"I have joined a club that has a bigger squad than I have been used to at Aston Villa, so in terms of being rested, it might be something I have to get used to," he says.And Barry's injury record means that he's likely to be able to play as many games as Hughes wants hm to:
"As a professional you want to play every game, and if fit I will be trying to keep my place in the team."
"I have had a lot of luck, and hope I'm not pre-empting things by talking about it!" he said. "But you try to do things right on the training pitch, and try to live your life in the right way.This isn't good news for Nigel de Jong. I thought that we'd line up this season in a 4-3-3 with de Jong, Barry and Stephen Ireland in central midfield. The first two league games, however, have seen us line up in what is almost a 4-2-4 with Barry and Ireland in the middle and four forwards in front of them. Now there are circumstances - Arsenal at home and United away in September, for example - when we might play that 4-3-3 I predicted. But there's not going to be many of them. And if de Jong is only going to be used in specific circumstances then when, exactly, is Vincent Kompany going to play? We we were going to play 4-3-3 but cannot because de Jong is injured? It's not like he's going to get a game at centre back, being as he is now fifth choice centre half.
"Totting up appearances is nice, but it's all about winning things. That's why I am here, rather than to try to clock up appearances."
I'm looking forward to seeing how exactly these issues will be resolved this season.
2 comments:
Interesting article on the official website with Hughes saying that he condensed 4 years of transfer dealings into 1.
So, in response to your question of where we're going to fit all those players in, the squad we have now is the same size as the one we'll have when playing in the Champs League (maybe with a couple in and out).
This season, there might not be much playing time for the likes of De Jong, Kompany, Petrov, Onuoha etc. but next season, we'll need to rotate.
Surely the point is that Mark Hughes has fashioned a squad the likes of which not one of us would have dreamed of on the way back from the 8 goal thrashing at 'Boro? What a delihjtful conundrum for any manager to have, International st5andard options in evry single position in the team. Just hope this magic carpet ride I am on never lands!
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