jackdaww

perhaps i should have said - GOOD strikers . hogan has showed nothing so far. mccormack isnt fit and shows no interest . hm and davis are youngsters with all to prove . that leaves kodjia - a star player who has most of our goals - as benteke did - and agbon who is good but at his age injury prone . kodjia on his own wont get us into the prem !

i dont think the signs are good at all . there are some able players but they just do not deliver often enough. some of the new signings are duds -- but kodjia jedinack taylor ARE good. we are desperately short of strikers , so we MUST keep on to agbonlahor and just hope some of the youngsters step up . bree has a lot to prove so we must also hang on to hutton another year . also bacuna should stay - he is versatile but needs to grow up fast . its possible we may sign some great players in the summer - im not holding my breath . ps. its remarkable how many of the players we gave away are now in the PREM!!

or -- we took too long to get going .

by all accounts this was a business as usual , so dont be fooled , these are bottom 6 performances.

we did well for 40 minutes - pressing hard and getting the second ball - much better . then in their first real attack on goal they score !! and they score again in their next real attack ! game over . johnstone - did well - some good saves. hutton - good chester/elphick - could be better taylor - much better than amavi lansbury works hard but not special hourihane - good first half , went missing second half . jedinak very good defensively bjarnson - good pressing but cant pass and cant finish hogan - i cant see any talent yet kodjia - great individual skills - not a team player - a wildcard. adohma - didnt do much gardner - like many has gone backwards agbonlahor would be a big help at the moment - he gives defenses a lot to worry about. dr tony may realise he has to get in an exceptionally talented manager just for survival .

another great post . i didnt see the game . we may be creating chances , but are they the type that go in ? so many goals now are from simple squarish passes inside the box to an unmarked man who just side-foots it in , chances created by good build up play - we dont do that . re johnstone , i dont think he has made any exceptionally good saves , as guzan and friedel did , a good goalie is essential - according to brian clough... glad to hear hourihane performing better . so it seems the players were individually ok but can they play together ? is it tactics , coaching , confidence , or do we have a bunch of timeservers ? i have never like managers who dont make full use of their subs , they need absolute minimum of 30 mins on the pitch . i am starting to think bruce is hapless , its taking too long to evaluate his players and decide his plans. no doubt dr tony will be getting plenty of advice.

yes , and then we cant attract quality players , much as now.

we have done better with chester and baker as 2CB , even with hutton and amavi misfiring . so i'd go for bree chester baker taylor at the back . lansbury is the only new CMF to impress me so far , but i suppose hourihane has to be given more time . grealish is our ONLY creative skilful no10 and we should persevere. adohma and kodjia are WMF so its hogan CF . ps. how long will it take bruce to find his best team with all these new arrivals?

yes, but i think weve scored first before , and still gone on to lose....

i didnt see the game so this plausible post helps a lot . although the highlights show we had many more chances created than recently , the overall performance is little better , and some of our new players are just not effective. we need a massive improvement just to keep out of the bottom 6 .

there is precious little evidence of any improvement on the pitch . we are unable to progress the ball out of defence through midfield to the forwards. non of our midfielders attempt to beat a man (tsishbola did) ., nor do they move to recieve a pass ( westwood did- but little else ) as a result we are not scoring enough goals to overcome our defensive (mainly GK) frailities. most of the time in most games we have been outplayed - often by lowly teams. i see no reason to think we wont lose .

another predictable result . standout for me - conor hourihane - invisible for 75 minutes , just observing the game - we cant play with ten men like that . iceland man a bit better a left wing back , i detest his riduculous overacting when fouled , bruce must stop that . three at the back was also better , but our midfield is woefull . goalkeeper at fault again? hogan shows promise . grealish has football talent but otherwise sadly very dim. we did somehow have several goal attempts, but no-one good enough to finish . a very good kodjia goal , and there was an astonishing move at 75 mins , must have kept the ball for a dozen or more passes. bruce should have taken grealish off at half time , he wasnt doing much anyway . ps forgot - relegation to league 1 distinctly possible .

i detect a complacency on this board - an assumption we will stay in the championship. this is no longer about making the playoffs , its about survival . i am underwhelmed by the quality of the latest transfer intake , just who is responsible for bringing them in ?

a colossal mistake by bruce to throw in a complete new midfield from the start - puts huge pressure on them , and makes a rod for his own back . he compounded that mistake by tardy substitutions - feeble. managers are being judged on their tactics and substitions . bruce may be headed for the exit this season. in particluar to start bjarnsen , who was obviously way off the pace for whatever reasons, was stupid . we are desparate for quality . ps tishoba looked better to me than any of the new signings , and weve let him go ! another albrighton ?

it could get worse , it did last season ...

with all the transfer activity i expected some improvement in quality . no way , just business as usual , outplayed , minimal chances , kick and rush , always second to the ball , and hopeful punts upfield . the midfield (!!!!) a rabble. it could have been six easily . bruce should not have started a complet new midfield together , and he was much too slow to make changes. bardjson and hourihane should have come off at half time , they did nothing . amavi as sloppy as ever . green was BY far our best forward , what does that say about kodjia and adohma , who i am beginning to think are flops . bottom six beckons , dont be fooled..

an astonishing influx of new players this window - the owner means business. and some of them seem to have some proven quality . when we had an infllux of "young and hungry players" (ie cheap) a few years ago we didnt improve. then we were told we had to give them time to "gel" . they never did gel. my feeling is this new lot are good but i dont think we will finish top four, - not enough time after our poor start.

for some reason , i keep thinking of brett holman .

neither is adomah stupid , letting the ball run on is inviting a defender to nick it , and then what be said?

for me the major plus agbonlahor brings is that he keeps defences fully occupied . that relieves pressure on our defense and can create chances . i think he has been giving everything since bruce brought him back in , i dont think his fitness is in question now , just look at his sustained running . by contrast i see nothing from mccormack at all. i would persist with him when kodjia returns .

a further major issue is his age. very few very exceptional strikers perform well in their thirties.(defoe, crouch). there just isnt time now for him to regain whatever form may be left . spending 12m was just insane.

bruce has said mccormack isnt fit . so i dont understand why has been selected at all.

spectacular winger. as with traore , no-one can get on the end of the final ball - hes just too good for them.

i didnt see the game , so will watch the highlights later. i am not against critisism , far from it , but some of these posts are way out. reading the review in the lancashire evening post , bruces own comments , and another very sensible post by OUTBYEASTER , i think we may be turning the corner. i still dont think we will make the playoffs , the first half season performance has left too much catching up to do .

sadly at present we have no-one better .