Concentrating on the positives so far our defence is looking pretty solid again. I was a bit worried that the defence would be a weak link with Hobbs injured, but one goal conceded in three games against tough opposition is good considering Bruce is also asking them to play a different system. Alex Bruce is turning out to be a good aquisition, Faye should improve further as he gets fitter and Dudgeon and Rosenior now have more licence to support the attack. According to the Beeb we had 13 shots on target and 8 off to Charlton's 9 and 6 on Saturday, so SB does seem to be getting us attacking without compromising the defence.
It will be interesting to see if this continues, whether Hobbs will come back in and move Faye into mid-field, or play Hobbs/Chester/Faye at the back?
True the defence is looking good. It's funny how weve had three managers and how many coaches, we lose Hobbs,swap Daws for Dudgeon and a multitude of keepers, (Amos is looking very good) and yet our defence is still our best strength.
There are plenty of positives; the defence is as good as ever, Amos looks like a good keeper and we're still dominating games overall and creating chances. We've played some decent sides and looked like the better team in all 3 in my opinion (though strangely the one where it was closest was the only one we won). I'm impressed with the job Bruce is doing so far but I think he needs a bit more money to get us scoring goals. Hopefully he either gets it this week or can pull off another signing like Aluko to finish the team off.
We seem very comfortable when defending with this system and the opposition find it hard to break us down. The players aren't quite familiar enough with it to attack with freedom yet (hence the Blackburn goal), but when they are I think we might be able to regularly dominate games.
It's good to see the defence carrying on from where it left off last season. Haven't been to a game yet this seeason, but from speaking to people who have many are impressed by Amos and despite many of us been underwhelmed with the signing of Bruce Jnr, he seems to be putting in solid, decent performances. Dudgeon seems to have grasped his first team opportunity with both hands and Daws may struggle to get back in the team. If we get things right in attack we could be a real force in this league. The 3 sides we've played so far are teams that many of us would expect to be challenging for the top 6 so we've shown we can match some of the best teams in this league.
It's no coincidence that through all the turmoil of different managers, there has been one constant through out and that's young James Chester. It's testament to just how good he is that we've remained so consistently solid at the back. In our first season back at this level, we had Zayatte/Cooper/Gerrard/Ayala, and despite the latter two having obvious talent, they never set the world alight like Chester did. Granted the goals thing remains a problem but it will come good, we look much more competent going forward than we have in previous seasons. Aluko is a massive talent and I'm pleased we got him for nothing. I think we need Stewart to up his game to what he was when he first arrived (saw glimpses of it against Brighton), but it's good to see an attacking full back in Dudgeon, who looks like he is going to make the LB position his own (also ample cover in Townsend, Dawson and even in Cooper who I think played there in his youth days.) Somebody like Ryan Hall or (if we have scouts up there in Scotland, which we should do given we signed Aluko), Scott Robinson or Arvydas Novikovas from Hearts. The latter is an especially good talent is highly rated by the set up at Hearts. If we want to splash the cash, I'd look into luring Chris Burke from Birmingham; he made 61 appearances for them in all competitions, scoring 14 goals and getting 19 assists, so he has the legs to last for a whole season and then some!
It seems to have gone very quiet from the people who criticised the signing of Bruce Jnr, apparently he was a crap player who we didn't need and Bruce shouldn't have signed him. Mmmm, silence.
well that's my point. I didn't have an opinion of him cos I didn't even know him. he's a no nonsense defender a bit like Wayne brown and has done muh wrong at all. gets stuck and tackles well. my only concern is the whole 3centre backs but Chester/Faye/bruce have been excellent. I think Amos is top notch too
Myself and OLM have both been talking about him a lot in the last week. I'm not gonna argue about him again because certain people will start crying, but it's a load of bollocks to say people have gone quiet about him.
I said I wasn't going into it again but since you've asked: He's been directly at fault for every league goal we've conceded so far and his extreme one-footedness means he kicks it out of play to avoid using his left foot half the time. That's why I won't be singing his praises. However in the interest of balance, he did put one good tackle in at Blackburn.
sorry to disappoint you, but we had 13 shots of which 8 were on target. charlton had 9 shots including 6 on target. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/19304449
Hi guys, I've just got back from holidays so not seen any competitive footy yet this season and only read the reports on the BBC. Looking at the line ups am I right that we've played 3 centre backs in each away game? Seems overly defensive or are we playing with wing backs? Is it working?
Bruce seems to push Dudgeon and Rosey further forward, so it's effectively 2 wing backs and a back 3. Support upfront is there, but the strikers are just lacking the composure to put it in the net. At least we're creating chances in the first place.
