Steve Bruce

[KSV]

This is why im not a big fan of Bruce anymore. I do like him.. as a person like most our managers in the last few years but tactically they have been naive. I thought Bruce would be better. 

He said he needs to find the right formation for the players. Surely this should have been done by now. He has been there for FOUR months..  he has seen what he has and what he wants to get rid of. Surely he knew what formation/system we would deploy with what we have.. and THEN go and sign players to fit the system. Yet it appears we just signed the best players from the Championship and the first game he just played most of them without a suitable system and we got tonked 3-0. RDM did this as well with a overload on the strikers.

PICK A SYSTEM.. and then buy your players to work in a system or two. Just astounds me that he admitted it in public that we just need to find the right system AFTER he went and brought in 7-8 players. Now it still may work for him if we give him a pre season to work with what we have and buy a few new players ( a goalkeeper or two please) and a centreback will be high on the priority list. However, this should have already been implemented. 

Since this season is a write off.. we may as well try a few systems and see what works.. give some kids a go.. once we are mathematically safe that is. 

[Jas10]

Just throwing this out there:

Bruce was apparently appointed on a rolling contract (mentioned during his press conference when he was appointed) so would presumably be easier or much less financially harmful to fire as compared to a manager on 3/4 yr contract...

I wonder what the "agreement" etc. was regarding this...

I feel I and other fans have been fairly patient with him and weren't against his initial appointment (although, tbh, I saw it as more of an acceptable short term fix rather than a long term appointment that I would have been pleased with).

We haven't seen any encouraging signs in terms of a play style and any decent degree of tactical nous (even though you would expect that with the record he has) and his negative tactics and approach are really, really frustrating. So slow to make changes during a game too and looks a little lost and devoid of passion during the games. From the beginning, he has seemed all too content with just grinding out the odd result rather than produce a performance we can be impressed by or proud of. It's simply not good enough and a very weak/small mentality for a club of our stature.

People say be patient and we can't keep sacking managers or making changes - it's a fair point and one I agreed with up until recently. But, in that context, it sounds almost like, "we have no other option" and as though "things will definitely change for the better".

But, on the other hand, what if he's just not the right fit for the club? What if, once again, his appointment was just plain wrong? 

What if we remain patient and things actually DON'T change for the better or even get worse? 

We don't have any identity or philosophy. Most frustrating, for me, is that we don't actually try to pass the ball effectively and try to retain possession for a while in order to create some decent opportunities. We seem all too content to sit back and absorb pressure and then just "chance it" on the break or rely on certain individuals to produce something. It is utterly embarrassing to be outplayed and out thought by most of the teams we are facing and that is just not on! If we at least "tried" to pressure, dominate and attack teams (without even getting the results we would expect or want) that would be encouraging at least but this is just pure shite atm.

We have decent players for this level, I don't doubt that, but we are not getting the most out of them and not creating a TEAM mentaility. It's just all so dull and depressing. We have seemingly allowed the club to decline so badly and that can't go on...

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, Grasshopper said:

Sorry to appear to pull you up on this

But

If it was 4-4-1

Where was the 1 when we hoofed it?

because there was NOONE playing up front

Adomah was the one up front.

I thought it was fairly obvious.

[Grasshopper]

25 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Adomah was the one up front.

I thought it was fairly obvious.

maybe obvious to Bruce

But not to the reality of what actually happened.

Noone played up front because we didnt get up front

[Stevo985]

Just now, Grasshopper said:

maybe obvious to Bruce

But not to the reality of what actually happened.

Noone played up front because we didnt get up front

Riiiiight.

You know that's not how it works, right?

If you play so well that your goalie doesn't touch the ball, he's still playing in goal.

 

Adomah was the striker. Whether he got the ball or not is irrelevant to that point.

[Grasshopper]

11 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Riiiiight.

You know that's not how it works, right?

If you play so well that your goalie doesn't touch the ball, he's still playing in goal.

 

Adomah was the striker. Whether he got the ball or not is irrelevant to that point.

The difference in your logic is that Barca can play a team off the park but the Goalie will still have to make a save.

Bruce set up a ?-?-?-0 in the hope that one of the ? gets forward (adomah being the freshest/quickest)

The problem was that we sat back till we could hoof it to one of the ?

Then conceeded anyway

Edited February 5, 2017 by Grasshopper

[tom_avfc]

1 minute ago, Grasshopper said:

The difference in your logic is that Barca can play a team off the park but the Goalie will still have to make a save.

Bruce set up a ?-?-?-0 in the hope that one of the ? gets forward (adomah being the freshest/quickest)

The problem was that we sat back till we could hoof it to one of the ?

Then conceeded anyway

Bruce set up a 4-4-1 with adomah up front. That's not an opinion it's fact. He wasn't starting from the right he was playing up front! 

I don't particularly agree with him having adomah up front but that's definitely where he was playing. 

[Grasshopper]

Adomah came on at 83

spent time chasing the ball passed around the back 86th min & 88th minute

the rest of the time he spent the furthest midfielder forward

Not once being on the last man

Just watched the last 12mins

 

[Grasshopper]

Just watched SB sky interview

Delusional

that was Gordie for

mumble dumble jumble mumbe we go again

[Grasshopper]

Ann Elk has a theory (which belongs to her)

That all dinosaurs are thin at one end much much thicker in the middle and then thin again at the  other end.

There's a theory that to get the 3 pts in football matches you have to score more goals than you conceed.

Steve Bruces 2 masterstokes have been to select a Gaby - who cant score - and a Samy (not worth a second m either) - who cant stop the opposition from scoring)

are we a joke?

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Adomah played up front. 

And I've no idea who Ann Elk is nor based on that do I want to. 

[Stevo985]

8 hours ago, Grasshopper said:

Bruce set up a ?-?-?-0 in the hope that one of the ? gets forward (adomah being the freshest/quickest)

 

No. Bruce set up as a 4-4-1 with Adomah up front.

[Paddywhack]

On 2/3/2017 at 16:01, Paddywhack said:

In fact, I'd choose a hot cross bun over Johnstone at the minute.

Well, I hope BAKER is preparing this in training this week.

lol geddit?

[Vive_La_Villa]

It looked to me like Adomah was up front but seriously if he set us up with a 450 or 441 for remaining minutes who cares? We were trying to grind out a point in a game we should have won because one player let the rest of the team down. 

There are many things to beat Steve Bruce with. But if its his formation for the last few minutes of this game then you will never accept him. 

[Stevo985]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It looked to me like Adomah was up front but seriously if he set us up with a 450 or 441 for remaining minutes who cares?

Quite. It makes little difference.

it just annoyed me that people were slagging him off for playing a "5-4-0" when he didn't.

Plenty of stuff to be angry about without making stuff up.

[Kiwivillan]

20 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It looked to me like Adomah was up front but seriously if he set us up with a 450 or 441 for remaining minutes who cares? We were trying to grind out a point in a game we should have won because one player let the rest of the team down. 

There are many things to beat Steve Bruce with. But if its his formation for the last few minutes of this game then you will never accept him. 

That's not even scratching the surface of what's wrong with him for me. It's been a string of games especially the away ones

[Villarocker]

To echo what KSV said previously, it's concerning that Bruce seems tactically inept.

For instance, after Saturday's game he said that he likes the 352 formation and has used it in the past at other clubs. He also said he now has the players to play that way. Well, surely Bjarnason at left wing back was a poor decision then because he has the perfect player to play that role in Amavi. How many times have fans said that Amavi is better going forward than defending? With Baker covering behind him surely it would have been better to play Amavi against Forest? Also, knowing Jedinak's injury problems, why not buy another defensive midfielder to cover for him?

You simply can't go gung-ho in midfield when playing three at the back with the wing backs pushed right up the pitch, it's suicide. You need a natural defensive minded player that will drop into the middle two at the back so the left or right defender can cover the flank the opposing attack comes down. Surely he can't expect that from Lansbury as that is nullifying the attacking play of the lad, who seems to be a clever footballer and surely we want him further up the pitch? 

Bruce definitely has me worried right now. I'm not writing him off but he certainly needs to get his act together or we will be finding ourselves in another struggle similar to last season. 

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

Quite. It makes little difference.

it just annoyed me that people were slagging him off for playing a "5-4-0" when he didn't.

Plenty of stuff to be angry about without making stuff up.

 Playing a midfielder up top is more annoying than a recognised striker!! 

Not sure why its annoying you that's a bit bizarre.I don't think people are making it up at all as witnessed the actual striker Adomah was not playing where he was supposingly instructed to.

He was dropping deep like a midfielder hence why it looked like a 5-4-0

[sheepyvillian]

Could turn out to be as bad as an appointment as Mcleish ,or even worse . We need a manager who is going to bring success to this club .

Look at Rafa, he's coasting in this league , why ? Because he's a top manager , and that is what this club deserves . All this talk of a short term fix is crazy 

[ViewFromT2]

10 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Just throwing this out there:

Bruce was apparently appointed on a rolling contract (mentioned during his press conference when he was appointed) so would presumably be easier or much less financially harmful to fire as compared to a manager on 3/4 yr contract...

I wonder what the "agreement" etc. was regarding this...

I feel I and other fans have been fairly patient with him and weren't against his initial appointment (although, tbh, I saw it as more of an acceptable short term fix rather than a long term appointment that I would have been pleased with).

We haven't seen any encouraging signs in terms of a play style and any decent degree of tactical nous (even though you would expect that with the record he has) and his negative tactics and approach are really, really frustrating. So slow to make changes during a game too and looks a little lost and devoid of passion during the games. From the beginning, he has seemed all too content with just grinding out the odd result rather than produce a performance we can be impressed by or proud of. It's simply not good enough and a very weak/small mentality for a club of our stature.

People say be patient and we can't keep sacking managers or making changes - it's a fair point and one I agreed with up until recently. But, in that context, it sounds almost like, "we have no other option" and as though "things will definitely change for the better".

But, on the other hand, what if he's just not the right fit for the club? What if, once again, his appointment was just plain wrong? 

What if we remain patient and things actually DON'T change for the better or even get worse? 

We don't have any identity or philosophy. Most frustrating, for me, is that we don't actually try to pass the ball effectively and try to retain possession for a while in order to create some decent opportunities. We seem all too content to sit back and absorb pressure and then just "chance it" on the break or rely on certain individuals to produce something. It is utterly embarrassing to be outplayed and out thought by most of the teams we are facing and that is just not on! If we at least "tried" to pressure, dominate and attack teams (without even getting the results we would expect or want) that would be encouraging at least but this is just pure shite atm.

We have decent players for this level, I don't doubt that, but we are not getting the most out of them and not creating a TEAM mentaility. It's just all so dull and depressing. We have seemingly allowed the club to decline so badly and that can't go on...

I remember being told at the time he was appointed that his remit was to get us into the playoffs or he is out.

I was told he was the only manager that accepted that clause...which is why the move for the David Wagner fell through....remember he was hot favourite initially.

I don't think it's as bad as a lot of people are making out. We missed chances to wrap the game up on Saturday and unfortunately for us Forest scored with their only two shots on target. Kodija for all his ability is a lazy shit that struts around like he's something special....I would leave him out on Saturday for sure. Hogan looks hungry and after one game looked as frustrated playing alongside Kodija as McCormack looked all season. 

Main problem we have, is that we have a completely new squad, for the 3rd time in 18 months...yes there are a few faces that have been there throughout, but in terms of a matchday 18, it is all new again. 

No matter where these players are from and what they have done before, they are now in a new environment and they need time to find their feet. 

However, Bruce must be held accountable for the side that takes the field, the system/formation he chooses to play and the changes he makes/doesn't make in a game. I thought he did ok when he came in and his in game management was good....he hasn't become a bad manager in 6 weeks. We need a win...and things will change very quickly!

3-5-2 works for me. What was bizarre is that of all the games to leave Amavi out, he chooses to do it when changing to a system that would arguably get the best out of him....and certainly more than Bjarnason!

I'm still positive. This is going to sound crazy....but if we win the next two home games...I fancy we will go to St James and get something....we're not all that far away from getting it right. Follow that up with another 6pts at home before the end of the month and we're back in business. Fans have got to stop whinging and whining about get behind them now. We don't wanna be stuck down in this shit league for another season.