jackbauer24 Posted December 28, 2017 Share Posted December 28, 2017 I recognise we might need to play one of Elphick, Whelen or Jedinak but if more than one of them is on the pitch at any one time we have no chance. If all three play it'll be a cricket score. Personally I'd play; Johnstone Elmo Chester Hutton Taylor Snodgrass Jedinak Onomah Hourihane Grealish Hogan Assuming reported injuries are confirmed. No CB available is great but I'd trust Hutton over the other options. Jedinak to sit deep and protect defence but not be the last man due to lack of pace/passing...skill. Hourihane further up as he'll take pot shots and pass more than Onomah. Equally Onomah is more defensively capable than Hourihane. Hogan needs a run and, whilst his hold up play needs work, I have much more faith he'd score 1 on 1 than Davis would. Can't see this being any better than a draw. Bruce hasn't got a clue. He'll set us up defensively, with no pace, with players with zero passing ability or zero shooting ability. He'll play players in the wrong positions, make odd substitutions far too late, failing to respond to the match. He'll then tell the media it's all hysteria and just down to individual mistakes (aren't practically all goals?!) and that we just need to focus on the next game. Hopefully he won't be in charge for a single day in 2018. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villianusa Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Our most successful formation this season has been 442, I would revert back to that with: Johnstone Hutton Chester Elphick Taylor Snodgrass Jedinak Hourihane Grealish Hogan Davis Subs Steer Whelan O'Hare Elmo De Laet Hepburn-Murphy Onomah 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted December 29, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2017 I wonder if he’ll still manage a dig about us being in the Championship and WBA being in the prem? Not a fan of Pulis. Hate coming up against his teams. Also, a horrible time to play him and Boro away, with it being his first game. I can’t see anything other than defeat, and I’m usually optimistic!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Hoofball to Rudy will be pulis tactic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robtaylor200 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I think we will just scrape a win in this one and the circus will continue I have my normal £1 on 4-1 Villa at 80/1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael118 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Johnstone Hutton Chester Elphick Taylor Jedinak Hourihane Snodgrass O'Hare Agbonlahor Davis Steer McKirdy Onomah Adomah Grealish Bree Richards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 On 12/27/2017 at 09:24, Raver50032 said: The manager might be gone by 9pm on Monday night. If only! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 22 hours ago, Grasshopper said: Boro will score from their 2nd or 3rd corner Pulis will put someone on SJ He‘ll send out a busy Bee to hassle Whelan and or Jedi into a mistake He‘ll have his MF line picking up every second ball from our hoofs & Goal kicks He will tell them to „press“ our throw ins to turn over possesion and it wouldnt suprise me if they fast start for a quick goal or 2 then sit back and watch us misplace our possesion and create chance after chance eventually scoring. prediction bad performance certain defeat Pulis will have done his homework You mean having some tactics and a gameplan? Well that's just not fair! Surely you just select your favourite 11 players, throw darts at a board to select their positions, and tell them to go out there and keep it tight and hope Kodjia knicks a goal? What do you mean "Kodjia's injured"?, quick get Gabby out there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 A loss here and Bruce will get the sack. Massive game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 29 minutes ago, maqroll said: A loss here and Bruce will get the sack. Massive game. I think we will lose. The sack? would be the best for everyone concerned, will it happen? I think it‘ll go down to the wire (01.01.18 v BC) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I‘d go JS Bree Chester RDL Taylor Elmo Onomah Hourihane Snod Grealish Hogan Bench SJ Hutton (no other choice) Elphick (no other choice) Jedi Doyle-Hayes/Lyden O‘Hare Davis A dark cynical side of me thinks that if Bruce went the whole hog of selecting Bunn Hutton Richards Elphick Elmo Whelan Jedi Thor Hogan Davis Gaby Our suffering would reach such an embarrassing climax that it would result in the end of this torturous nightmare Odds on it‘ll be SJ Hutton Chester Elphick Taylor Elmo Whelan Jedi Hourihane Snod Davis 90+mins of sitting back, sideways passing then Hoofing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted December 29, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2017 It’s mad how we have two games in three days, 30th vs Middlesbrough and then 1st Jan vs Brizzle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Their home and away record same as ours. I see a boring 0-0. Edited December 29, 2017 by Vive_La_Villa Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 (edited) Bruce is in last chance saloon now in terms of his future prospects here and he needs to be brave in his selections from now on. No more of this overly defensive bollocks. I don't think he will but I'd be looking at going with this front 6 tomorrow. Davis and Hogan up top, Grealish just behind, Hourihane and Onomah behind him and Whelan or Jedi sitting. This 2 wide men doesn't really work for us as we rarely get the ball in from wide and someone on the end of it. I think the above offers a nice mix of Davis being able to hold the ball up allowing Grealish/Onomah/Hourihane the chance to break off him and get in behind or you have Grealish/Onomah/Hourihane all with the nous and ability to play through balls into Hogan. I am sick to the back teeth of seeing us with line ups with too much emphasis on what the opposition will do. We need to go out with some real attacking intent and put the opposition on the back foot. I hope Bruce doesn't go out with a whimper over the next couple of games but I have a feeling he will as that overly cautious, grind out results is in his DNA by the looks of it despite me hoping it wasn't. Edited December 30, 2017 by markavfc40 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 26 minutes ago, markavfc40 said: Bruce is in last chance saloon now in terms of his future prospects here and he needs to brave in his selections from now on. No more of this overly defensive bollocks. I don't think he will but I'd be looking at going with this front 6 tomorrow. Davis and Hogan up top, Grealish just behind, Hourihane and Onomah behind him and Whelan or Jedi sitting. This 2 wide men doesn't really work for us as we rarely get the ball in from wide and someone on the end of it. I think the above offers a nice mix of Davis being able to hold the ball up allowing Grealish/Onomah/Hourihane the chance to break off him and get in behind or you have Grealish/Onomah/Hourihane all with the nous and ability to play through balls into Hogan. I am sick to the back teeth of seeing us with line ups with too much emphasis on what the opposition will do. We need to go out with some real attacking intent and put the opposition on the back foot. I hope Bruce doesn't go out with a whimper over the next couple of games but I have a feeling he will as that overly cautious, grind out results is in his DNA by the looks of it despite me hoping it wasn't. There is absolutely no chance he will do that Marcus. I agree it would be interesting but this is far too out there for Bruce. It will be ultra defensive midfield with that hopeless oaf whelan and jedinak. Grealish hourihane and onomah in midfiekd and the ineffective Davis lone striker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 29, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 29, 2017 15 hours ago, villianusa said: Our most successful formation this season has been 442, I would revert back to that. I can't remember us playing 4-4-2 this season. We've almost exclusively played with just one striker haven't we? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 29, 2017 Moderator Share Posted December 29, 2017 Well, the beauty of this period between Christmas and New Year is that I have far too much time on my hands, so I've checked. We've played with 2 strikers on 7 occasions this season, most successfully in a period of four games in September where we paired Kodjia and Davis, winning all four. We've won four and lost three of the games we've played 4-4-2 in, but not won any that haven't featured the Kodjia-Davis combination. The last time we played with two up was the defeat to Sheffield Wednesday. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dAVe80 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 Must win for both sides. Pulis's anti football vs Bruce's is that even football. I'm going to the match. 0-0 written all over it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 I think the new manager bounce will prevail here. What's the odds and the irony that Gestede or Traore will rub the salt in the wound scoring the only goal that beats us and see's Bruce get the sack! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villianusa Posted December 29, 2017 Share Posted December 29, 2017 1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said: I can't remember us playing 4-4-2 this season. We've almost exclusively played with just one striker haven't we? When Kodjia came back, it was pretty much Johnstone Hutton Chester Terry Taylor Snodgrass Whelan Hourihane Adomah Davis Kodjia It was the start of our best run of the season before Kodjia was injured and we went back to more of a 441. We tried it once with Hogan and Davis but lost to Sheff Wed. We played well that game, but got caught cold at the start with a wonder goal, and then Terry got injured. The games were Barnsley 3pts Forest 3pts Burton 3pts Bolton 3pts Wolves 0pts Sheff Wed 0pts I think losing the last two games and Kodjia, Hogan, and Gabby all injured, forced Bruce to move back to a 4411. I hope Bruce goes with it tomorrow back to it and give the teams better options in attack while still having plenty behind the ball. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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