If Hobbs is out then the decision to play AB in midfield is taken away from SB cos he'll be needed in defence. Daft as though it may seem, the cloud of Hobbs getting injured might have a silver lining....
Part of the point of this thread, we all know burnsy & co check these boards, I was kind of hoping for a crusade screaming 'NEPOTISM' at full whack, get the majority to be heard over the minority and we might hear some questions asked. And re McDermott, as already posted I regret mentioning him and in fact have absolutely no idea why I did as I think he's a clown and complete buffoon. And not Nigel Pearson either, he's already took his son to Leicester and he'd probably bring him here and plonk him in central midfield
In terms of the 'other' midfielders, presumably the one's on the bench, what is there? Quinn - Only ever been out the team because of injury/fitness and I thought you could see when he came on he wasn't 100% so fair enough for not starting him, hopefully it'll mean he's fully-fit for the Boro game. Evans - Similar to Bruce but worse positioning whilst slightly better passer, still a very poor passer though. Thought he was poor when he came on, gave away the ball a few times, made one good tackle and then did a ridiculous shot from what, 30 yards out, and fired it about the same distance over. Cairney - Can actually keep the ball but his instinct is to look backwards and pass back to the back 3 who'd just lump it up anyway. He's slow on the ball and the way Watford pressed us he'd probably have been a poor choice. Fathi - Most of us have seen him play less than 45 minutes of football yet regard him as top class. Fair enough he's got 91 caps for his country but he no longer gets in their team whilst Elmo & Gedo do, so clearly Bradley is having similar thoughts to Bruce. Again, I don't really rate Alex Bruce, but it's not as if we have some stand out candidate that should be playing there. Obviously Quinn will be back in on Saturday, although I suspect Koren will be the first to depart. Whilst Boyd was poor and looked jaded he may move into attack again, where he has impressed. Bruce will have a few big decisions to make, we had tired looking players yesterday, but rotate too much & we won't have the quality.
The thing is, when we're trying to grind out a 1-0 win against the big, physical teams, it does make sense to stick AB in their ahead of lightweights like Cairney and Evans. So coming up against Watford, I thought there was absolutely no chance he'd stick with AB. Oh, and if he's going to continue playing, at least tell him to stop shooting. I don't think I've ever seen him hit one within 20 yards of the net. (Edit) Having said all that, Boyd, Koren and Elmohamady (supposedly 3 of our best players) were absolutely kack too, so maybe it just wasn't our night.
I don't think he should be in the starting 11 against boro regardless of whether Hobbs is out or not. Think it's time for a new style and some new ideas and really turn it on for 6 games as this way of playing has been burned out, found out, is now almost completely impotent and is now starting to ejaculate prematurely. I'd go good old fashioned 4-4-2 Stock Rosey Chezzy Faye Fathi Boyd Evans Quinn Brady Gedo Proshwitz I know that's not what it'll be, it will still be 5-3-2 and if Steve had a choice to I'm sure we'd see Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce Bruce
Managed to calm down after reading reams of ****e on this site today and last night, Bruce will have learnt that certain of our players can't hack 2 games in a short period, this doesn't make them bad players all of a sudden. He got it wrong tactically sticking with Bruce I agree with Bull**** Man though I think Bruce does a job, maybe not up to 2 or 3 games in quick succession though just like Boyd Koren Elmo proved that they aren't. Evans playing last night might have given us a bit of freshness. As far as I'm concerned last night was down to stamina not the players 'not being up for it' or 'going missing' which are the two particular comments that really got on my tits seeing them in here, proper bull**** no offence to Bull**** Man
That is an awful team, we'd get turned over even by Boro with that team. Left-back is supposed to be Fathi's 4th/5th favourite position. Boyd has never looked as good on the wing as he has in a free role/striker position. But worst of all, it honestly baffles me that anyone thinks Proschwitz should be given game time. This is the most important time of the season, not time to give 'game time' to someone who's been frankly awful in all but 30 minutes of his City career. He was ****e when he came on yesterday, probably had the second best chance (for us) of the game and his first touch took it about 2 metres away from him. He'll be gone in the summer and good rid.
You'd have Proschwitz in there after his fantastic clearance.... from their box? Simpson any day. I agree on 4-4-2 though. Shame about Dudgeon really, we're low on left-sided options: Stockdale Fathi Chester Faye Rosenior Elmo Evans Quinn Brady Simpson Boyd Koren can **** right off.
That proscwhitz chance, he was in so much space, enough time to take a touch and have a glorious shot at goal and like you said the ball just bounced off him 2 metres away, terrible
We won't go 4-4-2 unless both Faye & Hobbs are out. If we did, I'd play Simpson & Gedo up top, Boyd can't have been fit last night. I'd guess: Stockdale Chester Faye Bruce Elmo Koren Evans Quinn Brady Gedo Simpson Some won't agree with Koren, but upon looking at it, there aren't many alternatives.
It was embarrassing, and the more I see of him the less I want to. I will admit I over-estimated the German second division, I suspect it is on par with our League One at best now.
He should have worked out months ago that some of them can't play 2 or 3 games in quick succession. Our record in mid week this season compared to weekends is appalling, and that comes from Bruce never ever resting players or changing a winning team unless he really has to.
That is the single thing that pisses me off most about him. That's the sign of a poor manager (I know he isn't a poor manager) but he is definitely lacking in the new ideas department. Same **** different day with Bruce.
Right, for what its worth heres what I think of last night. Steve Bruce said we would attack and picked an attacking line up, I saw Koren and Boyd in there and alarm bells started ringing straight away. I know we moan when we don't play an attacking line up but last night we should have kept it tight and let them push for the win. Alex Bruce - forget his ability to play in the position he was selected, he was left exposed by Koren and Boyd who are not going to track back and help out because it dosn't come natural to them. A one man defensive midfield would struggle against any team, which Bruce was more or less. He isn't the best player I know but he was made to look worse by the lack of centre midfield defensive support which Quinn/Meyler/Evans would have given him. Koren - As an experienced pro and as captain you expect the big players to show up at the big games, Koren isn't. Where the younger players in the squad will now be looking around to be inspired by the likes of Koren who has been there done it he is letting them down, letting us down and letting himself down. When theres no pressure on he plays better, at the minute he has bottled it for me. Say all you want about Simpson's goalscoring record but he has done good the last couple of games, his hold up play and turns with the ball looked very good last night - Simmo and Boyd up front from now Bruce. Boyd was a different player when he went up front - keep him there Watford - Good side, there movement when they got the ball was excellent -always options and always looked to get forward. Second half they defended as you would expect a team managed by an Italian, organised and commited. Overall it was frustrating, but after having a go second half I wasn't to down. Another night we could easy have got a couple in. Nobody can slate the squad or Bruce for what we have seen this season, if we do drop out into the play-offs we have seen some of the best football for years.
Bruce has done an very good job with us, there's no doubting that, which is probably why the things that are going 'wrong' are so annoying, like him continuing to pick Alex when there are better options and not freshening up the team when it needs it. He said on the radio last night that Boyd was struggling after playing for Scotland and against Hudds. If that's the case why the bloody hell was he in the team? There's no point picking players that aren't fit, and if he knew Boyd was going to struggle before the game then play someone else!
Excellent post geo. I would add as well, our two biggest threats are Elmo and Brady. They matched up against them brilliantly. Brady slightly got the better of Anya??, but didnt dominate him. Elmo was matched up against a big uncompromising LWB and didnt fancy it. Worst game he's had, last time he was so poor was against Sheff Weds when Reba dominated him.
Proschwitz has been pretty dire this season, but mark my words we haven't seen anything near what he has to offer. Sadly I think his body language speaks volumes, seems he's fed up and and given up hope, no matter if he has a worldy or not Bruce won't give him a proper chance or run of games in a decent side. One things for sure the 5-3-2 really doesn't suit his style of play so it's no surprise he's not getting a go, we may aswell just start with 10 men.
Cheers Chazz, say it how it is/was. Brady never put a foot wrong and didn't deserve to be on the losing side. Elmo bottled a few challenges same with Koren we really are missing a captain like Ash, we wouldn't have lost that last night he wouldn't have let it happen.
