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Far from gelling, the team actually seems to be getting worse, today's performance being much poorer than against Reading and that itself being disappointing after the strong showing against Spurs.
I'm not one of these hot heads calling for Hughes to go and nor will I for a long time to come, but am starting to think his decisions have cost us this season, notably his negative formation against Swansea and his inexplicable selection this evening.
PARK: surely Hughes saw against Reading that Park cannot play on the left of midfield? Why did Hughes not learn from that? Why did he wait so long to change it? Half way through the first half when we were being run ragged he cd have switched Park to his favoured right wing and put SWP left. Nor does he lack quality alternatives on the left - when Adel and Hoillet finally got on they transformed the game. I fear that Hughes is destroying what little must remain of Park's confidence because at the moment this is a player not at the races who is only in the team on reputation. And why have him as captain when he offers absolutely no leadership, being so very quiet. Have any of you, even once, seen Park shout or gesticulate at a team-mate, because I haven't?
FAURLIN: was getting a lot of abuse around me but am I alone in thinking he just wasn't fit? OK, so he is never the fastest but he was yards slower tonight. Why is Hughes insisting he play 90 mins of every game when he has been out for six months? He cd have easily rested him against Reading and kept him fresh for the match that really mattered, tonight. And if it was only apparent during the match that Faurlin wasn't fit, why is Hughes so slow to switch it - Park cd have come in from the left for instance and played centre. He couldn't have done much worse there than out wide.
DIAKITE: he is clearly a bit unbalanced but we need him back badly because for the ten minutes he was playing he had a dynamism that Granero and Faurlin on their own don't quite have.
ADEL: Surely tonight he showed to all those so-called fans who almost seem to enjoy it when he has a bad game that he is head and shoulders our most creative player. He was made the scapegoat for the Swansea debacle by Hughes but actually I think the main problem there was Sparky's tactics, playing the midfield so deep. West Ham from being totally dominant looked terrified the moment he arrived and always found a yard of space. One pass to Cisse was sublime.
DEFENCE: Mbia cd turn out to be a good player but v early signs are he is not the finished article for a prem centre half. Given the amount of goals we conceded last season and the view of just about every commentator and fan that what we needed above all was a commanding centre back why was that problem never adequately addressed in the summer? To think we refused to pay the wages of Alex yet we are paying Rob Green £50,000 a week to sit on the bench. I fully accept Sparky has been v unlucky with injuries but even putting that to one side do we really have a good prem standard centre half at the club? I love the never say die mentality of Hill and Nelson but neither are quite good enough. Our defending the last three games has been Keystone Cops at times, with 6 goals conceded at home in two games against two of the poorest teams we will face all season. Again Sparky has to take some of the blame for not addressing this obvious flaw properly in the transfer window.
This is not intended as a "Hughes out" rant - we have established a massive Hughes infrastructure at every level of the club now. To sack him wd cost a fortune. Harry wd just want another revolving door of transfers when what we need is stability. And him aside I can't think of a single other manager we cd get who wd have anything like the CV of Hughes.
But all that said I think Hughes does have some questions to answer for. If Warnock had made some of the above decisions a lot of fans wd be saying he was out of his depth. Yet I get the impression that Hughes is flailing around a bit, making substitutions in successive games as soon as fans start getting on his back. Too early to panic but not too early to worry.
I'm not one of these hot heads calling for Hughes to go and nor will I for a long time to come, but am starting to think his decisions have cost us this season, notably his negative formation against Swansea and his inexplicable selection this evening.
PARK: surely Hughes saw against Reading that Park cannot play on the left of midfield? Why did Hughes not learn from that? Why did he wait so long to change it? Half way through the first half when we were being run ragged he cd have switched Park to his favoured right wing and put SWP left. Nor does he lack quality alternatives on the left - when Adel and Hoillet finally got on they transformed the game. I fear that Hughes is destroying what little must remain of Park's confidence because at the moment this is a player not at the races who is only in the team on reputation. And why have him as captain when he offers absolutely no leadership, being so very quiet. Have any of you, even once, seen Park shout or gesticulate at a team-mate, because I haven't?
FAURLIN: was getting a lot of abuse around me but am I alone in thinking he just wasn't fit? OK, so he is never the fastest but he was yards slower tonight. Why is Hughes insisting he play 90 mins of every game when he has been out for six months? He cd have easily rested him against Reading and kept him fresh for the match that really mattered, tonight. And if it was only apparent during the match that Faurlin wasn't fit, why is Hughes so slow to switch it - Park cd have come in from the left for instance and played centre. He couldn't have done much worse there than out wide.
DIAKITE: he is clearly a bit unbalanced but we need him back badly because for the ten minutes he was playing he had a dynamism that Granero and Faurlin on their own don't quite have.
ADEL: Surely tonight he showed to all those so-called fans who almost seem to enjoy it when he has a bad game that he is head and shoulders our most creative player. He was made the scapegoat for the Swansea debacle by Hughes but actually I think the main problem there was Sparky's tactics, playing the midfield so deep. West Ham from being totally dominant looked terrified the moment he arrived and always found a yard of space. One pass to Cisse was sublime.
DEFENCE: Mbia cd turn out to be a good player but v early signs are he is not the finished article for a prem centre half. Given the amount of goals we conceded last season and the view of just about every commentator and fan that what we needed above all was a commanding centre back why was that problem never adequately addressed in the summer? To think we refused to pay the wages of Alex yet we are paying Rob Green £50,000 a week to sit on the bench. I fully accept Sparky has been v unlucky with injuries but even putting that to one side do we really have a good prem standard centre half at the club? I love the never say die mentality of Hill and Nelson but neither are quite good enough. Our defending the last three games has been Keystone Cops at times, with 6 goals conceded at home in two games against two of the poorest teams we will face all season. Again Sparky has to take some of the blame for not addressing this obvious flaw properly in the transfer window.
This is not intended as a "Hughes out" rant - we have established a massive Hughes infrastructure at every level of the club now. To sack him wd cost a fortune. Harry wd just want another revolving door of transfers when what we need is stability. And him aside I can't think of a single other manager we cd get who wd have anything like the CV of Hughes.
But all that said I think Hughes does have some questions to answer for. If Warnock had made some of the above decisions a lot of fans wd be saying he was out of his depth. Yet I get the impression that Hughes is flailing around a bit, making substitutions in successive games as soon as fans start getting on his back. Too early to panic but not too early to worry.
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