[SOLD] Will Hughes

And always was, and he always will be unless he finds an Irish Granny, just most didnt realise till they took off their rose tinted spec

 

Hughes is a good player who immediately became gash when he left. Glad he's rotting on Palace's bench.

 

Like a frequently spurned lover, we continue to obsess about our exes.

 

Now that we have Ranieri in and now that we're not doing that badly...maybe he is starting to regret his move

 

I think it's fair to say Sissoko is better than Hughes ever was for us, although I don't know how much that compensates given that Tufan, Louza, Kucka and Etebo have all either picked up injuries or have been very inconsistent

 

is it?

 

Agree Sissoko, he’s clearly significantly better. I’d say Etebo was a lot better based on what we saw, it’s not his fault he was injured and whose to say Hughes wouldn’t have got injured if he’d been playing for us. The other three, the evidence so far is that Hughes is better than them, that said I’d give all of them a higher ceiling than Hughes. Kucka has shown he can play at a higher level than Hughes, unfortunately he’s old and he can’t play at a higher level than him in a number of games, but every now and then he performs to a higher ceiling than we ever saw from Hughes. Louza and Tufan have the potential, Louza probably has a lot more potential than Tufan.

 

Etebo, Sissoko, Louza > Hughes
imho

 

Hughes had a great end to 19/20 in lockdown, but apart from that, he was serviceable for us in the Prem, before that, he wasn't even an automatic pick in the team, sometimes below Chalobah in the pecking order

 

Yep

 

Yeah, I get that. But I wouldn’t say Sissoko has been better than Hughes ever was. Hughes would be starting for us now, he was very good for us. I wouldn’t start saying all our midfielders are better than Hughes after a dominating performance over one of the worst coached teams in the league. The midfield is still a huge issue and Hughes would do a lot to solve that

 

He stood out in a team that was relegated because the higher quality players around him gave up.

 

Sissoko, and if fit Etebo, would both be ahead of him. Kucka has also put in some performances above what I'd expect from Hughes, even though he does swing from solid to poor game to game due to his age and fitness.

Would you also put Hughes ahead of your favourite Louza?

Hughes was at least a level below Capoue and Doucoure, and as such was never going to be good enough to be a regular in a team with serious aspirations for PL survival.

I said when he left that "he won't improve Palace" and it's no surprise at all that he's not featured for them, he's just not up to it. Plus I trust that Vieira knows a decent (or crap) CM when he sees one and if he has zero faith in him then it's telling.

 

Yep, and he was still at least as crap as the rest of them in our relegation season until Pearson took over.

People were wondering in our relegation season (and then early in the Champ with Capoue) whether Doucoure and Capoue had both somehow lost it, but it's no coincidence that since leaving Capoue has starred while winning the Europa League and done well in the Champion's League, and Doucoure has been one of Everton's best players, while Hughes can't get a single minute at Palace.

 

Hughes is better than all our midfielders bar Sissoko, and what do you mean he was never going to be a regular in a team with serious aspirations for PL survival? He started 31 games when we finished 11th? And do you think Palace are potentially paying £10m for someone who’s not good enough? Or do you think it’s cos he had no pre season and picked up a back injury, and Vieira wants to be patient with him?

 

I think people forget what Hughes offered to the team - here's his radars in the relegation season compared to our midfielders so far this season (although careful of the sample size on Etebo + Louzas!). He was basically a much more mobile version of Kucka.

 

Just as I suspected, Louza is a generational talent and we're lucky to have him.

 

Very interesting to see how few 'pressures' Sissoko engages in, given how all-action and great he is.

 

That’s because his pressure can’t be quantified by stats. His presence alone in the vague vicinity of the ball carrier, is enough to incite terror, indecision, and hurried release of the ball.

 

I'm not sure it is to be fair and have played well the last couple of games. The issues are somewhere else which is fairly obvious

 

They’ve played well against two teams who have been under-performing massively all season — whether that’s down to coaching or personnel in United/Leicesters case. The midfield still isn’t good, it’s just been better with a coach who knows how to structure a team

 

They maybe underperforming but they still have a lot of talent. Utd have since won in the CL and drawn at Chelsea. I think the midfield is good enough, it's the defence that will relegate us

 

The midfield isn’t good enough without a proper defensive minded player in there. All our CM’s do a variation of the same job really - sure we need new defenders. But those new defenders also need an ally protecting them in CM.

 

To be fair, he does tend to block off the spaces the oppo players would like to progress the ball through, so while he is not actively 'pressing' he is contributing to the overall pressing game.

 

I like to give people their 'Star Wars' name, which basically entails swapping the first letter/sound of their first name with the first letter/sound of their second, and vice versa.

When you do this with Will, it produces 'Hill Wughes'.

One of the least effective Star Wars names that I've encountered so far, to be honest.

 

I suspect Louza was supposed to be that player. In fairness he's looked better in the last two games so hopefully he's settling in now

 

He looks better as a centre circle playmaker type - I’m not sure he’s the out and out ball winner we need though.

 

Ouck Fff! (It's a wookie name).

 

He’s about to come on for the last 15 mins or so against Leeds.

 

Apparently Palace pay us 50k every time Hughes is too slow to catch someone so grabs their arm and hangs on. The £10m we'll be getting from this will be used to extend the contracts of every defender at the club.

 

So what you're saying is that Agent Hughes still loves us so much he's purposefully spending as little time as humanly possible on the pitch?

 

Bring him home Gino and make sure his agent gets a nice big bonus.

 

Christ almighty he is starting a game. What has the world come to?

 

Getting into the Palace team just in time to dominate us and give the Rookery the finger next weekend.

Wouldn't have it any other way.