A message from Gary Rowett to ... ?

Well, as far as I can see I have made a fairly strong case for letting Hughes go under our current circumstances. I will be very sorry when that happens though because you don't often see talent like that in a Derby shirt.

My reason for using Bryson's stats is merely to illustrate the general uselessness of those sorts of stats. Goals scored is relevant for strikers and of course you want midfielders to chip in with the odd one. If a midfielder beats eight players and makes a slide-rule pass behind the full back so that the winger can play it across the six-yard box for a tap-in, then he gets no "assist" for his labour. If 666 is to use those stats to lambast a player he doesn't like, then he needs to apply the same to those he does. I think it's better to look at players' abilities from watching games and consider how they best fit into the team. Various players have recently "proven" their ineptitude according to some of us yet subsequently shown themselves to be very effective in a different position or style.

It's a brave new world but in football you're still either goalkeeping, defending, fighting for possession, assisting, scoring goals, or wasting a shirt.

Yooeezy falls into the latter category this season regardless of how delightful the nothing he contributes is in the eye of the beholder. I hope we keep him, use him to his fullest advantage and he takes us where we need to be but he hasn't done yet so is fair game for scrutiny, same as any of the other senior players. It's not about price tags, it has to be about value to the team rather than the asset list.

Seems as though you are agreeing with me then 666. Bryson has of course been pretty much a waste of a shirt this season and has less potential, being the wrong side of thirty, and since his main attribute is scurrying around closing down quickly will be unlikely to maintain Championship level football for many more years.

Saying it's not about price tags is buffoonery of the first order though. If you have two players of similar ability and one is worth twenty million and the other is worth very little, then that might affect decision-making. Or don't you agree?

What I meant by that is that it doesn't matter if Hughes, academy product, or BJ, £6m, isn't doing the business for us; Johnson's had criticism for his displays and perhaps moreso because he cost £6m, whereas Hughes seems immune from it because he's an academy product. Each warrants (or not) their place on merit, and that merit has to be in tangible contributions to the team.

comment by 666 ⚽️ (U11795)
posted 1 day, 4 hours ago
Hughes hasn't the physicality to be part of a central midfield pairing; his tackles are often more like petulant kicks at the oppo so he doesn't offer enough to have a role in GR's first team. As I've often pointed out his goals and assists are badly lacking for an attacker, so allayed to his poor defensive game then he's essentially a luxury player for us. His pass to Benty was magical, but the quality of the goals scored doesn't count for anything it's the number of them that matters, and he doesn't do it often enough.

I'd love to see him stay as a valued squad member but he's not offering enough to warrant having a team picked around him.
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...and I think that you'll find that YOU are agreeing with ME, Bіțċh!

One factor not to be overlooked is that of player welfare. Hughes is Repton and knows little of the outside world. I fear for him playing elsewhere and without the comfort blanket that is Derby.

666 to getting his knife into Will, is just a change from Keogh as the butt of his current disdain. Hughes will get his chance. bookings and injuries will bring him back - or resounding substitute performances.

comment by (U21438)
posted 5 minutes ago
666 to getting his knife into Will, is just a change from Keogh as the butt of his current disdain. Hughes will get his chance. bookings and injuries will bring him back - or resounding substitute performances.
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He's not on the bench through lack of opportunities, Mapdini...

Where's the feckin match thread FFS.

Regarding Hughes I personally don't feel it's just this season he's been underwhelming.

Fantastic player to watch, gets the crowd excited, can pick a great pass, but more often than not they lead to nothing hence the stats. Is the team around him not good enough, or is the play he's involved in pretty looking but simply ineffectual?

I'd actually be tempted to play him up-front a bit, tell him to aim some of his passes into the far corner of the net, I feel his development has stalled and maybe asking something a bit different of him might actually work.