New boss Mark Hughes will offer Queens Park Rangers more scope to reach their goals In addition, Hughes was beginning to show his keen eye for a player. Christopher Samba, Ryan Nelsen and Roque Santa Cruz were all great signings. Solid characters too - something Hughes always looks for in potential targets. As proof, look at his signings at Manchester City. Vincent Kompany, Pablo Zabaleta, Joleon Lescott, Gareth Barry and Nigel de Jong still play a key part in Roberto Mancini's plans. Not that he gets everything right. Jo proved a complete flop while the Robinho experiment had to be abandoned. The Brazilian, in fact, featured in the 3-0 thrashing at Tottenham in December 2009 that may have sealed Hughes's fate. Unusually, the manager's game plan imploded that day when his left-back, Sylvinho, was destroyed by Aaron Lennon, having been left with no protection by Robinho in front. That kind of thing hasn't happened many times to Hughes and it certainly didn't happen much at Fulham, where he again prepared a very organised team who went on to finish eighth. And so to tomorrow's test at Newcastle, where I wouldn't expect the new boss to be too adventurous. Anything he can take from the Sports Direct Arena will be regarded as a bonus given the team's form over recent weeks. But as a former centre-forward himself, I'm sure Hughes will like the attitude of Heidar Helguson, whose tremendous work ethic has been embellished by a creditable eight goals so far. Not especially tall, Helguson is a great header of the ball, partly because he times his jumps very well. Maybe, then, Hughes can get a bit more out of Shaun Wright-Phillips, who he signed at Manchester City, to provide some service for Helguson. The Icelander is adept at pulling away from his man on the far post (Fig 1). A good Wright-Phillips cross could therefore set Hughes on his way. And so the debate begins after Monday night's sensational goal. Does Thierry Henry start at Swansea on Sunday? If so, where does he fit in? How can he best combine with Robin van Persie? Arsène Wenger has already admitted that Henry is fit enough to start a game. It's just that he wouldn't be able to finish it, not until the extra training sessions have done their work. Well, if the 34 year-old were to get the nod at the Liberty Stadium, the obvious position to play him would be to the left of Van Persie in Wenger's normal 4-3-3. From there, he could slip into the kind of areas from where he scored against Leeds. And with Van Persie's imagination and touch, the results might again cause quite a stir.