Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[john e]

it's not just the style of play though is it
we are currently 14 points of play offs in a shit league full of crap teams

thats also a bit rubbish

[curiousorange]

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth when you read articles patting Brighton on the back because they're going up after messing it up so often, or Newcastle instantly putting last season behind them. I'm confident for next season while also not being too confident. I can't honestly say that once the dust has settled and we know who will be staying in the division with us that we'll be a shoo-in for automatic promotion. We can win, but it seems to me they've been touch and go.

[paul_e]

Why would it be a criticism to be relegated with Hull orb the Noses? Two tin pot outfits who had no business being promoted in the first place.

A 'tin pot' outfit just like those won the title last year.

[simboy]

It leaves a bad taste in the mouth when you read articles patting Brighton on the back because they're going up after messing it up so often, or Newcastle instantly putting last season behind them. I'm confident for next season while also not being too confident. I can't honestly say that once the dust has settled and we know who will be staying in the division with us that we'll be a shoo-in for automatic promotion. We can win, but it seems to me they've been touch and go

To be fair last year we were in free fall as a club. This year we had to arrest that decline. I know it's easy to say now but I never really thought we'd go up first time.

 We were rudderless at board level with Lerner and Fox. We were clueless managerially and gutless on the pitch. It was horrible, it was the late 60's all over again.

This season with Dr Tony we seem to have people in place who have a plan at board level. The decision to get rid of RDM I suspect was a difficult one. An acceptance of failure of appointment doesn't look too good and cannot have been easy admission so early in the tenure.


The management side had to be got right. It needed to instill discipline both on and off the pitch. We needed someone who could command respect and understood the need to get that through to the playing staff. RDM seemed aloof from the players, less hands on, less pragmatic than we have seen from SB. I cannot imagine RDM, for instance, going round to McCormacks house. Maybe I'm wrong. However it is just an impression.

Once the stability is back in the club then you can push for promotion. Players have been bought and sold, a squad created which is showing determination, if not the flair and style many would wish. Did anyone really think that a team that had won three games all season was going to hit the ground running.

Newcastle managed to pull it around from the sacking of McClaren, gave Benitez a pre season spent big (although not as much as us) and fitted players into a team that had won 3 of their last 9 games last year. Brighton have built over time. Two different but successful approaches.

Our squad of last year didn't match that of Newcastles (in fact it wasn't good enough to keep us in this division I suspect)  - so the option of keeping the core and building around them didn't exist, so we needed to build. SB is doing that.

[Ads]

Why would it be a criticism to be relegated with Hull orb the Noses? Two tin pot outfits who had no business being promoted in the first place.

A 'tin pot' outfit just like those won the title last year.

And it was lauded as a sporting miracle.

[villa `cross the mersey]

it's not just the style of play though is it
we are currently 14 points of play offs in a shit league full of crap teams

thats also a bit rubbish

  Exactly - had we have converted half of those draws to wins we would still be outside of the play offs - I really am not convinced Bruce is the manager to take us up next season - but who else is there ?
I sincerely hope there is some pride restored against Small Heath - losing at home 3-1 to a side  that had been tonked the previous week is not a positive sign [/quote]

[mr underhill]

totally outsmarted today by a manager and team spanked last time out.

[Ads]

Out started?

Individual errors cost us.

[villa `cross the mersey]

I think it will require a titanic effort to us get promoted next season  - we all thought relegation was the tip of the iceberg. Lets hope we don't get sunk by a damaged Hull next year. We have looked all at sea against the better teams despite Bruce getting stern with the defence. Unless we get more stars on board I think we can wave goodbye to any chances of promotion, especially with some of the weigh anchors still on board. Perhaps Bruce will bow out or abandon ship after we are docked points for fielding a weakened side week after week. We looked rudderless last season - this season we have had the wind taken from our sails.
Lets hope for full steam ahead in August ...... time for a glass of port

[adrenachrome]

In vino veritas.

[villa `cross the mersey]

In vino veritas.

omnia mari

[olaftab]

I really did not get his substitutions today. Replacing Amavi and Baker with Hogan and Grealish, pushing Bacuna to LB...WTF?  Why not replace Hourihane and Lansbury who were both watching play pass around them?

[paul_e]

Out started?

Individual errors cost us.

I've only seen the highlights from the match thread but I think calling the first an individual error and absolving the management and coaching of any blame is shortsighted.  That goal came from us giving the ball away cheaply in bad areas and being caught out of position, the first part of that has been happening from about 1 pass in 3 for the entire time Bruce has been here.  When you pass the ball as badly as we do and don't attempt to fix it you're always running the risk that a team will punish you for those errors. Blaming the players is easy to do but really it's something that we should've been working on for months as it's one of the common issues that Bruce sees after every game but hasn't been able to address.

 The penalty can go down as an error but even then I think Bacuna had to do something to try to put the guy off because it was a sitter once Chester went to ground.  The 2nd looks like Amavi lost his runner so that one is fair to call an individual error but it's the sort of error Hutton has made hundreds of but for some reason it's all forgotten when he has a few decent games whereas Amavi gets ripped to shreds and people call for him to be sold.

Aside from that, our game plan for weeks has revolved around waiting for a team to make a mistake or waiting for a bit of brilliance and hoping we take the chance, we don't really have any rights to moan about a team beating us by taking advantage of mistakes.

[paul_e]

I really did not get his substitutions today. Replacing Amavi and Baker with Hogan and Grealish, pushing Bacuna to LB...WTF?  Why not replace Hourihane and Lansbury who were both watching play pass around them?

Exactly the sort of subs Lambert got both barrels for making.

[ChicagoLion]

This is exactly the result and performance that calls into question the rationale for going into next season with Bruce.
Does it look like he can build a Championship / runners up  winning team from here?
The performances have been  dissapointing all his time here and now the results are bad again.