| Morecambe 3 |
| Mellon 22+86 (pen), McKiernan 68 |
| Bradford City 0 |
Words and image by Adam Raj
Well I can’t say I’m surprised. Not even slightly. Derek Adams was always winning this game wasn’t he? It’s Bradford City all over.
It wasn’t just the result either. For the lucky souls that were not in attendance at the Mazuma stadium, the performance, from start to finish, was as predictably rancid as you could imagine.
There were no positives whatsoever – not that there could be when Bradford City lose 3-0 to Morecambe. But the negatives (and there’s a very long list of them) were nothing new and certainly nothing that Mark Hughes should be surprised about. Post match comments like “it’s difficult to fathom where this performance came from” are more concerning to me than anything I saw on that pitch this afternoon.
But then again, that’s the main problem in itself. A large majority of the deficiencies within the squad and within the style of play have been cause for concern for well over a year. And yet nothing has changed.
Generally speaking, logic would suggest that the root cause of long standing issues is attributable to the man who is responsible for making the decisions. In the context of City, such discussion about Hughes is becoming unavoidable.
The City boss once again stuck with his favoured 5-4-1 system despite its limitations being becoming more apparent with every passing game. New signing Lewis Richards was straight in at LWB in the only change from the draw at Stockport in midweek and the defender can be relatively pleased with his first minutes in a City shirt.
City, as they have done all season, started slowly. Morecambe were first to every ball, showed greater energy and desire to sustain attacks in the final third and most importantly, knew what their gameplan was. City on the other hand, couldn’t have been further away in all of those departments.
The hosts were racking up the corners and midway through the first half Andy Cook’s weak clearance found Yann Songo’o on the edge of the box. The former Bantam sold Richie Smallwood a dummy and the City skipper’s trailing leg swiped him down. The resulting free kick was curled into Harry Lewis’ bottom left corner by Michael Mellon.
Not a lot else happened in the opening period. Not anything positive anyway. City ended the half without a shot on target or even a corner. Their best opening came when Daniel Oyegoke found himself in acres of space on the right edge of the box but couldn’t make his mind up whether to shoot, cross or pass and in the end lost control of the ball.
If pedestrian passes around your back line before an aimless lump forward won you football games, City would have been promoted last season and be top of League One right now. It’s difficult to believe that any work is done on the training pitch with regards to playing out from the back. It’s been 18 months since Hughes walked through the door and we look just as uncomfortable and bereft of ideas when doing it as we did on day one.
The second half was no better. Hughes ditched the back five at half time, in favour of last season’s system of choice 4-2-3-1, with Kevin McDonald replacing Ciaran Kelly. The problem here was that City’s inadequate recruitment has left them with only one natural winger in Clarke Oduor. Tyler Smith was asked to play wide left but isn’t a wide player in a million years.
The hosts started the second period better, just as they had in the first. After the opening 10/15 minutes, City’s urgency grew, almost like they suddenly realised they were a goal down. Smallwood’s corner was met by Matty Platt at the back post but his goal bound header was cleared off the line by goalkeeper Stuart Moore in what was City’s best and only real chance of the afternoon.
The game was dead on 68 minutes as John McKiernan powered home his first of the season. A goal which did not reflect well on Smallwood whatsoever. The City skipper chose not to jump for an aerial challenge and then proceeded to try and push his man mid air, only to fail miserably at that. Smallwood them seemingly gave up on trying to regain possession as McKiernan played a neat one-two around Sam Stubbs and fired past Lewis.
The first swathe of City supporters made for the exit.
But it was to get worse for those of us who chose to stay. Liam Ridehalgh, who had replaced Richards after 69 minutes, dallied on a bouncing ball in his own box. He was completely unaware of the Morecambe attacker on his shoulder and a combination of Ridehalgh and McDonald took a wild swipe at the ball and only connected with the player. Penalty. 3-0 and Mellon with his second of the game. Que most of the remaining Bantams heading for the exit.
This was up there with the horror shows of previous years. 3-0 away at Mansfield and Oldham under Gary Bowyer. 2-0 away at Harrogate and Carlisle under Adams. There are numerous parallels and they don’t spell good news for Hughes.
The first mutterings of anti Hughes chants were evident from a fan base who is losing patience with what they’re seeing on the pitch. A minority at this moment, but if things don’t drastically improve soon, that support will only grow. We’ve been here many times before, it’s inevitable.
Hughes had promised so much this season. He had promised aggressive, front foot football with a high press. Pre season looked positive, the new style evident and a complete contrast to last. But with each passing game comes a further reversal in style to the drab, safety first approach that we had in the previous campaign.
Essentially, what we’re seeing now is a replica of last season’s style, in a new formation but without the heroics of Andy Cook and Lewis.
It all begs the question of why on earth Hughes made such a drastic and unnecessary change to the shape. Last season was not perfect, by any means, but all that was required this summer were replacements for Romoney Critchlow and Scott Banks, an upgrade on Ridehalgh and a better partner for Smallwood.
Yet this change of shape, and more importantly our lack of suitable recruitment for it, has weakened a solid defence and made us even less creative at the other end.
Hughes’ saving grace is that the transfer window is still open, that is if there are any funds left. If he’s abandoning the back five experiment then he has time to recruit a couple of wingers.
If he is to persist with this change, then drastic work is needed on the training pitch. A dramatic shift in attitude and approach in the positive direction is essential. Given what we know about Hughes, that seems fanciful but things do need to change, because rightly or wrongly patience is starting to waiver with Hughes.
At the end of a thoroughly miserable day, Derek Adams had the last laugh, for now anyway. And he loved every minute of it. Waving to the City fans at the end with the biggest of smug grins on his face and gesturing towards the directors box on his way down the tunnel. He took stick all afternoon and fair play, he’s within his rights to give it back.
No surprises. This is all so typically Bradford City.
Categories: Match Reviews
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All thoroughly depressing but not surprising .
Wrexham could be the nail in his coffin .
They can’t stop scoring and we can’t defend or score
In due course (Xmas?) hughes will be gone sparks will then have appointed and sacked 4 failures
Time for a change
Christmas would be far too late. If we get less than two points from the next two league games then he needs to go.
Quite simple Hughes out, and I’ve been a big supporter of him, I don’t think he’s got a scooby doo
I applaud Adam having the courage to name Hughes as needing to improve, if I can put it like that. The manager is rightly coming in for a lot of flack tonight but I can’t help wondering whether a large amount of blame should go to our recruitment guru, Gent. Yes Hughes has the ultimate say on signings but can only go on what he’s recommended. So far only Pattison looks like an outstanding signing – and he, as we know, was not first choice. This was a pasting and the score might have been worse. Alarm bells are ringing and once again supporters’ concerns over tactics seem justified. Hughes may not have seen this defeat coming but many people did. Now we need to go into the market again and sign a winger and players to both take the
weight off Cook and Lewis but also keep them on their toes. But will the budget allow this and are we capable of getting the right calibre?
Regarding Gent, you get what you pay for. In Gent’s case his previous recruitment experience was at a junior to mid management role that didn’t involve direct recruitment responsibilities. Gent was a provider of information on club owned players out on loan and some other miscellaneous lower level functions. Calling him a recruitment guru, I consider to be grossly unfair. Equally, I would also consider calling Ryan Sparkles a football executive guru an unfair description.
Hughes owns this farce 100%.
Gent’s role as’ Director of Recruitment’ is to recommend players to the manager, surely the manager actually looks at the player recommended , and makes his own mind up about signing him or not?? I disagree about the Sparkes comment, who actually called him a ‘football Guru?’ Ryan Sparkes is a capable and competent CEO, the job is to run the company and build financially, something that Sparkes and his team do well, Morrisons and Flaminb=goland, two companies that wouldnt touch us with a bargepole, and a host of other sponsors, still arriving, show his and his team’s expertise. I do agree with the last point, Hughes is the man 100% responsible for what is happening , and excuses are running out fast.
I never implied that anyone called Sparks a football guru. My reference of him was in the form of an analogy. However, I do believe there is a void when it comes to football knowledge beyond Hughes and feel an experienced Director of Football would be a wise decision.
Having said that, it’s likely wishful thinking on my part to think that Rupp or Sparks would be receptive to such a progressive idea. Sparks massive ego would certainly be damaged via power sharing.
Smallwood sulked all day. Look at his body language after losing possession, there was no urgency, no desire to win it back, no effort to get his mates out from the bus under which he’d just thrown them. If this is the most inspiring leader there is in the locker room, with the biggest heart for the club it’s little wonder we go down with such a whimper.
I’ve never known a team shrink so much when things go against them. That was my feeling about this team all last season, and there’s no good reason to believe that will change. You can look at Smallwood for that, but I wonder if he would be a different player under a more inspiring leader.
Managing in the Premier League doesn’t make you a premier League manager. Even if it did, it’s almost a different ball game down here.
I’ve never known a team shrink so much when things go against them. That was my feeling about this team all last season, and there’s no good reason to believe that will change. You can look at Smallwood for that, but I wonder if he would be a different player under a more inspiring leader.
Managing in the Premier League doesn’t make you a premier League manager. Even if it did, it’s almost a different ball game down here.
Lethargic from the first minute. Second best for 90. The goalkeeper has made 3 errors in 4 games. Lewis has lots of credit on the bank but coming from behind constantly is hard. The back 3 look uncomfortable and likely to ship goals unlike last season. Smallwood was missing in action. There are too many parts of the team malfunctioning to be successful. Unless this is a blip then Hughes is running out of time and fans patience. The manner of the defeat was appalling. Pattison buzzed around but the strength of character to play in front of our fans, be positive and bold on the ball was missing. Unless Hughes gets a reaction and quickly I shudder to think the direction this is likely to take.
Well done Bobby Pointon on debut. Tidy. Richards stuck at it too. The worry is the key experienced personnel aren’t showing the way currently.
Lethargic even in the pre-match warm up!!
Cook, Smallwood, Platt and others all putting very little effort into it – no wonder we lost – our heads weren’t screwed on right even prior to KO.
And then to see MH and the rest of his team simply sit in the dug out all game like they’re on a day out to the seaside with their chips and ice creams was utterly disgraceful as well. Not once did he get up to give instructions – the only time anyone did was for a substitue.
Effectly the whole management and squad had given up before even ball was kicked!!
HUGHES OUT!!
“all that was required this summer were replacements for Romoney Critchlow and Scott Banks, an upgrade on Ridehalgh and a better partner for Smallwood”
I’d say we needed a replacement for Smallwood, been poor since he came, and worse he hides. At fault for both goals today, but will still be first name on the teamsheet
I completely agree and have been calling Smallwood out for months. He is a weak leader; not an organiser; slow; lacks a forward pass; can’t tackle and his set pieces are appalling and usually sail straight out of play.
Other than the above he offers a lot – not.
The recruitment team is ultimately responsible for what lies ahead this season. Everyone from Sparks, Hughes and Gent need to be questioned. They are all party to this. We had a decent defensive record last season. A very good away record. But it was clear that we lacked creativity in midfield, pace in certain areas, and a more positive approach at home in particular. So what do we do? Instead of addressing this, someone has decided to try and copy Stevenage and Carlisle. However non of the current contracted defenders suit this approach and subsequent recruitment has not addressed thus. Add to this the recruitment idmf some very inexperienced match day players, some on 3 year deals and it’s a total mess.
We have now left ourselves stuck to change it and have no wide players apart from Chapman. I said elsewhere after only 2 games we will have to go back to 4 at the back, yet no one in the ‘powers that be’ making these decisions could see this scenario.
Hughes (Hodges and Trueman) didnt help themselves with their safety first approach last season in a relatively poorer league. But now they have ‘cornered’ themselves by their recruitment imo. Sparks has employed pragmatic managers every time so far, if we don’t count 2 weeks of McCall era. But for all the great he has done OFF the pitch, by his own statements he is part of recruitment and direction on the pitch and this season in particular, imo its a total mess
It is hard to see the situation improving if the current structure of the club’s hierarchy remains the same. An absentee owner isn’t necessarily a problem, if what is below is well organised and competent. Like many others, I have long been suggesting that we need someone in charge of football operations, call him a director of football or a general manager or a vice president (football operations) or whatever, who will be responsible for managerial hirings and player signings. The manager then will have someone above him to whom he must answer. Currently, who is there in the hierarchy whose words would carry weight with a manager?
By all accounts Sparks has been successful on the non-football, especially the commercial, side. Free him up to concentrate on what he is good at; get a ‘football man’ in on the other side. The days when one person can successfully perform the duties of these differing branches of a club’s operations have long passed, at least in the League and, I’d say, in the upper levels of non-league too.
Today was a disaster, to which manager and players all contributed. Even though it is early in the season, we cannot afford too many more such days and still hope to trouble the upper reaches of the table.
Why wait until January, get this imbecile out of our club now.
Everyone agrees it was a mess today. Morecambe played with energy and passion and had willing runners who found space easily around our static central defenders. Although he was involved in the penalty scenario, I think McDonald showed a lot of quality on the ball in the second half with excellent distribution. I would start him instead of Smallwood next Saturday. He was constantly demanding the ball and he looks like a natural leader. Whatever formation Hughes decides to go with, we need to inject more pace and urgency into our play. It is still very early days but we desperately need to improve and quickly.
McDonald has experience at much higher levels in spades. Looking back over the 50+ years I’ve been a VP regular it is clear that every time we achieve promotion the team has a backbone of such players – Jason, you have my piece proving this. Perhaps you’d like to share it – up to you of course.
Hi John. I don’t believe I’ve received an article from you. Just checked my email inboxes and spam folders.
If you can send it again to widthofapost@gmail.com I will take a look.
Thank you
Jason
Sent again just now Jason.
It was an appealing performance, but too many (including Adam) seem to want to already write off the season.
The reaction after Colchester away in September 2015 and the toxic noise towards Paul Jewell in late September 1998, shows the folly of this.
And I’m all for criticising Hughes. I’ve said previously that I’ve no idea why he’s changed the system, but it’s not a 5-4-1 system, it is supposed to be a 3-4-3, but unfortunately at times looks like a 8-1-1 system!!
The only good news is that Hughes now has to abandon it, put Halliday in at RB, get back to the sound central defensive partnership of Stubbs and Platt plus add McDonald in midfield and yes grind out a few boring positive results for the next few matches. Whilst getting one or two more attackers in.
Way too early for even considering Hughes position. Ironically, it’s taken Adams to talk sense and point out that we’ve had 20 managers in 20 seasons and even more worrying players who seem to do a lot better away from VP.
As ever, I’ll judge us at the end of October – too many seasons has shown the folly of doing otherwise.
Wait a minute. You proclaimed Bola and the diamond has a better option than Foulds last season. The former couldn’t take a throw in, and the latter got some if the best left back stats in the league. FACT.
PS in 1998 we had Peter Beagrie….amongst others, but that player alone us better and offered more hope than this entire team…imo
Not too sure about this fixation with not removing non performing managers, Watford , Chelsea ,Tottenham and many others seem to have no difficulty in identifying issues and removing that issue
None of their managerial changes has resulted in significant advancement.
It’s fairly simple. Clubs that sack their managers more frequently, tend to be the underachievers.
I’m a bit pissed off with Hughes myself. He’s created a mess that didn’t needed to be created.
However, I think we have the players, bar one or two – he needs to sort this out
Sorry that should say “appaling”. I need to stop typing when I’m annoyed!!
I remember a certain Brian Clough once said, “I never even look at the Table until we’ve played seven games”. Going on Clough’s logic, Hughes has another three games in which to show that Bradford City are on an upward, and consistent trajectory. Not an easy task on today’s dismissal excuse for a team performance certainly, but still possible nevertheless.
A win at home against Crewe next week, followed by winning games 6 & 7, would see us on 13 points from our opening 7, & we would very likely be occupying a Play-Off spot, & we would all be feeling much happier after what would be simply dismissed as a bit of a ‘slow start’, right?
As things stand after our opening 4, I’m more worried about our obvious lack of desire, spirit, & fight than any overwhelming concerns regarding any perceived lack of quality within the ranks. As far as a League 2 team goes, on paper at least I think we look pretty good. But the hardest trick with any set of players is to galvanize them into a team, with determination & fight. This I think is the task Mark Hughes has to perform & this is what I’ll be judging him on.
So, true to Cloughie’s philosophy, I’m happy enough to continue supporting Hughes until I can better evaluate our progress in a slightly bigger picture, for now. I think most City fans maybe feel the same at the moment at least.
Up the Bantams!
Clearly you didn’t see the game today.
We have absolutely no chance of winning our next three games, we’ll be lucky to pick up more than two points.
I’d say that Hughes has already lost the majority of the supporters and the dressing room.
I’ve seen alot of games Gareth, for over 43 years believe it or not, so that just might entitle me to my opinion I reckon 🙂
It wouldn’t do for us all to see everything the same I don’t think. But anyway, there you go.
I think if MH is to continue he needs a new Caddie with new idea’s because his offsider has run his race .
Golfers change their Caddie so should MH.
I’m still seething after yet another lacklustre performance. I have supported City, home and away, through good times and bad, for 65 years, but I’m becoming disillusioned. Nothing seems to have changed. We are predictable, slow moving the ball from the back, making stupid mistakes in dangerous situations, and failing to break down opponent’s defences. We don’t look dangerous, and make it easy for the opposition. Attacks constantly fail in the final third and shooting outside the box doesn’t seem to occur to players. I’ve always admired Hughes but its obvious his formation and tactics are not working. The same propaganda is served up every week, and he appears flummoxed in post match interviews. Change has got to come. We need two wingers who can cause havoc, and a twin striker to assist Cook, who is starved of decent balls, and seems to have lost his sharpness when he has a chance. The two players who were inspirational last season, Cook and Lewis, appear to have lost their spark. I don’t know if transfer talk has affected Lewis more than he lets on, but if.players in front of him continue to let him down, he just might reconsider, and that would cause City more problems. Apart from Pattison, new signings don’t seem good enough for Division 2, let alone to take us to another level. Smallwood is not good enough as a captain and midfielder. He is too negative, passing the ball backwards, and making crucial errors. One wonders what goes on on the training pitch during the week, but the players and coaching staff seem incapable of rectifying the situation.
I’m fed up of hearing we have the best fans in the league who loyally turn up in their thousands every week. It’s costing a lot of money in these difficult times, yet the team fails to respond to this support. Teams who bring a bus load appear to be more inspired. It’s still early days but something needs to be done to salvage mid table mediocrity. Otherwise fans will stay at home and criticism of players and managers will become more vocal.
I wish the club would return to producing a match day programme. Other teams worse off than us can do it. It doesn’t have to be a thick, glossy affair, but simply information so we can identify players on both sides, with pen portraits. We don’t have anything to look back on for reference Surely with modern technology its not beyond the club to supply something.
I think players and coaching staff need to get together, have an open forum, and analyse videos of these worrying performances. I think improvements can be made and we can play entertaining and effective football, but don’t leave it too late!
Players look clueless. Smalllwood not up to the job. Giving ball away with long hopeful passes far too often. Oyegoke looks like he might be a player. Has physical presence ms pace. But fails to impose himself on the opposition / game by playing it sideways / backwards and loose. Keep it on the deck
Cook isolated.
All in all a very disjointed side and it will frustrate the players.
Morecombe absorbed any pressure then scored at exactly the right moments to hurt City.
Once again this performance was Worrying. Playing like this the trajectory is bottom 7 not top 7
Nero fiddled whilst Rome burnt.
Are we witnessing the decline and fall of our team?
Are reputations interfering with reality?
Is our faith being tested?
Is hope diminishing?
The performance at Morecombe was the worse I have seen in many years. It was totally unexpected. A good result at Stockport then an inept performance at Morecombe was like watching men against boys. We were terrible from goal keeper to centre forward. Lewis kept kicking the ball into touch. We were closed down all around the pitch. We were clueless. Pointon came on and I thought he showed composure lacking from the rest of the team. Sadly Mark will stick to this team and Pointon will warm the bench. Morecombe are expected to struggle this year so what does that say about Bradford? Going on what happened yesterday I can only see a continued downward trajectory and a season of struggle. Young, a player rejected and sent on loan to Swindon has scored 3 times so far. The preseason match he played for us showed promise but Hughes took him off. One has to question his decision making. The quality of is signings have to be questioned. Ashley Taylor is a poor signing. There are many players on 3 year contracts that we are lumbered with especially if their form deteriates. But let’s not give up. This is a test for Hughes, his coaching staff and team to show they can prove doubters wrong. It is however, a big ask.
This certainly feels like another one of those manager-defining results. We are right to expect this club to get out of this division this season – it might be early but we’ve already lost to Crawley and been thrashed by Morecambe. We’re not going up this season. I would say sack Hughes but that won’t do any good. I’ve no idea how you turn this around. Something rotten to the core about this club, a deep-rooted culture of failure and incompetence.
I have a similar perspective. Over the past 22 years of whatever we call it, 20+ managers, multiple owners, multiple generations of players come and go, total board room turnovers, and we always seem the same, generally defensive mentality with a weak underbelly and a confidence crisis.
We delude ourselves that we are a big club in this league
IT’s budget that matters
Put the season ticket price up and we see how big we really bare and hopefully get a top 3 budget
I’m afraid to say, Hughes being sacked / leaving Bradford City soon is pretty inevitable.
Hughes is being afforded a huge amount of credit, simply because of his name and the fact he’s managed in the Premier League. It counts for nothing. It seems he’s learnt nothing in his time here. And recruitment has been very hit and miss. Gent takes his share of blame but Hughes is the one that signs off on these players. He’s got it badly wrong and its simply a matter of time and another below par season before he gets his cards. No way should he be given another contract.
Completely agree.
The expectation – and rightly so – for this season was that we would better last season. Progression. So that means top 7 minimum. Can anyone look at this team, this squad, this set up and think we are going to achieve that?
If the answer is no, then it’s only a matter of when not if. If we’re bottom half in September? In October?
There’s been a lot of talk on Width of the Post and elsewhere about the value of continuity. What Hughes is trying to do is inexplicable because he’s created discontinuity. By deciding to change the formation and style, arguably he’s junked last season’s progress. We might have even seen less upheaval if we’d brought in another manager over the summer.
Hughes has ballsed it up. He’s been able to escape vocal criticism to date because of his name and because we were in such straits after Adams left, but there is now a repeated track record of odd signings, confused strategy and being tactically outwitted. He could revert to a 4-3-3 or 4-4-2, but we don’t currently have the players for that system. And as nearly everyone on here has said – to death – we could all see this coming so why can’t he? Why are we four league games into the season repeating talking points from the pre-season games?
Let’s also take a second to reflect how bad yesterday’s defeat was. Morecambe started pre-season with three contracted players. They have probably the lowest budget in the division. They have signed whatever they could afford and whoever they could get to join them. And we lost 3-0. Our expected goals score was 0.1. In the opening four games, we’ve lost to the two favourites to go down. It feels one of those landmark results where it’s very difficult for a manager and certain players to come back from.
And 3 19 year olds in attacking positions (I think)!
Fed up already. What a mess.
Totally uninspired by a manager who sat on his backside all afternoon with his arms folded.
Yesterday was a shambles all round. Embarrassing. BUT let’s brush it under the carpet, because we’ll be better next week – apparently.
That’s exactly all we have seen / heard since hughes’ arrival.
Next time we’ll be better. Just never happens
Said it before but we need serious changes above the manager. To some extent I have sympathy for Rupp. He isn’t involved in the day to day running of the club & while, as reported by Ryan Sparks recently, he hasn’t had to invest anything into the club for the past 3 years, may be he needs to appoint someone who will tell him some home truths. Major investment is needed, if he isn’t interested he needs to put the club up for sale. Ryan Sparks can’t be allowed to chose yet another manager when Mark Hughes heads back into the football wilderness.
I thought he would have until Christmas, but expect he will be gone by the end of the transfer window.
Usual BCAFC rinse & repeat, but we need to clear out the decision makers before anything changes and progress is finally made at Valley Parade.
Why do people continually talk about ‘investment’ when any person with any slight knowledge of finance will point out that football clubs are a bottomless pit for money with absolutely no chance of making money unless you are one of a handful of Premier clubs, Dean Hyle, multi millionaire at Huddersfield , tried to resign and take the ten million plus that he had put into the club, out, some was loans most was simply direct cash, he had to get back involved as the board were ready to bankrupt the club, not ‘administration. simply bankrupt it!! There may, MAY be some mileage in a Director of football role, but, the jury is very much out on that idea, dosent that simply provide another excuse ?
Early days ,but having just seen Smallwood attempt at leading from the front {embrarassing} i would stripp him of the captaincy immediately,and look for a proper leader in the squad or bring in one in , and has for the rest including the management get it sorted!!.
“But the negatives (and there’s a very long list of them) were nothing new and certainly nothing that Mark Hughes should be surprised about. Post match comments like “it’s difficult to fathom where this performance came from” are more concerning to me than anything I saw on that pitch this afternoon.
But then again, that’s the main problem in itself. A large majority of the deficiencies within the squad and within the style of play have been cause for concern for well over a year. And yet nothing has changed.”
Adam that’s the perfect summation of how I felt last season and why I haven’t been to any games this season for the first time in decades. It was clear by Christmas last season that Hughes isn’t capable of dynamic changes, he doesn’t trust youngsters, he is far too conservative, he cannot recognise how predictable we are, he is a tactical dinosaur. Without exceptional seasons from Cook and Lewis he wouldn’t have even been to half
His strengths are probably on the whole his man-management (Jake Young saga aside 5 goal involvements this season is more than the total number of goals we have scored) and maybe a bit of reputational attraction to prospective signings. Neither of those are enough when young hungry managers are coming to VP and putting him to shame.
I disagree with the Gent criticism a little, Banks, Critchlow, Stubbs, Lewis, Kelly, Platt, Pattison all look good players, Halliday is goo dfor a L2 full back and the jury is out on Lewis Richards, Oudur and Oyegoke as its too early to make that decision.
The problem is the lack of clarity about what we want to do on the pitch.
Buying the statistically proven best arial attacker in the bottom two divisions (Oliver) but then not playing that way was bizarre. At the time you can write this off as a bit of transitional miscommunication in the early days, but its been three transfer windows and we still haven’t really seen balanced plan. A plethora of elderly signings in somewhat sum up or boring, turgid, defense-minded football and I strongly suspect the managers lack of faith in young players who might want to take risks and try and create things.
Hughes doesn’t seem to get this league…His whole philosophy is slow and turgid. Would Evans have got us up last year!?? 🤔 probably.
It would be interesting to know how the off season went, was Hughes very clear that this was the formation and the recruitment and budget has failed to deliver the players needed? Is he pissed off behind the scenes?
It’s hard for me to believe that Hughes ever intended to go into this season playing a back 3 with no recognised wing backs.
Without intending to favour either side of the debate interestingly MH’s win ratio is only just shy of 50%.
Paul, I don’t know where your getting your stats from but my stats for managing are career 37.6% and at Bradford City 39.7%.
Install McDonald as captain on Saturday, win our second home match v Crewe, beat Wrexham on penalties, and win our first away match at Mansfield and all is forgiven, unless that level of performance occurs again ! Over to Hughes and Hodges !
Worryingly, we don’t seem to have considered the possibility that the team might struggle with the 3 at the back, and given ourselves the fall back option of reverting to the familiarity of the 4-2-3-1; as the way I see it, we hardly have any wingers to be able to effectively play that formation.
It has been highlighted how the players crumble when it’s backs to the wall and things go wrong. Anyone else noticed how things turn toxic from the stands the moment it does go wrong? It can’t be much fun for the players and thoroughly demotivating to have the barracking. It doesn’t exactly help does it?
I’m all in favour of increasing the ticket prices threefold and cutting the crowd levels. Not only would it generate more money for signings but hopefully improve the atmosphere.
Oh we’re back to that its the fans fault for coming in their droves hahahaha
Hughes stops managing.
Cook stops scoring.
Lewis stops saving.
Smallwood gives up.
What hope have we got?
With regards Cook, Lewis and Smallwood I would imagine they are as confused and peed off as the fans.
From Hughes’ demeanour on Saturday (sat motionless in the dugout with arms folded and fixed facial impression), I guess he was thinking “it’ll be just my luck if Jake Young scores twice today and has two assists…….”
Hughes’s reference to the players needing to clear their heads rather suggests he’s given them Monday off. Some managers might have brought them in on Sunday!
Adams would certainly have had them in on Sunday.
I guess Hughes didn’t fancy the drive over on his day off.
It’s like deja vu on repeat if there is such a thing. Whilst it’s clear MH has pedigree, it’s not so clear at what level. His appointment certainly grabbed the headlines and from a commercial perspective I’m sure it arroused some interest from potential backers. Was this in Sparks thinking when he made the appointment? It was a big step into the unknown for MH and whilst I don’t doubt his enthusiasm and commitment to the cause the uninspiring start to the season is concerning. The fans are expecting we have a real go this season and if anything the current performances suggest we’ve gone backwards. In terms of Sparks, again I don’t doubt his enthusiasm and commitment but we shouldn’t forget some of his more gung ho moments like awarding McCall, Trueman and Sellers lengthy contracts at questionable times. Was appointing Hughes another gung ho moment? On the flip side he’s never shied away from pulling the trigger either. Recruitment like every year seems to be a point of contention, promise so much but delivery so little. And then there’s Smallwood, how does a championship captain become so ordinary? I can only assume he chose us over potential suitors higher up the league’s because of the size of the club, the fan base and ultimately he bought into what we’re trying to build. I don’t believe in scapegoats and he’s certainly not the only one in the average club but his reaction to the second goal at Morecambe wasn’t what you expect from your captain. Maybe he simply responds better to playing with better players! It’s still early days and we need to give it more time but the fact we’re having debates like this so early in the season doesn’t bode well.
I wonder if Wrexham fancy swapping managers?…🤞…they can have their fellow countryman & ‘local’ and we get ‘the master’ back?
Parky for Sparky…