romavillan

No way, we should be looking to get the best out of him not looking at some other club getting the best out of him.

Gardner not quite as shit as he has been scapegoated to be perhaps? Good to see Baker up there too, Kodija I would have guessed as number 1, Jedinak and Gestede are surprises. Grealish down where he is too, would have expected Elphick and Gabby at the bottom!

Totally if he wasn't a loan signing we brought in to fill the Gollini sized gap at the back the fair enough, he shoudl have time to settle etc. Thing is though he's not our player and is going back to United in the summer. Unless we have an option on him? Anyone know? Even if we do though he's going to need to be top drawer for a good long run to be worth buying!

Shall we lock this thread then? Or do we have to wait till we need to win all our remaining games and the teams in the top six have to lose all of theirs?

We definitely should keep the ball better with the squad we have, playing 5 in midfield should have meant we could boss possession with who was on the field IMO. Thing is though they've only been together a couple of weeks and not had a pre-season together. We've changed shape and a lot of the first eleven, can't expect it to click immediately unfortunately.

Pretty sure it wasn't 5-4-0 even if we didn't have an out and out striker on the pitch. Holding on for a point in the circumstances was fine, and we looked very comfortable and almost did it but for another stupid error at the back.

I'm not sure that is Bruce saying "Be careful you don't play too well lads, if you do play well for a minutes, just shut up shop and play tight for half an hour, but don't do it very well". I think it's more to do with him stressing the bottom line is to be hard to beat, which is fair enough seeing as he stopped us throwing away games in his first 10 or so games with us and did turn results around by being harder to beat. Not pretty, not entertaining, but we got results. Now I think he's trying to find a shape and style that will let us dominate with the players we have, we haven't had a settled first team, in terms of shape and personnel all year, so it comes in fits and starts. It's going to take time, as Xela said the playoffs are gone now. Let's all chill out and give them all room to turn into a team.

I don't think he set us up that badly to be honest, I think he needs more time with the players to train with this system. Not sure you could blame him for the result tonight, we looked to have played out the 10v11 no worries and then we left their debutant striker all alone in the box. You can't legislate for the deflection and goalkeeping error or for the hatfull of missed chances. It was a big improvement on Brentford, it couldn't have been worse I know, in that we looked like a team at times and scored a nice goal, making tons of chances.

I agree about the passing and movement, I don't think he is telling them to play long but I do think hes telling them if they are in doubt to make sure they aren't caught out around our own box. I think the players are low on confidence and as a result go long too soon and too often. We definitely can play better but we have left it too late to go up this year.

Protecting the player in public does not mean he wont give grealish a bollocking in private

I think 3-5-2 suits the players we have now doesn't it? We need to find an identity, some stability and a way to play. Changing the shape every week isn't a good start.

Yeah if the keeper hadn't completely misjudged the deflection and apilled it, if elphick scores, if one of the many other chances goes in... At times it looked like we were cruising, even with 10 men, like we knew we had another gear to into to ensure therein. It's just that none of us have seen this other gear yet! Hopefully it will come with more time as a group to work together.

Fine lines, shoudl have been out of sight before a goalkeeping error brought them back into the game. Then had a bucket load of chances to take the lead, then down to 10 men after Grealish's cheap first yellow, then didn't look troubled till we leave the lad all alone in the box to volley home. Another day we win that 0-3 and don't even break a sweat. As it is we've completely blown this season now, we should continue with this 3-5-2 though, we looked far more like a team at times today.

Grealish showed he can be a good player and why he needs to think a bit more. First booking was careless at best, good assist for the goal though. Do well to get a point here, not sure why we cant pass it like they do.

But on the bright side...

Gollini played better or us IMO, w should have been 2 clear. We need to stay calm and play our game and not panic.

Ok Bjarnson plays wide on the left, not that much of a stretch to use him as a wing back is it? It's attack minded, but it's not really that far away from his normal game is it?

3-5-2 and no-one is out of position surely?

Certainly looks like 3 at the back, has either Chester or Elphick ever played at right back? Baker should be good on the left of the 3, but if neither of those two have played at right back much then it could be a weakness. If we go long with that line up then we're **** stupid, so that's good, we should be able to keep the ball and move it around with that midfield. It's interesting, can only be a 4 at the back if one of the centre backs is being used as a holding player in midfield. Then it'd be a diamond and 4-4-2.... hmmmm.

Spot on, I'd snap your arm off right now for finsihing 10th in the Premiership in the 2018/2019 season. The type of player an ambitious club in the that position with an upward momentum can attract (and manager if it looks like that really is Bruce's ceiling) is a bit different to a club that is still staggering drunkenly on the edge of the abyss after falling down ten flights of stairs to find itself mid table and cut adrift in the Championship. The face we have been able to attract the players we have in Jan speaks volumes for the club's ambitions but we haven't shown much more than halting the incredible decline so far. I don't know if Bruce's ceiling is halfway up the Prem or not, he won the top prizes as a player so he must know what a winning top flight club is all about. I do know that what I saw against Brentford would do well not to get relegated to League One. The making or breaking of Bruce is his work from now till the end of the season. Not in terms of getting promoted but in making a team that has an identity and can actually play football without looking like a bunch of randoms thrown together five minutes before kick off.

41 from 18 is too much to do, win last night and don't throw away the points against Preston and it'd have been 36 from 18. Which would have been difficult but doable with a slight improvement on our form under Bruce. We look miles off playing football as a team, and a million miles off the kind of team that could win 10 on the bounce....

Our start was the best thing about us, then they changed their shape to put more men in the middle and we crumbled and never adapted.

No you don't have to be allowed to at all. That's what the move part is all about. Move well enough and if a team presses high they gift you space. We neither moved nor passed well enough from 10 mins in onwards to eploit the fact they were charging up the pitch at us.

They are above us in the table now. We were completely dire, poor first touches, not protecting the ball, inability to keep the ball through horrendous movement. No awareness from Bruce about how the shape changed after Smith's intervention early first half, poor positioning without the ball, poor passing, outmuscled. There was no part of the game where we were better than them. We pay premier league wages, and have spent massively more than anyone else in the league and we look miles off Brentford, who will not be in the play offs.

Only positives have been Green and Grealish.