Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[Phil from the upper holte]

I can't stand Gabby but we don't have anyone else

[Axl Rose]

I can't stand Gabby but we don't have anyone else

I hate the way he's wormed his way back into our team. Di Matteo had the right idea regarding that fat shit at least. Realised he was shit and ousted him. But fatty just wouldn't go, would he. I fucking hate him and will never support him again.

I'd play anyone from our reserves, or play Green and Adomah in support of McCormack as a front three until we buy a good, new striker. And when we do, partner him with Kodjia and Ayew. Anything but shisha c***

[Vegas]

Bruce made an initial impact but ultimately we were 10 points off the play offs when he took over and we're still ten points off today.

Isn't this massive progress though? When he arrived we were in the relegation mix;since he's been here we've had play off form

[Rigadon]

Agree with Ads assessment of our approach to games and also Chicago villa's new transfer comments.

We seem to be giving teams too much time on the ball, especially at 0-0. Bruce is right, too many of the squad are 'losers' and it'll take more than one transfer window to sort out. No promotion this year, and please, no Bruce out nonsense because of it.

[CT]

Against Brighton we pressed really well. It was a big reason why we played at such a high level in that game.

Since Calderwood arrived we don't do it anymore, and we're treated to Gabby trotting around watching defenders from ten yards away.

[Mister E]

I accept that he has not had a chance to reshape this squad however he is culpable of making some huge errors. He brought Gabby back in as cover for AFCON absentees when complete footballing muppets like me can see the man is long gone past he sell by date. He allowed the club to sell Gestede in a period when we were clearly going to be short of forwards. He dropped Gollini when it was clear that Bunn was incapable of operating at this level. He persists in keeping Grealish out of the team when the world knows that he is possibly the only creative player we have in our squad. He.....

Agreed on Gollini.
For the rest of your comments, Gestede was crap and keeping him would have simply been keeping another body. Flabby is crap too, but at least he closes down the oppo defence. Grealish will only flourish when the MF is sorted out.
Bruce has very few options right now: hopefully, in February he'll have some more.

[wittonwarrior]

Be honest at the moment is running out of ideas.  Not his squad as such so difficult to judge but fat gabby and fat Ross really

[clash city rocker]

I do question the coaching that goes on in training. Many moons ago I played for the school side and we were bang average. One day a maths teacher turned up to take training. We all thought WTF..! In his earlier days he had the chance to sign for big clubs but an injury put paid to that.From then on 95% of all train sessions revolved around pass and move. He always said that apart from the goalkeeper the most you would ever have the ball in a game was 2 minutes so what you did with the other 88 was the key. Wit the same set of players we went from average to world beaters in 12 months. It was all down to coaching. He looked upon hoofing the ball and giving possession away as a crime and if you did it come the end of the game he would talk to you like someone who had just run over his dog.Yes we need signings but i'm sure with top quality coaching we could get a lot more out of the players that we have.

[Steve67]

Not to be deliberately provocative but why do we let Grealish off the hook so much? He was just as half soaked as the rest of them during our relegation and is hardly pulling this division apart. He's got no pace, rarely shoots etc. One of our own maybe, but he also needs a kick up the arse to get him going.

[Chris Smith]

I do question the coaching that goes on in training. Many moons ago I played for the school side and we were bang average. One day a maths teacher turned up to take training. We all thought WTF..! In his earlier days he had the chance to sign for big clubs but an injury put paid to that.From then on 95% of all train sessions revolved around pass and move. He always said that apart from the goalkeeper the most you would ever have the ball in a game was 2 minutes so what you did with the other 88 was the key. Wit the same set of players we went from average to world beaters in 12 months. It was all down to coaching. He looked upon hoofing the ball and giving possession away as a crime and if you did it come the end of the game he would talk to you like someone who had just run over his dog.Yes we need signings but i'm sure with top quality coaching we could get a lot more out of the players that we have.

These are players that will have been coached since they were 10 and first joined academies. They are playing against teams made of people who have been through the same process. When a player miss controls a ball, fails to find his man with a ten yard pass or stands off rather than closes down I think that is his own fault, not that of the coaches.

Bruce has swapped players around and we are still seeing limp performances like last night. There has been a clamour for Tshibola to play, for instance, but his inclusion has not resulted any discernible improvement. That is not down to him, he has done ok, but we need a leader in midfield; somebody to add some drive and urgency. We also need a centre forward but one more mobile than Gestede was. If we sort those positions out then we still might have an outside chance of making the play offs. However, for the first time I am starting to think about what another season in this division would mean.

[Risso]

Not to be deliberately provocative but why do we let Grealish off the hook so much? He was just as half soaked as the rest of them during our relegation and is hardly pulling this division apart. He's got no pace, rarely shoots etc. One of our own maybe, but he also needs a kick up the arse to get him going.

I agree, he doesn't even do the simple things well.  His passing is atrocious.

[brian green]

With every respect to the previous posters you see the dilemma we face.  Do we coach the players, identify their weaknesses and improve them or do we give them a kick up the arse?  Probably both.  Gabby and McCormack need kicks up the arse for their lifestyle choices and attitudes, most of the others for technical and positional failings need an intensity of coaching they are obviously not getting.

I agree with aftab that Bruce is making some bad errors of judgement, the attempted resurrection of Gabby, and worse still the belief that it is even possible, the timing of the sale of Gestede and loaning out Gollini not Bunn being the obvious ones.  I believe that Steve Bruce is the right manager for us and that he will get us back to the Premiership one way or another, one season or another but I reserve the right to criticise his mistakes.

[Marlon From Bearwood]

Bruce made an initial impact but ultimately we were 10 points off the play offs when he took over and we're still ten points off today.

Isn't this massive progress though? When he arrived we were in the relegation mix;since he's been here we've had play off form

I wouldn't call it massive progress personally, no. Did you see the last two league games?

And as for play off form, that may have been the case around Xmas, but possibly not now we've taken one point from the last nine.

[Ads]

Chris is right. The make up of players we have to choose from doesn't include a player capable of inspiring by his own deeds. Who is going to collect the ball in midfield, best a man and drive at the centre halves over 20/30 yards or force a good save to lift everybody?

The midfield is desperately weak and we can try as many combinations as we like, the solution doesn't exist internally.

[brian green]

Chris and Ads gree totally.    We will not score goals while we play backwards and sideways and the only variation on that negativity are runs down the wings that end in crosses to nobody in particular.