Last season we had Diame, Livermore and Snodgrass in midfield. Players with experience who could boss the opposition by skill or muscle- all gone now. We had a respected manager with a settled backroom staff in place- all gone now. On the evidence of today, we have less of a threat up front, less ability in midfield, dodgy flanks (hello Lazar and Elmo!), and a backroom staff having to learn in a hurry by their mistakes and discover which players they can rely on. We were outfought today, some players did not look up for it and we never looked like scoring a second goal in open play, just like we haven't most of the season away from home. It didn't seem much different from a Phelan side to be honest. We are still reaping the effects of our disastrous summer of non recruitment caused by Ehaw's stand off with Steve Bruce. Mike Phelan had to pick up the pieces and now Marco Silva is - no goals and no threat despite the possession stats. We're getting cemented in the bottom 3 with Borer and Sunderland, who have a similar lack of quality. Palace, Leicester and Swansea all look to have a lot more in the locker than we do. The damage was done in the summer I'm afraid. No ambition, no vision, just egocentric games with managers and potential buyers. Hopefully the more perceptive pundits will identify the guilty party for the benefit of the rest of the country- step forward Polo Guy, King Midas in reverse, and trouserer of tv money.
What we need and have needed for years is a goal scorer, one who can do it on a freezing cold night in Stoke whilst it's pissing down with rain. Losing the Long and Jelević partnership was a big mistake.
We're crying out for some pace. Markovic and Grosicki had lead boots on today- thought we were supposed to have some zip now we had these two in?
Last season we were in the championship and I don't think they honestly stood out or were as good as you seem to remember. Diame had that bit of magic in his locker and other than the final we hardly saw it. I'm not to sure he's pulling up trees with the Geordies. Livermore bang average for to long now, he had a couple of half decent games this season but not since ashbee era have I seen us boss a midfield.
Pipped us to Hendrick in the summer (why would he join a a club in turmoil?) for £10.5m , they have also signed Defour and Brady. Big bucks, around £30 mill in total. He's been backed by his chairman, and they have a stability and established playing style, with players recruited specifically to suit it.
Of course we've gone back. We also had an excellent right back and someone who could score goals. We've been very unlucky with Odebajo but think Hernandez has been VERY badly handled.
Three successive managers have 'handled Hernandez badly'. At what point do we accept he's difficult to handle. I don't get why people try so hard to ignore what an awful attitude he's got. All we ever hear about him is how he's chasing a move somewhere for more money, and all we get on the pitch is exasperated gestures mocking his teammates who are actually contributing a lot more than him. Anyway, certainly we're not as strong in many respects as we were in the Championship. Our quality and experience won us the playoff final and made Wednesday look as small on the pitch as we looked off it. Now our lack thereof is extremely notable. We're miles ahead of where we were a couple of months ago, but it's looking like too little too late.
Markovic was pretty poor today , but still think he shows glimpses of something about him .... I'm struggling to see the hype around grosicki , horribly one footed , reminds me a bit of Craig ***an , little bit of pace but a headless chicken when it comes to a bit of quality in the final third
I don't think Steve Bruce handled him badly - he got 20 plus goals last season. And he looked pretty fired up when he scored twice against Bournemouth less than 2months ago. He's obviously a confidence player whose lost confidence - but still hope Marco doesn't give up on him.
Grosicki did ok ,he put in some decent crosses . Markovic along with Elmo were a waste of space today unsure of what to do with the ball and where to run when without .
Niasse had a good shot saved down by the post from what I remember. But both Hernandez and before him Jelavic (and the loanee Akpom) all could have attitude problems. I'd rather have had someone like Gray who's a striker who's worked his way up. And that comes back to the owners mismanaging the club again, the transfers have been another area they have failed in.
How many goals has Jelavic scored since we sold him and Long wanted to be away, what were we supposed to do ?
Until the owners (current/new) go and throw some cash at two strikers, we may not see an improvement in that department.
We did put a lot of crosses in to no one today. I think part of that was no one being in the right areas as much as poor deliveries. Shearer always says you don't just aim for a man you aim for the dangerous areas, and the strikers should be getting to those areas. Grosicki has shown he has quality, put some great balls on at Arsenal, but it wasn't there today.
Just think of how ****ed we are if we do get relegated. Half a squad we don't own, a manager and staff out of contract and whatever contracted players we do have will probably **** off. This, if we do get relegated does have a whiff of a double relegation.
