After listening to the Burnsy and Steve Bruce's post match interview, I have to say that I have changed my view on Alex Bruce. As Burnsy pointed out his clearance headers alone earnt him a well deserved pat on the back. I thought him as something of a journeyman player, but he does seem to be a stalwart in the defence and it will take a determined player to take his place in the starting XI.
Solid defender at this level who hasn't done much wrong from what Ive seen of him home and away this season. Hobbs close to first team duty will allow SB to pick three central defenders from Chezzy Faye AB and JH in the favoured 3-5-2. Reminds me a lot of Pete Skipper - not blessed with pace but reads the game well and gets his head in, in front of the striker.
Id go Chester Hobbs Bruce, think Bruce has now shaken of his 'only got signed cos its his dad' tag. I prefare him to Faye if im honest.
Mate of mine sadly is a Leeds fan, said he was very reliable and steady there. Another very good signing by SB. Think it Will be close between faye and bruce over who gets dropped for hobby
Think the problem Faye may have is Steve Bruce might want to get a settled back 3 once Hobbs is back and Faye will not be available every week, he will need a regular rest, he's no spring chicken, still a very reliable defender thou, even Mcshane seems to be playing well.
McShane won't get a look in once Hobbs is back, he'll be 5th choice CB. That's no slur on Macca just think the other 4 are less accident prone. That said Chester makes errors and doesn't get slated by some on here cos he's almost an untouchable these days.
Bruce picks himself now i think, he's perfect for our back three. Nepotism justified ! Great avatar Mel,i like it
A few months ago their we're only about three of us saying give Bruce Jnr a chance before slating him. Most people were crucifying him and they had never seen him play. All credit to the lad, a few humble pie servings due I think.
I think McShane is (and should be) above Faye in the pecking order these days. Will Hobbs get straight into the team? Should he? I think he's a decent player but I do wonder if he's getting better every game he doesn't play like Cameron Stewart did this time last year. Either way, I think we've got five decent centre backs and it's a "good headache to have".
I think Hobbs probably will be a first choice defender when fully fit, i personally think hes one of the best defenders in the league, just my opinion like. Do you think he will be given the armband or are people happy with Koren as captain?? Koren has never seemed like captain material to me but we are 4th so he must be doing ok at it.
Hobbs was as good as Chezzy last year for me, nowhere near the potential of Chester but at this level and right now, he's as good a player. I'm still hoping Faye will hit 10 goals this season so need him to play. Bruce has done a good job but I think Macca is still what he always has been. Slow, poor-intelligence and error prone. Think the pecking order should go; Chester, Hobbs, Faye, Bruce, Cooper, Clark (can play CB), Macca then Bradley. However, I think Bruce will see it as; Chester, Bruce, Hobbs, Faye, Macca, Cooper, Bradley then Clark.
The main reason Alex Bruce got slated by many fans before he kicked a ball for us was because he'd played for Leeds recently - even those that said his form was shaky were usually quoting their 'friends who were Leeds fans' - the same fans they slate week in week out ffs - AB is a good defender - the biggest risk was his games played per season record but with us he's been fit.
Bruce does what a defender has to do. He heads, clears and tackles, he won't pussy out and gets the basics right. I don't think he has any major defensive weaknesses and since his big blunder at Blackburn he hasn't really done a lot wrong in our box. However the issue with him is when we have the ball. Of all the headers he wins, how many of them are situations where we're only defending because he gave them the ball back cheaply after the last attack? A lot. He just hoofs it and doesn't seem to know any other way. In our game plan that's far from ideal. He's the kind of player who isn't going to directly cost us goals and I'm comfortable with him in the defence (unlike McShane), but for a promotion chasing team he shouldn't be first choice when Hobbs is fit, because we'll have 3 top centre backs in Chester, Hobbs and Faye who can do all of those basics but also instigate attacks after doing so instead of inviting further pressure with a stupid hoof.
We currently have better centre backs than Bruce IMO. I always thought he did ok and was good to have in the squad though, he'd probably be our fourth or fifth choice CB if he had stayed and everyone was fit. Seems the move did him well to be honest
I think you're on the money about the move doing him well - no doubt his dad backing him has given him a massive confidence boost
Bruce is certainly playing well and if he stays fit it means we can slowly reintroduce Hobbs back in the team rather than having to throw him in at the deep end
