He does look way better not at CF. He still.just looks too rangey and all legs playing out wide. I sort of think he could be converted into a CM but would need some serious work.
I think he's played well today and he did out wide away at Everton on the right... He's ****ed now because no matter what he does the fans are after him... Some stil saying Manquillo did OK every week, but in reality he's been doing very well for almost 2 seasons... They'll be right in his arse again the second he slips up...
Thought we set up the way we had to to get anything out of that game. Bruce set them up to keep us in the game and we got a big slice of luck at the end. Thought all the midfield did a difficult job well. A true full back would have cleared that ball for the goal but otherwise Ritchie had a good game playing out of position. Manquillo looked solid and Joelinton looked better in attacking midfield. We need to be able to switch into a more attacking mode for the next game but I have no problem us playing like that when needs must.
I don't feel like we were even counting mind.. I don't think our set up was right personally. If no for a ridiculous var decision we lose without a single shot on goal.. It's a good point, but really the performance was unacceptable
Yea I'm with you on this one. He needs to find a system for the team to play. We have the players for 4-2-3-1 when everyone is fit. Hopefully we see that Vs Burnley.
I'm expecting 3 behind Wilson on saturday and shelvey to be dropped.. Shelvey was never a great player, but he's finished now and that compounds the situation.. OK he got a handful of goals last season, but it's a new season and he's playing dreadfully.
somehow I can't see that happening Brucies mindset will be to defend Burnley will be bombing the ball over the top all the time
I hope he doesn't think what he's doing is working because of his tactics.. He got a response in terms of effort that's for sure, but it wasn't working out there at all.
541 backs to the walls but no concept of a counter attack. Bruce is just out of his depth in the PL today. It shows every week. Leicester are the model club for how to play on the break.
He has got away with it so far. When you look at the points return from the first 3 games I would say 4 points is what was expected. So we are at par for me.
I think we're better off with 3-4-2-1 or similar. There's basically no such thing as "wingers" getting to the byline to whip in crosses. CB's are units these days, that isn't Wilson's game and modern crosses tend to be delivered from 30 yards out, curled across. Bruce is stuck in the ****ing 90's. Our CB's are ok in a 3. It can be played easily, plus we have wide players who do have the engines to go up and down the flanks in Lewis and Manquillo. Bear in mind they'd not covering the whole pitch, just 70 yards. In Max, Joe and Fraser we've got inside forwards who are comfortable running at defenders and cutting in. Could even copy Leicester and play Almiron where Praet was in the centre, with 2 ahead of him.
Like all good managers he sets up his team first of all to nullify the opposition and then to start creating our own chances to win. So I am assuming that the 2nd part of that plan will be put into action this coming weekend.
I'd take 4 points from them first three games every day of the week. The way in which we've got there is a massive concern heading forward. We are playing worse football than last season and that wasn't good to start with. This is every bit as boring as Rafa but even less organised. We stayed up last season because of that really organised spell we had. If Bruce can't find that again, I can see problems. Looking at the early season signs, I think the relegation candidates look like coming from West Brom, Fulham, Villa, Sheff U. However due to the archaic football I think Moyes and Bruce are capable of dragging us and West Ham into it. Looking purely at the squads I think we should be fine, but this early debacle has not filled me with much confidence.
Bit of an irrelevant stat though win records in the PL. If one guy has had 20 seasons managing top sides, as opposed to another who has had 20 seasons managing ****hawks, then that stat is absolutely meaningless in terms of a comparison. The beautiful and ugly thing with stats is, you can pretty much make them look however you want and to suit your position on something. A good example would be Rafa, I'm sure his record must have plummeted down to a level similar to Bruce when he was given his first ****hawk (i.e. us). I'd hazard a guess his win ratio would have dropped nearer 30% (in the PL). Rather than worrying about Bruce's stats, people just need to view his teams throughout his career. They ain't been great to watch, and his performance has been middle of the road throughout. He's never pulled up trees wherever he has been. Not one job where you'd look and say "cutting edge football" or "had them over achieving". There may have been spells but the overarching performance is always the same. Decidedly average.
Like many stats, largely pushed by the media via papers or talksport etc. People just lap them up, and regurgitate them as evidence without actually questioning whether they are actually informative. I don't mind stats, but people think everything is like ****ing moneyball