I think many on here are forgetting that you have the likes of Hayden, Shelvey, Cork, Westwood, Milivojevic, MacArthur etc all starting at CM in the league. Grimes is good player and really set the tempo in a lot of Swansea’s games. Good range of passing. That said, Hughes has a lot more bite and defensive output than Grimes and even then I worry slightly that Hughes won’t be defensively good enough to play as a bottom half number 6, when we’ve got say 40% possession each week. Grimes would be even worse at that. I think need someone who’ll end the season with the most tackles and interceptions combined - like Capoue was, or thereabouts and neither of those players would.
Which mid-table PL side would Hughes start for, and in place of whom? He wasn't as good as Doucoure, who is knocking around starting at a mid-table side.
I would expect that tbh. Not many debutants start the first match. They have all been signed early at least.
I'll jump in. Newcastle, Palace, Burnley. Look at the players I just listed (Hayden, Shelvey, Cork, Westwood, Milivojevic, MacArthur) - would you be pleased if any of those signed for us and think "yes, a definite starter to improve our starting 11." I wouldn't.
Those players either have good players around them, or have had good seasons in the past, I wouldn't exactly be excited if we signed most of those players neither
Remember the Doucoure transfer saga last season where a lot of us were asking for Tom Davies in return?
Thing is though - as much as I agree with your broad point - those players (apart from Shelvey) are all steady unspectacular players. They do the exact job their managers want them to do and do it well. 7 out of 10 every week and they work very well for the systems their clubs play. Whilst Hughes may be a better technical footballer than many of them, I wouldn’t say it’s a given he walks into their teams ahead of them.
I like Hughes, he's had some decent games for us in the Prem. But has never had a decent run of playing well in his now favoured position (as second half of last season) in the top Division. I really don't know how he'd do there next season. However, we do know more about him than Thorsby - and has more Prem experience than him. Definitely need a couple of options in each midfield position. Guessing Etobo is more base of the midfield than Morten would be?
My question was which teams would Hughes start for, not who would "improve our starting 11". Hayden and Cork aren't first choice at their clubs. Westwood - not sure Hughes would replace him. Dyche is very demanding and Hughes might be a bit lightweight for Burnley. Milivojevic has been very good for Palace over the years. He's a tough opponent. He's also their captain. MacArthur - maybe. But MacArthur still works his nuts off and wins loads of tackles. Shelvey - is similar to Hughes, but better. His passing is so far beyond Hughes'.
Davies is not first choice at Everton. Gomes plays in a different role and it's also debatable if he's first choice. He's a better player than Hughes anyway, even if they're both very ineffective.
Hughes has done the exact same thing for us no? Played wide for Silva and Javi, was arguably the best midfielder under Pearson, and was the best midfielder (to me, if you wanna say Cleverley I can’t argue) under Xisco as well. I also agree he starts for Everton - Andre Gomes is the worst midfielder in the league
I’ve seen a lot of asking about Yokuslu as well, whilst he was good for 10 games for West Brom; he’s been toilet the two seasons prior
I don’t disagree. But the point was that he would take the place of those names listed. Most of those names listed are unfashionable players who do a decent job for their clubs. Not saying he wouldn’t get in those teams. He may well do. But it was suggested that he certainly would and that’s certainly open to debate.
Cork maybe isn’t a starter but Hayden started more than half of Newcastle’s games last season. I don’t think Shelvey is better than Hughes even though once a game he plays a classy long ball. I think comparing players can be tricky. Hughes wouldn’t get into any of their teams but none of those players would get into ours over Hughes as naturally managers prefer players they trust.
There was a lot of rather justified desperation at the time, and seeing some of our midfield performances last season (especially early on in the season), it's not hard to imagine even a bang average Prem player like Davies improving us at the time!
At our level of revenue, we need to have a team of solid performers at ~7 positions and hope for impactful ones at the rest. So while I agree that Hughes is at best a solid but not spectacular player, that's all we can afford. Barely.
Hed have been a decent enough championship midfield to be fair - no worse than Garner, Golsing, Sanchez etc. But he would have been a deal sweetener not the deal itself.
He very much lives on his reputation as a youngster. Yeah, he can ping a pass, but not sure what else he offers. It's mostly lazy pundits who still rate him. The likes of Souness, who said Zaha should be playing for Real Madrid or Barcelona.
This thread has gone to ****. 2 pages of talking about players I've never heard of and comparing their relative merits, without a single pun. Disgrace.
Still rumours in the Italian press that the deal for him to move to Watford is nearly done. Makes me think he’s going to be another gift to Udinese given Giaretta’s comments.
That would take some mental financial gymnastics! We, to all appearances, have little money. But what we do have, we will spend on a player to give to Udinese. After taking out a loan because they haven’t paid us for other players we gave to them. Even the biggest of Pozzo apologists would have a hard time waving that one through!
I can't see him going to Udinese. He's the type of player we sorely lack in the middle of the park. As I said before his passing isn't the best but he makes up for that in so many ways. A real battling midfielder who is very good in the air. We need this attribute in both boxes and when we come under fire.
Some of our fans are happy with the Pussetto extraction, so you can’t blame the owner for treating them with contempt. Scott and Gino do their business properly.
