Steve Bruce

[Dodgyknees]

48 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said:

I don't think the performance was that bad to be honest.

Clean sheet, dominated, only wasn't 3/4-0 because of their keeper.

Bruce is doing a great job with some of the turd he has to work with.

One (big!) negative mark against him is his continued insistence to use Gabby.

Can't argue with this. Spot on and how I feel.

[NurembergVillan]

32 minutes ago, Richard said:

Really interesting . People put things like "like him as a manager, got the team spot on , liked the tactics , played well" that's fine no explanation needed.

i put that I didn't like his team selection, didn't like the tactics , didn't like the substitutions and it is rounded on, people told not to rise to it and explanations needed.

I like him as a manager - he's honest in his appraisal of our performances and is being pragmatic in our approach given the tools at his disposal.  Particularly with regards to the central midfielders who, Jedinak apart, offer nothing going forward or defensively.  He's also got consistently good performances from Chester, Baker and Kodjia.  Jedi has looked far better than he did previously too.  The spine of a team which for so long didn't have one at all.

Got the team spot on - I don't know what he would have done differently after the mess at Carrow Road given the players at his disposal.

I liked the tactics - we needed to make our midfield harder to run through than we saw against Norwich, and to have our centre forward be less isolated.  Four across the middle, two up front.  Back to basics, if you will.  It wasn't pretty, but personally I struggle to see what else he could have done in making major changes to the line up.

Played well - in so much as their keeper saved a penalty and made a couple of other good saves in the second half, whilst Bunn didn't have a proper save to make.  He came out to meet the ball well a couple of times, but wasn't really tested.  It was an away game on the back of a very poor performance against a team fighting to find form.

I can't really understand why Gabby keeps getting onto the field, or why Tshibola isn't in the squad at all.  I've no idea whether either scenario is down to effort in training, fitness, or personality.  I wouldn't like to speculate as I'm just not privy to that information.  That said, on the whole we're getting positive results so I feel that Mr Bruce deserves the benefit of the doubt for those decisions.

Your turn...

[Keyblade]

Weren't we told that not playing particularly well and still chugging along picking up points was Bruce's MO? It's how he got Hull promoted twice, and how he's keeping us ticking along nicely at 2 points per game.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I thought the introduction of Gabby changed the game. He stretched the play and it's no coincidence to me that we took hold of it when he came on. It was good in-game management IMO.

I would have started with three in the middle, but hey ho. Another 3 points, the maximum we can expect.

UTV.

[TRO]

I am utterly convinced.....I would not feel confident getting a win out of that squad.

hats off to SB

[Guest av1]

As i said the other day,  its difficult to be critical of the performances whilst also holding the view that we currently have one of the worst midfields in the league, i just don't see how both viewpoints fit into the same argument. 

If you take that view, all you can really expect is to pick up odd points through good organisation and in game management, and he is certainly doing that. I'm actually amazed we have picked up so many points such is the imbalance of the squad. So you could say he's working bloody wonders.  

[StanBalaban]

2 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

I like him as a manager - he's honest in his appraisal of our performances and is being pragmatic in our approach given the tools at his disposal.  Particularly with regards to the central midfielders who, Jedinak apart, offer nothing going forward or defensively.  He's also got consistently good performances from Chester, Baker and Kodjia.  Jedi has looked far better than he did previously too.  The spine of a team which for so long didn't have one at all.

Got the team spot on - I don't know what he would have done differently after the mess at Carrow Road given the players at his disposal.

I liked the tactics - we needed to make our midfield harder to run through than we saw against Norwich, and to have our centre forward be less isolated.  Four across the middle, two up front.  Back to basics, if you will.  It wasn't pretty, but personally I struggle to see what else he could have done in making major changes to the line up.

Played well - in so much as their keeper saved a penalty and made a couple of other good saves in the second half, whilst Bunn didn't have a proper save to make.  He came out to meet the ball well a couple of times, but wasn't really tested.  It was an away game on the back of a very poor performance against a team fighting to find form.

I can't really understand why Gabby keeps getting onto the field, or why Tshibola isn't in the squad at all.  I've no idea whether either scenario is down to effort in training, fitness, or personality.  I wouldn't like to speculate as I'm just not privy to that information.  That said, on the whole we're getting positive results so I feel that Mr Bruce deserves the benefit of the doubt for those decisions.

Your turn...

Just to add my thoughts on the Gabby thing, i can't help but feel that with Ayew, Kodjia and Adomah all away for the ACON, he's trying to give Gabby as much of an opportunity to get fit as he can, should be need a play a big role in January. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by StanBalaban

[sidcow]

2 hours ago, StefanAVFC said:

I don't think the performance was that bad to be honest.

Clean sheet, dominated, only wasn't 3/4-0 because of their keeper.

Bruce is doing a great job with some of the turd he has to work with.

One (big!) negative mark against him is his continued insistence to use Gabby.

Agree with all of this. The turd has at least a matt shine at times now but is still essentially a turd. 

Edited December 18, 2016 by sidcow

[sne]

2 minutes ago, sidcow said:

Agree with all of this. The turd has at least a matt shine at times now but is still essentially a turd. 

True, at times you can just spot the pieces of golden corn sticking out from the pile of crap.

 

[markavfc40]

After Norwich I said I wanted him to go 4-4-2 with Bacuna and Adomah wide and McCormack in a two up top with Kodjia so obviously I can't complain at the personnel and formation. I think though unfortunately Bacuna not being a natural left sided player again meant having square pegs in round holes but due to the unbalanced squad he inherited it seems whatever formation he chooses someone will not be in their natural position.

I think it worked OK today and we were good value for the win and it may be that until reinforcements come in away from home this is the best way to go. McCormack was the biggest disappointment but Bruce can't be blamed for that as in a two I'd imagine everyone would have said he was the right choice. Bunn was a big call but today proved to be the right one. I also thought he got the substitutions spot on.

Overall 21 points from 11 games is a decent return especially when you consider the tough run of away games we had prior to today.

Edited December 18, 2016 by markavfc40

[Richard]

54 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

 

Your turn...

Fair enough ,  and to prove how seriously I am taking your request I've put the ipad down and opened up the laptop for the better keyboard.

Dubious Team Selection

I did not like the team selection at all.  He said he would ring the changes after the Norwich game. In practice that meant Bunn for Gollini, Baker for Elphick, Gardner for Westwood, Bacuna for Grealish, Adomah for Ayew and Mccormack for Agbonlahor. He retained the formation I would suggest. Now for a start how Tshibola is behind any of Gardner, Westwood or Bacuna for me is an absolute mystery.  They are all very very poor midfielders.  Where I would have had Bacuna is in at right back as Hutton offers nothing in that role. Baker for Elphick i'm ok with that. Midfield I have issues with and up front dropping Agbonlahor I'm fine with,  having him in the squad I am not,  more on that later. Mccormack has shown nothing and I dont think he deserves a starting place either right now.  Adomha starting yes no issues there.

People will say "what else has he to work with" well plenty to be frank.  I know we have a poor midfield but for me it is made worse by not having the numbers in there.  He has other choices and in my opinion I am not happy with the ones he made.See for me I'd play a different formation which gives us a bit more strength in midfield but also allows a bit more creativity.

I'd go 4-1-4-1 with Jedinak just in front of the defence and for (from LtoR) Green, Grealish, Tshibola, Adomah and Kodjia up front through the middle. He has choices,  I do not like the ones he made,  and he has made many choices not sure he has picked the same side twice.

Dropping Gollini for me was a cheap change.  It is obvious he does not rate the lad if you see his reaction to the goal at Leeds.  I do rate Gollini actually and I'm not sure dropping him is an answer.  I hope he does not let the kid rot now as he appears to be doing with Tshibola.

Poor Game Performance

We played very poorly imo.  Not as bad as Norwich but the opposition was not as good as Norwich.  We lacked creativity going forward we looked like we had no cohesive style of play. QPR are a poor side but we struggled , IMO, to break them down and look that much better from them.  I've seen some piss taking comments again this afternoon from people about the 3 points and my opinion that 3 points is the minimum we should expect piss taking comments like "its the maximum we could get" etc etc but I maintain that against the poorer sides we need to get more goals to boost the goal difference,  we need better performances to have something to build on. Crap performances will catch p with you as we have seen recently.  You can play badly against the likes of Wigan and QPR and get something, play poorly against the better teams and we will get turned over as we have done.  Thats why performances matter and we need to be playing better consistently better.  We have not been playing well at all and it is ok people saying that results matter and performances will come,  i dont think they will as I think he lacks an ability to get better performances,  he never has done really at other teams he has managed and thats a ceiling we need to move beyond

Highly Questionable Substitutions

Agbonlahor should be nowhere near that side how the manager cannot see that is utterly baffling and makes me question his decisions a bit more. The player is useless and we have a young lad RHM who would be chomping at the bit to play for us. Continuing with Agbonlahor while stifling the development of that young player who is our future while Agbonlahor was never actually the past is criminal. Bringing him on today when he clearly does not know how to play football was just mind blowing. He cost the goal against Norwich. standing on the pitch to take the throw in today could have cost us our winning goal.  There is no way Agbonlahor is a decent footballer as long as I've got a hole in my arse.

Westwood on for Baker again sorry but I'm not seeing it . Why is tshibola not even on the bench? I know you had a go at me saying he is snorting cocaine is a disgrace etc in response to me speculating on a personality clash but seriously the personality clash must be close to the truth,  what has he done wrong when the likes of Agbonlahor  who is not even a footballer can be on the bench and this lad cant.

Overall I am ecstatic we have won,  why wouldnt i be Im a fan afterall.  But I am not happy with the performances,  I think they matter a lot and I do not think Steve Bruce is able to get better performances.  We are, in fact, playing the type of football I feared we would when he joined us so for me this is it the norm now.

[Stevo985]

I thought the performance was good, without being spectacular.

First half was slow but second half we were dominant. The goal was a bit lucky but we had several other good chances that either should have been take or would have gone in on another day, not least the penalty.

A comfortable win. The only real negative for me is the persistence with Agbonlahor

[sidcow]

Despite the dubious team selection,  poor game performance and highly questionable substitutions we won the game. 

You are not happy with a performance where we had 18 shots of which 9 were on target. 

We had 1 penalty and should certainly have had 2 if not 3

They had nil shots on target. . We had 8 corners to their 2.

I am glad Steve Bruce is our manager and not you because you would stop us doing all these things which let us win and dominate a game because you think they are wrong. 

To say I am exasperated is an understatement. 

[Stratvillan]

I sort of agree with Richard re performances, but I don't think this is a reflection on Bruce. 

I think the whole problem with the team is the midfield which Bruce can't really do much about....yet! The squad is consistently average.

Every swap would be like for like. he could swap Gardner for Tish (I would) , but I don't think that Tish could play every week. I think the overall result would still be a limited midfield. this midfield doesn't score but does protect the defence, hence our stats. I'll save any criticism of playing style or selection, untilhe has had the chance to buy a right back, centre mid and a forward who doesn't have the first touch of my garage wall.

[Dr_Pangloss]

Performances are rarely that good' under Bruce, a lot of our wins have been against poor opposition and we have frankly ground out results. A lot of this is down to having no midfield to speak of, but even then, Bruce is hardly known for having teams that play good football. 

[Xela]

1 hour ago, StanBalaban said:

Just to add my thoughts on the Gabby thing, i can't help but feel that with Ayew, Kodjia and Adomah all away for the ACON, he's trying to getting Gabby as much of an opportunity to get fit as he can, should be need a play a big role in January. 

I think this is definitely it. We're going to be shy of match winners in January and SB is just trying to use all the tools at his disposal and see what's what.

 

[TrentVilla]

Personally I'll judge Bruce on the performances of the players when he has a player or two of his own.

Until that point I'll judge him on results with what he inherited, on that front it's hard to fault him.

Do I agree with everything he does? Obviously not but then he is also feeling his way with this team by trial and error as I'm sure he would have done in pre-season had he had the benefit of one.

As it is he is trying his best to find a way to maximise the potential of a very ill balanced squad.

 

[Eastie]

Typical championship game - not pretty but we battled away and took the points - there will be many games like that in this league and winniNg Is the thing that counts .

my only query over Bruce would be why tish seems to be frozen out of things when I believe he's good enough to start - maybe something to do with training or attitude ? 

Bruce needs  to recruit well in January and we will be up there in the top 6 come may I believe.

was it 3 wins in 40 games when he took over ? To turn that record into 6 wins from 11 is good going.

[Brumstopdogs]

Pleased with Bruce today.

Personally I thought Gabby, Westwood and Ayew should be dropped after the Norwich display and they all were.

Bruce got the changes right and we were deserved winners of the game.

 

[NeilS]

I know we are not playing the opposition off the park at the moment, I also am not sure Steve Bruce is the man to take us to the promised lands, but after the last few years I am glad to be winning games and good performances are to me the icing on the cake of victory.

As Trent mentions above, he is doing this without players of his choosing, and hopefully better performances will come when he gets an opportunity to bring in his choices and add a better balance to the squad and strengthen the weak areas of Midfield and Right Back.

We are within touching distance of the play offs, and a good transfer window and strong finish to the season gives us a good opportunity for promotion. I had that down as a two year project, with RDM at the helm it was looking unlikely, but Bruce gives me confidence it will happen within that timeframe.