Will Hughes Watch

[Mostyn6]

not sure how anyone can say we kept Hughes too long! Ludicrous nonsense. We never, and I repeat NEVER saw him as a the finished article. He was a kid, then he was injured, then he was struggling- but still learning, then he left.

He is still not the finished article.

It's like chopping a tree down when it's still a sapling and then saying we let it grow too big! absolute bull-sausage.

[SIWY]

I can definitely see Hughes making the World Cup squad if he can stay injury free until the end of the season. He was excellent yesterday and given that Southgate has been giving plenty of call-ups to players from the summer's U21 Euro squad I wouldn't be surprised to see him in the next England squad (whenever that will be). I just fear that when it actually comes to the tournament Southgate will bottle and pick the same faces that fail every tournament ahead of the youth that have done so well, such as Hughes, Loftus-Cheek etc... 

[Spanish]

1 hour ago, Moist One said:

not sure how anyone can say we kept Hughes too long! Ludicrous nonsense. We never, and I repeat NEVER saw him as a the finished article. He was a kid, then he was injured, then he was struggling- but still learning, then he left.

He is still not the finished article.

It's like chopping a tree down when it's still a sapling and then saying we let it grow too big! absolute bull-sausage.

Watford needed 3 months to train him to a standard or get his fitness up to the required level.  Says a lot really

[AndyinLiverpool]

9 hours ago, Alpha said:

Watford did. He's playing in the Premier League and has been to international U21 tournaments. Bizarre for an ordinary championship player

He was injured for 1 season.

We could improve or we could get worse. A team is a machine that has so many moving parts. 

Well for starters it brings out the best in others. Releasing the ball at the right time and to the right man. Only a tiny % of a football match is made up of goals, assists and tackles. I think Maldini has a famous quote about tackling? But as a defender a tackle is the last thing. First comes the jockeying to position. The holding up. The pressure to send the ball where you want them to send it. A tackle comes last when you're odds are favourable or the situation is desperate. 

Hughes can and always has been able to tackle. How have you not seen him do it? 

I'd be interested to get your take on the likes of Yaya Toure, Luka Modric, Iniesta and Xavi. Great players who are known for their creativity yet rarely assist or score. 

I mean an assist is total joke of a stat anyway. It's near on useless to assess the creativity of a player. It's so flawed.

Like I said. A tiny % of the game is made up of goals, assists and tackles. 

Indeed. What counts as an 'assist' anyway? The last teammate to touch the ball before the scorer? 

Player A wins the ball. His turn and run beat 2 opponents and draw another out of position. He lays off a perfect pass to Player B, whose pathetically miscued shot goes straight to Player C, who puts it into the net. Player B is 'credited' by statisticians with the assist. Ludicrous.

When someone hits the post with a penalty and the rebound is put in by a teammate, does the taker get an 'assist'?

Let ice hockey do whatever it wants but in football, you can't reduce someone's contribution to a series of figures.

[brady1993]

9 hours ago, Alpha said:

I remember this argument a few years back and I had a quick look at the assist standings for that season. It was midseason at the time and Paul Anderson at Ipswich had more than double the assists of David Silva, Iniesta, Toure. And none had scored more than a couple of goals.

Anderson was taking corners and free kicks. 

To truly see how creative a player is you would have to see their complete involvement to the build up of every chance. Then evaluate the quality of the chance created. I mean I could pass to you and you could shoot from 40 yards into the top corner. I get an assist. Or I beat 5 players, give you an open goal and you miss... no assist. 

How many times does Hughes assist the assist? 

It's b******* stat. Almost completely useless. It kind of implies that football is like some turn based shooting game. Where each player is free to do their thing. 

I almost completely agree with you but I wouldn't say it is an entirely useless stat. I think the problem is people's interpretation of it. 

Assists should be just looked as an indicator of creativity alongside other stats and actually watching what the player does on the pitch. However the 'assists' stat often gets used as the sole marker of a player's creativity which is clearly flawed.

 

[brady1993]

10 hours ago, BondJovi said:

We got more years out of Hughes than we should. Better suited to Prem football, got no issue with us letting him go and fulfil his potential. Hope this is the start of an excellent top flight career. A complete waste of time using this as something to attack Rowett with.

Well I mean this just isn't true and I think it's a perfectly reasonable issue to question Rowett over. 

Rowett sold off a hugely talented young player, who was arguably the best player in the squad, for well below market value, at a bad time to sell, to the first bidder. 

It's not so much that Rowett sold Hughes that irks people so much (although it still stings), it's that he seemed eager to shove out of the door for whatever price he could get. I think there would be little complaining if he tried to keep hold until the bidding got to a point where the price was too good but £4.5m is a far far cry from that.

 

[Wolfie20]

50 minutes ago, brady1993 said:

Well I mean this just isn't true and I think it's a perfectly reasonable issue to question Rowett over. 

Rowett sold off a hugely talented young player, who was arguably the best player in the squad, for well below market value, at a bad time to sell, to the first bidder. 

It's not so much that Rowett sold Hughes that irks people so much (although it still stings), it's that he seemed eager to shove out of the door for whatever price he could get. I think there would be little complaining if he tried to keep hold until the bidding got to a point where the price was too good but £4.5m is a far far cry from that.

 

This is what gets me with some fans. Those wanting to have a further dig at Rowett say the fee was £4.5m, the BBC are quoting £8m - truth is it could be either or somewhere in between. Will may or may not have wanted to go but it seems obvious that Watford were the only club to show serious interest in him so not sure how significant that is. I wanted him to stay and would have kept him but that's by the by.

Whatever it was, we sold our most talented player for years, most likely because the manager didn't see him fitting into the style / system he was wanting to work to. Time will tell whether that was a good or bad decision - Rowett has been in the job for less than a season and it's only right and proper to stick with him at least until well into next season. No more of the managerial merrygoround at my club please.

[Sir Ramalot]

10 hours ago, rynny said:

Said to @angieram, the person that goes home and away and to most of the under 23 games?

And your point??.... oh yes there isn’t a clear one just a cryptic statement about how many games people go to?.... random and pointless

[cannable]

1 hour ago, Wolfie20 said:

This is what gets me with some fans. Those wanting to have a further dig at Rowett say the fee was £4.5m, the BBC are quoting £8m - truth is it could be either or somewhere in between.

I think the club and Rowett have been discussing profits from player sales the maths sees £5m as the correct fee for Hughes.

[cannable]

58 minutes ago, Sir Ramalot said:

And your point??.... oh yes there isn’t a clear one just a cryptic statement about how many games people go to?.... random and pointless

Not sure if trolling...

[rynny]

1 hour ago, Sir Ramalot said:

And your point??.... oh yes there isn’t a clear one just a cryptic statement about how many games people go to?.... random and pointless

So what was your original point? You said to angie that she should probably follow the current crop as more relevant. My point was you could not have said that to someone who follows the current crop more closely.

[Sir Ramalot]

3 hours ago, rynny said:

So what was your original point? You said to angie that she should probably follow the current crop as more relevant. My point was you could not have said that to someone who follows the current crop more closely.

Was literally stating why bother following?

[rynny]

16 minutes ago, Sir Ramalot said:

Was literally stating why bother following?

Why bother following what? Hughes' career? Maybe because want to see him do well, play at the highest level and having watched him from a 15/16 year old it will be nice to see how he developa further. Same as when Huddlestone left. It hasn't been something that happens very often, a youth player from Derby going on to play in the top league and hopefully England.

[Mr Tibbs]

Why do people get upset when others like to follow ex players? Football fan in following ex Derby County footballer shocker. 

Is it any more obsessive than looking out for the Forest score? Or your local non league side? It takes about 2 minutes out of 1440 available per day, such an odd concept to call people out for it. 

[Wolfie20]

6 hours ago, cannable said:

I think the club and Rowett have been discussing profits from player sales the maths sees £5m as the correct fee for Hughes.

What actual facts have you used to come to the conclusion that £5m was the fee - hopefully not from tittle tattle found on forums I hope? I'm quite sure that discussions took place but haven't seen any statement from any official of the club to confirm the content of those discussions.

[PodgeyRam]

9 minutes ago, Wolfie20 said:

What actual facts have you used to come to the conclusion that £5m was the fee - hopefully not from tittle tattle found on forums I hope? I'm quite sure that discussions took place but haven't seen any statement from any official of the club to confirm the content of those discussions.

I seem to remember it being widely reported at the time that the fee was £5 million, rising to £8 million with add-ons. Unfortunately, none of us knows what those add-ons are and how easily Hughes might achieve them. 

[Wolfie20]

7 minutes ago, PodgeyRam said:

I seem to remember it being widely reported at the time that the fee was £5 million, rising to £8 million with add-ons. Unfortunately, none of us knows what those add-ons are and how easily Hughes might achieve them. 

True but unfortunately these days various media outlets report "our sources tell us" this or "we understand" that when for much of the time they are just picking out stuff off the likes of Twitter. It fills air time or newspaper pages without any direct comeback on them if it's a load of old twaddle.

[Watford Fan]

Hi.....I'm a Watford supporter, but just wanted to give you guys an update on Will Hughes.

He made his debut against Bristol City in the league cup, but looked really lightweight. That surprised me as it was against a level of team he was used to playing against. 

Since then he just disappeared and has not been seen again until a brief substitute appearance against Stoke a couple of weeks ago. Following that he made his full debut at Everton, then played last night against West Ham.

In those last two games he has transformed. He ran the match at Everton and was MotM against West Ham. Scored a good goal and an assist. He was everywhere on the pitch. 

You can trust him with the ball in tight spaces, which is vital in the Prem. He's intelligent and moves the ball quickly.

After an initial bad start, he was taken away from the first team, and the coaches have worked very hard with him. Silva has worked wonders and he's come back like a new player. 

Watford's midfield is probably our strongest area. Cleverley, Chalobah, Doucoure, Pereyra, Capoue and Watson. It's a big ask for him to nail down a first team starting place, but going on last night he's a wonderful player and is well suited to the Premier League.

Btw, how are Vydra and Anya getting on?

[RadioactiveWaste]

44 minutes ago, Watford Fan said:

Hi.....I'm a Watford supporter, but just wanted to give you guys an update on Will Hughes.

He made his debut against Bristol City in the league cup, but looked really lightweight. That surprised me as it was against a level of team he was used to playing against. 

Since then he just disappeared and has not been seen again until a brief substitute appearance against Stoke a couple of weeks ago. Following that he made his full debut at Everton, then played last night against West Ham.

In those last two games he has transformed. He ran the match at Everton and was MotM against West Ham. Scored a good goal and an assist. He was everywhere on the pitch. 

You can trust him with the ball in tight spaces, which is vital in the Prem. He's intelligent and moves the ball quickly.

After an initial bad start, he was taken away from the first team, and the coaches have worked very hard with him. Silva has worked wonders and he's come back like a new player. 

Watford's midfield is probably our strongest area. Cleverley, Chalobah, Doucoure, Pereyra, Capoue and Watson. It's a big ask for him to nail down a first team starting place, but going on last night he's a wonderful player and is well suited to the Premier League.

Btw, how are Vydra and Anya getting on?

After a terrible season of abuse and misuse last season (lets not get into it) Vydra is sharp and getting goals played in a role that suits him. He's the finisher and threat in the box, works well with Dave Nugent.

After a terrible season of abuse and misuse, wee Iketchi has dropped off the face of the earth! Apparently not in rowetts plans at all, kept getting lots of niggly injuries last season and just never looked the player id always been a bit fond of for Watford and Scotland.

[ilkleyram]

On 19/11/2017 at 22:00, uttoxram75 said:

Hi Mr. Pulis, hows it going at West Brom? 

 

Hi Mr Utch, West Bromwich who? ?