da realsbet： One particular statistic stood out for me as I perused my Sunday newspaper this weekend – the fact that as a Premiership manager, Mark Hughes has now drawn 16 of his last 24 league games in charge, which includes both his spells at previous employers Man City and his current employers Fulham, a side which look more and more likely to be dragged into a relegation dogfight this term.
da fezbet： Of course, the above statement may come back to haunt me as the season progresses, as with the league being astoundingly tight at present, only 5 points separate 17th from 5th and the old adage that ‘the league begins to sort itself out after 10 games’ seems to have come a cropper so far this term. In short, this season has become predictable only in its unpredictability.
Many felt Hughes was dealt a raw deal by Man City, and while I agree that his sacking was outrageous and that his successor Roberto Mancini has done little but add unnecessary caution at every turn during his spell in charge thus far, Hughes’s side weren’t delivering the goods on the pitch at the time of his dismissal, but that’s a discussion for another time.
Unbeaten runs in football can take a funny old turn, sometimes largely dependent on just one result. It’s all about how you spin it. Take Man United for example, they are unbeaten since their April Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich, but so far this term they have drawn 6 of their 7 away fixtures, hardly the a record to be proud of. Well Mark Hughes Man City side had, towards the end of his tenure, drawn 7 successive league fixtures which included a run of only 2 wins in 11.
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The reason given for Hughes’ sacking was that he wasn’t on course to make the 70 point mark predicted of him at the beginning of the season. What made this point prediction only seemingly more ludicrous was that with a somewhat easier fixture list, certainly at the start at least, and with half a season to play with, Mancini still fell some 3 points short on 67 points.
At Fulham, Hughes can be credited with the astute signings of Moussa Dembele and Carlos Salcido, two players that have slotted in seamlessly and to good effect thus far. But is the current spate of draws that threatens to hamper Fulham’s progress this season merely a coincidence or is it down in part to their manager?
So far this season, Fulham have played 13, drawn 8, won 2 and lost 3 and their goal difference is at 0 as they average a goal for and a goal against each game. They also started the season with 4 draws out of their first five fixtures in games away to Bolton, Blackpool and Blackburn and at home to Man Utd and Wolves.
A lot of this I would say though, has been down to bad luck. The injury to Bobby Zamora was crucial and he’s key to the way they play their football. Fulham under Hughes haven’t changed their style too much to that under Roy Hodgson. They still like to play the ball on the floor, through the middle and work off a lone front man up top.
Individual defensive errors, namely in the shape of own goals, that player who did so well for Man Utd last season, have proved costly and their away form is, as always will be, been dreadful to say the least. I remember various statistics being bandied about the atrociousness of Fulham’s away form back when Chris Coleman was in charge.
It certainly didn’t get any better under the seriously out of his depth Lawrie Sanchez, under Roy Hodgson and so far Mark Hughes, who has picked up five of his seven draws away from home this term, a run which means that Fulham have not tasted an away victory since the opening day of last season against the circus that is Portsmouth football club.
As I conceded right at the beginning of this article, with the league anything but set in stone at the minute, Fulham could just quite as easily move into the top 8 with a couple of decent results in their next two games both at home to Man City and Birmingham and maybe even their away game to Arsenal. It would be premature to set Hughes a points total to achieve in these three fixtures, let alone the season, but hopefully if one is set, he’ll fare better than he did with the Abu Dhabi Group’s predictions.
A win against his former employers next Sunday could not come at a better time for him, and rather ironically as his successor Roberto Mancini fails to live up to what’s expected of him, a worse time for his opposite number.
Written By James McManus
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