah what a disgrace   

Wake up and smell the Coffee General or are you just a  :wum:

[TonyGilroy]

Everyone loses at Chelsea. Had we won we'd now be 6th and Hughes would be a maestro but as it is we lost and he's a clown.

Hughes' record at Blackburn shows that he knows how to progress a club like ours but it's not done with a magic wand. He'll be working out what's needing to be done but injuries have restricted his selection choices and he needs the transfer window to make changes.

The one thing we know is that nobody in this playing squad ever gives less than their best and that's a very strong basis for improvement.

The key things we need are pace and a replacement for Zamora and those simply aren't available to Hughes.

Personally I'd like to see Dembele moved to the wing where he'll get more room. It's not working for him up front but Hughes has tried Kamara and EJ and not surprisingly isn't impressed so that will have to wait until AJ is ready for 90 minutes.