Yeah WTF Bruce hasn't been used in midfield at all, and that would certainly ask for trouble. The other two points I could have told Bruce before Sunday..
utter gash - we've started 17 games with Bruce this season and only won two of them - we've started 17 games without Bruce and won 8 - Bruce should never be anywhere near the team
we need to keep it tight and should go with 4-5-1 initially for the final. As for Swanny i suggest he just makes contentious statements to validate his profile and column. If not he's a buffoon!
4-5-1 I Imagine we will be set up in a very similar way to the first half of the semi - there wasnt a lot wrong with that on paper other than we were set up as if it were the final against Arsenal rather than AGAINST a league one side with fire in their belly . Against Arsenal it will be a more workable option Saggy can hold up the ball well but will need help fast against Arsenal too - tho id swap Boyd for Aluko and pray for Figgy
You're right to call his bullshit but I have to object that Bruce was awful in midfield last season. I really think this is one of those things that has been invented after the event and agreed upon by the majority. He first played in midfield away at Milwall in early Feb. We were all shocked pre-game but it worked. We won 1-0 and most of us agreed that while it wasn't a long term solution, he'd done a decent job that day. He didn't play very many more games in midfield but his first one was definitely a success. I think he might have played there against Watford at home when we lost 1-0, which might have been what gave people the view that he was awful there but it's certainly not the case that he had a run of games long enough to prove either way whether he was good or bad in midfield. I'm not saying he's particularly good there, and I completely accept his uselessness on the ball which makes him unsuited to the role on paper. But when asked to do that job for us last season he did alright at times, maybe not so well at other times. He wasn't as bad as he's now remembered as being though. I agree though that he shouldn't play there now. The reason he played there last season was that after Meyler and Quinn we didn't have a 3rd good midfielder. Now we've got 4 or 5 good midfielders and no need for Bruce in there.
Because he is one of the few players who shut Louis Saurez up this season. so he can do the same v Arsenal.
Is it the 2-10, 6-2 or 10-6 shift. They play for 90 f*****g minutes a week and get paid f*ck knows per hour. Whoever came up with the term "shift" for footballers wants to go and work in a foundry or coal mine and see what real work is.
PLT, Bruce is dreadful in midfield. It worked against mill wall because he was there to stop Liam Trotter steam rollering through our midfield like a giant ****ing tank, but other than that he didn't do a lot. He got shown up as a centre half with poor ball skills when we played Watford, a game where we needed to keep possession but couldn't get out of our own half because Bruce was the one collecting the ball from the defence and giving it straight back to them. That game was enough to prove Bruce won't work in midfield against any but the poorest of opposition, against Arsenal we may as well just welly each kick off back to our keeper to boot in the net for them and save the hassle.
We don't need somebody who's only avenue of passing is back to the keeper, so I think Alex will be on the bench. If we were going to have a holding midfielder, stick Quinn in there and have Huddlestone as the man in front of the back four. I'm probably in the minority here, but I really haven't rated Meyler for the last few games. He just sort of floats about and does nothing, shirking tackles (which he didn't used to do). He spends most of the game either wandering about or on his arse (which again, he never used to do) and the last few PL games I've really struggled to see what he'd bring to the team over Quinn, who I think technically is the better player. So I'd go with: ------------------Harper------------------ Rosenior ----Chester -----Davies -----Figueroa -----------------Huddlestone --------------- Elmohammady -----Livermore ----- Quinn--------- Aluko ------------------Fryatt-----------
It would be madness not to play an attacking team against Arsenal in the FA Cup. I totally agree that we need to muscle them and make them have to fight for every ball. Bruce in midfield would be the biggest folly since McShane at LB. I'd go for a back 3 of Chester, Bruce and Davies. Rosie and Elmo as wingbacks. Hudds and Livermore in the middle. Sagbo, Meyler off Fryatt to create a threat. Boyd, Quinn, Aluko off the bench. Set out to win it, or set out to avoid embarrassment; I know my choice. Edit: Asking a bit much of Sagbo
