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Post by blackpoolred on Feb 7, 2016 16:54:47 GMT
It has been a grand 2 years culminating in a great semi-final where we were so close to another final. You saved us from football that was becoming a tad tedious and predictable and made us enjoy coming to watch Stoke again. I like you as a man and love the quiet way you go about your business as a manager, as opposed to some of the primma donnas at other clubs, but, but, but Central defenders(here we go again): A central defender in the prem needs to be tall strong, stick their head in where it hurts, have a natural ability in the air and also a natural ability to be in the right place at the right time. When in danger he clears his lines, if that means hoofing it to row Z then so be it. If he can play football wonderfully that is an added bonus, but on the whole so long as he can play a 3 yard square pass to a more talented footballer that is ok. For an example of the perfect centre half display yesterday look no further than Huth: For his 2nd goal he stood like a man mountain with players challenging all around him and managed to beat everybody to the ball and was even brave enough to keep his eyes open and place the header into the corner of the net, also on numerous occasions he did indeed hoof it into row Z. He is the archetypal prem centre half, who gives heart, nerve and sinew to win a ball in the penalty area and is also brave and hungry to be 1st to the ball – as pointed out by the match of the day pundits last night. Please compare that to the performance of your central defenders yesterday and tell me why you thought these players are ranked above Huth in your eyes. You played alongside Pallister & Bruce in your days at Utd, you surely know the qualities required to play at this level in England. You have me extremely worried for our future in this area of the park. It is safe to say that had Shawcross/Huth been you central pairing yesterday goals 2 and 3 would not have happened. Midfield/Forwards: Please don’t spend all of the summer wasting all your energy and budget on a player like yarmalenko, who clearly does not want to come to Stoke and will turn up for 1 game in 5 and upset the rest of the squad when they realise he is getting paid more than them.. You have 3 of the most talented players in the Prem with Arnie, Shaq & Bojan and they, for one reason or another, are not performing to their best ability in a Stoke shirt – learn how to get the best out of them. If Arnie or Shaq for one reason or another are not up for it then take them off or drop them – like you do with Bojan. It is also ok to buy players that are young and hungry, look at the Leicester side that was assembled for £22 million and have players Like Vardy and Mahrez. Try and concentrate on characters with a bit of hunger and desire during the pre-season, where, in my opinion, we are becoming a bit light-weight. Not long ago in the bad old days we were conceding 9 & 7 goals at home and safe to say yesterday that we could have had a similar scoreline. In those day we had a team of 11 individulas who were not really bothered about playing for Stoke and they lacked any direction, cohesion or bollocks come to that matter – I think it fair to say that we are nowhere near that bad yet, but the last 3 performances have been getting pretty close and yesterdays performance was extremely worrying. In pre-season after the Porto defeat I started a thread on here titled “Has Hughes lost the plot” where I stated you were losing the plot regarding the direction the team was going in and in particular the centre-mid and defence. And after a further 2 transfer windows I am pretty sure you have indeed lost the plot you could always prove me wrong though it would not be the 1st time.
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Post by Bojan Mackey on Feb 7, 2016 17:08:22 GMT
Hughes hasn't lot the plot, I'm convinced some of our fans have though.
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Post by bathstoke on Feb 7, 2016 17:10:41 GMT
What happened to Reasons to be Cheerful(Part 3)
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Post by trincostokie on Feb 7, 2016 17:11:56 GMT
There is so much reasonable argument in there that it's difficult to disagree with you, no matter how much my instinct tells me I should.
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Post by trincostokie on Feb 7, 2016 17:13:42 GMT
Although "lost the plot" is definitely stretching it a tad...
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Post by trincostokie on Feb 7, 2016 17:22:56 GMT
I really can't be arsed with most of the "buzz words " and soundbites that get banded about these days, but synergy comes to mind when I think of what Leicester are achieving and a massive lack of it, over most of the season, from Stoke.
How the fuck a manager goes about sorting this out I've no idea.
If the day arrives when things really do click on a regular basis, we'll be in for a right treat though...
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Post by yeswilko on Feb 7, 2016 17:24:25 GMT
Don't think he's lost the plot really, just like most managers he is having some success and some failure in how the players he brought in are adapting to the team and the league.
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Post by milky on Feb 7, 2016 17:26:09 GMT
It has been a grand 2 years culminating in a great semi-final where we were so close to another final. You saved us from football that was becoming a tad tedious and predictable and made us enjoy coming to watch Stoke again. I like you as a man and love the quiet way you go about your business as a manager, as opposed to some of the primma donnas at other clubs, but, but, but Central defenders(here we go again): A central defender in the prem needs to be tall strong, stick their head in where it hurts, have a natural ability in the air and also a natural ability to be in the right place at the right time. When in danger he clears his lines, if that means hoofing it to row Z then so be it. If he can play football wonderfully that is an added bonus, but on the whole so long as he can play a 3 yard square pass to a more talented footballer that is ok. For an example of the perfect centre half display yesterday look no further than Huth: For his 2nd goal he stood like a man mountain with players challenging all around him and managed to beat everybody to the ball and was even brave enough to keep his eyes open and place the header into the corner of the net, also on numerous occasions he did indeed hoof it into row Z. He is the archetypal prem centre half, who gives heart, nerve and sinew to win a ball in the penalty area and is also brave and hungry to be 1st to the ball – as pointed out by the match of the day pundits last night. Please compare that to the performance of your central defenders yesterday and tell me why you thought these players are ranked above Huth in your eyes. You played alongside Pallister & Bruce in your days at Utd, you surely know the qualities required to play at this level in England. You have me extremely worried for our future in this area of the park. It is safe to say that had Shawcross/Huth been you central pairing yesterday goals 2 and 3 would not have happened. Midfield/Forwards: Please don’t spend all of the summer wasting all your energy and budget on a player like yarmalenko, who clearly does not want to come to Stoke and will turn up for 1 game in 5 and upset the rest of the squad when they realise he is getting paid more than them.. You have 3 of the most talented players in the Prem with Arnie, Shaq & Bojan and they, for one reason or another, are not performing to their best ability in a Stoke shirt – learn how to get the best out of them. If Arnie or Shaq for one reason or another are not up for it then take them off or drop them – like you do with Bojan. It is also ok to buy players that are young and hungry, look at the Leicester side that was assembled for £22 million and have players Like Vardy and Mahrez. Try and concentrate on characters with a bit of hunger and desire during the pre-season, where, in my opinion, we are becoming a bit light-weight. Not long ago in the bad old days we were conceding 9 & 7 goals at home and safe to say yesterday that we could have had a similar scoreline. In those day we had a team of 11 individulas who were not really bothered about playing for Stoke and they lacked any direction, cohesion or bollocks come to that matter – I think it fair to say that we are nowhere near that bad yet, but the last 3 performances have been getting pretty close and yesterdays performance was extremely worrying. In pre-season after the Porto defeat I started a thread on here titled “Has Hughes lost the plot” where I stated you were losing the plot regarding the direction the team was going in and in particular the centre-mid and defence. And after a further 2 transfer windows I am pretty sure you have indeed lost the plot you could always prove me wrong though it would not be the 1st time. I think losing the plot is more than a tad OTT really. I think folk are getting a bit carried away with this poor run.It isn't as long as people are making out .Perhaps it's because we have had to cram a lot of games in a short space of time. The Huth thing has been done to death and not worth discussing any more as Hughes clearly wants a ball playing centre back alongside Ryan whether we liked it or not. Part of trying to get to the next level is trying to attract a better class of player who we will need to pay a good wage to.Its something the club will have to learn to deal with if they want to push on.Otherwise we may as well sign Barry Bannon. I don't think desire and commitment can be questioned really.We look knackered and dejected and seem to be nursing the mother of all hangovers as a result of the semi final shootout defeat. Still..Some decent points raised
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Post by happychappy on Feb 7, 2016 17:45:04 GMT
The only thing you could say he has lost the plot with is some of his subs. That's really it.
He's brought great players in at amazing prices and improved us every season. We're on a run of bad results and injuries it's one of them things.
I'd like see how we end up at the end of the season and see if the OP and like minded others have the same opinions.
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Post by hchpotter on Feb 7, 2016 17:47:56 GMT
We've seen what this squad is capable of in games against Cheslea, Man United, Man City and Liverpool away. We saw it in patches against Everton away. Those games saw some of the most exciting football from a Stoke team in decades. Our tactics and style shocked the opposition and we rightly won plaudits left right and centre.
Football managers are paid millions of pounds each season. Some of that dosh is paid to managers to work out how to nullify the opposition. Well paid football managers have looked at Arnie, Bojan, Shaqiri and worked out that if you crowd them out and defend deep we struggle.
They are also well paid to work out how to attack us. Using pace seems to work. So does the good old fashioned corner kick.
Managers are also well remunerated to build squads who can adapt to different strategies and cope with injuries.
It's now over to Sparkie to prove that the squad he has assembled is good enough to deploy a plan B when the so called holy trinity comes up short. And to defend far far better than we have done so far in 2016.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 17:48:48 GMT
The only thing you could say he has lost the plot with is some of his subs. That's really it. He's brought great players in at amazing prices and improved us every season. We're on a run of bad results and injuries it's one of them things. I'd like see how we end up at the end of the season and see if the OP and like minded others have the same opinions. This should be the only message left on the board for the entire week and all other posting banned in the mean time.
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Post by capto on Feb 7, 2016 17:51:01 GMT
We've seen what this squad is capable of in games against Cheslea, Man United, Man City and Liverpool away. We saw it in patches against Everton away. Those games saw some of the most exciting football from a Stoke team in decades. Our tactics and style shocked the opposition and we rightly won plaudits left right and centre. Football managers are paid millions of pounds each season. Some of that dosh is paid to managers to work out how to nullify the opposition. Well paid football managers have looked at Arnie, Bojan, Shaqiri and worked out that if you crowd them out and defend deep we struggle. They are also well paid to work out how to attack us. Using pace seems to work. So does the good old fashioned corner kick. Managers are also well remunerated to build squads who can adapt to different strategies and cope with injuries. It's now over to Sparkie to prove that the squad he has assembled is good enough to deploy a plan B when the so called holy trinity comes up short. And to defend far far better than we have done so far in 2016. what happens if he doesn't have a plan b? little sign of that in recent weeks?
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Post by datguy on Feb 7, 2016 17:52:13 GMT
Wasn't there a thread like this at the start of the season when we went 6 without a win? Interesting how these threads aren't popping up when we play Man City off the park or when we completely outclass Man Utd (need I go on?).
Yes, the last 4/5 games have been poor... But losing the plot? I don't think so.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 18:00:55 GMT
You're living in the past, a defender now Turns his back on the ball, doesn't dare challenge , runs like a tortoise , NEVER stops crosses, in fact I don't know what the f**k they do anymore.
Transfers seem to be targeted players , but in a random order with the only priority being availability. Which is fine as long as we have good quality cover in all areas, Alas we don't. I've said before not all players are record signings destined for an immediate spot in the starting eleven, some need to be made to strengthen what we have on the bench. In fact not some A BLOODY LOT.
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Post by stokiejoe on Feb 7, 2016 18:08:30 GMT
No
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Post by RAF on Feb 7, 2016 18:11:56 GMT
Hughes has plenty of credit in the bank and anyone suggesting otherwise is a fucking monumental twat. That said if he doesn't buy a decent centre half in the summer I am personally going to kick him in the bollocks.
H
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Post by adamsson on Feb 7, 2016 18:14:09 GMT
Has Hughes lost the plot? No.
Is Blackpoolred still in love with the ex-manager? Yes.
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Post by Billy the kid on Feb 7, 2016 18:15:21 GMT
I don't think he has lost the plot. What I do believe is that his attacking players are letting him down badly. We look so blunt going forward it's untrue. Given that we have this whole BMX thing going on the lack of goals is a concern. It's not through the way we set up but I cant remember the last time I watched our forward play and got excited. It's not that we don't have the craft it's that we have pisser poor execution from players that really should be better at what they are being asked to do. At the other end in defence we have had a strange season, but this has been influenced mostly by injuries. The thing with this team is that on song it could dick anyone in this league, at its worst we look as toothless and a 98 year old with a sweet addiction. It's the inconsistencies that kill you. Lost the plot? No not at all just lost the mojo.
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Post by trincostokie on Feb 7, 2016 18:15:51 GMT
Wasn't there a thread like this at the start of the season when we went 6 without a win? Interesting how these threads aren't popping up when we play Man City off the park or when we completely outclass Man Utd (need I go on?). Yes, the last 4/5 games have been poor... But losing the plot? I don't think so. If you look past the OP's dramatic thread title, he does raise some very valid and legitimate concerns. It's obvious that following the highs of the performances you mentioned there is (generally) an absence of this type of post. All the same, that doesn't have any relevance to any poster who expresses genuine concerns in a reasonable manner on the back of an undeniable slump. It's called caring about our team. We're all different in how we manage and express our emotions, and apart from the few posters who occupy the loony bin extremes of the spectrum, we're all basically singing from the same hymn sheet, albeit not very "tunefully". UTMP and brotherly love to each and everyone of you argumentative bastards. You fuckers
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Post by boweryboy on Feb 7, 2016 18:37:13 GMT
Yes he has......besides our recent defeats,we have lost to West Brom home and away.....yes West Brom.....their fans are saying that their football is shit and they have taken six points off us.....that hurts more than anything,thanks to you Mark West Brom are now OUR bogey side....still waiting for you to wipe that smug grin off Pulis's face....explain yourself Mark......????
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Post by chrisparker on Feb 7, 2016 18:37:39 GMT
A couple of bad results & poor performances because of several injuries and all of sudden everyone's against the manager? Sparky is, in my opinion, unarguably the greatest manager who has walked into this club in my 22 years as a Stoke fan. The fact of the matter is that last season under Hughes, when Huth hardly played a game, we conceded the fewest number of goals we've ever done in our time in the premier league. The facts don't lie. Hughes obviously felt that letting Huth go would hardly change anything. What we lack at the moment is Huth's leadership qualities but for gods sake, cut the manager some slack.
And btw Muniesa wasn't brought into the club as a centre back, he was a left back brought in to instill some competition in that position. Last year he was made to look good with Ryan beside him. But we have no other option but to play him at the moment. Yesterday was a bad day for all our players. Let's not make a big deal out of it. Huth has also had shockers in a Stoke shirt & Wolly has been superb otherwise this season alongside Shawcross.
Our biggest problem this season has been the lack of drive in midfield (I'm sorry but Afellay is just not good enough). Hughes has addressed this issue by signing Imbula who looked quite impressive against Everton. In previous seasons, teams would come at us & dominate leaving a lot of space in the middle of the park but now they seem to show us some respect. They sit back & play on the counter & that makes it very difficult for us, especially considering the lack of drive in midfield. None of our players (with the exception of Shaqiri at times) is willing to take on their man & beat them in the hope of creating something. Hopefully with Imbula in the team, we can really start to exploit teams that sit back & defend with numbers behind the ball.
Our next match is against Bournemouth who really like to play possession football. This is where the likes of Shaq & Arnie can really have an impact on the game. Fast counter-attacking football. False 9 would be a perfect option. Have faith in the manager. He will sort out the present problems. He always does.
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Post by Titan Uranus on Feb 7, 2016 18:42:25 GMT
Three consecutive 3-0 defeats in the League, a League Cup exit and a FA Cup surrender would suggest that he is in some form of meltdown at the moment.
How anyone can argue differently is quite astonishing.
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wadey
Lads'n'Dads
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Post by wadey on Feb 7, 2016 18:43:35 GMT
For me one of the worst influences over the last few years has been Barcelona, along with the 'possession'stat. 90 minutes of tip tap tip tap, you can't get your ball back of meeee. Then somewhere in there you have a 1 minute blat, raise the roof and get ready to go home. It's o.k. if you have Messi in the team, we don't. Yesterday we had more possession, great stat that. We have very talented players but we will not win playing Stokealona.
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Post by blackpoolred on Feb 7, 2016 19:06:22 GMT
It has been a grand 2 years culminating in a great semi-final where we were so close to another final. You saved us from football that was becoming a tad tedious and predictable and made us enjoy coming to watch Stoke again. I like you as a man and love the quiet way you go about your business as a manager, as opposed to some of the primma donnas at other clubs, but, but, but Central defenders(here we go again): A central defender in the prem needs to be tall strong, stick their head in where it hurts, have a natural ability in the air and also a natural ability to be in the right place at the right time. When in danger he clears his lines, if that means hoofing it to row Z then so be it. If he can play football wonderfully that is an added bonus, but on the whole so long as he can play a 3 yard square pass to a more talented footballer that is ok. For an example of the perfect centre half display yesterday look no further than Huth: For his 2nd goal he stood like a man mountain with players challenging all around him and managed to beat everybody to the ball and was even brave enough to keep his eyes open and place the header into the corner of the net, also on numerous occasions he did indeed hoof it into row Z. He is the archetypal prem centre half, who gives heart, nerve and sinew to win a ball in the penalty area and is also brave and hungry to be 1st to the ball – as pointed out by the match of the day pundits last night. Please compare that to the performance of your central defenders yesterday and tell me why you thought these players are ranked above Huth in your eyes. You played alongside Pallister & Bruce in your days at Utd, you surely know the qualities required to play at this level in England. You have me extremely worried for our future in this area of the park. It is safe to say that had Shawcross/Huth been you central pairing yesterday goals 2 and 3 would not have happened. Midfield/Forwards: Please don’t spend all of the summer wasting all your energy and budget on a player like yarmalenko, who clearly does not want to come to Stoke and will turn up for 1 game in 5 and upset the rest of the squad when they realise he is getting paid more than them.. You have 3 of the most talented players in the Prem with Arnie, Shaq & Bojan and they, for one reason or another, are not performing to their best ability in a Stoke shirt – learn how to get the best out of them. If Arnie or Shaq for one reason or another are not up for it then take them off or drop them – like you do with Bojan. It is also ok to buy players that are young and hungry, look at the Leicester side that was assembled for £22 million and have players Like Vardy and Mahrez. Try and concentrate on characters with a bit of hunger and desire during the pre-season, where, in my opinion, we are becoming a bit light-weight. Not long ago in the bad old days we were conceding 9 & 7 goals at home and safe to say yesterday that we could have had a similar scoreline. In those day we had a team of 11 individulas who were not really bothered about playing for Stoke and they lacked any direction, cohesion or bollocks come to that matter – I think it fair to say that we are nowhere near that bad yet, but the last 3 performances have been getting pretty close and yesterdays performance was extremely worrying. In pre-season after the Porto defeat I started a thread on here titled “Has Hughes lost the plot” where I stated you were losing the plot regarding the direction the team was going in and in particular the centre-mid and defence. And after a further 2 transfer windows I am pretty sure you have indeed lost the plot you could always prove me wrong though it would not be the 1st time. I think losing the plot is more than a tad OTT really. I think folk are getting a bit carried away with this poor run.It isn't as long as people are making out .Perhaps it's because we have had to cram a lot of games in a short space of time. The Huth thing has been done to death and not worth discussing any more as Hughes clearly wants a ball playing centre back alongside Ryan whether we liked it or not. Part of trying to get to the next level is trying to attract a better class of player who we will need to pay a good wage to.Its something the club will have to learn to deal with if they want to push on.Otherwise we may as well sign Barry Bannon. I don't think desire and commitment can be questioned really.We look knackered and dejected and seem to be nursing the mother of all hangovers as a result of the semi final shootout defeat. Still..Some decent points raised Problem being is when we lose Ryan - We have no player of that ilk to replace him in the squad, which is why Huth should have been replaced with something similar. If Ryans injury becomes long-term or career threatening(god forbid) I think we could be in trouble. Hughes seems unaware of what is a big problem at the centre of our defence or incapable of seeing that we need back-up and more importantly quality in that position Everton were also knocked out of the semi in a devasting manner and have rallied since - unlike us they have showed great character, Lukaku even said it was time for their players to stand up and be counted and push for a european spot.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 7, 2016 19:26:13 GMT
All you've mentioned is Huth, Vardy and Mahrez....and Leicester. Last season everyone was quoting Southampton and Koeman.
If we want to moan at Hughes, and i've done my fair share over the last 24 hours, can we be a bit more creative than just pointing at Leicester...who are top of the league?
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Post by superheroantonius on Feb 7, 2016 19:43:33 GMT
Going back a year or two when he was trying to bring in some more pace ( victor moses Mame Diouf) and get us to play more football.. He was mr impossible to argue with.. You can't really argue against bringing in better and quicker players in the Premier league On balance he's done well trying to bring in quick players like moses Diouf and Glenn Johnson What's ringing alarm bells is signing a few that are skillful but not so quick.. Do we actually have more pace now than say the days of ethers pennant and fuller.?? If not what are we spending millions on???
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Post by blackpoolred on Feb 7, 2016 19:43:44 GMT
Has Hughes lost the plot? No. Is Blackpoolred still in love with the ex-manager? Yes. Not in love with the previous manager in anyway shape or form - still have time for sparky, but frustrated at how close we were at the end of last season to a bloody good team. He seemed to be building a prolific little squad and team that had us drooling for the start of the season. But out go, arguably, 3 of the best players in our squad and no replacements, no apparent formation and way forward and a plain awful pre-season. 1 rock the city signing covered over the cracks somewhat in my opinion and I was left a bit bamboozled as to why our manager and fans were all talking dream teams top six etc after the departures and a significantly weaker squad. We still can finish top half if our captain returns and stays fit to the end of the season and our stars start to shine. However if our captain picks up other knocks and does not play a significant part, it could be a drag to the end of the season - we should never be that reliant on 1 man.
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Post by march4 on Feb 7, 2016 20:01:42 GMT
I don't think he has lost the plot, but he made a significant mistake with his team selection at WBA and it is now costing us dearly. The 11 who started that day have all looked knackered since.
Good managers lift their teams from a bad spell of form and I think LMH is a good manager.
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yellowfang
Lads'n'Dads
I only deal in truth
Posts: 50
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Post by yellowfang on Feb 7, 2016 20:03:13 GMT
It's obvious to anyone Mark Hughes needs a 'slumpbuster' ......... .......my wife fits the bill and I hereby offer her to Sparky
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Post by Fred Merger on Feb 7, 2016 20:21:22 GMT
I don't think he has lost the plot, but he made a significant mistake with his team selection at WBA and it is now costing us dearly. The 11 who started that day have all looked knackered since. Good managers lift their teams from a bad spell of form and I think LMH is a good manager. That is a good point about the WBA game. After losing the home match I feel Hughes felt that he needed to put out his strongest attacking line up,as he felt he couldn't afford a second defeat in the same season. When really a more physical line up was called for which resulted in another defeat plus jaded players which were unable to perform to the best of their ability against Liverpool which has had a knock on effect ever since.
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