Kuwabatake Sanjuro

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

I mentioned that when he got the job. His willingness to give youth a chance is non-existent. Probably count on one hand amount of youngsters he has given a chance to

The only homegrown player of note that he has brought through that I can think of is Jordan Henderson, I thought he may have played a part in developing Andy Johnson years ago but he sold him fairly quickly after taking over to sign Clinton Morrison instead.

Andrew Robertson was a good signing who got his chance when young.

Anything less than 4 points from Bristol and Rotherham and League 1 is on the horizon. I'd expect defeats in the other 2 games.

Stam and Wagner are non runners and if they were interested now I wouldn't be interested. Both look like very good managers doing excellent jobs but if they were the type to leave their teams in the lurch while in the hunt for promotion to go to a relegation struggler for more money it wouldn't reflect well on their personalities.

In the summer sure if circumstances are right.

And that isn't going to change under the current manager.

3 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

Fans ambitions change. Right now I'd take staying in this division as a reasonable ambition

It won't take a lot to stay up, just an average manager with balls. The only problem with that is that we would have to sack an average manager again next season when under performing and start again. No half measures, get the right man in now and build from there.

Only 32 but injuries lost him his contract at Panathinaikos according to wikipedia. Could probably do a job still if we are defending deep and playing for draws and he is a mercenary so he should fit in well.

Not a terrible night, still a cushion to Wigan, Venky's might shoot themselves in the foot but they could do well with their next appointment. Burton picked up a decent away point but Brentford and QPR are both safe enough now. Everyone from ourselves and below still in danger, SHA will scrape a few points up somewhere even if they are every bit as much in freefall.

Why are Dean Smith, Rowett and Warburton the most mentioned managers still. They'd all keep Villa up but have fans lost all sense of ambition at all that they will settle for bog standard championship managers. This is meant to be a big club with a supposedly wealthy owner who wants to go places, no more half measures for me.

9 minutes ago, Zatman said:

could be below Burton tonight and 4 points behind much maligned QPR 

A QPR win would be good as it keeps Wigan a bit back.

18 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

We look like doing a Leeds/Sheffield Wednesday. They however had massive financial problems- there is no excuse for that for us. How can we be so consistently shite for so long?

Consistently hiring bad managers and overpaying for average players (fees and wages), it will take a long time to turn things around as the current regime has continued to make bad mistakes. Getting a capable manager in would be a start.

10 minutes ago, terrytini said:

If he hasn't at least sounded out Smith and Rowett as regards taking over before the end of the season he needs sacking too.

Both reasonable and acceptable appointments for a championship club but hopefully the club will have greater ambition. Smith would be an arsehole if he left Brentford at this stage of the season when they aren't yet safe and I don't think he would. Rowett obviously is a good manager but he is not the sort I'd be pinning the future of the club on.

The main thing is that Bruce is replaced as soon as possible though.

I wonder who the other 9 candidates other than Bruce was on the short-list when he got the job? There is plenty in that interview with OBE that is sensible but the people being hired have been underwhelming, Ian Atkins in particular did not inspire confidence.

He needs to be brave now and even if he gets on well with Bruce needs to have the balls to go to Tony and tell him it won't be working out.

2 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

We cannot attract a quality manager, tha'ts the problem!

How do the likes of Huddersfield, Fulham, Reading etc manage it? Squandering vast sums on Championship level players in transfer fees and wages when the money would be far better spent on a proper talented manager who would know how to set up a team and develop players.

Who would have thought last September that we would have no strikers left available by February with the numbers we had.

1 minute ago, One For The Road said:

There were a few people getting arsey about the very existance of this thread back in August. I remember being called ridiculously negative just for saying that we wouldnt make the play offs!

Well, its a very realistic possibilty now that we will go down and its not this thread that is ridiculous but the promotion thread. 

The likes of Burton, Blackburn and Wigan will all fight. We know we wont. We still have to go all those teams too. Its going to be another battle against relegation for the 6th straught year. How depressing.

Not that I'm happy about it but I got attacked for mentioning the possibility of it a month ago. I wrongly thought that getting Hourihane and Lansbury in might help avoid getting sucked in though.

I wouldn't worry too much about the result tonight, it changes little but it will be important to have a replacement for Bruce lined up withtin the next 2 weeks. Hogan being out is obviously a big blow too but if we do manage to scrape a couple of wins somewhere at least some youngsters might get a chance to be blooded.

Time for action.

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Still np change...

73rd minute

Bruce rarely makes any changes before the 73rd minute.

9 minutes ago, Zatman said:

if we have to go with the tried and tested Championship experience approach then we could do worse than Simon Grayson. working wonders at Preston on a budget and they dont play bad football

Was unlucky at Leeds too but he did well there.

Ah well they put up a good performance and worked hard for 40mins. Not a hope of getting an equalizer though.

3 minutes ago, Dave J said:

Well I'm afraid we will have to agree to disagree - in no way in my opinion is Hoddle dated- Good lord if he is heaven only knows what that makes Bruce.

i will say it again in my view he remains one of the most forward thinking coaches of his generation and I include the present in this. 

I guess that's what makes footy interesting ?

Yeah faith healers are the future of football. It is nearly 20 years since he was a good manager and he is a weirdo. No thanks to Hoddle.

I'd like to be somewhat positive but between the confidence Newcastle have, their extra quality in attack, their organisation without the ball, their fired up fans and electric atmosphere I can really see a hammering on the cards. One positive from this it would help quicken the sacking of Bruce.

Another positive is that I'm usually wrong about football so we might have a chance.

Apologies if posted before but is very relevant.

Quote

Shortly after taking charge at Sunderland Steve Bruce was asked if he had considered experimenting with a Christmas Tree formation. "I'm not really into tactics," he replied. At the time that response was easy to interpret as a deliberately flippant or, perhaps, a self-deprecating means of avoiding answering the question. As the seasons passed, though, the suspicion grew that the former Manchester United captain had simply been honest.

Arguably one of the principal reasons Bruce is no longer in charge at the Stadium of Light concerns his apparent inability to tweak formations or tactics during matches. Whenever a rival manager re-configured his system mid-game, Bruce invariably failed to come up with a countermeasure.

In recent months Alan Pardew, Mark Hughes, Roy Hodgson and, most recently, Roberto Martínez have all seemingly out-thought him as Sunderland dropped points against supposedly weaker sidesthey really should have beaten.

If he failed to cut it as a tactician, the 50-year-old did not seem much of a strategist either. Including loans, 30 players were signed – several of whom have subsequently been moved on – during Bruce's two-and-a-half years on Wearside. That represents an unsettling "churn" factor and hardly proved conducive to developing either a clear playing philosophy or strong team spirit.

Always rather amorphous, if not downright scrappy, Sunderland's high-tempo style lacked creativity, not to mention control, in central midfield. Unable to dictate play, the team frequently failed to press home early advantages.

https://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2011/nov/30/steve-bruce-sunderland-sacked

Over 5 years later and he hasn't improved. Mike Phelan was the main reason Hull got promoted last season in my view.

If the club do manage a couple of wins and pull away from the relegation zone then there is no reason why he shouldn't be given a chance. The likes of Elphick are never going to amount to much so he should be put in ahead of him in the pecking order anyway. Would he be better suited to partnering Chester or Baker? Chester might be a more balanced set up but Baker would make up for the lack of robustness.