Mark Hughes - Fan Oppinons (August 2018)

[Saint86]

There seems to be a lot of negativity surround Mark Hughes at the moment which slightly surprises me? Maybe we could get a poll going as to whether fans are happy to have him as manager for the coming seasons, or would rather he wasn't our manager.

 

I think he is a good manager all in all, and one we can expect to get us to around 9-10th place in the league with a good enough season. For me he was absolutely key in us staying up last year, and would have achieved it with games to spare if not for some bad luck/confidence against Arsenal/Chelsea/Everton. He also seemed to have a good reception at the fan's forum.

 

I agree that pre-season could have gone better, but I also think a lot of that has to do with the world cup / condensed window / china tour - its not ideal for a club that just scraped survival. That said, I think we have bought well, and I feel he'll settle into a good formation and we'll kick on from there. I also don't think it is far to blame him for our problems, he has only improved the team since he has been here.

 

Or is that famous last words?

 

What are other peoples thoughts - I would rather have him as manager than not.

Edited 20 August, 2018 by Saint86

[OldNick]

This time last season I would have been aghast if people said he'd be our manager. After last season I believe he deserves a run

[Saint Garrett]

What are other peoples thoughts - I would rather have him as manager than not.

 

Depends who the other options were. I'd have rather had Silva or Bielsa, however I think Hughes deserved a go at it after the job he did last season.

 

I like him, and hope he does well, (got no problem with him being hired), though at the end of the day, results are key, and so far they've not been great. Luckily we're only 2 games in so largely irrelevant, however if we carry on as we are leaking goals left right and centre, and starting badly, he's not going to last very long...

[Cabbage_Face]

I've never been convinced if he is a decent manager. Time will tell. Lets face it, he ****ed up Stoke.

[ashnats]

I've never been convinced if he is a decent manager. Time will tell. Lets face it, he ****ed up Stoke.

 

Stoke finished 9th, 9th, 9th, 13th under him, I’d take that for now. Stoke would have stayed up if they had kept him.

[Cabbage_Face]

Stoke finished 9th, 9th, 9th, 13th under him, I’d take that for now. Stoke would have stayed up if they had kept him.

 

 

Mess

[mrfahaji]

Can we wait for a few (5+?) games before all of this stuff? The forum doesn't need to be clogged up with every thread being an opinion piece on Hughes before we've even got a good idea how the team is going to shape up.

 

People are right to have concerns, but given he improved some things since he joined last season, perhaps it's better to wait until we have a bit more evidence before drawing any conclusions.

[John Boy Saint]

I've never been convinced if he is a decent manager. Time will tell. Lets face it, he ****ed up Stoke.

Reading between the lines after the Coates family decided to wash their dirty linen in public and slag off Hughes. It seems a lot of the issues Hughes was faced with was down to a director of football deciding to buy £50m of players that ended up sat on the bench, if they were lucky, due to them being square pegs and Hughes had round holes to fill.

 

Aside from the Long and Austin blind-spot, for the first time since Koeman we seem to have a manager who does more than just shuffle the deckchairs, and actually tries to do something (by comparison to Puel and MoPe) noticeably different to change the game.

 

 

Anyway when is the "What do you think Sparky had for Breakfast today" thread being started.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Deserves a run but given how early we dipped into the transfer market I would have expected us to be firing on all cylinders come the start of the season. In the first half of our opening two games we've looked like we're still playing pre-season friendlies. From what I've seen we've spent over £50m and look pretty much like we did for large parts of last season. Seems to be another manager who doesn't know his best 11, or the formation we should be playing, which is a bit of a worry. Still, it's early days. It's just incredibly disappointing to see the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth and Watford playing fairly decent football.

[Saint Benali]

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.

[Maggie May]

Happy with Sparky.

 

2 games into the season, we always lose against Everton at Goodison quite heavily. We don't look THAT bad.

[saints-til-i-die]

For me the issue is that he doesn’t seem to have settled on a formation that suits us. He had pre season and then commented that some of the players weren’t quite clear on how to play after the Burnley game. This was largely the same starting players as last year and he had 8 games at the end of the year. Why are they struggling with the formation still. If he ONLY had pre season I may have accepted the excuse.

He’s no record bringing through young players either which is also the board’s fault for picking him.

He just doesn’t fit us well and I don’t believe he’ll be here long if we want to run the club the way we say we do. If he stays, we’ve clearly decided we are okay being a team with no real plan such as Villa and Stoke.

 

What is Hughes’s style of play? Does he have one? Is seems more about being physical rather than any real philosophy. Genuine question.

[Lord Duckhunter]

I like the way we’re putting our foot in a bit more, we were soft as Shiite the last couple of seasons. I’d like to see Pep do that to Redmond in front of him. Nice to have a manager that will rattle a few referees cages as well.

 

Solid, steady sensible manager imo, deserved the job after the performances at the end of last season. He picks square pegs in square holes, of course you can argue that you’d prefer Gabbi to Austin or Yoshida to Stephens but the impression he gives me is that he won’t **** around with people out of position. As always, some players will thrive & some will go backwards. Early indications are Redmond will be a plus, with maybe OR struggling. Yes it’s worrying that we’ve started both games poorly, but he has appeared to gee the players up for the second half.

 

All in all, he won’t set the world on fire, but he’ll be fine imo .

 

 

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[saintadam]

I think most sensible fans support Hughes at this point. We were lucky to get him considering the mess we were in. He is a decent manager with good track record.

 

The peope against him in this forum are mostly the usual negative, complaining-about-everything posters. It is nothing but plain stupid to question Hughes after only two games that hasn’t been that bad really.

[Heisenberg]

His 20% win ratio concerns me

 

As does our league form generally. 3 wins in last 28

[OldNick]

The pushing aside of Koeman was the turning point. Les was at the height of his power and arrogance. What a mistake

[Cabbage_Face]

His 20% win ratio concerns me

 

As does our league form generally. 3 wins in last 28

 

He has a 38% win ratio.

[Baird of the land]

Would rather he wasn't. Never liked him as a manager. I think the level of atrociousness of other teams was more why we stayed up last season. The results were hardly inspiring.

 

With the caveat that its only 2 games, so far this season its been dirty ugly football(especially on Sat) without even positive results to mitigate it

I think we'll probably stay up(especially as we seem to have gambled next season's transfer kitty on Ings) but can't see us troubling the top half.

[BARCELONASAINT]

Probably deserved the job for keeping us up and i'm certainly not going to ask for his head 2 games in.....after 10 games maybe that opinion will change.

 

Did i personally want as our manager? NO

 

Do I think he is a decent manager? NO

 

Do I think he is capable off getting the best out of this squad? NO

 

I want him to be successful because if he is not that means we are losing matches and i'm a Saints and I want us to win games. I don't want him to lose games just so we can sack another manager.

[Turkish]

How does he do with all the important stuff?

 

Are his interviews interesting?✅

Does he clap the fans evough? ✅

Do his tactics and team selections match mongboard experts? ❎

Is he les Reeds yes man? ❎

Do we have a song for him we can clap along to and proclaim how much he hates Pompey?

❎

It’s a yes from me so far, only just though, work to do,

[Ex Lion Tamer]

I've always believed that his record of mid-table performances means he will be decent for us, and there's still time for that to happen.

 

However, I wasn't impressed with his "tactic" of throwing on a million strikers (OK three) at the end of the Everton game, leaving no one to give them the ball

[Bobbyboy]

I think after last season everyone thinks he deserves a chance. The problem is that because he's a relatively uninspiring choice of manager given his record over the years - steady but we're not going to win anything, and probably not make Europe, sacked by Stoke last season - people will turn against him more quickly than they otherwise would.

He's probably a better bet up front than several of our other options though.

[Charlie Wayman]

I can't see that it matters much what we think about Hughes as things will have to be very dire indeed before Reed would have the guts to make any sort of further managerial changes. Three failures in a row would certainly be the end of his career. He'll stick with Hughes even if we are relegated and that possibility cannot be ruled out judging by the largely inept performances that we have turned in so far.

 

My guess is that Kreuger & Reed just about got away with it after the last two years of failure and cock-ups in transfers and appointments, Mr Gao probably gave them the benefit of the doubt not least perhaps because he didn't want to start completely afresh with a new management team having only just bought the Club and not having much of an inside track on English football. The more he learns about it 'though the less tolerant he will become, especially if things are going badly and both Kreuger & Reed will be well aware of this and not sitting all that comfortably right now.

 

I thought it a huge mistake to bring in Hughes having for years despaired of his style of football at Stoke and low and behold we can see his style of aimless, long ball football beginning to gain a foothold here at the expense of the quick, one-touch pass and run "Southampton Way" that emerged under Pochettino & Koeman and even to some extent under Claude Puel.

[Batman]

I think after last season everyone thinks he deserves a chance. The problem is that because he's a relatively uninspiring choice of manager given his record over the years - steady but we're not going to win anything, and probably not make Europe, sacked by Stoke last season - people will turn against him more quickly than they otherwise would.

He's probably a better bet up front than several of our other options though.

 

I was all for Hughes in the summer. For no real reason other than the mess Les and Ralph would have made getting someone different in

[Dusic]

Expected more of a plan this season after a full pre season but he still doesn't know the best formation or personnel which disappoints me.

 

No obvious style to the team. Gets an easier ride because he is a better operatornin press conferences than the last two Managers but it won't last forever.

[Saint Garrett]

I think one of my concerns is that we seem to have recruited for a system, and trained for a system, and then we seem to have abandoned it after 1 game. Now I'm not saying that I think we should go back to 5 at the back, but it doesn't seem to be the greatest management in the world. Be interested to see what happens when everyone is fit what he goes with.

[Saint IQ]

I will only lose faith if he continues to play Hoedt..

 

Also Stephens unless Cedric is injured.

[qwertyell]

After a full preseason (and before that a 10 game try before you buy period), 2 games into this season he's already tried 4 different formations.

 

Kind of suggests he hasn't got a clue what players he's got or a particular plan in mind to build our season upon, which is extremely worrying. Some might say unprofessional.

 

Even the very best managers - of which Mark Hughes is certainly not - can't wing it week in week out.

 

I've never been convinced he was particularly good and I've seen nothing in his time with us to suggest otherwise. What I am sure of is that he's got no history of bringing young players through - so we've seemingly abandoned the "Southampton Way" to accommodate him, just like we've abandoned the style of football preached at all levels of the club for the first team. For Mark Hughes. Not Pep Guardiola. Hell, the club even grumbled when Koeman - the best manager we've ever had in the Premier League - dabbled with three at the back and was dismissive of our youth players.

 

But for the mighty Mark Hughes, we're happy to throw away all our previously held principles. In Hughes we trust. For some reason.

 

It's weird. You'll struggle to find supporters of any club who rate him as a manager - certainly not those who've had the pleasure of seeing him manage their clubs. Yet here he is, guiding us... somewhere probably bleak. A three year contract for taking us from 17th to 17th on the back of 2 unconvincing wins in 8 seems as generous an offer as Forster's five year extension for becoming unselectable.

 

Obviously, I hope to be proven spectacularly wrong as he leads us to a solid season of promising progress. But I'm not betting the house on it.

 

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[qwertyell]

I will only lose faith if he continues to play Hoedt..

 

Also Stephens unless Cedric is injured.

He's played Hoedt in all 13 games he's been in charge.

 

First name on the team sheet.

 

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[eurosaint]

Give the guy a chance FFS !

[Saint IQ]

He's played Hoedt in all 13 games he's been in charge.

 

First name on the team sheet.

 

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Vestergaard only available for one of those, Yoshida and him are clearly our best centre backs.

[the colonel]

I've never been convinced if he is a decent manager. Time will tell. Lets face it, he ****ed up Stoke.

 

You don't know what you are talking about. He took Stoke to their highest league finished since the 70's.

[Charlie Wayman]

After a full preseason (and before that a 10 game try before you buy period), 2 games into this season he's already tried 4 different formations.

 

Kind of suggests he hasn't got a clue what players he's got or a particular plan in mind to build our season upon, which is extremely worrying. Some might say unprofessional.

 

Even the very best managers - of which Mark Hughes is certainly not - can't wing it week in week out.

 

I've never been convinced he was particularly good and I've seen nothing in his time with us to suggest otherwise. What I am sure of is that he's got no history of bringing young players through - so we've seemingly abandoned the "Southampton Way" to accommodate him, just like we've abandoned the style of football preached at all levels of the club for the first team. For Mark Hughes. Not Pep Guardiola. Hell, the club even grumbled when Koeman - the best manager we've ever had in the Premier League - dabbled with three at the back and was dismissive of our youth players.

 

But for the mighty Mark Hughes, we're happy to throw away all our previously held principles. In Hughes we trust. For some reason.

 

It's weird. You'll struggle to find supporters of any club who rate him as a manager - certainly not those who've had the pleasure of seeing him manage their clubs. Yet here he is, guiding us... somewhere probably bleak. A three year contract for taking us from 17th to 17th on the back of 2 unconvincing wins in 8 seems as generous an offer as Forster's five year extension for becoming unselectable.

 

Obviously, I hope to be proven spectacularly wrong as he leads us to a solid season of promising progress. But I'm not betting the house on it.

 

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Brilliant post. Haven't heard anybody in the Northam singing "There's only one Mark Hughes" yet and I am not holding my breath!

[Batman]

I think he's dire.

 

I wanted to like him, tried to be positive but the Stoke mess was there for all to see. Yes we stayed up, but he won 2 games, that's all. We were lucky everyone else was so rubbish. Performances were still often awful.

 

Biggest problem is he seems clueless about his team and approach. Played a good line up to take on burnley against everton, and a good line up to take on everton against burnley! Just seems to be no thought to it. Endless changes, hoping something will come off more through luck than judgement. Persists with Long, no idea why. Ignores Gabbiadini and Gallagher, loans out Sims.

 

I just can't see him lasting here. Hopefully we'll scrape a few wins to make it far easier for the next guy coming in but would be surprised if he's manager come the end of the season. Just want us to actually get our identity back of decent football and opportunities for youngsters. If their path is blocked by decent players performing well, fine, but these days the path is blocked by underperforming dross.

 

I was excited to see Gabbiadini, Elyounassi and Ings play together in a 433. The signing of Armstrong seems to free things up for a more attacking 433 with him ahead of Hojbjerg and Romeu. Already accepted that will never happen. We'll moan about signings, but it's futile if the manager can't get the best out of what he has anyway. My enthusiasm completely went out the window when I saw his opening day line up.

 

2 wins in 10 for Hughes and 8 goals in those games for us. Just not at all convinced he knows how to win games at this level anymore.

 

Agree in a way.

Would you trust the idiots to bring in a quality replacement had Hughes not been kept on? No chance. No decent managers were out of a job in the summer.

Bielsa was one but no way would he work well with Ross, Ralph and Reed calling the shots

[ALWAYS_SFC]

Two games in

[Pamplemousse]

He lacks the world class ability of Puel but he is a steady choice for this level. I hope though that we are planning for his replacement in say a couple of years time.

[stknowle]

 

As does our league form generally. 3 wins in last 28

 

That is wincingly poor form it has to be said.

[Dusic]

That is wincingly poor form it has to be said.

Winning is a habit and so, unfortunately, is not winning. Its quite hard to change that quickly IMO.

 

An absolute key is to get as many of our new signings in the starting XI.

 

Adds a freshness and will automatically lift the fans for a couple of games.

 

Don't see much chance of Hughes doing more than this season though.

[eurosaint]

Two games in

 

You couldn’t make it up, could you

[Pamplemousse]

His 20% win ratio concerns me

 

As does our league form generally. 3 wins in last 28

 

We've got to get Pellegrino out of our system

[Heisenberg]

You couldn’t make it up, could you

 

You could make it up and he has. Hughes has managed us for 17 games now, not 2.

 

Hes also managed 7 clubs over the last 19 years so reasonable that some would be able to have an opinion on him

 

I know opinions are over rated on here but you could give it a try.

[GGalpin]

I'll probably echo a lot of what has been said on here before, but here goes.

 

A big factor, if not the main one, for keeping him after we stayed up was the fact it meant we didn't have to find a replacement- which made sense because of World Cup/shorter transfer window, but is also a pretty damning indictment of the state of our recruitment last 2/3 years in both players and staff. The fact is a year ago no one would've thought he'd be here or want him here, which is telling.

 

The fact he's been here before preseason has also added to the disappointment- not only does he not seem to know his best team but he doesn't seem to really know his best system (which hinders the former even more). A lot of our football has been pretty tedious to watch, too; it was understandable last season given the situation we found ourselves in, but I didn't enjoy watching that football then and it's less palatable now. Having said that the quality of players we have shapes that, and so a squad far deeper in quantity than quality is reflected on the pitch.

 

It just feels like we've got a sticking plaster at the moment- he doesn't play attacking football with young players, so he doesn't really fit what Saints supposedly want. This Southampton Way stuff might be a pretentious buzzword to a lot of people but having a philosophy and fitting staff into it is a far better way to do things than just doing what managers want; it's when we've deviated away from the whole 'southampton way' stuff that has been when the problems have come, IMO.

 

In fairness, he's not all bad- freeing Tadic and now Redmond seems to bring the best out of those players so if he can make us solid first and then allow Redmond/Elyounoussi the freedom to create, perhaps it'll become more effective and maybe even become somewhat nice to watch. But I just hope we don't get stuck in the cycle Swansea and Sunderland did in appointing firefighters instead of builders, and that the next manager we appoint is there for the right reasons- not just because he happens to be available for nothing...

Edited 20 August, 2018 by GGalpin

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

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.

 

Just wondering which clubs he got relegated?

[Saint86]

His 20% win ratio concerns me

 

As does our league form generally. 3 wins in last 28

 

His win rate is 38% and 2 of those wins were Hughes

[pimpin4rizeal]

On the fence with Hughes myself, not exactly a super exciting appointment but happy to give him a chance.

A few posts here slagging him off for not knowing his best formation seems a bit harsh, I think so far he seems quite tactically flexible which is quite refreshing after seeing mp do the same mistakes over and over. Didn't most people on her want the 442 after the second half at Burnley ?

Biggest gripe for me is gabbi still seems way down the pecking order even after saving us last season and having a decent preseason, long is still called upon before him

[Simon3737]

I'll probably echo a lot of what has been said on here before, but here goes.

 

A big factor, if not the main one, for keeping him after we stayed up was the fact it meant we didn't have to find a replacement- which made sense because of World Cup/shorter transfer window, but is also a pretty damning indictment of the state of our recruitment last 2/3 years in both players and staff. The fact is a year ago no one would've thought he'd be here or want him here, which is telling.

 

The fact he's been here before preseason has also added to the disappointment- not only does he not seem to know his best team but he doesn't seem to really know his best system (which hinders the former even more). A lot of our football has been pretty tedious to watch, too; it was understandable last season given the situation we found ourselves in, but I didn't enjoy watching that football then and it's less palatable now. Having said that the quality of players we have shapes that, and so a squad far deeper in quantity than quality is reflected on the pitch.

 

It just feels like we've got a sticking plaster at the moment- he doesn't play attacking football with young players, so he doesn't really fit what Saints supposedly want. This Southampton Way stuff might be a pretentious buzzword to a lot of people but having a philosophy and fitting staff into it is a far better way to do things than just doing what managers want; it's when we've deviated away from the whole 'southampton way' stuff that has been when the problems have come, IMO.

 

In fairness, he's not all bad- freeing Tadic and now Redmond seems to bring the best out of those players so if he can make us solid first and then allow Redmond/Elyounoussi the freedom to create, perhaps it'll become more effective and maybe even become somewhat nice to watch. But I just hope we don't get stuck in the cycle Swansea and Sunderland did in appointing firefighters instead of builders, and that the next manager we appoint is there for the right reasons- not just because he happens to be available for nothing...

 

Like most fans, I support our business model of investing in the Academy and buying young players who will develop (and earn us a profit). However, sticking too dogmatically to ‘the Southampton Way’ led to Les and Ralph not trying that hard to stop Koeman leaving (because he played 3 at the back a few times) and then appointing Puel and Pellegrino.

 

Overall, I’m delighted that Les and Ralph have been pressured (by nearly getting us relegated) into being a bit more pragmatic and giving our manager more freedom.

 

I don’t think it means we’re about to start selling off the Academy and buying 32 year olds on big wages.

 

I was worried in the summer that Les would persuade Ralph to let Hughes leave and appoint a new Pellegrino type. Fortunately, Les and Ralph decided to make the sensible choice. I think it was the right one and I think we'll have a decent season.

[washsaint]

I have always disliked Hughes - from the billy big ****** comments from his agent when he signed for Saints, to his awful performances in a Saints shirt.

 

As a a manager he has always struck me as crap - and his 2 wins as a Saints manager have done nothing to dissuade me. Puel or Pellegrino with those stats and baffling team selections would have been slated something chronic. But not Hughes (at least on this board).

 

Clueless, no idea re. tactics. Obviously I hope he does well as that means Saints do well - but I am pretty disenfranchised from Saints these days. Long, AUstin and other underperformers keep their places in the squad week in week out yet some of our younger players are not given a look in. Yoshi benched and the liability that is Hoedt is first name on the teamsheet.

[Edmonton Saint]

I think he's dire.

 

I wanted to like him, tried to be positive but the Stoke mess was there for all to see. Yes we stayed up, but he won 2 games, that's all. We were lucky everyone else was so rubbish. Performances were still often awful.

 

Biggest problem is he seems clueless about his team and approach. Played a good line up to take on burnley against everton, and a good line up to take on everton against burnley! Just seems to be no thought to it. Endless changes, hoping something will come off more through luck than judgement. Persists with Long, no idea why. Ignores Gabbiadini and Gallagher, loans out Sims.

 

I just can't see him lasting here. Hopefully we'll scrape a few wins to make it far easier for the next guy coming in but would be surprised if he's manager come the end of the season. Just want us to actually get our identity back of decent football and opportunities for youngsters. If their path is blocked by decent players performing well, fine, but these days the path is blocked by underperforming dross.

 

I was excited to see Gabbiadini, Elyounassi and Ings play together in a 433. The signing of Armstrong seems to free things up for a more attacking 433 with him ahead of Hojbjerg and Romeu. Already accepted that will never happen. We'll moan about signings, but it's futile if the manager can't get the best out of what he has anyway. My enthusiasm completely went out the window when I saw his opening day line up.

 

 

2 wins in 10 for Hughes and 8 goals in those games for us. Just not at all convinced he knows how to win games at this level anymore.

 

 

Well Said Adrian

[ally_uk]

He has 10 games for me hardly any.points on the table then get rid......

[Pilchards]

He has 10 games for me hardly any.points on the table then get rid......

 

I really can’t see anyone sacking Hughes if we never won a game in the first ten.

That would be three failures appointed and Goa will not do

nothing to move on Reed and Ralph as he has no knowledge of football at all.