I mean, I'm only putting this here for a laugh ok? Hughes to Fulham is a nice tenuous rumour for you.
I like Hughes and think we should be doing all we can to keep him. I don't agree with the statement in bold though. He was good. But there were a few who were better (arguably one at our own club!) and a few who were on a par with him too.
Are you talking about Chalobah, because he was average in the first half of the season when Hughes wasn't around. Chalobah, now I wonder why this forum isn't currently in meltdown at the prospect of him leaving, he's in the same boat as Hughes!
He's good, hardly irreplaceable though IMO. One of those too good for Championship, average in Prem. Doesn't score or assist enough for a player of his technical skill, really slow and falls over a lot too. Be a shame if he went for less than we got him for though, that's bad business.
Hughes is better than James Ward Prowse? Haha!!! I'd take JWP just for his durability alone! That's before we get into the other stuff.
Number 41 in the Prem, even Capoue won more whilst being a titan. Even Lerma won 29! https://eurofootballrumours.com/top...emier-league-season-2019-20-15-06-2020-18933/
So the fact that he's above some Bournemouth players doesn't tell you he's good at buying free kicks?
I am curious as to who you think was superior both at Watford and elsewhere in the Championship. I think Josh Dasilva at Brentford is better than Hughes, but he was injured the second half of the season. Maybe Oli Skipp at Norwich or Mowatt at Barnsley are arguable shouts too (although the latter, like JWP offers more from dead ball situations than open play).
You can tell JWP outperforms the others at the majority of the stats by looking at the rough ratio between minutes and the stats, but they really should show this on the table to make it clearer. It looks like JWP has the best goal, assist, pass, touch, cross, dispossession and aerial duels stats, per minute played. Then there's the fact he plays almost every minute of the season, has lots of PL experience, is captain material and has excellent work rate. He would be a top quality addition to our team.
Skipp and Mowatt I’d say were better. I think Chalobah was also better in the second half of the season. I’m not downplaying Hughes - I just don’t think he was obviously the best CM in the division over that period of time. As Sinatra says above, he’s a good player. But he’s not irreplaceable. I just don’t think he does enough well consistently to warrant that kind of tag. I think he’s got more ability than he shows - is that because of our limitations as a team? Perhaps. I think he could go on to be a very good player…I just have my doubts about whether he can do that with us.
If Will Hughes goes to Fulham to play in The Championship I would lose all respect for him. We should just give him a deadline and if he don't make his mind up by then tell him to find another club. I like Hughes but he is nothing special in the Premier league and we should be able to replace him.
I think he was well clear of Chalobah, personally and was far more pivotal to the side during this period. Chalobah had a couple of really good performances but was one of the most criticised players on here for much of the season. I disagreed with that criticism but there is a reason why many thought Hughes was wronged in not being put in the team of the season and Chalobah didn't even come into the discussion. Skipp and Mowatt I can understand a little more - they merit to be in the discussion - but I do personally think it is very reasonable to argue that Hughes was the best CM in the division during this period, though maybe I should have caveated what I said with "in my opinion." I, for one, would much rather have him playing the role we played him in than either Skipp or Mowatt.
Would definitely agree that Hughes was the best CM in the Champ from the time Xisco actually started playing him in his position. Can go unappreciated in the role he does but he was crucial to us and barely put a toe wrong.
I know it’s weird but the hardly putting a toe wrong is slightly my issue with him. It’s very safe. How often does he take a game completely by the scruff of the neck? Run it for us? Win it for us? I get his role became CDM last season so it wasn’t his job to do that but I feel like Capoue did, Doucoure on the odd occasion did, Abdi did, I’m yet to see that often enough from Hughes despite his obvious talents. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
He does run games imo. He was dropping deep to get the ball from the centre backs, ordering other players around in front of him, deciding how this attack should start and and was the springboard for every attack. It’s a lazy comparison to draw but he did look like the quarterback in an American football team. It all started with him and the picture he had in his mind.
Having a solid man at the 6 is huge. It calms everybody down, frees up the 8 to get forward more and opens up the opposition. We need a couple of good options there. I'd prefer if Hughes were one of them, although athletically it will be tougher for him in the Prem. Give him a decent wage Gino (3-4 year deal), with some healthy bonuses based on staying up and league position, a relegation clause and a release clause. That should do the trick.
He often falls over to try and buy free-kicks in a desperate attempt to cover for him losing or nearly losing the ball, as he is often too slow and weak to evade his marker.
Except his passing range is pretty limited, as is partly demonstrated by his mediocre assist and key passing numbers. He generally plays simple, safe passes and only occasionally finds a killer ball.
This is my problem with him. He was our best player in our last PL season - but that was mainly because he ran around more than the others and generally looked like he cared whereas others made it evident they didn’t. But it was never game-winning stuff. That’s not his fault though. I just think he’s a neat and tidy player and will likely go on at some point and play for a slightly bigger club who will make him a bit more neat and tidy. But I think there’s a player in there who has the same characteristics as Gerrard or Lampard (obviously not on their level) - but he rarely ever shows it. And just falls back into being safe, neat and tidy. I have always thought a percentage of our fanbase go OTT on him to be honest. But I suspect a large part of that is because of his potential to do more than he shows.
The role of the DM (particularly in the role Hughes was played in last season) isn't to find the killer ball. It's to win the ball from the opposition or receive it from the CBs and progress it, mostly to the two 8s or the full backs. How his lack of assists evidences a lack of passing range I don't know. Capoue probably had the best passing range of any Watford midfielder I've watched during my lifetime - he had 8 assists in 181 games for us which is fine because it is quite simply not his job or that of Hughes when playing DM to lay on assists. Would you say that Jorginho is lacking in passing range because he only has 3 assists across his 3 PL seasons?
I just wanted to add this re both my claim about Hughes being the best midfielder in the Championship for the second half of the season and re the fact that he performs his role very well. This is by Liam Henshaw on Twitter (a really great account to follow and a great viz). Hughes one of only players to be above the 75th percentile in ball retention, ball progression and ball winning. Bielik only paid 1000 minutes and then had a season-ending injury. Surprising perhaps to see Hogg but the players featured in the overlaps of the Venn Diagram (Billing, Grimes, Cook, Dasilva, Cleverley) show that its a pretty helpful visualiation. I wonder if people are not giving Hughes the credit he deserves in conscious/subconscious preparation/fear of his departure.
I don’t think it’s a case of people not giving him the credit, I think it’s two things, 1: Those are championship stats, there is no doubt he performed well in the championship, just like he did with Derby before we bought him, but we’re now in the PL and if he goes there is no reason we can’t replace what is effectively a top championship midfielder with a competent PL one. 2: There have been some pretty hyperbolic statements on this thread about him, like the England team need him or he’s better than some current England internationals. I think the vast majority of us rate him and want him to stay, but statements like that are always going to polarise opinion and draw out criticism, even though none of us are actually at all unhappy with him, or want him to leave.
I agree with your latter point - England clearly don't need him (although it isn't that difficult to see a good run of form resulting in and injuries to others resulting in him becoming the 5th choice CM in an England squad as happened to Chalobah a few years ago). With regard to your first point though, he was probably our best CM in the PL in 19/20, better than Doucoure and Capoue. Surely that renders him "a competent PL midfielder?" Hughes isn't someone like, say, Jordan Rhodes who could never handle the step up and sits between the leagues in quality. He was decent for us in the PL and showed his class in the Championship when we got relegated.
Chalobah was immense during the run-in. Hughes is essentially the definition of neat and tidy. I like him as a player, but I think he’s about reached his ceiling at this point.
I like Hughesy but he's hardly irreplaceable. If he doesn't want to sign he can go and the sooner the better. Lewis O'Brien at Huddersfield I do like the look of. He's a gamble I'd like us to be looking at. Has a great engine and really gets stuck in.