Saint Benali

All over us now.

What's that then 3 PL wins from 15-16 under Hughes? Can see why he has been sacked at basically every job he has had. Not all his fault at all but he really is someone from an era that is long gone. His tactics and team selections are total ****. He can't influence games and keeps picking people who are woefully out of form. Austin has done **** all this season but get's picked ahead of others. Our defence is atrocious but persists with the same set-up/players. He has not changed anything. Even Mopo2 had more wins in his first 15 PL games and that is saying something!

8 mins to go. Throw the sink at it. Take a defender off. Earn your money Hughes.

Hoj diving again …… Would have thought the manager/staff would have warned him about that by now. Time to fine him imo.

So it was all because of VVD being injured and Fonte leaving was it? He was injured on the 22nd of January. And Fonte left a few days before that. - Watford (h) - draw 1-1 - Utd (a) - loss - 2-0 - Sunderland (h) - draw - 1-1 - Arsenal (a) - loss - 2-1 - Swansea (h) - win - 1-0 - West Ham (a) - win 0-3 - Leicester (a) - draw 0-0 - Burnley (h) - win - 3-1 - City (a) - draw - 1-1 - Chelsea (h) - Loss - 0-2 - Hull (a) - loss - 2-1 - Liverpool (h) - draw - 0-0 - Everton (h) - win 1-0 - Palace (a) - loss 3-0 - Boro (h) - win 1-0 - Stoke (a) - draw - 0-0 - Bompey (a) win - 1-3 - Spurs (h) loss - 1-4 - West Brom (h) - loss - 1-2 - Everton (a) - loss - 3-0 - Burnley (a) - loss -1-0 Total before injured/sold = 21 games - 6 wins - 9 losses - 6 draws - 19 goals scored - 26 goals against. = 28% win ratio. 42% loss ratio. Avg 1.1ppg - 1.2 goals against per game - 0.9 goals for per game. After injured or sold - Leicester (h) - win - 3-0 - Swansea (a) - loss - 2-1 - WH (h) - loss - 1-2 - Sunderland (a) - win 0-4 - Watford (a) - win - 3-4 - Spurs (a) - loss - 2-1 - Bompey (h) - draw - 0-0 - Palace (h) - win 3-1 - West Brom (a) - win - 0-1 - City (h) - loss - 0-3 - Chelsea (a) - loss - 4-2 - Hull (h) - draw 0-0 - Liverpool(a) - draw - 0-0 - Arsenal(h) - loss 0-2 - Boro (a) - win - 1-2 - Utd(h) - draw - 0-0 - Stoke(h) - loss - 0-1 17 games - 6 wins - 7 losses - 4 draws - 21 goals for - 19 goals against = 35% win ratio - 41% loss ratio - 1.2gpg - 0.9 goals against per game. Point being we had a better goals against record in the games VVD and Fonte were not playing. Which kills your opinion our defence got worse when VVD and Fonte didn't play.

You can't compare the two and to even try is ridiculous.... MP took over a side that had come up from the championship 5 months prior to his appointment. Puel took over a team that finished 6th, only 3 points behind Man City. A team that was playing in Europe. He took that championship squad, signed 4 players (Forren, Wanyama, Lovren and some nutter called Osvaldo) and took that team to 8th. How many championship clubs can do that in their 2nd season? Puel had a team full of internationals. We sold players but we also spent a **** load of money trying to replace them (again board **** up there). Redmond, Boufal, Hoj, McCarthy, Gabbi etc. That was what £50m-£60m? To add to players like Tadic, Forster, Bertrand, VVD, Jay, Fonte, Romeu, Soares etc etc. Who had all done well the season before. It seems you wish to "change history" and forget where we actually were prior to MP taking over. We had lost 8 of our first 10 games. And 1 win in 8 prior to his appointment. We then lost only 5 games for the rest of the season. In that run winning against Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the league. MP didn't take over a team doing well pushing for Europe. He took over one that had won only 5 games out of 22 games. The following season we won 15 of our 38 games. A club record. Losing 12 of them. But against the top 6 we lost 7 of the 18 games. The rest were either wins or draws. Puel failed to beat a single one of them in the league. And his football was not boring? Again it seems you are forgetting actual history. Was it not under Puel that we went 6 home games in a row without actually scoring a goal? How many games did we actually not even have a shot on target? We had one of the worst home records in all of the leagues not just the PL. MP took a team that was struggling and made them actually into a team. He brought team spirit into the squad. Even when we had a nutter in there. How many stories did we hear about Puel not being liked? We saw it countless times on the pitch with players gesturing towards him. Puel took over a team that had just had its best season in its history. We lost a couple of important players. That would hurt any team. But as mentioned we spent a vast amount of money and brought in a lot of players under Puel. MP only brought in 4 players in his entire term here. You can't compare them at all because if MP had taken over the season Puel had I am pretty sure most people would agree he would have done a lot better with the squad he had.

Basically disagree with what you are saying. First off you say look at the games as a whole, we had some good performances. Which is true. But so did MP2. Man City? Chelsea? Were we wrong about him too? Puel's overall football was boring. His results were awful. The issue is and where I think you are wrong is that Puel was being compared to what was before him. Mopo and Koeman. Two managers who took the club to the highest level we had been. We got used to the style of football we were playing. We got used to really good attacking, free flowing football. In comparison to what was before him, Puel was not this guy you try and picture above. He was the total opposite of what we had come to expect. But in comparison to what came after him, MP2 and Hughes we can look back and say how well he actually did. Maybe he did better than what we thought at the time. And I think it is safe to say that would be true. But lets not kid ourselves here. His football was dire overall. And we had some awful results. You highlight some of the good ones ie Sunderland but don't mention the bad ones. How about Hull, Stoke, West Brom, Burnley or even the Swansea game? There were some dreadful results in that season. Not to mention the run at the end of the season. We were closer to a relegation spot than we were the team above us. The truth is if Les and co got it right with his replacement and we went back to the Koeman/MP type of football and the same kind of results nobody would be talking about Puel now or questioning how he did. The reality is Les and co ****ed up the replacement. They basically went for someone in the same mould, same style and it went wrong big time. So because of that we look now at the Puel era and think he actually did pretty good. And if you compare his results to MP it looks that way. So as you mention considering what he had to deal with he did a lot better than what people give him credit for. But that is based purely on how we did after he left. If we got it right, the signings right etc these threads would not exist. The only reason they do is because the board continued to mess up and we continued to fall from where we were.

Can't really complain. They are a far far better side than us in every area. Don't think setting up ultra defensive did us any favours though. They dominated from start to finish and we never looked a goal threat. Onto the next one.

Have we even had a shot on goal?

Interesting stat they mentioned. In Hughes last 20 PL games he has 4 wins. Looking like 4 from 21 sadly.

Of course it was a penalty..... He lost his man. He panicked when it looked like he could get to the ball. Pushed him with two hands and then shoved him with his elbow. He made zero attempt to play the ball. It sucks that it happened and we threw it away but it was a penalty. It was soft, looked soft, but if a player uses his hands/arms to throw a player without going for the ball what can the ref do exactly?

First half I thought we were excellent. Especially Redmond and Hoj. Second half we changed too much and because of that it was a dire 45 mins for us. The confidence and tactics went out the window. I have no idea what MH was doing with those subs/changes tbh. McCarthy pulled off another amazing save. JWP...… what a total **** football player he is. No football brain at all. Why the **** would you do that with a few mins to play. Just leave him alone, he was not in a position to shoot. This guy (was going to say kid but he isn't a kid, he is a dad now) is done. Give one of the youngsters a chance.

Might want to have a read of this one https://www.foxestalk.co.uk/topic/115272-puel/?page=141 They seem quite anti to me?

Mo, Hoj and Long have to turn up in this game to justify their positions. No Gabbi or Armstrong again. Not the starting line up I would have gone for but at least it isn't the ultra defensive **** Hughes has been putting out.

goaaaalllllll coys

To be fair if we had their starting fixtures we would be bottom too.

He also wanted Cortese out because he was a nasty midget who was ruthless in getting results. But of course Turkish has never been known to whinge or complain. He is a pwoper fan.

Remind me what happened in the first 55mins again?

Hughes just isn't a good manager hence why he has been sacked pretty much everywhere he has been. He did ok keeping us up. But shouldn't have been kept on. 2 wins was hardly setting the world alight. 9 points from 33 is just plain awful. The team set up is all wrong, the tactics are wrong, the players don't look like they have a clue what they are being asked to do. His style of football just isn't suited in this day and age to the PL. He is from the Pullis, Pardew, Fat Sam etc era. Football has moved on. As a person he seems a nice guy, he talks a lot of sense. He just can't walk the walk.

Gabbi not even on the bench. Hughes really does throw out some weird teams doesn't he..

Please for the love of god no 5 at the back. We must have lost a **** load of games playing that formation?

Interesting stat. Fail to win against Leicester and his % drops below what MP had. Regardless of that it is a difficult question to answer based on the amount of games he has had. I don't think he is a great manager in all honesty. Doesn't mean I want him out. People say he got Stoke to whatever positions. But the truth is he also contributed hugely to their demise. After we played 10+ games this season we will have a better idea of which Mark Hughes has turned up. The one that got top 10 finishes. Or the one that got clubs relegated.

Can't really see many of those? Or do you mean if you question a managers decisions that makes you anti them? Personally I felt Hughes' team selection and tactics were confusing today. To not be allowed to question them for fear of being branded anti Hughes is a bit strange no? I don't want him out. Maybe he shouldn't have stayed on from the end of last season but he has and I accept that. I want him to do well a it means we do well. But if he makes mistakes I won't just ignore them and put my head in the sand. We won't improve if we do that. Second half we had a decent spell. Then we changed things around and it all fizzled out. We didn't even really get a goal chance after that.

Wow what a miss.

We look awful. Hughes tactical masterclass at work right here.