Steve Bruce

[OutByEaster?]

11 minutes ago, Farlz said:

Bruce has said he sees Jedinak as a CB and will continue to play in the position going forward.

And in fairness, Bruce is right - Jedinak no longer has the legs to play a midfield role - he's a CB from now until the end of his career. I have no issue with that as a decision, that's okay. The problem is he's not a very good centreback.

 

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, peterms said:

I think if I had to sum up my views on Bruce's tenure in one word, it would be "unconvincing".

Mine would be "strangled"

[Dodgyknees]

2 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

And in fairness, Bruce is right - Jedinak no longer has the legs to play a midfield role - he's a CB from now until the end of his career. I have no issue with that as a decision, that's okay. The problem is he's not a very good centreback.

 

He'd be ok as backup, but not as the main man every week. He isn't very good, but he is also old, he won't manage it.

[Mark Albrighton]

7 minutes ago, Taxahunter said:

This is simply not good enough and I don’t care how well we played, this is pathetic and appalling 

 

 

•  

That’s an interesting final point.

[AndyM3000]

1 minute ago, OutByEaster? said:

And in fairness, Bruce is right - Jedinak no longer has the legs to play a midfield role - he's a CB from now until the end of his career. I have no issue with that as a decision, that's okay. The problem is he's not a very good centreback.

 

This is mad.

If he's not got the legs then use him as a sub or for 60 mins max. If pace is an issue then in midfield at least if a player gets past him there is a defence behind, at CB if they get past him they are through on goal ffs!

[DaveAV1]

40 minutes ago, blunther said:

We were all over the place a couple of years ago. He came in and steadied the ship and started us on the road to getting results. I just don’t think he can go to the next level. This is the problem in football in that you don’t seem to sack a manager unless they start being proper shit. It should be ‘job done, thanks for your work, now on to the next’. There’s only Southampton I can think of doing that recently when they got rid of Adkins. 

We did it many years ago, when we swapped Vic Crowe who had really turned us around, promoted from Div 3 and I think finished 8th in the following year. We swapped him for a bloke called Saunders. It turned out rather well. 

[Dodgyknees]

As a centre back, Jedinak has poor positioning, poor distribution, and a lack of pace. Combined all of those cause massive issues.

He is pretty good at getting his head to the ball, so we are sacrificing some really essential CB attributes for the fact Jedi wins headers. All teams have to do is play the ball in/around/beyond our defence and we suffer.

The manager HAS to know this. He chooses to sacrifice good attribute or signing another player to stick with a lawyer who is good against long ball.

[DaveAV1]

4 minutes ago, AndyM3000 said:

This is mad.

If he's not got the legs then use him as a sub or for 60 mins max. If pace is an issue then in midfield at least if a player gets past him there is a defence behind, at CB if they get past him they are through on goal ffs!

How about putting him in goal, he’ll hardly need to run at all 

[Demitri_C]

Even the lame no money and shit squad blosers have put in better performanc3s than us against better sides. Not good enoug( bruce, we are under achieving already. If he fails aga8n this year he ha s to go no excuses.

pathetic result the last three. Our mini Bruce collapse happening as usual.

[jim]

3 draws against poor opposition is the most telling for me. When we come up against a half decent team we will get turned over.

Yes we got forward today but the players positioning was so poor it only resulted in mediocre chances. For me this  comes down to Bruce and his tactics. The amount of times we just fannyed around with the ball at the edge of the oppositions box was ridiculous. Non of the players knew where they should be. 

 

[jim]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Even the lame no money and shit squad blosers have put in better performanc3s than us against better sides. Not good enoug( bruce, we are under achieving already. If he fails aga8n this year he ha s to go no excuses.

pathetic result the last three. Our mini Bruce collapse happening as usual.

We can't afford to wait another season. We know exactly how the season will pan out if he stays. Just get rid in the next few weeks and get someone in who will give us half a chance at promotion. 

[PhilGibson]

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

Crazy.  People don't actually watch matches.  We were far better against both Brentford and Reading and played attacking football.

We did play better football in both games, the problem is we regressed in both games for the last quarter of each game. We are not creating enough clear cut chances from open play because we have very few players attacking the box. Today in the last 5 to 10 minutes we had 2 defenders on the right and 2 defenders on the left, and no-one up front against reading at home. 

Are we playing as well as we should against a team in the bottom three at home?

He has stabilised us, he has brought to the club some talented players. However our inherent ability to regress and allow teams back into games will not get us promoted. That's why I think we need a change. I would dearly love for him to make me eat my words and get us up, I just cannot see it. 

[Demitri_C]

Just now, jim said:

We can't afford to wait another season. We know exactly how the season will pan out if he stays. Just get rid in the next few weeks and get someone in who will give us half a chance at promotion. 

Yes it does seem the same trend is happening starting slow getting no momentum then drop points in stupid games. 

If he drops more in next few a decision will have to be made as the fixture list had been kind to him yet he is not delivering. Unde achieving thus far. I mean it’s pretty embarrassing with this squad we are not beating the likes of reading at home yet a woeful blose team can go to forest and completely out play them 

[jim]

2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yes it does seem the same trend is happening starting slow getting no momentum then drop points in stupid games. 

If he drops more in next few a decision will have to be made as the fixture list had been kind to him yet he is not delivering. Unde achieving thus far. I mean it’s pretty embarrassing with this squad we are not beating the likes of reading at home yet a woeful blose team can go to forest and completely out play them 

He will never change Dem, history tells us this. He will have the odd false dawn then revert to type.

Unfortunately, there or thereabouts isn't good enough now, and it's time for him to go. 

Edited August 25, 2018 by jim

[bobzy]

46 minutes ago, Dick said:

It's a fact because players are played out of position

I know you want to defend Bruce, but this is ridiculous 

He is talking about Tuanzebe, Elmo, Hutton and Jedinak, if you want to call Elmo a right back (it was the position he played most for us last season)

Why are you disputing the fact that players are played out of position?

I don't want to defend Bruce - I couldn't care less about the guy - I'm just saying that this players being played out of position thing is entirely exaggerated.  It's not surprising, of course, but it's ridiculous.

Hutton at left back is fine, he looks comfortable and has played well there.  Tuanzebe at right back is fine, he looks naive at times but I've seen absolutely nothing at all to say he'll be any better/worse at CB.  Jedinak at CB is fine... but undoubtedly the weak link and I'd rather have someone else there.

[bobzy]

25 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Even the lame no money and shit squad blosers have put in better performanc3s than us against better sides. Not good enoug( bruce, we are under achieving already. If he fails aga8n this year he ha s to go no excuses.

pathetic result the last three. Our mini Bruce collapse happening as usual.

They haven't won a game all season.  Calm down ffs.

[Dodgyknees]

7 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I don't want to defend Bruce - I couldn't care less about the guy - I'm just saying that this players being played out of position thing is entirely exaggerated.  It's not surprising, of course, but it's ridiculous.

Hutton at left back is fine, he looks comfortable and has played well there.  Tuanzebe at right back is fine, he looks naive at times but I've seen absolutely nothing at all to say he'll be any better/worse at CB.  Jedinak at CB is fine... but undoubtedly the weak link and I'd rather have someone else there.

The point you first made was to question whether somebody thought the players were out of position was because they saw it on football manager. That comes across as if you are denying players in the wrong positions. It was backed up with somebody outside of this forum (on Twitter) and you questioned if it was on twitter does that make it real. Again, coming across that you are denying that players are in wrong positions.

We could easily put out a team with players in positions of strength, it's no surprise we don't... as the very same manager put a lot of effort into one formation pre season and then changed it completely for the season. So not only are players out of position, but the one they worked on for 6 weeks doesn't exist either - and the manager himself has said we won't sign a centre back, which is probably our only weak position.

* And we should probably question why we are playing 3 players out of position in our weakest area. It doesn't help.

We're in trouble if he keeps chopping and changing. Was it January 2017 when he said "these players are perfect for 4-3-3" and then two weeks later said "these players suit 4-5-1"? 

The man is clueless tactically, especially when it's out of his cautious comfort zone. He'd rather play experienced and trusted players in weak positions, disregarding the fact that experience failed him last year, as did his caution.

 

Edited August 25, 2018 by Dick

[Demitri_C]

2 minutes ago, bobzy said:

They haven't won a game all season.  Calm down ffs.

Erm forget their late collapse they have out played a very good forest side away from home and battered Swansea.

Yet we can't beat a 10 man ipswich side, a rubbish reading side and struggled to beat Yeovil town.  Are you telling me your happy with bruces performance so far this season??

It's been poor like last year and will be playing catch up again

[VillaChris]

Wednesday we were good, bright and energetic.

Today was slow and laboured.

Yes we attacked but we were so slow going forward. Problem for example when Kodjia came wide and there was no one in the box so cross is delayed, we pass another 2-3 times and Reading get more men back to defend.

I know he scored but surely with the options AEM shouldn't be at right midfield now? I thought Adomah was fine on Wednesday so didn't understand him not starting. We just don't have enough numbers going forward and of course as the clock ticked down we were seemingly happy to nick the 1-0.

I too would be surprised if SB is still here in the new year.

[bobzy]

1 minute ago, Dick said:

The point you first made was to question whether somebody thought the players were out of position was because they saw it on football manager. That comes across as if you are denying players in the wrong positions. It was backed up with somebody outside of this forum (on Twitter) and you questioned if it was on twitter does that make it real. Again, coming across that you are denying that players are in wrong positions.

For the avoidance of any doubt here - I don't think anyone is being played out of position, with the possible exception of Jedinak; who looks like he may well be a CB for the rest of his career anyway.  Hutton is now a left back and has been playing there for a while and doing well.  Tuanzebe can apparently play a variety of positions and is playing is one of them - likewise El Mohamady down the right of the pitch.  So, aside from maybe Jedinak, I don't think anyone is playing out of position.