Mark Hughes feeling the pressure?

[epsomraver]

Fulham boss Mark Hughes has slammed the logic behind the sackings of former Newcastle manager Chris Hughton and ex-Blackburn boss Sam Allardyce, insisting club owners expect too much too soon.
Perhaps he is speaking for himself as well?

[Nick the Swede]

That was exactly what I thought when I read that this morning.

[BalDrick]

Or just answering a pointed question, his response to which was bound to be a potential headline whatever he said. Fact is, both those sackings were out of order, albeit I can't abide Allardyce's brand of football

[MJG]

Well in the last few days he has said "against this sacking, managers need more time" and "my teams are better in the second half of seasons (just)"  I would say he's trying to buy himself time.

[ImperialWhite]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

[Lighthouse]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

Yeah, getting to that Europa League final was just so dull, especially the way we did it, lifeless 4-1 wins, horrible 1-0 away victories in Germany.

I wouldn't want him back just because you should never go back. He was and will be for a while, Fulham's greatest ever manager.

[ImperialWhite]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

Yeah, getting to that Europa League final was just so dull, especially the way we did it, lifeless 4-1 wins, horrible 1-0 away victories in Germany.

I wouldn't want him back just because you should never go back. He was and will be for a while, Fulham's greatest ever manager.

I was half asleep watching us do over Manchester United 2-0 and 3-0. Basel 2 Fulham 3? No thanks, I'd prefer Fulham 1 Manchester City 4 please. Highest ever league finish? No thanks, I'd rather smash the top flight draws record.

[Lighthouse]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

Yeah, getting to that Europa League final was just so dull, especially the way we did it, lifeless 4-1 wins, horrible 1-0 away victories in Germany.

I wouldn't want him back just because you should never go back. He was and will be for a while, Fulham's greatest ever manager.

But you mention all our Europa success. We still never won away in the Prem. We still were beaten by Hull etc etc. We had a few great games against United. But there is no hiding the fact that 10 men behind the ball was DULL to watch. In the Europa, the competition you love so much. We struggled against several sides and rode our luck. Roy was a great manager but we were dull to watch. It is no good picking out the odd goal or the odd result. Even the most biased of fans must see Roy had a system that didn't make us good to watch. Making childish remarks doesn't change it. Mr. Imperial  Were you asleep at Hull away or most of all our away Prem games? Or did you like those?

[AlFayedsChequebook]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

Yeah, getting to that Europa League final was just so dull, especially the way we did it, lifeless 4-1 wins, horrible 1-0 away victories in Germany.

I wouldn't want him back just because you should never go back. He was and will be for a while, Fulham's greatest ever manager.

But you mention all our Europa success. We still never won away in the Prem. We still were beaten by Hull etc etc. We had a few great games against United. But there is no hiding the fact that 10 men behind the ball was DULL to watch. In the Europa, the competition you love so much. We struggled against several sides and rode our luck. Roy was a great manager but we were dull to watch. It is no good picking out the odd goal or the odd result. Even the most biased of fans must see Roy had a system that didn't make us good to watch. Making childish remarks doesn't change it. Mr. Imperial  Were you asleep at Hull away or most of all our away Prem games? Or did you like those?

The only childish thing here is making comments about Fulham under Hodgson being boring.

Lets get a few things straight. We were a defensive team, particularly away from home, but Hodgson never made any big claims to be an attacking manager. Despite being defensive minded we won a lot of games at home and played some impressive football. I distinctly remember the BBC describing us a 'playing like Barcelona' in the opening half hour against Man Utd in 2008-09.

We kept the ball on the floor, some of the goals we created were simply excellent (Davies v Hamburg, Gera v Juventus etc etc) and we were hard to beat, one of the best things to be when you are a team of fulham's size.

Attacking football is fun, but I would prefer a more pragmatic approach that allowed us to actually make some waves, as long as it isn't hoofball.

We never really lost big under Roy and always went into games with a mentality to get something out of it.

[ImperialWhite]

Hughes --> Blackburn
Allardyce --> Liverpool
Hodgson --> Fulham

Everyone's happy.

Well, except Liverpool fans (but everyone else will find it so funny it will compensate for a few unhappy scousers).

I would not want Hodgson back here. One should never go back and while he was a great manager here we were dull to watch.

Yeah, getting to that Europa League final was just so dull, especially the way we did it, lifeless 4-1 wins, horrible 1-0 away victories in Germany.

I wouldn't want him back just because you should never go back. He was and will be for a while, Fulham's greatest ever manager.

But you mention all our Europa success. We still never won away in the Prem. We still were beaten by Hull etc etc. We had a few great games against United. But there is no hiding the fact that 10 men behind the ball was DULL to watch. In the Europa, the competition you love so much. We struggled against several sides and rode our luck. Roy was a great manager but we were dull to watch. It is no good picking out the odd goal or the odd result. Even the most biased of fans must see Roy had a system that didn't make us good to watch. Making childish remarks doesn't change it. Mr. Imperial  Were you asleep at Hull away or most of all our away Prem games? Or did you like those?

Sorry for being childish (doesn't Fulham bring out the worst in us), but I think I'm entitled to be a little childish because, in my opinion, that Hughes fans are creating the myth that somehow Roy is the enemy, that we were boring to watch under Roy or (worse of all) that we fluked our way to success is even more childish.

At home, even in the league, we were fun to watch. We didn't score lot of goals but I enjoyed the feeling that we were playing football 'the right way'. It was pretty and technically classy. We got results. I enjoyed that certain feeling of invinciblity that came from our home record and our organisation. Our away strategy was frustrating, but it actually was rather successful. Most teams of our standard don't win away, and the number of draws meant we had a decent away points record.

I'd point out that although it was often a little dull and frustrating away, it wasn't always so. For every 2-0 loss to Hull or 0-0 to Wigan there was a fun away game - e.g. towards the end of 08/09 when we beat Man City 3-1, Bolton 3-1 and Newcastle 1-0 away from home. There was also the occasional pleasing away draw - think Man City 2-2 or perhaps even Liverpool away 0-0.

In any case, 9/10 games I go to watch are at home. And, like most fans, I can forgive a lot if the points are flowing in. I suspect that even the football we are playing recently would be forgiven if we were nicking wins. Sunderland and Birmingham weren't great matches, but if the ball had deflected off EJ's arse and given us a couple of 0-0s (we'd be about 14th) we wouldn't even be talking about this.

p.s. The Hodgson back to Fulham thing was just me being facetious. I realise it couldn't happen (not yet - he did go back to Inter after all).

[Lighthouse]

I will not list all the away games to remind you. I shall accept the difference of opinion and move on. What ever I say the Stokes, Hull etc etc seem to be forgotten by now.

[AlFayedsChequebook]

I will not list all the away games to remind you. I shall accept the difference of opinion and move on. What ever I say the Stokes, Hull etc etc seem to be forgotten by now.

They were not good results no, but ultimately teams that consistently win games are in the top 4, we have never been one of those teams, it wasnt just Hodgson that struggled here.

[TonyGilroy]

Last season was arguably our best ever. The Tigana, Adams and MacDonald promotion seasons score highly but they were, obviously, in a lower league. To do what we did in Europe was outstanding and the previous season was our highest ever finish.

A magnificent achievement for Hodgson and the benchmark for Hughes. If his managerial career is to progress I think he has to at least match that.

So far, making all possible allowances, it's been disappointing and his judgement in January is going to show crucially whether he can turn things round. It's understandable that he's under pressure because he must be working on his January plans now and is discovering what level of success he can have. It's likely that there are targets unknown to us that he is after and trying to compete with other clubs.

The result in the next match may not be the most important thing for him right now. He needs to make the changes that will improve the squad in the next few weeks and you can be sure that all of his targets are weighing us up with their other options. All stuff of which we are blissfully unaware.

[BalDrick]

Of course we'll never know what would have happened had he stayed, though you'd like to think our piss-poor away form would be near the top of his list of things to fix. Equally we may have started to play more expansive football though as he never stays anywhere long, it's hard to know what his previous is in this aspect. I don't doubt, however, that this season would have been an anticlimax after the last two, and that's not taking into account the loss of Zamora for effectively the whole season.

But it's all spilt milk really isn't it? He's gone (to a worse place), we have a new manager (whoever got the gig had a hard act to follow, though perhaps might not have found it this hard).

I'll always be hugely grateful for the times he gave us but coming back is rarely the right thing to do - besides which, there's too much been said between our chairman and RH for him to come back now anyway.

[HatterDon]

Here's a question for Mark and the rest of the managerial moaners: If Martinez gets fired from Wigan and Grant from West Ham, and both are replaced by British managers, will there be the same wailing and gnashing of teeth? I doubt it.

[TonyGilroy]

Club owners will act as irrationally as they will.

Objectively Hughton was both likeable and successful and Allardyce successful. Hard to see how the clubs will benefit from their dismissals.

I'm not sure Martinez is at risk. His Chairman seems supportive and objectively every season they survive Wigan are over achieving.

West Ham have especially vile owners but the appointment of Grant seemed a strange one doomed to fail. West Ham won't be worse off if he were replaced by the club mascot. There's nothing about Grant that suggests he is qualified to manage a Premier League club.

I think MAF has been fair with every manager he's appointed. I'm sure Hughes is safe unless we're still in relegation trouble come March. At that point a change would be a last throw of the dice which has worked twice before.

Hughes is right to be stressed though. He has to get things right this January or he's finished as a manager.

[BalDrick]

'I think MAF has been fair with every manager he's appointed'

I was thinking about that around half 3 this morning as a torrent of English wickets fell - you have to say for a hard-arsed businessman he's remarkably slow (in a good way I hasten to add) at sacking failing managers. (Did hear a rumour Coleman was out the door after the Norwich game, to be replaced by the Scotsman that managed Ipswich whose name escapes me, only for us to stick 6 past them - anyone else hear that?)

'Hughes is right to be stressed though. He has to get things right this January or he's finished as a manager.'

Very true, and not something we should forget - Hughes wants us relegated even less than we do. Not that long ago he was talked of as taking over from Ferguson, but his star has fallen quite a way since then. Not sure this is last chance saloon for him as a manager but it is for him as a prospective top 4 manager.