Keener window-cleaner

Must say that in the press conference before the game although he praised Christian Purslow, he didn't look that happy talking about him... After the last performances my patience is running out very quickly now. It proves that the previous good performances were just a temporary high like we have seen before, winning games because the players were fired up and opposition being weak. After that we have reverted to what we have seen over the last years. Had we played well and lost it would have been another story. But this was really crap. Like the last game. He bashed the players after the last game and said there would be changes. So what will he do now? Will he bash these players as well and next game play the ones he just criticised? He has dug himself in a hole and it's difficult to see him climb back out of it. I'd be happy to see him sacked in the morning.

Waited until 75 mins to make any significant changes...and one of the subs was switching one left back for another.

Would have been nice to see replays of the goals, when it happend it seemd like he just isn't there? Every cross or corner into the box is a massive chance for them. Worrying!

Working fine for me on the whole. Clock and results suddenly appeared on 39 mins and no replays, still some amateurish zooming, but otherwise no problems.

Our players are just standing still. Jack has the ball in their half, everyone stands still. Kodjia is alone against 5 players and we cross the ball towards him. Turgid crap football. McGinn with all his energy has reverted to standing still in the middle not knowing what to do he either.

I'm tired of seeing him screaming and gesticulating on the sideline. If you did your job on the training ground and implemented a playing style the players would know what to do on the matchday and you wouldn't need to scream and gesticulate.

Come on now lads, give us three points!

...is still here.

The complete midfielder! I agree with the similarities to Milner, but as much as I love Milner I think McGinn has more tricks in his locker. There was a spin and a couple of nutmegs today that were sublime. £2-3M? **** me!

Sorry but criticising him for not coming out when he then makes a super double/tripple save isn't fair. Even if it was 50/50 if he should have come out or if Jedi disturbed him or not, what should be remembered of that sequence are the two/three top class saves.

I still think it will be a mistake to keep him playing cb all season, but today I thought he was quite good.

I think we've seen major improvements over the last two games, this is how I want us to play. We are winning possession, creating many chances, we press high up and have the whole team further up the field. We are attacking in different ways instead of just kicking it out wide or in the channels. It leaves us more exposed at the back, but it's the way forward. I have been very critical of Bruce at times, and at times wanted him gone, but I don't understand the wish for him to go at the moment when we are playing the best football we have for several years. There is of course still much to do, we have to be better in the final third and convert our chances, but that will come. Especially when we play Bolasie and El Ghazi who are proper wide forwards. I would have wished that we played this way a year ago, then by this time we would perhaps have clicked fully and also know what to do in the final third. But it is what it is and we are atm playing very well. Disrupting that by changing manager in this moment doesn't make sense to me.

I felt sorry for him for not getting a clean sheet, he was very good today. That double (or tripple?) save was immense. During the game I thought he stood a bit too much on the line, not coming out enough, but then haveing seen Liverpool - Brighton I noticed many goalkeepers do that on corners/crosses.

Nyland with his other gloves on.

I wonder if Bacuna will play for them or if they by now have found out how crap he is.

Who is right about what?

Long injury, no pre season games(?), high wages, I hope the gamble will be worth it if he signs! At the moment I'd rather spunk the wages on a striker and a cb. Jimmy can take Bolasie's place as wide forward.

Everytime he is heard of makes it more of a farce, best to quickly and silently cut the ties.

I was very pleased to see that he made a couple of top class saves. Despite the second goal being a mistake of his in my eyes, some of the other saves were better than I ever saw Sam Johnstone do last season. I was worried that Nyland would turn out to be a disaster for us, so it was very good, a relief, to see that he has this potential. Now he has to work on being more commanding and to come out more decisive on crosses and corners. He should watch videos of Brad Friedel and how he shouted "AWAY" every time a ball came into the penalty area. Nyland gets bullied at corners which isn't acceptable, he is big and strong enough not to let that happen. He looked almost terrified when he went out on the pitch yesterday, and looked nervous during the game. He needs to beef up his confidence quickly. I want to see him shout more and be more angry (towards the opponents) to give a more confident impression. Regarding his kicking I remember one clearence in the first half that was a bit short, and one in the second that went way too far directly to their keeper. Otherwise I thought it was very good, nothing at all to complain about (and compare that kicking to Guzan that we had in the PL). He was also quick out to start attacks. All in all he showed that he has potential, be more commanding and he can come good for us.

I agree 100%. I think McGinn has contributed to this, at least yesterday Bruce trusted him and Whelan in midfield and could give Jack a more free role. It makes much of a difference to have the third midfielder in front of the mid two, instead of having a holding midfielder behind the mid two. Except Jedi in defence, the only real issue I had with yesterday's set up was that Elmo played as the wide forward. I think the wingers/wide forwards in this formation must be attacking players/goal scorers, otherwise too much relies on the sole forward. Hopefully Bolasie or El Gahzi will fill that role.

I agree. It's the trade off any team has to make, you can't be 100% solid at the back and play expansive attacking football at the same time. I prefer playing good attacking football and then loose or draw the odd game because of mistakes at the back, compared to the way we have played focusing on defence and nick a goal. With that tactic we nevertheless loose the odd games, but in a turgid depressing manner. There is also much improvement to be made in our defence, bring in a solid cb next to Chester, hopefully Nyland will improve and after a while a new back four will hopefully become more solid. So we have the potential to play good football and still be fairly solid at the back.

Solid performance, but he isn't a cb. You could see at their first goal that he didn't spot the danger and then stood still, Chester on the other hand reacted an threw his body towards the player despite being further away than Jedi, who just stood still and watched. He has good delivery when he is heading the ball, but when he has it at his feet it makes me nervous. Don't know how many times it wnet over the line to the left today.

Wow the first 60 mins was the best I have seen us play in a long while, totally outplayed them. Passing, attacking and creative stuff!

Yes! We could line up with: Nyland --- --- --- --- Whelan, Jedinak, Doyle-Hayes --- Lansbury, Lyden, McGinn --- Bjarnason, Hourihane, Grealish Kodjia With Tshibola on the bench.

And how about Tony?