Steve Bruce

[NeilS]

It is still very early days in this season, we do not need to worry about not being top after ten games. There are still 36 games left, which is almost a whole PL season still to go. When we were last down at this level under GT mk1 We didn't hit top spot until Boxing day after beating Huddersfield. As long as we are within touching distance then there is no need for panic, the teams at the top will feel the pressure ramp up as the season progresses and expectation from their fans increase, they will also start to hit rocky patches or lose key players at some point down the line. I feel Cardiff are currently reaping the benefit of Warnocks tough pre-season, their better fitness levels have seen them start the season strongly, whether they can maintain that remains to be seen and they may drop off later as tiredness kicks in and other teams fitness levels catch up.

We cannot worry about what other teams are doing, IF (and, its a big if) we can keep up our own good form, those teams will start to feel our presence and pressure.

[romavillan]

Let's not get carried away just yet, we're another 10-12 positive results in a row away from the type of run we need to do twice I'd say to be bothering the top 2 come the end of the season.

That performance was the best we have seen from a Bruce side I'd say, there were a couple of 45 mins last season where we played well, but last night was very good at times. We were still a bit too generous in giving the ball back for my liking, but for the first time in ages they didn't look like they were still learning each other's names. There looked to be the beginnings of some understanding and some movement, so IF that's the start of something then we're looking a hell of a lot better placed to achieve our objective for this season.

Still a big if though for me based on the 40 odd games we'd seen beforehand from Bruce. Full credit to him fora  great away win, and managing 2 away wins on the bounce especially. I think we need for this to become the norm rather than the exception before we can start talking about Bruce as a success. We need to see it against the better sides too. I think he needs to win the next one for the pressure to start lifting a little but he's gone a long way to saving his arse with last nights showing.
 

[romavillan]

@NeilS I had nto read your big IF before submitting mine

[Vive_La_Villa]

A lot of big IFs. 

[AshVilla]

i must admit after the Brentford game i said the only chance he'd win me over is if we suddenly looked like we would win the division and win 6 games on the bounce which at the time didn't look likely.

He's already 3 games there and should be 4 as we should beat Bolton the weekend.

Fair play for the turn around, but i still think he will get sacked at some point between now and when the season finishes.

The acid test will be when we play Wolves who are a good side.

Edited September 27, 2017 by AshVilla

[bobzy]

13 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Let's not get carried away just yet, we're another 10-12 positive results in a row away from the type of run we need to do twice I'd say to be bothering the top 2 come the end of the season.
 

I don't understand this.  Are you saying we need to win 10-12 games in a row twice this season to even stand a chance of being in top 2?  What...?!

13 minutes ago, romavillan said:

That performance was the best we have seen from a Bruce side I'd say, there were a couple of 45 mins last season where we played well, but last night was very good at times. We were still a bit too generous in giving the ball back for my liking, but for the first time in ages they didn't look like they were still learning each other's names. There looked to be the beginnings of some understanding and some movement, so IF that's the start of something then we're looking a hell of a lot better placed to achieve our objective for this season.

Still a big if though for me based on the 40 odd games we'd seen beforehand from Bruce. Full credit to him fora  great away win, and managing 2 away wins on the bounce especially. I think we need for this to become the norm rather than the exception before we can start talking about Bruce as a success. We need to see it against the better sides too. I think he needs to win the next one for the pressure to start lifting a little but he's gone a long way to saving his arse with last nights showing.
 

I think the Norwich victory was a lot better as a performance - we just happened to concede then too.  The Burton game, aside from the scoreline, wasn't massively different from our other recent games IMO, just against weaker opposition.  We let them have the ball a fair bit and hit them on the break.

[Guest av1]

To be fair to @Grasshopper his point is valid. As i said, i have criticised Bruce heavily so i will give him some credit for our recent run of form. But this squad should be spanking the likes of Burton. We brought on a striker in the second half last night that cost more than the Burton team combined. 

I'll repeat for clarity, I'm not saying that our recent run of form has nothing to do with Bruce, but lets not forget that the prat he replaced won the Champions League with Chelsea, and is far from being anything approaching a decent manager. 

If the team produces the sort of performance we saw last night for the remainder of the season i will concede that he will have done a good job. But as of now, taking the last 12 months into account and the resources he has available, he has been poor.

This squad is good enough for automatic promotion, only time will tell if Bruce is good enough to stear them there. 

 

 

[Nigel]

2 hours ago, ender4 said:

I'm very happy that we won, but i'm still worried that we are behind the pace. 

7 points behind... i'm sure we were 7 points behind 6 games ago before our good period. 

It shows how hard it is to catch the top of the table once a gap opens up.

The gap is still there yes, but only 2 teams now. The rest have been reeled in to some extent. 

It is far too early in the league to be worried about other teams though, we don't even know who will be up there come Christmas, never mind the end of the season.

The important thing is keeping up with the leading pack, which we are now doing.

[mattjpa]

12 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Nope sorry, have had to trawl through hyperbole after hyperbole for months now and having been branded as being in the 'bruce-in brigade' tonight I'll revel in it thanks

 

I'm also having a great time on holiday in crete and may have had a number of beers tonight along with a shit load of bbq so life is just bloody spiffing right now!! 

high5

[mrjc]

Bruce, and the team, have to get credit for the results at the moment, and (from what I've read) the performance last night.  In itself, I'm not worried about us being off the pace, there is in theory plenty of time to close that gap with the right form.  Also, encouragingly the players seem to have more confidence a bit of swagger about them - which I don't think we've seen for a long time.  I know we've got a mix of views / frustrations, but continuing our current form is absolutely the best-case scenario from here.

However, the last few games haven't (and, in fairness, can't) convince me yet that we are ready to sustain this form and actually be able to close that gap.  Nor should they - if the negative voices were being too judgemental after three games (10 months), then why should a positive judgement be made so soon (especially given the opposition)?  Based on what we've seen over Bruce's tenure, we have to take into account the fact that there have been ups and downs, sometimes for several consecutive matches - so I still expect the same to happen again this season.

So it's great to see some wins, goals, performances etc, and long may it continue....and obviously I hope I'm wrong, but for now I still don't see us as getting promoted.

[Wezbid]

On 16/09/2017 at 17:56, Wezbid said:

He's put out a balanced side with most of our best players. Stick with this and he'll probably get results and keep his job, it's not rocket science. 

And so it was.

A settled side makes a ton of difference, especially when it's got the quality of ours. 

[alreadyexists]

If we play badly and it's Bruce's fault then it must also be Bruce's 'fault' that we play well too. To attribute all negatives to him, and all positives in spite of him is unfair. 

You don't have to pretend we haven't played badly before to say 'well done' now. And saying that doesn't give people a 'I told you so ticket' for some future event when things go wrong. 

[dn1982]

Last night was hopefully the start of how we play from now on. When we press and play at a tempo as we did in the 1st half not many teams will be able to handle us. My only criticism from last night is Bruce not giving Hogan 20 min playing with Davis and bringing on Thor instead of OHare. Bruce has to be brutal with Thor he's had numerous opportunities and doesn't look good. I wouldn't trust him coming on if there was anything on the game. 

[villianusa]

1 hour ago, Grasshopper said:

After spending £££££'s on players from either a league above or the best from the league we are in. Coupled with S"4promotions"B, the biggest pull in the league and an owner doing seemingly everything he can (not forgetting a CEO with PL background) I "expect" the other teams in this league to be "trying to compete with us". Not the other way round.

If Bruce was really worth his salt as a promotionist, he should have got us up last season, he failed. The recent 7 results (not 46) are more down to the players than him.

If you are handed a bucket of s#%t, it takes time to add the right ingredients to turn it into manure,

[rubberman]

That was great - credit to Bruce and the squad.  Correct formation, settled side and the confidence and swagger are starting to flow.  The most impressive element for me is the range of scorers and assisters - that shows a team clicking.

Having hoped that we would keep the same team last night my concern now is that we need to rotate a bit for Bolton to keep everyone fit and firing.  The concern part being that, as in the 2 bob cup, he might try to change formation.  Please don't Steve.  Like for like swaps where necessary.   We will need plenty of other players through the season so they have to slot into the same roles - try a couple for this match but don't go changing too much with a couple of weeks break coming up.

It's a shame to have only gained one place last night - but a couple of draws tonight (or even, gulp, a SHA win) and see what Saturday brings.

[mattjpa]

On 9/26/2017 at 12:35, DCJonah said:

When's that happening then?

Last time I checked finishing 13th doesn't achieve it and neither does finishing 9th. 

Let me know when that promotion form kicks in, you'll probably find a lot less criticism and concern. 

Form in football is generally considered to constitute the last few games. Most form guides list the previous 6 games. Even before last night we were won 3 drawn 3. 12 points from 6 games, 2 points per game, play-off/promotion form. (In the interests of a fair response, I have discounted last nights result). 

But, as you requested, this is me letting you know promotion form has kicked in. And you are right by the way, its a lot quieter in here today

 

[Demitri_C]

I have to say after watching again just now, the second goal is absolutely sensational. The first touch passing and lead up to adomahs goal was simply brilliant to watch. regardless of division i cant remember when we scored a nice passing goal like that. Well done Brucie. 

[LakotaDakota]

6 minutes ago, rubberman said:

Having hoped that we would keep the same team last night my concern now is that we need to rotate a bit for Bolton to keep everyone fit and firing. 

International break straight after means that some of our players can have a bit of a rest next week.

Play them all again on Saturday, take off a couple once we're 3/4 up again and let them be too tired to play for their country rather than worry about anything else

[Demitri_C]

Just now, LakotaDakota said:

International break straight after means that some of our players can have a bit of a rest next week.

Play them all again on Saturday, take off a couple once we're 3/4 up again and let them be too tired to play for their country rather than worry about anything else

In a way its good that we are playing wolves as they will have  alot of players away like we would. i would be happy with a point at wolves 

[romavillan]

44 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I don't understand this.  Are you saying we need to win 10-12 games in a row twice this season to even stand a chance of being in top 2?  What...?!

I think the Norwich victory was a lot better as a performance - we just happened to concede then too.  The Burton game, aside from the scoreline, wasn't massively different from our other recent games IMO, just against weaker opposition.  We let them have the ball a fair bit and hit them on the break.

10-12 positive results doesn't mean 12 straight wins, a 12 games run containing 7 wins 3 draws and a defeat would be a 12 game run with 10 positive results in it, giving 24 points from 12 games. That's the sort of form we need to show consistently if we are going to be top 2 this year.

The difference last night was they didn't look like a bunch of talented random strangers, there was much more in the way of interplay, finding space, anticipation and movement. Not Guardiola levels but you know a few days ago I'd have laughed in your face if you told me we'd show any of those qualities any time soon. As I said and seemingly you agree we are still far too generous in giving the ball back, but to fix that we need to see more of the above list of qualities so you know, green shoots and all that. 

I had zero confidence in Bruce, now the team has shown a little of what it takes to be an actual team I have a little more than zero confidence in him  I think though, that performances need to be at least at the level of last night from now on, and we have a long way to go still but the more Bruce wins and we see improvements in how we play football then he wins the right to carry on. Relying on individual moments of class and the opposition's errors is not going to get us promoted, good team play might.