dn1982

Cardiff will be fired up so save Kodija for a start v Leeds we don’t need him getting kicked out the season Id save Jack the hassle aswell. 

I’m not that bothered who we play but my biggest concern is whether it’ll be better to be at home first leg so we aren’t out the tie by the 2nd leg. We have awful performances just waiting to show up like today. 

With 2 games in 3 days I’d target Leeds for 3 points so I’d make a lot of changes v Cardiff. Terry Elmo Snodgrass Adomah Hogan Grealish out or rested 

19 minutes ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Who for?

Depends if we went same shape I’d play Onomah or maybe go 2 up front. He’s gotten deeper and deeper after Wolves and looks to have slowed down his game again. We have to plan for the playoffs and i dint want him getting kicked all over the place but think getting drunk opted would spur him on aswell. Same for a couple others Snodgrass for example. Is Green fit? Give OHare a run out as a wide player. 

I’d drop him for Tuesday 

Hogan is a finisher the problem is we hardly create. That’s why Kodija suits Bruce he can do it all on his own. 

You’d hope a home 2nd leg would be an advantage but the way we are we could easily be out the game by then. Maybe playing home first and going away with a lead would suit us more? 

Today is the sort of game where over the years when we needed a win against teams that he havent much going we mess up. Today is different. 2 nil with a Fulham draw later on. 

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

They're "smashing it" at second division youth level.  Blackburn are currently ahead of them in that table... but aren't playing those brilliant youth players at senior level and, somehow, are top of League One.  We're sat 4th in the Championship - I highly, highly doubt our youth are the difference between that and being 1st/2nd/3rd.

Youth leagues are there for young players to develop and start to challenge for a first team place.  I'd argue that Keinan Davis, Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, Andre Green and Callum O'Hare are basically fringe first team players.  Of these players, only Keinan Davis is in his 20's.  Andre Green was a first team regular before his injury setback.  The notion that we don't blood youth players is just absolute nonsense.

Harry Kane, one of the greatest English youth talents of his generation, aged 19, had made one Premier League appearance for Spurs.  It lasted 4 mins - he came on as a sub.  Slowly but surely, he developed and now look at him.  I don't understand this clamour for rushing youth players into the senior team for the sake of it.  Let them be a success at youth level, let them work hard for their ultimate reward and then don't jump on their backs when they don't immediately set the World alight.

 

Jonathan Kodjia seemingly only became a regular professional footballer aged 23/24.

I think you missed my initial point. I said Kodija would be better off having a few 90 min in the reserves to get his fitness and confidence up rather than 20/30 min here and there for the 1st team but I don’t think Bruce puts much stock in what the kids do or we’d see more of OHare and RHM. That point was called twaddle. We can argue over whether or not Bruce gives our kids a chance but this is a Kodija thread. Bruce last year basically relied on Kodija doing some magic to win us games and brought him back straight away. Getting Kodija match fit for the playoffs is key for me. Throwing him in v Hull was wrong but v Reading it was ideal as no pressure. 

57 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Or by seeing them train and play reserve games and deciding based on your decades of experience. I'm sure you know better though  

I mean that's just not true is it? Sometimes that's how it happens. Sometimes it isn't. Depends on the player, and the injury, and the scenario. Again I'd guess that our team of professional medical staff know the best way to bring him back form injury. I'm sure you know better though

Also twaddle. I've lost count of how many times I've had to explain my views on Bruce. I'm not going to do it again. Let's just say because I defend Bruce from weird, laughable criticism like your OP, doesn't mean I love the guy. I really don't love him. I think he's doing ok, that's it. I'm sure you know better though

 

Twaddle 

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Keinan Davis. 

Ankle. 

Davis was the only fit striker so no other option and look how he fared? That proves my point that you can trust the kids more. Leg or ankle the point is still valid. Maybe more so seeing the sort of player Kodija is and the pressure he exerts on his ankle with his twists and turns.  

2 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Firstly the suggestion that Kodjia needs three 90 minute reserve game matches before he can make the first team is twaddle. It sounds like the kind of thing just made up to have a dig at the manager.
I'm not sure the poster in question knows better than our manager, and coaches, and medical staff. I'd be more inclined to believe them if they think Kodjia is ready.

 

Secondly the insinuation that Bruce pays no attention to reserve games, and if he did we'd suddenly see loads of kids making the first team is also twaddle, imo.
The suggestion is that all these kids are brilliant and should all be in the team if Bruce noticed them.
Do we really think that the reason the kids don't make the team is because Bruce ignores reserve games? Like if you really think about it, does anyone actually believe that?

Or could it be that they're not good enough? 

To me it's a lazy criticism. Someone decided that Bruce doesn't like giving youth players a chance and so it gets brought out at every opportunity by some. It's not actually true.

Sure there might be a gem in there who would flourish if we threw them into the first team, but in general they're not good enough or not ready.

 

So yeah. That's why it's twaddle.

Our kids are smashing it at a reserve level yet apart a fleeting sub appearance by RHM none get a look in. It’s not a lazy criticism it’s a fact. They may not be good enough but you tend to only find these things out by trying them. I’ve seen nothing in Onomah or Axel that our kids haven’t got apart from size. I never said Kodija needed 3 reserve games before coming back just that I believe he’d benefit more from playing 90 min games than just getting 20 min here and there. That’s how players used to come back from injuries and how most clubs do it. He looked better last night but looked awful v Hull Bruce rushed him back on to the bench then and when we lost control of the game he threw him on and hoped for some magic. Kodija is coming back from a 2 nd broken leg and that’s will affect him mentally playing in games without much on could help that but you think the sun shines out of Bruce’s arse so let’s hope we get a sun tan in May.  

Just imagine how Cardiff would feel if they lost 2nd place now! Let’s hope Wolves do us a favour and keep this race going a little longer. Cardiff Millwall over 2 legs would be very interesting.  I can see us getting Derby and I’ll be happy with that and in a one off game we can smash anyone!! (We can also get smashed) 

Kodija should be having 2-3 reserve games of a full 90 min to get his sharpness back before he even gets on the bench but then again Bruce doesn’t care what you do in the reserves or we’d have seen more of the kids by now. 

35 minutes ago, Eastie said:

The fact wyness refuses to even say Bruce would be in or out if promoted made  me think it’s not looking good for him plus  his several times saying he knows the consequences of not going up for himself .

I really don’t see him being here next season - might turn up at the Albion though . 

I think Bruce has been kept in his job at times by Wyness and Round fighting his corner and us still having a chance of going up but his reign is uninspiring. He’s a manager that’s had success a certain way and is still using it. Hence the dinosaur comments. He seems to rely on having the better players and not the better team. When it clicks like Wolves we look great but more often than not we look disjointed. I can’t see the Dr thinking this is good enough regardless of if we’ve scrape up through the playoffs. If we are to move forward as a club next season I can’t see Bruce being here no matter what division. 

On 17/03/2018 at 12:54, blandy said:

I don't. We'd like to be, who wouldn't? but "should be" not in a million years.

Man City and Utd. Chelsea and Arsenal, Spurs and Liverpool all have a better case for "should be" in the top 6. Then there's the likes of Everton and a few others who have a better case than championship Villa.

I do know what you're getting at, but I think it's currently unrealistic in the extreme to say that we should be. To be honest there's very little prospect of anyone breaking into the top 6 any time soon.

You could make a better case perhaps to say we are where we are because of mismanagement over a long period and had that not occurred our level would have been somewhere around the top 8, with occasional ups and downs around that sort of position.

Until or unless we get out of this division, stay up and build, like you say, let's just enjoy winning more than we lose.

Nothing happens anytime soon but we were Spurs equals until we imploded. Man City are where they are through a massive investment by a foreign owner. It was always the top 6 then for a while with the champions league it became a top 4 and we were just outside the elite group. IF we went up and invested wisely we could easily be looking at the group below the top 6 in no time then the hard work starts. In my lifetime we’ve been up and down and none of it happened quickly. Having a Chinese owner could be a great thing if we get challenging as that’s where the markets are but those fans generally follow success. 

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

True. But we did.

RDM's other problem was that there was a much better, more experienced and more proven (at this level) manager available at the time of his bad run.

Had there been an absolutely head and shoulders, stand out replacement for Bruce easily available during his worst runs, he may well have got the chop too.

Bruce managed expectations last year so the pressure of the bad run after Xmas was deflected when for me it shouldn’t have been. He started badly again this year with a similar start to RDM then hit form beforehand blowing up again in december then just as pressure mounts he hits a run again then when we looked to be challenging top 2 we have another bad run. We need to hit form again soon. It’s written in the stars for Kodija i  reckon. 

5 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

You're dead right.

But with that mess, RDM performed terribly and had us in 22nd place.

Bruce got an almost immediate upturn in form when he took over, and while it didn't last, it's hard to argue that his performance wasn't better than RDM's.

It’s hard to argue that if we never conceded in the last 5/10 min of games we’d have had RDM for a lot longer. I still think we wouldve be been fine under RDM but the weight of expectation from the club was massive so he had to go. Bruce made us more solid but we showed encouraging signs footballing wise under RDM. RDM hadnt never built a broken club so was the wrong choice. Bruce has never built a top club and left a positive legacy but he does get teams promoted by hook or by crook.   Fingers crossed he does it again   

Cardiff have lost 7 games all season and we need them to lose 4 in 10 that’s a bit much to ask. At the end of last season I wanted us to use the games to test our kids as they were meaningless. Even though these next ones aren’t we should be looking at getting the likes of Green and Kodija match fit for the playoffs. We should box clever as the games run down by resting some and playing others. Huddersfield played a very weak side v Blues last year so let’s get top 4 wrapped up and then be a bit clever. 

9 wins should do it 

4 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

That's a good point. We could however have played Elmo, Bree or Thor as a make shift left back. As was pointed out it led to Adomah and Grealish mostly spending time in our own half instead of in the opposition half.

I hope this was the once in 6 months-routine of trying 3 at the back, and that it is abandonned as fast as the last times it hasn't worked. Alternatively we should work on it much more in training so that the players know what to do.

At 2 nil down lay Adomah LB and just go for it Or even ask Hourihane to play there. We had numerous options and going 3 at the back was the worst.  We had 3 marking 1

6 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Well I think how it worked was you made your comment and said what you wanted to say, and I replied with what I wanted to say.

As I said we have got to the stage where people will believe what they want, ( not just in football either). You have decided to believe Johnstone Hutton Terry Snodgrass will all go. Others have decided the players didn’t want it, or thought they’d win easily etc.

Its people turning conjecture into fact in their own mind.

Well whatever gets you through the night.

 Dealing with FFP is a fact! Having less parachute payments are fact. We will have to juggle the squad because of FFP as it’s currently unsustainable. That’s not conjecture. We had to do it last year. We will have to do it again this summer. Now we may keep all those players but I’ll be at the expense of others. I don’t believe we will sign Johnstone for the reported £6m and roughly the same for Snoddy and be able to afford their wages as well as Terrys 60k a week. Those 3 alone would be a £20m outlay. So based on facts I’ve made a judgement where as you’ve not backed up your belief they won’t leave if we don’t go up with anything. Most people don’t just state something most explain why they believe something. Then you argue your side. 

19 minutes ago, terrytini said:

Lol how is it an over reaction to point out that we don’t know what might happen 

Or to simply quote some things people have said.

In a couple of weeks re- read the last 10 pages and tell me my observation is the one most deserving of the word over reaction 

Why are you bringing up others people thoughts in our conversation? I brought up FFP yet you went off on one about other stuff. A couple of weeks won’t affect anything I stated. We are 7 pts off of most people’s minimum target for Bruce and that won’t be eroded in a couple of weeks. 

44 minutes ago, terrytini said:

You have no idea whatsoever whether that would happen... they might all stay.

But I suppose people have got to the stage when they believe what they prefer to believe.

We “ bottled” it

The players “ didn’t want it enough”

The players “ thought all they had to do was turn up”

Bruce “ won’t play youngsters”

Our players “ are lightweight”

Astonishing.

 

We are close to FFP now. We will lose even more money next year as the parachute payments drop. It’s an educated guess we will not be able to afford Johnstone Terry and Snodgrass. In wages and transfer fees it’d be close to £20m for those 3. Davis apart name one of our youngsters who has been involved regularly? And Davis was only given a chance as no other options. We can argue about Bruce giving kids chances but the fact about FFP is indisputable. I said hopefully we may be able to keep the squad together but I don’t see how. What’s astonishing is your overreaction