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Author Topic: Bruce Sacked at last (now official)  (Read 2115121 times)

Offline chrisw1

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10815 on: February 21, 2018, 08:55:17 AM »
Are the younger players actually any good though?

Home games v Burton were the time to find out. Instead we kept playing the same 11 week after week. Throwing in players who have played little football in months and expecting them to thrive is a bit much to be expecting.
Keep  flogging a dead horse and only use the squad when it is forced upon him.
His limitations are exposed again.
That dead horse got us 7 wins in a row and into 2nd place.  Grealish has only played a few games so fatigue wasn't an issue, a thuggish Blues neanderthal stamping on him was.  Not much Bruce could do about that.

Also, it's not like we are swimming with creative options to bring on in what for many of the games have been tight and nervy.  With that said, I am in agreement that the bench for the last few weeks has been odd and really can't understand why O'Hare & even RHM haven't been utilised more.  I guess Bruce and his staff see the players day in day out and maybe he just doesn't think they are up to it, but it's an odd one for me.

Offline chrisw1

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10816 on: February 21, 2018, 08:58:31 AM »
If he uses the injuries as an excuse again it'll be too much to bear.
How can it not be an excuse?  Our three most creative players from the winning run all get crocked (or sick) in the same week.  It's a pretty fucking tall order to deal with that and beat a team who have only lost once in 16 games.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 09:08:20 AM by chrisw1 »

Offline AsTallAsLions

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10817 on: February 21, 2018, 09:11:38 AM »
If he uses the injuries as an excuse again it'll be too much to bear.
How can it not be an excuse?  Our three most creative players from the winning run all get crocked (or sick) in the same week.  It's a pretty fucking tall order to deal with that and beat a team who have only lost once in 16 weeks.

Because it's his job to mitigate against this sort of thing, to send out a team to win at home in spite of any setbacks, and the bottom line here for me is that you have no right to whinge about lack of resources if you're not using half of what's available to you. He's starting players who have no right to even sit on the bench as far as I'm concerned. I don't care what agreement has been made with Spurs about Onomah's game time, he needs to drop him and tell Pochettino he's been woeful. Likewise Hourihane deserves to be dropped and there's no way Tuanzebe should be starting at RB ahead of Hutton for me. Move Tuanzebe into midfield or give Lansbury another go. Call up O'Hare and Hepburn-Murphy and stick them on the bench at the very least. Many of us said this even before last night's game, as it's not rocket science.

Offline chrisw1

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10818 on: February 21, 2018, 09:23:03 AM »
I don't see how adding Taylor to the team (and moving Hutton to RB) would add anything to the team when Hutton has been one of our better performers at LB for weeks.  I agree about the bench although do wonder if we're grasping at straws a bit with O'Hare - maybe one of those players who improves in our minds every week he doesn't play?  But yeah, I'd like to see him given a chance.  I'm less sure about RHM - when was the last time he contributed at this level?  I am also perplexed by Onomah's inclusion though.

But back to your point, if you're going to have an excuse then losing all three of your creative midfielders is a pretty decent one.

Offline Ads

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10819 on: February 21, 2018, 09:24:31 AM »
O'Hare can move a ball at pace and has done that every time he has had a cameo role as a sub or played in the cup games.

Offline tomd2103

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10820 on: February 21, 2018, 10:26:02 AM »
Definitely picked the wrong side again

Too little pace and guile, too much reliance on an out of form hourihane and Onomah. We need a target man without jack in the team

Agree again Matt.  If we are going to continue with this formation with Grealish not present then we need to play a target man up front.  Hogan is is more suitable when Grealish plays because his running off the ball creates space for Grealish to carry the ball into.  The lack of wide options and particularly the lack of pacy wide options is a real concern, especially if Snodgrass is going to be out as well (though I think he was ill last night as opposed to being injured).  We just looked so one paced last night and both Bjarnason and Onomah went backwards far too often when they were out wide.       

Offline The Edge

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10821 on: February 21, 2018, 12:46:54 PM »
If he uses the injuries as an excuse again it'll be too much to bear.
How can it not be an excuse?  Our three most creative players from the winning run all get crocked (or sick) in the same week.  It's a pretty fucking tall order to deal with that and beat a team who have only lost once in 16 games.
There can be no excuse for starting Jedinak, Onomah and Bjarny together in midfield. Every fan who heard that starting line up knew we would struggle so why can't Bruce? Look at Brentford. They had their team plundered in the summer and everyone thought they'd struggle but no. They've carried on playing attractive football and you'd never know they'd lost their best players. That's how proper managers do it AND on a fraction of our budget.
« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 02:16:40 PM by The Edge »

Online Clampy

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10822 on: February 21, 2018, 12:56:58 PM »
Definitely picked the wrong side again

Too little pace and guile, too much reliance on an out of form hourihane and Onomah. We need a target man without jack in the team

Agree again Matt.  If we are going to continue with this formation with Grealish not present then we need to play a target man up front.  Hogan is is more suitable when Grealish plays because his running off the ball creates space for Grealish to carry the ball into.  The lack of wide options and particularly the lack of pacy wide options is a real concern, especially if Snodgrass is going to be out as well (though I think he was ill last night as opposed to being injured).  We just looked so one paced last night and both Bjarnason and Onomah went backwards far too often when they were out wide.       

That's because they're not wide men and that's the problem at the moment. The balance has gone. If Green was fit, Grealish would be the only one to replace and while he'd still be a loss, it would help us keep our shape rather than switching right sided players to the left and moving our inform full back to the wing which is what happened at Fulham.

Offline Ad@m

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10823 on: February 21, 2018, 12:57:22 PM »
If he uses the injuries as an excuse again it'll be too much to bear.
How can it not be an excuse?  Our three most creative players from the winning run all get crocked (or sick) in the same week.  It's a pretty fucking tall order to deal with that and beat a team who have only lost once in 16 games.
There can be no excuse for starting Jedinak, Onomah and Bjarny together in midfield. Every fan who heard that starting line up knew we would struggle so why can't Bruce? Look at Brentford. They had their team plundered in the summer and everyone thought they'd struggle but no. They've carried on playing attractive football and you'd never know they'd lost their best players. That's how proper managers do it AND on a fraction of our budget.

This is the thing for me - short of an epidemic of the plague at Bodymoor Heath, injuries can't be an excuse for the most expensively assembled team in the division's history.

Offline Ads

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10824 on: February 21, 2018, 01:13:58 PM »
Our shit players never get injured.

At varying points we have been without;

Grealish
Kodjia
Adomah
Terry
Snoddy
Jedinak

Its quite ridiculous.

Offline SashasGrandad

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10825 on: February 21, 2018, 01:47:57 PM »
One fact from last night that illustrates the problems Bruce has faced - is Grabban became the 17th Villa player to score in this year's championship campaign.

Hutton almost made it 18

To be even close to the automatic places with such a high turnover of players needs to be respected.


Offline Mister E

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10826 on: February 21, 2018, 01:49:01 PM »
He needs to look at a 4-4-2 for Saturday, with Davis supported by a second striker.
He needs to pick a bench that gives him options.
He needs to have his team presenting the opposition with challenges rather than sitting back and being surprised by the oppo's approach.

It's times like this when the 'real' manager emerges. Currently we're seeing defensiveness in team selection and hearing about injuries: that does not fill me with confidence.

Offline AsTallAsLions

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10827 on: February 21, 2018, 02:00:05 PM »
If he uses the injuries as an excuse again it'll be too much to bear.
How can it not be an excuse?  Our three most creative players from the winning run all get crocked (or sick) in the same week.  It's a pretty fucking tall order to deal with that and beat a team who have only lost once in 16 games.
There can be no excuse for starting Jedinak, Onomah and Bjarny together in midfield. Every fan who heard that starting line up knew we would struggle so why can't Bruce? Look at Brentford. They had their team plundered in the summer and everyone thought they'd struggle but no. They've carried on playing attractive football and you'd never know they'd lost their best players. That's how proper managers do it AND on a fraction of our budget.

This is the thing for me - short of an epidemic of the plague at Bodymoor Heath, injuries can't be an excuse for the most expensively assembled team in the division's history.

Exactly.

Online Bad English

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10828 on: February 21, 2018, 02:04:25 PM »
I won't click on links to the Meaning Evil  but Matt Kendrick tweeted a link to an article about Bruce's lament regarding a 'bobbly pitch'. He hasn't blamed the pitch, has he? Was the PNE manager complaining too?

Offline AsTallAsLions

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #10829 on: February 21, 2018, 02:08:02 PM »
I won't click on links to the Meaning Evil  but Matt Kendrick tweeted a link to an article about Bruce's lament regarding a 'bobbly pitch'. He hasn't blamed the pitch, has he? Was the PNE manager complaining too?

He's 'implying' that it had an impact.

 


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