Difficult to blame anyone but the players for Saturday. First half it was solely down to effort. We didn't want it enough. Second half we obviously improved, but then the switching off for the last goal was horrific. We can say Bruce should have done this or that subs wise, but those players are professionals, they know you're at your most vulnerable after a goal. The senior players have to make sure players don't switch off. Who is taking responsibility? We are struggling to play out from the back at times. This will be solely down to Jones. We will have to take the pain like all teams do when they modernise. Same goes for high press, I want to see it but it ain't gonna happen overnight. Sadly pre season was ravaged when these things get locked in best, and Jones was obviously late back so didn't get to work with the team. In hindsight it was probably massively detrimental to allow him to go with England when we were so much a work in progress. But you don't want to stop people getting that kind of recognition. We are too reliant on a coach though. If this is the result when he doesn't get time with the team, then what are the others actually doing? Bruce needs to get rid of the coaches. If they aren't good enough, its not jobs for the ****ing boys. Whereas the players need to take the heat for Saturday, its the same as whole of last season for me. We need to change the manager. That will see the coaching set up change anyway. Bruce seems to be able to spot a good player, but I haven't seen much else he manages well.
Signed loads of good players who have done well for the clubs he's signed them for. Its his one redeeming quality. Wigan - Palacios, Figueroa Hull - Robertson, Maguire, Brady Newcastle - Wilson, ASM Sunderland - Bent, Gyan, Sessegnon Villa - McGinn, El Ghazi Signed loads of poor players too of course, all managers do. But in context of the clubs he's been at, the budgets he has worked with, he's done pretty well in locating players/selecting scouted players and appointing the right scouts. I don't know for sure but I can't imagine he has spent more than 5m on a player many times in his career. Most of them have probably been here. Its why he's here, skirting by on a shoe string is his game.
Those players mentioned did incredibly well for those clubs. A couple went on to play for the biggest clubs in the land. You have to keep it in context. Who exactly would you give him credit if he signed? Ronaldo? Zidane? He isn't going to be signing superstars for the likes of Wigan, Birmingham, Hull, Villa etc. He has largely managed strugglers because he's not a very good manager. It becomes a whole lot tougher at the arse end. Some managers wouldn't even take on those jobs or work under such tight budgets. Its all relative with transfers. Look at Rafa, ran for the hills when presented with that kind of challenge. Pep never even attempted to work with anything but the best. They know the score.
To be honest I don't think any of our managers have bought anyone since the days of Sir Bobby everyone has been picked for the manager to shoehorn into the team I cannot believe even Steve Bruce could be that stupid to stump up 40m for Joelinton
Simply gave example of managers who don’t have to deal with those kind of challenges - Rafa very recent manager here, Pep very well known manager to all. Good examples to be honest. I think it’s pretty obvious Rafa will be used as an example quite regular. Same way that Keegan, Robson, Allardyce, etc are. They’ve managed here it’s not rocket science why they get used as examples. People are just very friendly touchy about Rafa being brought up in critical terms. If I went further back and used Allardyce or Roeder, people wouldn’t get so touchy. But if use KK, Robson or Rafa and say anything negative, then you get people getting a big huff on. Sorry but I just don’t buy into hero worship.
