Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[ciggiesnbeer]

I dont find much to argue with in that Bruce interview.

Damn him and his sane sensible answers.

[SheffieldVillain]

3-5- 2 is fine if you have the defenders to play it and have cover if anything happens to them, our problem, Elphick, Glass jaw Baker, one is not good enough and one can be out for weeks, if so who do we replace them with, how he can say Elphick was particularly impressive, beggars belief and also on that, are we going to be fitting square pegs in round holes like he did on Saturday as for the midfield placements.

I don't think he did say Elphick was impressive. That part was a comment from Gregg Evans, not a quote from Bruce.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

[Risso]

A depressing quote I saw on Twitter this morning:

Paul Lambert is still our best manager in the last five years.

*shoots self in face*

[Risso]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

Not to be billy big bollocks, but all of our games should be winnable.  We've got just about the most expensively assembled squad in the division (possibly with the exception of Newcastle), a manager with lots of promotions under his belt, a supportive new owner and and a huge (for the division) following home and away.  Yet we've just been played off the park by Brentford and beaten by Forest.  We haven't played well under Bruce for more than a couple of halves of football.  We can't score away, or keep a clean sheet, so I think any talk of going on a run is hugely premature.  We SHOULD be capable of it, but we're not, and we won't.  I think we'll bumble along for the rest of the season winning maybe one game in 4, and finish lower mid table.

[AV82EC]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

Not to be billy big bollocks, but all of our games should be winnable.  We've got just about the most expensively assembled squad in the division (possibly with the exception of Newcastle), a manager with lots of promotions under his belt, a supportive new owner and and a huge (for the division) following home and away.  Yet we've just been played off the park by Brentford and beaten by Forest.  We haven't played well under Bruce for more than a couple of halves of football.  We can't score away, or keep a clean sheet, so I think any talk of going on a run is hugely premature.  We SHOULD be capable of it, but we're not, and we won't.  I think we'll bumble along for the rest of the season winning maybe one game in 4, and finish lower mid table.

Yep. Unpalatable though it is there is no quick fix in football if you're planning for the long term. Yes Bruce could be doing more but it takes time. Can you imagine the internet reaction to scoring 1 goal in 10 games a la Big Ron in 91-92.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

Not to be billy big bollocks, but all of our games should be winnable.  We've got just about the most expensively assembled squad in the division (possibly with the exception of Newcastle), a manager with lots of promotions under his belt, a supportive new owner and and a huge (for the division) following home and away.  Yet we've just been played off the park by Brentford and beaten by Forest.  We haven't played well under Bruce for more than a couple of halves of football.  We can't score away, or keep a clean sheet, so I think any talk of going on a run is hugely premature.  We SHOULD be capable of it, but we're not, and we won't.  I think we'll bumble along for the rest of the season winning maybe one game in 4, and finish lower mid table.

I know what you mean but the next two games could change everything. A couple of convincing wins at home would set us up nicely for the Barcodes where I'd fancy us to come away with something. Thereafter, anything is possible. You may be right but right now I don't believe we're half as bad as we pretend to be and a bit of confidence would go a hell of a long way.

[JUAN PABLO]

Tommy Elphick returned to the team and was particularly impressive.


that is worrying

[Risso]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

Not to be billy big bollocks, but all of our games should be winnable.  We've got just about the most expensively assembled squad in the division (possibly with the exception of Newcastle), a manager with lots of promotions under his belt, a supportive new owner and and a huge (for the division) following home and away.  Yet we've just been played off the park by Brentford and beaten by Forest.  We haven't played well under Bruce for more than a couple of halves of football.  We can't score away, or keep a clean sheet, so I think any talk of going on a run is hugely premature.  We SHOULD be capable of it, but we're not, and we won't.  I think we'll bumble along for the rest of the season winning maybe one game in 4, and finish lower mid table.

Yep. Unpalatable though it is there is no quick fix in football if you're planning for the long term. Yes Bruce could be doing more but it takes time. Can you imagine the internet reaction to scoring 1 goal in 10 games a la Big Ron in 91-92.

It hasn't taken Jaap Stam or Garry Monk very long to turn things around.  Even the likes of Wagner hasn't been in place for much more than a year.


Also, I think the internet reaction to that scenario would have been one of bewilderment in 91/91, seeing as that never happened!

[RussellC]

Putting a side capable of not losing back-to-back games to Brentford and Forest (in the manner that we have done) should be an achievable 'quick fix' though.

I'm not expecting Bruce to turn us into Promotion certainties overnight, but do expect him to have enough tactical nous and motivational ability to not have to watch 73 year-old David Vaughn completely overrun our midfield.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

Putting a side capable of not losing back-to-back games to Brentford and Forest (in the manner that we have done) should be an achievable 'quick fix' though.

I'm not expecting Bruce to turn us into Promotion certainties overnight, but do expect him to have enough tactical nous and motivational ability to not have to watch 73 year-old David Vaughn completely overrun our midfield.

The worrying thing for me so far is that bruce has made zero impact

fitness levels are inexcusable, he was a top defender in his day yet our defence look like they met on the pub car park ten mins before kick off

he's got his own players now so im hoping he has a vague idea of a formation and to play them in their right positions

[Clampy]

Putting a side capable of not losing back-to-back games to Brentford and Forest (in the manner that we have done) should be an achievable 'quick fix' though.

I'm not expecting Bruce to turn us into Promotion certainties overnight, but do expect him to have enough tactical nous and motivational ability to not have to watch 73 year-old David Vaughn completely overrun our midfield.

The worrying thing for me so far is that bruce has made zero impact

fitness levels are inexcusable, he was a top defender in his day yet our defence look like they met on the pub car park ten mins before kick off

One of the more over the top things i've read on here for a while.

[Brend'Watkins]

Defending as deep as we did against Forest resulting with all our forward presence being removed is the reason we got nothing out of the game. That was Bruce's decision.  He could easily have kept our shape as Grealish was more of a hindrance 2nd half than anything else such was his impact.

[john e]

There's no reason why we can't go on a run. Looking at our remaining fixtures, only the Barcodes, Hudders and Fulham away look like games where we might drop points, all the others are very winnable.

Not to be billy big bollocks, but all of our games should be winnable.  We've got just about the most expensively assembled squad in the division (possibly with the exception of Newcastle), a manager with lots of promotions under his belt, a supportive new owner and and a huge (for the division) following home and away.  Yet we've just been played off the park by Brentford and beaten by Forest.  We haven't played well under Bruce for more than a couple of halves of football.  We can't score away, or keep a clean sheet, so I think any talk of going on a run is hugely premature.  We SHOULD be capable of it, but we're not, and we won't.  I think we'll bumble along for the rest of the season winning maybe one game in 4, and finish lower mid table.

a good summary of exactly where we are

[mattjpa]

Bruce is onto a free pass for the rest of the season as long as we start showing some progress and clock up a few wins here and there. BUT he will have maybe 10games next year to show why  he is in the business. Two transfer windows, 2/3rds of a season to experiment and a preseason to prep the team as he sees fit means he will have absolutely zero excuses. That is when we will see how good he is