Bairdino on the tough taff

[NogoodBoyo]

Did anybody else notice the little nugget on Hughes M. in Bairdinos' tv special?
He said the players were struggling to adapt to his new system, so they had a meeting in which it was agreed to stick to the knitting they knew to get them out of trouble, then introduce change later.
A manager who can listen to his staff and adapt is a good manager.
Therein lies the reason for our resurgence in form.
Nogood "tough taffs can be reasonable too, isit" Boyo

[ImperialWhite]

Interesting parallel with Inter.

Mourhino wins treble, leaves for Real.
Rafa comes in, changes to his own system, team struggles.
Rafa sacked, Leonardo comes in.
Leonardo reverts back to system of Mourhino, starts to climb Serie A table.

Hodgson takes us to a European final, leaves for Liverpool.
Hughes comes in, changes to his own system, team struggles (relegation zone).
Big meeting with team (presumably after West Ham defeat) reverts back to system of Hodgson.
We start to climb to a more comfortable position in midtable.

In both situations, it's going to take a season or two to know how good they really are (when it's no longer possible to rely on the work of the old boss).

[MJG]

And this was my main argument against Hughes back in Oct-Dec, he tried to change things too quickly when evolution was required.

While never really a fan due to this and other mistakes he made in that first 20 or so games I will give him his due that he has done well since the west ham game, although I still worry about a bloody hard run from now to the end of the season.

[NogoodBoyo]

One could argue that the tough Taff's judgement was clouded by an intense desire to beat Man City and to beat them with attractive football.  That to me was a watershed.  We didn't have the players, they didn't understand the system.  We were out out-managed, out-played, out-classed.  West Ham was a hangover from that debacle.
BUT, the manager and the team seem to have put their heads together to work a system.  It's not Roy's system either.  It's the tough Taff's.  Dembele is critical to it as he can hold the ball with his back to gaol.  The only other player we have who can do that is BZ (don't know about Kukaka).  Barring the nuclear catastrophe of losing both, we should see out the rest of the season in modest style and build a cracking squad for next year.
Nogood "need every tough taff we can find in this game, isit" Boyo