Aaron Hughes

[n i k o]

That was always one of the reasons for his criticism. In comparison to Kisnorbomhe does seem more mobile but that's pointless now with him injured.

[R410]

Anyone know why he came off? 

[Deeming]

Sore calf I believe

[strider]

2 hours ago, R410 said:

Anyone know why he came off? 

old age arthritis 

[Embee]

On 11/14/2015, 2:32:08, Jimmy said:

 

This. Plus where did the people who were making out that he was going to be the slowest player in the history of the league get their info? Was probably on the quicker side for A-League center halves. 

But FIFA16...

[Tonyboozeadams]

On 14 November 2015 at 3:06:14 AM, silva10 said:

      On ‎07‎/‎11‎/‎2015‎ ‎13‎:‎40‎:‎42, Tonyboozeadams said:

problem is Hughes is slow as fuck

To be honest Tony I haven't seen him since his Fulham days in the EPL. He was actually very mobile then and never struck me as a player who lacked pace. Maybe he has lost that pace, but I don't know.

Do I get a green line Jimmy?

I'm going for the longer game. Green line for me after he plays a few 42'c games

[Thrillhouse]

no way this cunt's getting a minute at euro

Edited January 2, 2016 by Thrillhouse

[biancorosso7]

His poor defending was only covered up by how bad Matt Millar was.

[Imperial Pints]

Won't be match-fit for another month or so. I'm prepared to cut him some slack until then

[Murfy1]

Aaron Hughes happy just to play 90 minutes after not playing since March last year

 

January 6, 2015

David Davutovic

 

HAVING not played an official 90-minute game since 21 January, 2015, veteran Aaron Hughes’ rustiness was understandable last Saturday.

Melbourne City didn’t give Hughes a chance to settle with a woeful opening that put him and the defence under siege until John van’t Schip’s 34th minute substitution.

The former Fulham and Newcastle United star hasn’t played a full league game since Brighton’s win over Ipswich Town 346 days earlier while his only 90-minute outing since was Northern Ireland’s 1-0 loss to Scotland on March 25 last year.

Hughes said his delight at scoring just his sixth career goal and first since 2010-11 was overshadowed by getting through a full game after overcoming calf issues.

“I haven’t scored many goals but getting through my first 90 (at City) was the biggest thing, I was a lot happier with that than being on the scoresheet,’’ Hughes said.

“I was just happy to be back playing, from being out for so long, the frustration of having to sit and watch and then finally getting the change to run, it’s been a while.

“I’ll take the rusty five or 10 minutes if it means I can build and go on from here.

“The nature of the game and the way Sydney started probably made it harder to settle into the game but once I got settled it was okay.’’

Hughes hopes for a better outing against Western Sydney in Saturday’s big game than last time, when he limped off on his City debut and they lost 3-0.

He said City can only get better after a “hectic game” against Sydney FC last week but said John van’t Schip’s tactical tweak was a positive sign.

“Nothing can replicate a game, it was like a training drill, we were under the cosh for 20 minutes but the change of formation and goal came at a good time for us,’’ he said.

“In the A-League and in any league you need to be flexible and have a plan B if plan A isn’t working, and it’s something that worked on Saturday.

“We’ll see how much more we use it if we use it, but it’s good to have up our sleeves.’’

MEANWHILE City confirmed the signing of keeper Dean Bouzanis from Western Sydney and he looks set to sit on the bench against his former club on Saturday with Tando Velaphi off to Japan.

 

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/melbourne-city/aaron-hughes-happy-just-to-play-90-minutes-after-not-playing-since-march-last-year/news-story/1f40ce08e0adbdaf4dc283abb268c53c

[Murfy1]

Aaron Hughes confident A-League good enough to prepare him for Euro 2016
 

January 13, 2016

Michael Lynch

 

No player needs much more incentive to finish a season strongly than the sniff of silverware, so the players of Melbourne City have plenty to spur them through the second half of a campaign they hope will yield the club its first premiership or championship.

But if Aaron Hughes, the club's veteran centre-back, needs any more motivation to perform strongly through the final four months of the 2015-16 A-League season, he need only look at the calendar for the European summer and put a big circle around the date of Sunday June 12.

That is the day where Northern Ireland is due to play their first game of the 2016 European championships, taking on Poland in Nice in the south of France - the first time the team colloquially known as "Nor'n Iron" will have played in a major tournament since they qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Hughes has played 96 times for his country already in a career that began in the English Premier League with Newcastle United in 1997, almost 20 years ago. He would dearly love to reach the century mark at some point in the European championships, where tiny Northern Ireland have been drawn in a difficult group alongside world champions Germany and Ukraine as well as the Poles.

The centre-half spent eight years on Tyneside before moving to the English midlands for a couple of seasons with Aston Villa. He then headed to London for a seven-year stint with Fulham, where he played alongside former Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, most successfully when the Londoners reached the Europa League final in 2010.

All the while he was a stalwart of the perennially unsuccessful national team, which had sunk to some awful lows in recent times - no more so than in 2013, when they lost to the minnows of Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier.

But under new coach Michael O'Neill, the Northern Irish have really turned things round and Hughes, at 36, can still dare to dream that he might have a place in the squad for the tournament.

Far from seeing his chances diminish by being out of sight, playing so far away in the A-League, Hughes believes that his case can only be advanced if he is playing consistently and at a high standard.

The defender, who was missing for much of the season through injury before playing his first full match for City in the 2-2 draw with Sydney a fortnight ago, is adamant that the A-League standard is certainly good enough to prepare him to play in the international arena.

"If I can stay fit and get game time ... ultimately it comes down to just playing. There's nothing like match fitness, and the quality and level over here is good enough for me to be able to compete at that level still. It comes down to fitness and match sharpness and that will get better the more games I play," he said after a training session on Wednesday.

Hughes made his mind up to come Down Under pretty quickly - "it was quite a quick decision from getting a phone call and saying yes, it was basically two weeks to pack everything up and get on a plane" -  when given the chance at the end of the last English season after he had made 10 appearances for Championship club Brighton.

He had a handful of contacts to sound out about the standard, particularly former Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham winger Damien Duff, who had played at Melbourne City last year. 

"I knew Damien  and he spoke highly of it. He said the quality was good and you had to be fit to compete in the league and stand a chance. I wasn't under any illusions coming here, that it was an easy league and I could stroll around.

"It was one of the reasons again why it appealed to me because there's maybe a few places around the world you could go for a new experience, but it might not give you that level of competition you needed to compete at the highest level.

"One thing I knew was that if I was coming here I would still be competing at a high level, but also to get the physical side of it too."

Injuries have so far restricted Hughes to just two completed games - the draw against Sydney and the 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.

But he has made an impact: while he looked very rusty in the first half hour of the first game, when City were over-run by a rampant Sydney,  he did relieve the pressure by popping up at the other end of the pitch to score the opening goal with a header from a corner.

Then as City wilted under the Wanderers second half onslaught last Saturday evening he got on the scoresheet once more, only this time turning the ball past his own goalkeeper, Thomas Sorensen, to bring the Wanderers level. Fortunately for him the game had a happy ending when Harry Novillo's late thunderbolt gave City all three points in a 3-2 win.

Hughes is confident that now he is reaching match fitness he can only improve his contribution to the team.

"It's a relief to get back on the pitch. I am just happy to be playing again. It's a competitive league and the two games I have played have shown that. They have been against two of the top teams so the nature of those games was maybe a bit more frantic [than normal].

"It's a test not just because of the quality and standard of the teams we have played against but because I have not played a lot of football lately and that side of it is a challenge as well. 

"It's difficult. Any player will tell you that the difference between playing and training is enormous. There's nothing like getting match fitness. It's a cliche, but it's well known throughout football.

"You can train and do anything you can, but that just really gives you a good base to go into the game. Once you step over the line its that extra few per cent you have to just give yourself a good chance to be able to cope with it. Anyone that hasn't played a lot of football will be saying the same thing.

"It's nothing to be overly concerned about. That will come with time and minutes on the pitch."

 

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/aaron-hughes-confident-aleague-good-enough-to-prepare-him-for-euro-2016-20160113-gm4x49.html

[MHFC-FAN]

On ‎13‎/‎01‎/‎2016 at 7:04 PM, Murfy1 said:

Aaron Hughes confident A-League good enough to prepare him for Euro 2016
 

January 13, 2016

Michael Lynch

 

No player needs much more incentive to finish a season strongly than the sniff of silverware, so the players of Melbourne City have plenty to spur them through the second half of a campaign they hope will yield the club its first premiership or championship.

But if Aaron Hughes, the club's veteran centre-back, needs any more motivation to perform strongly through the final four months of the 2015-16 A-League season, he need only look at the calendar for the European summer and put a big circle around the date of Sunday June 12.

That is the day where Northern Ireland is due to play their first game of the 2016 European championships, taking on Poland in Nice in the south of France - the first time the team colloquially known as "Nor'n Iron" will have played in a major tournament since they qualified for the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.

Hughes has played 96 times for his country already in a career that began in the English Premier League with Newcastle United in 1997, almost 20 years ago. He would dearly love to reach the century mark at some point in the European championships, where tiny Northern Ireland have been drawn in a difficult group alongside world champions Germany and Ukraine as well as the Poles.

The centre-half spent eight years on Tyneside before moving to the English midlands for a couple of seasons with Aston Villa. He then headed to London for a seven-year stint with Fulham, where he played alongside former Socceroo goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, most successfully when the Londoners reached the Europa League final in 2010.

All the while he was a stalwart of the perennially unsuccessful national team, which had sunk to some awful lows in recent times - no more so than in 2013, when they lost to the minnows of Luxembourg in a World Cup qualifier.

But under new coach Michael O'Neill, the Northern Irish have really turned things round and Hughes, at 36, can still dare to dream that he might have a place in the squad for the tournament.

Far from seeing his chances diminish by being out of sight, playing so far away in the A-League, Hughes believes that his case can only be advanced if he is playing consistently and at a high standard.

The defender, who was missing for much of the season through injury before playing his first full match for City in the 2-2 draw with Sydney a fortnight ago, is adamant that the A-League standard is certainly good enough to prepare him to play in the international arena.

"If I can stay fit and get game time ... ultimately it comes down to just playing. There's nothing like match fitness, and the quality and level over here is good enough for me to be able to compete at that level still. It comes down to fitness and match sharpness and that will get better the more games I play," he said after a training session on Wednesday.

Hughes made his mind up to come Down Under pretty quickly - "it was quite a quick decision from getting a phone call and saying yes, it was basically two weeks to pack everything up and get on a plane" -  when given the chance at the end of the last English season after he had made 10 appearances for Championship club Brighton.

He had a handful of contacts to sound out about the standard, particularly former Chelsea, Newcastle and Fulham winger Damien Duff, who had played at Melbourne City last year. 

"I knew Damien  and he spoke highly of it. He said the quality was good and you had to be fit to compete in the league and stand a chance. I wasn't under any illusions coming here, that it was an easy league and I could stroll around.

"It was one of the reasons again why it appealed to me because there's maybe a few places around the world you could go for a new experience, but it might not give you that level of competition you needed to compete at the highest level.

"One thing I knew was that if I was coming here I would still be competing at a high level, but also to get the physical side of it too."

Injuries have so far restricted Hughes to just two completed games - the draw against Sydney and the 3-2 win over Western Sydney Wanderers.

But he has made an impact: while he looked very rusty in the first half hour of the first game, when City were over-run by a rampant Sydney,  he did relieve the pressure by popping up at the other end of the pitch to score the opening goal with a header from a corner.

Then as City wilted under the Wanderers second half onslaught last Saturday evening he got on the scoresheet once more, only this time turning the ball past his own goalkeeper, Thomas Sorensen, to bring the Wanderers level. Fortunately for him the game had a happy ending when Harry Novillo's late thunderbolt gave City all three points in a 3-2 win.

Hughes is confident that now he is reaching match fitness he can only improve his contribution to the team.

"It's a relief to get back on the pitch. I am just happy to be playing again. It's a competitive league and the two games I have played have shown that. They have been against two of the top teams so the nature of those games was maybe a bit more frantic [than normal].

"It's a test not just because of the quality and standard of the teams we have played against but because I have not played a lot of football lately and that side of it is a challenge as well. 

"It's difficult. Any player will tell you that the difference between playing and training is enormous. There's nothing like getting match fitness. It's a cliche, but it's well known throughout football.

"You can train and do anything you can, but that just really gives you a good base to go into the game. Once you step over the line its that extra few per cent you have to just give yourself a good chance to be able to cope with it. Anyone that hasn't played a lot of football will be saying the same thing.

"It's nothing to be overly concerned about. That will come with time and minutes on the pitch."

 

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/aaron-hughes-confident-aleague-good-enough-to-prepare-him-for-euro-2016-20160113-gm4x49.html

The A League may be good enough, but Hughes isn't. Most disappointing visa signing alongside Koren..

[SF33]

I thought he was ok last night, personally. He hasn't set the A-League alight in his appearances overall, granted.

[n i k o]

Hughes hasn't impressed me either. He looks off the pace by a decent margin. I still don't understand why we must we persist with centre backs that are so slow and shit with the ball at their feet. 

[Nate]

I thought he was decent, he's quite composed at the back and can pass the ball out well.

However, I wouldn't be against moving him on in favour of someone who can offer us more.

[MHFC-FAN]

3 minutes ago, n i k o said:

Hughes hasn't impressed me either. He looks off the pace by a decent margin. I still don't understand why we must we persist with centre backs that are so slow and shit with the ball at their feet. 

Yeah definitely agree with you there. I don't understand why we cant unearth a better younger visa defender (just take Safuwan as example)

[Murfy1]

Not doing near enough IMO. A really big downgrade from Chapman, and a significant downgrade from Jaliens. Based on the evidence seen so far, it was a mistake to let Jaliens go and sign Aaron Hughes for 1 season.

 

Also the numbers actually reveal that Hughes was the least effective passer in our back 3 last game: Hughes 83.7% passing accuracy (43 passes made), Kisnorbo 87.8% passing accuracy (41 passes made) and Clisby 89.6% passing accuracy (48 passes made).

 

 

Another disappointing EPL has-been so far. I hope for our sake and his sake he improves, or he won't start for us again when Chapman's fit (or an injury replacement player is signed), yet alone make Northern Ireland's Euro squad later this year.

[rayv36]

1 hour ago, Murfy1 said:

Not doing near enough IMO. A really big downgrade from Chapman, and a significant downgrade from Jaliens. Based on the evidence seen so far, it was a mistake to let Jaliens go and sign Aaron Hughes for 1 season.

 

Also the numbers actually reveal that Hughes was the least effective passer in our back 3 last game: Hughes 83.7% passing accuracy (43 passes made), Kisnorbo 87.8% passing accuracy (41 passes made) and Clisby 89.6% passing accuracy (48 passes made).

 

 

Another disappointing EPL has-been so far. I hope for our sake and his sake he improves, or he won't start for us again when Chapman's fit (or an injury replacement player is signed), yet alone make Northern Ireland's Euro squad later this year.

Agree with the above.

I'd also say Safuwan > Hughes, hell even Melling has impressed me more at CB then Hughes. 

[Jovan]

He wasn't terrible and improved on the previous week. Needs to be really impressive next 2 games. But long term as a visa player a failure.

[Shahanga]

3 hours ago, Jovan said:

He wasn't terrible and improved on the previous week. Needs to be really impressive next 2 games. But long term as a visa player a failure.

With an aging Kisnorbo I thought it was important to sign another Centre back who was a bit younger - say Max of 31, who could give a few years service.

In addition playing through summer and on hard grounds made older players a real risk, particularly when we had seemingly preferentially recruited quite a few players coming off bad injuries already.

On top of that We seem to have ignored the "what did he do last year" test that good coaches apply to older players.

Hughes was always only a short term signing due to his age. So all in all there should be a few embarrassed people over at Latrobe.

[jw1739]

It always seemed to me that we signed this bloke more as a favour to him to give him a chance to play in the Euro tournament - let's face it, he couldn't find another club. Would love to know what the CFG hierarchy thinks about it. One of our least-productive visa signings, the worst being Steven Gray, and about on the level of Maycon.

[Jovan]

6 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

It always seemed to me that we signed this bloke more as a favour to him to give him a chance to play in the Euro tournament - let's face it, he couldn't find another club. Would love to know what the CFG hierarchy thinks about it. One of our least-productive visa signings, the worst being Steven Gray, and about on the level of Maycon.

That's a bit harsh. If he doesn't play another game then yes. But if. And we also use if far too often. Strings together 8 to 10 games and finds some form and contributes to a stable and more tight defense then he may prove to be decent visa signing anything less then he can get in line with the other spuds we seem to sign too frequently. 

[jw1739]

18 minutes ago, Jovan said:

That's a bit harsh. If he doesn't play another game then yes. But if. And we also use if far too often. Strings together 8 to 10 games and finds some form and contributes to a stable and more tight defense then he may prove to be decent visa signing anything less then he can get in line with the other spuds we seem to sign too frequently. 

IMO we need to be a bit harsh as a club if we're going to win anything. Fornaroli and Novillo are examples of players our scouts can find - you honestly believe that with those worldwide scouting resources at our disposal Hughes is the best we can do for a visa CB? Well, I don't.

[cadete]

22 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

IMO we need to be a bit harsh as a club if we're going to win anything. Fornaroli and Novillo are examples of players our scouts can find - you honestly believe that with those worldwide scouting resources at our disposal Hughes is the best we can do for a visa CB? Well, I don't.

I am sorry but I think you are being a bit idealistic... not that I think Hughes has been great or really good but I mean just in general when thinking about the CB's (Specifically Foreign CB's) available for the A-League.

I think its always a gamble to sign Foreign CB's for the A-League in general to be honest... they obviously generally have longer careers than most other players which means that they can stay in Europe up until a later age before having to consider playing down here.

So you end up looking at 34/35 plus year old guys like Wielaert or Hughes who come with long CV's in regards to Footballing Achievements but also usually a long list of injuries throughout this time as well. The reality is when those two were 31 they were still playing against some of the best in the world.

The reason A-League clubs take a risks with a Visa Spot one of these CB's because Australia tends to see its best Central Defenders leave for overseas early. Then alongside this we have never been that great at developing composed Defenders in comparison to the major European Systems. Usually when an A-League club signs one of these blokes its for their experience and more importantly their composure, and I think that was fairly obviously the reason we signed both Wielaert and Hughes considering Kisnorbo's robust style of play. 

(In fact I am sure I am not the only one here who has noticed that even at NPL level a fuckload of defenders tend to be from the UK.)

 

 

 

Edited January 18, 2016 by cadete

[jw1739]

50 minutes ago, cadete said:

I am sorry but I think you are being a bit idealistic... not that I think Hughes has been great or really good but I mean just in general when thinking about the CB's (Specifically Foreign CB's) available for the A-League.

I think its always a gamble to sign Foreign CB's for the A-League in general to be honest... they obviously generally have longer careers than most other players which means that they can stay in Europe up until a later age before having to consider playing down here.

So you end up looking at 34/35 plus year old guys like Wielaert or Hughes who come with long CV's in regards to Footballing Achievements but also usually a long list of injuries throughout this time as well. The reality is when those two were 31 they were still playing against some of the best in the world.

The reason A-League clubs take a risks with a Visa Spot one of these CB's because Australia tends to see its best Central Defenders leave for overseas early. Then alongside this we have never been that great at developing composed Defenders in comparison to the major European Systems. Usually when an A-League club signs one of these blokes its for their experience and more importantly their composure, and I think that was fairly obviously the reason we signed both Wielaert and Hughes considering Kisnorbo's robust style of play. 

(In fact I am sure I am not the only one here who has noticed that even at NPL level a fuckload of defenders tend to be from the UK.)

You seem to be working on the premise that the CB has to be some ageing player from Europe. I'm suggesting that we start looking for alternatives to that model - as we clearly did with Fornaroli and Novillo. 

[haz]

3 minutes ago, jw1739 said:

You seem to be working on the premise that the CB has to be some ageing player from Europe. I'm suggesting that we start looking for alternatives to that model - as we clearly did with Fornaroli and Novillo. 

Exactly. We need scout players under 30, whose careers have stalled but have a certain pedigree.  ie. Novillo at Lyon,  Fornaroli in the Seria A and 10 goals in 12 games at Nacional 

[cadete]

1 hour ago, jw1739 said:

You seem to be working on the premise that the CB has to be some ageing player from Europe. I'm suggesting that we start looking for alternatives to that model - as we clearly did with Fornaroli and Novillo. 

Look I agree you can make an argument that Hughes has not been better than Safuwan (Who I agree with you that we should have kept just as a valuable A-League Utility at least) and he has not shown to have been as good as Jailens either yet... mind you he was also an ageing CB from Europe.

However, you can not compare the recruiting of CB's to Forwards in any league and ESP not in a league lower down the world's pecking order like the A-League as they mature at a completely different rate and there best years of football are in a different time bracket of their life.

1 hour ago, haz said:

Exactly. We need scout players under 30, whose careers have stalled but have a certain pedigree.  ie. Novillo at Lyon,  Fornaroli in the Seria A and 10 goals in 12 games at Nacional 

These blokes if they are true CB's that are any good are not going to come to the A-League as even if their careers have stalled at a particular club as they have still managed to make to a strong club and will therefore have offers elsewhere in Europe as they still could mature further..

If we had a CB that was only 27-28 come over from a Club in a Top European League where he had played little football then I would be seriously concerned that he had been found out by the European Footballing Network as a complete spud and thus passed over to come down here.

Edited January 18, 2016 by cadete

[Murfy1]

Great discussion above, and agree with a lot of points on both sides.

 

Australian defenders are normally in the Kisnorbo mould, rather than the the composed central defender mould. That's why defenders like Patrick Zwaanswijk have been so effective in the A-League and have made such a big impression here. If an A-League team can get a skillful composed defender, it's a real leg-up on the opposition.

 

At the same time I hope CFG can continue to innovate and keep lifting the bar for recruitment. If he was fit the whole season then maybe Hughes would have turned out to be a worthwhile signing. But he hasn't even been fit for most of the season. So I'm hoping our next Visa defender as well is an effective signing, even if the club needs to look a little further afield than Western Europe to get our next Visa defender.

 

 

Also for what it's worth the club does seem to now be keenly aware, after the first half of this season, of the injury risks that could befall aging Visa signings once they are transplanted from Europe to Australia:

Quote

“Everyone knows players at the end of their career are more vulnerable for calves and we have a few of them, Koren last year and this year and Aaron Hughes is another.

“It’s also about knowing their history, looking at Hughes and Koren they were playing regularly, but if you come into certain situations with pitch, climate and travel, things can come up that in Europe they didn’t have issues with.

“We try to look at all those things when we sign a player and you know that when you get a player in here, they’re either a bit older or they’re young but have had some problems.

“Players that normally come to the A-League, they have a kind of history and we try to analyse as good as possible.’’

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/football/a-league/teams/melbourne-city/melbourne-city-working-on-ending-injury-crisis-says-coach-john-van-t-schip/news-story/59881fb5a14d8e78c1195c2567413bd6

 

So I'd say the club is learning, and I bet they don't make the same mistakes hereafter signing mid- to late 30 year olds who could become even more injury prone dealing with the Australian conditions. The trend across the A-League has been to sign younger and younger marquees and Visa players, e.g. Diego Castro at 33, Filip Holosko at 32 and Federico Piovaccari at 31 (much younger than Heskey at 36 and Del Piero at 38 of a few seasons ago). And I bet CFG sign somewhat younger and less injury prone Visa players for Melbourne City in the future (more Fornaroli and Novillo, and less Hughes and Duff, so to speak).

Edited January 18, 2016 by Murfy1

[GreenSeater]

15 hours ago, haz said:

Exactly. We need scout players under 30, whose careers have stalled but have a certain pedigree.  ie. Novillo at Lyon,  Fornaroli in the Seria A and 10 goals in 12 games at Nacional 

No CB under 30 with a decent pedigree can say that their career has stalled. CBs like goalkeepers play for longer and also peak much later than forwards and midfielders. Very few big clubs play young centre halves because playing in that position takes a lot of maturity, whereas in more advanced positions a lack of maturity can be covered up by other attributes such as pace and flair. Most CBs under 30 that aren't starting at their club still have a pretty good chance of eventually making it. Advanced players between 25 and 30 who can't get a start usually aren't going to make it at that level.

[NewConvert]

2 hours ago, GreenSeater said:

No CB under 30 with a decent pedigree can say that their career has stalled. CBs like goalkeepers play for longer and also peak much later than forwards and midfielders. Very few big clubs play young centre halves because playing in that position takes a lot of maturity, whereas in more advanced positions a lack of maturity can be covered up by other attributes such as pace and flair. Most CBs under 30 that aren't starting at their club still have a pretty good chance of eventually making it. Advanced players between 25 and 30 who can't get a start usually aren't going to make it at that level.

I get what you are saying but don't we really need CBs that are better than what we currently have and better than what the opposition have? We know we couldn't possibly get Man City's or Barca's current CB but we need someone who is better than Hughes/Kirsnorbo.

[Tonyboozeadams]

Our defensive players really aren't that bad. Hughes has been average but is coming off a lengthy injury. Kisnorbo is proven to be a capable a-league CB. Clisby, Zullo and franjic are all looking good and retre can do a job. 

 

What at we need is someone that can organise our defence well. Something JVS has never been good at. 

 

Do we have a defensive coach on the books?

[cadete]

33 minutes ago, Tonyboozeadams said:

Our defensive players really aren't that bad. Hughes has been average but is coming off a lengthy injury. Kisnorbo is proven to be a capable a-league CB. Clisby, Zullo and franjic are all looking good and retre can do a job. 

 

What at we need is someone that can organise our defence well. Something JVS has never been good at. 

 

Do we have a defensive coach on the books?

I was also going to write earlier that JVS does not have a good track record at managing his Center Halves, maybe this due to the way Dutch Clubs often score heavily but also concede heavily in comparison to clubs in other Continental Leagues.

A lot of the players who seemed to get ticked of by JVS have been CB's and he has often done a lot of his experimenting in Central Defence with things like trying to turn Matt Thompson into a CB, playing two kids as a pair there in Season Two and to a lesser extent using Meiling there... 

Personally I have always thought the last place in a football side you want to try such shit with is Central Defence as I regard it was a such important part of forming a side that can string together games throughout a season and in order to do this you need consistency more than anything else.

[kingofhearts]

Half the problem with our defence is the lack of continuity with the back four. With all our signings at the start of the season i imagined most people pictured our back 4 like this:

zullo-Kisnorbo/hughes-Chapman-Franjic

How often has those back four played together if it all this season? all those 5 players that have been mentioned have been injured at some point during the season, i don't think a combination including those players have even played together yet! We've either had to use make shift fullbacks in retre or gooch or play clisby as a fullback (when i think he is clearly better as a CB IMO)

Now i'm not saying that using injuries is an acceptable excuse, because we should have enough depth to cover each position however, taking into account all these factors we have been lucky to not concede even more goals this season! Also, our CB's (especially kisnorbo) keep getting constantly crucified on here, you know they can only stop so many balls into the box right? If a team crosses a ball into the box 30 times a game due to our make shift fullbacks being not able to cover properly I'm sorry but their eventually going to score.

I'm still not sold on hughes personally, but i'll give him a couple of games before i write him off.

[Kiro Kompiro]

a couple of imports by the name of Jaliens from Kew and Safuwon from Baharootin spring to mind

[Jovan]

Not sure why he was left out I can only assume they were managing him with a 4 day turnaround. With Kisnorbo going down with a suspected Achilles then this bloke has to play out the season. 

Don't like his chances if he struggles to backup each week but the choice was made many months ago and for another season poor defensive options/recruitment will come home to roost. 

If they can pick up a quality CB that's a free agent that could solve a major issue. 

All we need is another Novillo like. A player with obvious talents and ability but a bit of a loose canon that can do a job for 3 months. 

[jw1739]

393 minutes of football and has appeared in just six of our 17 matches. What a waste of a visa place.

[tommac]

I'm going to reserve judgment on Hughes till seasons end. First half of the season has been pretty poor with injuries etc, but I do also have an inkling if he can play out the rest of the season plus finals, he'll be top draw and really make a difference to our title chances. But he needs to be playing, otherwise it is definitely another visa/marquee wasted. 

[knutty]

Poor Safuwan would've bled for the shirt and been a better fill in or potential starter. 

[Tonyboozeadams]

I understand why we grabbed Hughes. Good pedigree, but age and injuries make this a bad choice. I hope he is good for the young guys like Chapman on the training paddock...... I mean Germano treatment centre

[jw1739]

3 hours ago, tommac said:

I'm going to reserve judgment on Hughes till seasons end. First half of the season has been pretty poor with injuries etc, but I do also have an inkling if he can play out the rest of the season plus finals, he'll be top draw and really make a difference to our title chances. But he needs to be playing, otherwise it is definitely another visa/marquee wasted. 

IMO we shouldn't have to wait until nearly two-thirds of the way through the season before a visa player starts to perform. In our case we had two of them, Koren and Hughes. We're not out of contention for anything yet with 10 matches to go, but we'd be a lot better positioned if all five of our visa players had performed as they should.