Steve Bruce

[HanoiVillan]

Yeah, I think the shitness of RDM's signings is overplayed. The issue is the lack of a good box-to-box midfielder and possibly one more central midfielder, and maybe that Elphick isn't good enough. He also bought De Laet, who is clearly better than Hutton, and got unlucky there. 

He didn't do a good job, and Bruce is certainly showing him up, but let's not go overboard. 

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Indeed, it wasn't what RDM did sign that was the problem, it was what he didn't. I think Adomah, Kodjia and Chester are top drawer at this level, McCormack hasn't fired yet but I maintain I've seen enough in him to think he will be very important come the second half. He though, like Jedinak, is suffering from a complete lack of a central midfield. I know, I keep saying that, but it cannot be underplayed. Tish has flopped for whatever reason and the other 2(!) are complete bilge. 

Bloody Di Matteo. Idiot. 

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Yeah, I think the shitness of RDM's signings is overplayed. The issue is the lack of a good box-to-box midfielder and possibly one more central midfielder, and maybe that Elphick isn't good enough. He also bought De Laet, who is clearly better than Hutton, and got unlucky there. 

He didn't do a good job, and Bruce is certainly showing him up, but let's not go overboard. 

I agree, I actually think rdm gambled on gana staying and then when he left, RDM had no backup

[Guest av1]

55 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Indeed, it wasn't what RDM did sign that was the problem, it was what he didn't. 

Spot on. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

13 minutes ago, av1 said:

Spot on. 

To be fair to RDM and co, we also need to remember they didn't expect Gana to jump ship.

So in effect he has also left a huge hole in the middle.

[Guest av1]

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair to RDM and co, we also need to remember they didn't expect Gana to jump ship.

So in effect he has also left a huge hole in the middle.

I suppose, but then you would expect to have a plan in place for players leaving, which we obviously didn't. 

[bannedfromHandV]

1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said:

Yeah, I think the shitness of RDM's signings is overplayed. The issue is the lack of a good box-to-box midfielder and possibly one more central midfielder, and maybe that Elphick isn't good enough. He also bought De Laet, who is clearly better than Hutton, and got unlucky there. 

He didn't do a good job, and Bruce is certainly showing him up, but let's not go overboard. 

Unless we're working off the basis that Hutton is the worst right back in existence (which to be fair, is relatively justifiable) I don't know how you can say De Laet is clearly better (given what we've been able to witness to date).

The issue is not just a lack of a box-to-box midfielder, Elphick hasn't been up to scratch, Gollini, whilst showing signs of being a good goalkeeper has also cost us x amount of points through poor decision making. McCormack hasn't looked fit/motivated since being here, Jedinak took time to settle and even still doesn't look like a (former) premier league player to me. Tshibola has been sucked into another dimension altogether (one can only assume).

Which leaves Chester, Adomah and Kodjia as the only signings you could honestly say have been a success thus far.

 

[TRO]

6 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Unless we're working off the basis that Hutton is the worst right back in existence (which to be fair, is relatively justifiable) I don't know how you can say De Laet is clearly better (given what we've been able to witness to date).

The issue is not just a lack of a box-to-box midfielder, Elphick hasn't been up to scratch, Gollini, whilst showing signs of being a good goalkeeper has also cost us x amount of points through poor decision making. McCormack hasn't looked fit/motivated since being here, Jedinak took time to settle and even still doesn't look like a (former) premier league player to me. Tshibola has been sucked into another dimension altogether (one can only assume).

Which leaves Chester, Adomah and Kodjia as the only signings you could honestly say have been a success thus far.

 

which brings me to saying how he has got us 7 wins god knows.

[Brumstopdogs]

The three previous incumbents (Garde, Black and RDM) managed to get 4 wins out of 42 matches and two of those were against Rotherham and Wycombe!

Bruce has then managed 7 wins in 12 matches which is very impressive considering what a state we were in before his arrival.

Performances can come in time when he has assembled the squad more to his liking.

 

Edited December 28, 2016 by Brumstopdogs

[KHV]

9 hours ago, vreitti said:

I don't agree with this at all. RDM actually made some really shrewd acquisitions. Kodjia, McCormack, Adomah, Chester and the Jedi were all great buys for this level. Kodjia might even produce the goods at the next level. Tish is still a mystery, and Gollini can surely improve. The problem is, he should've bought at least one more midfielder. 

Bruce has done an amazing job thus far results wise, impossible to disagree. Yet I still feel he should've already gotten us playing better, all things considered. Time will tell, I hope he is able improve the balance now, and seriously get us challenging for promotion come spring. Anything else than playoffs with the squad we already have, is a failure imho.

Gollini, DeLaet, Jedinak, Elphick, Tshibola, McCormack was not money well spent!

[markavfc40]

8 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair to RDM and co, we also need to remember they didn't expect Gana to jump ship.

So in effect he has also left a huge hole in the middle.

Gana left on the 2nd August. We had pretty much a whole month to buy a replacement. We also played six competitive games in August just to reinforce to RDM how dire our midfield was. He decided Jedinak was the sole answer to our midfield deficiencies which was a monumental balls up but one we will hopefully rectify soon.

Edited December 28, 2016 by markavfc40

[LondonLax]

He bought two central midfielders to replace the two we sold but for whatever reason one of them has not worked out. 

I think last summer highlights the difficulty in try to buy a whole new side. It is bound to end up unbalanced or with a number of duds. 

Evolution is much more sustainable than revolution. 

Edited December 28, 2016 by LondonLax

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 hour ago, LondonLax said:

He bought two central midfielders to replace the two we sold but for whatever reason one of them has not worked out. 

And we didn't have enough before he started. 

[LondonLax]

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

And we didn't have enough before he started. 

We probably had enough in quantity just not quality

[tonyh29]

11 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair to RDM and co, we also need to remember they didn't expect Gana to jump ship.

Really ? I thought he'd all but jumped before the previous season had even ended ? 

[Woodytom]

Not good enough this Steve. 

Simply can not play like this week in week out and continue to get results.

[tonyh29]

We've gone from kinda playing Brighton off the pitch to appointing Calderwood and being shit in every game since , hope it's just a coincidence 

[Woodytom]

3 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

We've gone from kinda playing Brighton off the pitch to appointing Calderwood and being shit in every game since , hope it's just a coincidence 

It wasn't great to watch before Brighton tbh.

[villa89]

Bruce is very lucky to have the points total he has given the performances of the team. Hopefully he can sort it out in the window. 

[DCJonah]

Worrying how performances continue to dip. 

Win the next one though and we're still on for 2 points a game.