It's Character Forming

The more relevant stat for me is this season under JHT we've only played 2 away games in the week. I don't think he'll be interested in the mid-week away form under previous managers. The first of those was at Preston when we conceded 2 very poor early goals, the penalty when Long had a rush of blood to the head and he was poor for the second also. But we fought back for a draw. Second was at Sheff Wed when our injury crisis was at its worst and we really offered no threat in attack, a 2-0 defeat was deserved. Tonight will give us an idea of whether he can get a reaction out of the team after a poor performance on Saturday.

I seem to remember at the time it was the fact that he was being paid £50k per year and Everton came calling which was a genuinely big job then, so hard for him to turn down. Agreed it's incredibly frustrating with hindsight, it wouldn't have taken much for us to win the title that year.

A key distinction here between non-English and non-British managers, the chart is working off non-English managers. The reality is that the Prem has enough money to be able to recruit the top managers from other European Leagues, so why would a Prem club bring in an English manager from the lower leagues ? It's the exception now. It happens even more than for players because the Prem has negatives for top players (Messi, Mbappe etc) - the high number of games and the high physical demands in many of those games are wearing on players and that's a factor in deciding whether the money is worth it. But that doesn't apply to managers. I'm not that bothered myself whether the England manager is English or not.

^^^ this !

Yes, this was always my main concern about Farkeball in the Prem, when we won possession we'd take our time before doing anything and give them time to re-group. With Hoff there are promising signs that we look to strike directly as soon as we win the ball back.

This is true, but Portugal are a good creative side and for Hanley to play at CB when they kept a clean sheet against them is impressive and good news for us, given he's not been playing regularly since his long injury break. Hanley is no longer first choice for us, and it's great news that we have him as a squad player available if necessary - CB is a position where you need plenty of cover.

From the BBC match report “I thought it was a brilliant defensive performance from Scotland. Souttar was immense, Hanley was good“ 0-0 and clearly a disappointment to the vultures on here.

According to t'internet he's 182cm which is almost 6 foot. Yes he's slightly built and that will be sorted as he gets older I'm sure. But definitely tall enough to play full back at the highest level (unlike Max).

I loved it in the Watford game when we were worrying about them being too physical for us (as they used to be) and Fischer completely cleaned out a couple of their players with legitimate challenges, plus Cordoba going shoulder to shoulder with one of their guys who just fell over 🙂

I certainly can't think of a more complete performance in the last 18 months. The last few games we've really been opening up the opposition and looking better defensively too (although not perfect). OK Hull had chances when they hit the bar and the disallowed goal , but we missed a penalty. Overall it's much more enjoyable watching this team than the teams put out by Dean Smith or Wagner. And after only a fraction of the season that's impressive work by JHT. Factor in the quality of the teams we've played and it's starting to look very promising.

What, knee jerk reactions on the Pinkun ! Whatever next !!

OK so he's 28, clearly he'd like to play in the Premier league, but I can't see him being signed for a starting position by a Prem club. So his options are to run down his contract and move for a free to a Prem club as backup. Or move to another Champs club that he thinks will start him and has a better shot at promotion. Or stay with us. Either way I can understand him wanting to keep his options open for now, it wouldn't make sense to sign a new contract and rule out the other options. The risk as with any player is that he has a career-ending injury in the meantime, but that's always the risk. Also as time moves on, we'll need to start thinking about a replacement who would be first choice. Also as has been pointed out, there's no way we'll be able to sell him on for a profit at this point in his career, so that must be reflected in the contract he's being offered. I'm not expecting anything to be decided soon on this.

I don't think it's hyperbole. Yes he did look lightweight last year, but not any more. And he's been up against some very good players in Leeds and Watford. An opposition manager would be welcome to try and target him IMO.

I think you’ll find we didn’t actually turn up for the last one 😂😂

I think yesterday shows Hoff is his own man and completely different to Farke. With a weaker squad, his team matched Leeds over the 90 minutes but with a different playing style. And we definitely looked better than in any of the 3 games vs Leeds last season. It's going to be an interesting season.