Sunderland boss to stick with winning formula FANS-TASTIC ... Sunderland boss Steve Bruce. Published on Friday 28 October 2011 11:51 SUNDERLAND are set to be unchanged for tomorrowâs game against Aston Villa, with Steve Bruce likely to start Stephane Sessegnon on the left wing and Seb Larsson on the right. In last weekâs victory at Bolton, the wide men switched flanks over the course of the game as the manager experimented tactically. But he is likely to revert to the playersâ natural positions at the Stadium of Light tomorrow, with both men attacking down their usual flanks. Bruce told the Echo: âIt was something we looked at because although Stephane is left-footed, he has the ball control and quality to cut inside if needs be and we thought he might be able to cause a lot of damage either going out wide or cutting inside against Bolton. âAt the same time, Seb isnât really an out-and-out winger who beats his man outrunning them out, so he works equally as well on either wing. âBut weâve looked at the Bolton game and we looked more balanced in the second half with Sess on the left and Seb on the right. âSo thatâs obviously on our mind, as is the wisdom of not changing a winning team.â If Bruce fields the same starting line-up against Alex McLeishâs Villa, it will give £8million summer signing Connor Wickham his first Stadium of Light start and mean Jack Colback has successfully kept skipper Lee Cattermole and £5m buy Craig Gardner out of the side for the second week in a row. Bruce said: âAs a manager, youâre always looking for what works best and the fact is that both Jack and Connor have deserved their chances. âLee and Craig are top players and their chances will undoubtedly come, because theyâve got big roles to play this season. âBut Jack hasnât put a foot wrong and heâs proved his value with his tackling, his workrate and his passing, which I thought was superb at Bolton. âAs for Connor, he wanted to be given a chance to start games. âWeâve tried to look after him as much as possible, because heâs still only 18, and it was important we bedded him in gradually. Weâve still got to be very careful with him because weâve got to nurture him as a player and protect his confidence. âBut he was very solid and I think heâs going to be some player in two or three years time. Even at Bolton though, there were good signs and his sheer physical presence alone asks questions of defenders.â
Bruce wises up? What is it with his experimenting anyway? Player X is a lefty, so let's see how he plays on the right? Richardson is a forward, so let's give him a run out at FB. Lunacy...
You now what will happen if we get beat "tactics are ****, he gets a winning formula (for 1 game) and he stays with it for weeks, why, he should have changed it" even though most on here have said keep it the same.
That’s not true at all though. I reckon had Bruce gone for games from the start of the season there would be a helluva lot more still rooting for him Steve and I do absolutely believe that we would have had at least another 4 or 5 points and would not have lost the derby game. He made a massive error of judgment regarding our striking ability when allowed Gyan to leave so late in the day without a replacement and he has suffered a loss of public faith because of it. 100% Bruce’s decision not to replace him with anyone and 100% Bruce to blame for the frenzy it caused. If he plays the same team and we don’t win I won’t be one giving him stick. If he changes it and we lose I'd personally verbally dissect the bugger. Lol
Larsson and Sess changed wings during the game at will and confused the Bolton defenders and this is a good tactic to employ. Sess in particualr is a bugger to mark as he can go deep, wide, forward and play it with either foot. I reckon Connor will score tomorrow. My bet is Connor 1st goal and Sunderland 2-0
I don't see how the above is true? he could not replace him, the window had closed? Bruce said himself (and it was widely reported) Gyan had said he wanted to stay, then changed his mind. I would say it was 100% Gyan and his agents fault. What Bruce has got wrong is thinking Sess could be a striker and Elmo and Larson could be our wingers.
This is simply not true of course. It had to be Bruce's decision 100% as the team manager with total control of team matters, to decide to say yes to both Bent and Gyan leaving. As contracted players, knowing especially what a devastating effect letting Bent go in January had on our season, he was perfectly entitlied to say no to Gyan and make him stay. he could have been moved on in january when a suitable replacement had been found, as could Bent have been in January (moved on in the summer that is) AFTER adequate replcements had been recruited. For a so called experienced manager to allow this to happen twice inside 6 months is absolutely ridiculous. had Bruce had replacement for both Bent and Gyan then I dont have a problem with either of them ****ing off if they dont want to be here but I dont know of one other professional football club in England that has allowed its best players to just walk away when they feel like it, especially when both were on long contracts. Its a ridiculous scenario. Either Quinny is lying, or Bruce is lying if you dont think Bruce made the decisions 100%. Just because a player says he wants to leave, doesnt make it inevitable. Those decisions are made when the club has been protected not on a whim then panic leke **** afterwards and especially not twice in 6 months thats for sure. All this was compounded of course by the then equally ridiculous decision to make Sess a striker and tell everyone Elmo is a good footballer.
lots of left footed players (wingers) play on the right..... Richardson is improving at LB, and has done well the last few games imo.
Larsson, I reckon he is in Beck's mould can run all day (not very fast), can cross a ball well, particularly from the right and can take good free kick and corners and will score the odd goal. Never thought that Becks was a great winger, i.e. fast and could dribble but if Sess (who is a fast dribbler, in the nicest way) plays mainly on the left and drifts around a bit then we have a couple of good midfielders offering variety in attack. The two CM have to be able to tackle and pass to Larsson and Sess and the two up front. Its not rocket science is it..why has it taken SB to realise this
Why the **** would anyone want a footballer to stay at our club if he clearly decided he didnt want to stay? Do you honestly think it would of helped us to watch an unhappy out of form striker play for us? Bent's form went right off when he became unhappy, and Gyan would have been the same. Bruce forced Bent to stay in the summer, and convinced him that going to turkey was not a good idea, but once villa tapped him up there was no point in keeping him at all. If we had kept Bent, he would have been **** for 6 months and we would have been forced to sell him for less than Villa evaluated him in Jan. Quinn and Bruce made the right decisions on both Gyan and Bent. I am willing to bet, that you would have been saying "we should have sold have greedy ****er" if Bruce had forced him to stay and he had been playing ****.
No again totally misguided and very wrong. Did it help us when he left without ANY replecements like? If he had stopped but in a sulk and scored another 6 or so goals, it may have been the difference between us getting sucked into the relegation fight as we did and finishing a comfortable 8th or 9th with another 10 points from that disasterous 3 month slump. I would also ask has Modric done as you suggest and sulked? Did Ronaldo or Rooney? Did Fabregas stop playing for Arsenal because they wouldnt grant him his dream to play for his boyhood club for TWO YEARS? Of course not as they are professionals. Bent could have been sold in August for probably a lot more to be honest and Gyan could have been off loaded in January AFTER replacements were sourced and brought in. Its not rocket science thsi management lark you know, in any industry or service. I'd sooner have a sulky top striker as no ****ing striker at all. And just for the record, you know **** all about my thoughts or what I might or might not have said either way, so please refrain from assumptions about them in the future
Ah man give it a ****in rest! No one will complain if Bruce plays players in their correct position and start picking up some points! I think hes a ****e manager but will not be complaining if we kick on and start winning games we should be winning!
