Hughes Tells It Like It Is!

Hughes spoke to Sky Sports after his opening game - and defeat - away to Newcastle this lunchtime. I caught some of his interview!

"We`ve only been in the door a week but clearly I saw things that we had worked on that the players on the field were trying to implement.

"So I was pleased with their application. They gave me everything that they had.

"Obviously, we`ve been done with a little bit of individual skill in our own box and it`s taken the game away from us."

"It was more, this week, about making sure our shape was good and everybody understood what was expected of them. And I think you could see that in our play, in fairness. We were nice and solid and everybody was working in relation to each other.

"So that augurs well for the future. I think the longer I have (and my staff) to work with the guys, given their application today; they`ll only improve."

Regarding strengthening the squad, Hughes said: "We are asking questions all the time and taking phone calls. And maybe agents will lead you to believe that there are deals to be done. But that`s the nature of the market in January." Followed by a wry smile!

Then, with a deep breath: "But we`ll pursue the opportunities that we think can help us. But it`s not an exact science. It`s very difficult to say yes, we will definitely bring players in."

He completely dismissed bringing in Carlos Tevez and when asked about Chris Samba, Hughes commented that he knew that QPR had put a bid in for Samba: "It`s common knowledge that we`ve put in a bid for Chris Samba. I wasn`t aware of those circumstances, in fairness in relation to Chris at the weekend ."(having been told by the interviewer that Samba hadn`t even trained with Blackburn on Friday or featured for them yesterday)

"But we have a number of players that we would like to bring to the Club. Obviously, I`ve worked with Chris before. If it`s a situation that progresses; then all well and good. But, we`ll have to wait and see!"

His face looked a bit grey - he looked serious! Maybe he realises now what a mammoth task he has in front of him! But at least he didn`t say things like "it was only 1-0" or "I was really proud of them because … [insert excuse here]"!

Just to add, Tony Fernandes has gone on record to rubbish reports that Barton is to be sold:

"That`s complete rubbish. I`m fairly new to being a Chairman and I`ve seen some crazy things. This would rank as one of the crazier ones I`ve seen!

"I`d hoped we would have got somebody in for Newcastle. But it also shows our determination not to do silly things either.

"Let`s hope we can get somebody in for the Wigan game and then we have one more week after that. Obviously, the African Nations Cup hasn`t helped us with Traore and Taarabt out as well.

"We have our backs against the wall but that`s when real men come out," he concluded.

As an aside, I noticed that Fernandes pronounced Taarabt`s name in the same, odd way that Warnock had - Warnock never could get his teeth around Taarabt`s name, could he?!

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