He did a fair bit in open play on Thurs. His run when he started on the edge of our box in the last couple of minutes was class, used strength and pace to beat the defender and if it wasn't for Aluko's awful decision would have created a good chance. He's been awful in other games but hopefully he gets back to his best, he was brilliant at the start of last season.
He cuts inside too much and seems so reluctant to get down the line and into crossing positions. When he does he's really dangerous but hopefully he'll get the game time to really start having a go. On his game he's our most effectively positive player.
there's a reason i used to be called brady.. he's f**ing class.. he just needs to get back to his best robertson, brady, mcgregor, chester and jelavic my fav city players like i said before, robertson is almost my twin, he's the same height as me, and since i stood next to him, he literally looks like me like seriously, he's my long lost twin, he is from glasgow afterall
Even if he played well at Lokeren, he was poor at home where more saw him. One of the problem with Aluko is that there's no consistency, and if not playing well in every game then he shouldn't be picked. By playing well, I don't expect him to score every game but I would expect him to get assists, create a threat and worry defenders. The only worry the Lokeren defenders had was whether he'd injure them when he ran into them or kicked the ball at them. As for wanting a European journey, did people really expect us to get to the final? We had our best season last year and still finished 16th - only 1 place higher than our previous best, and if anyone thought we would have got to the cup final if we had come across any decent opposition I think they're idiots. Yes, we beat Sunderland and 'boro, but neither were playing well, we were lucky to win against Brighton, and Sheffield wasn't an easy win. I think the only game we played decent opposition was the final. The same would be true in Europe in the next rounds - we would have a chance against one of the teams maybe, but the chances of beating the two seeded teams would be slim. I am all for having a cup run, or European adventure, but our current squad players are fairly average, and I wouldn't want to risk any of our first team. Personally, I think premier league survival - and aiming for just under mid-table - should be our goal, and then in a couple of years when we have a bigger, stronger squad we can look at these competitions properly.
Even though he will never admit it,Bruce obviously saw the Euro thing as a distraction,his squad depth simply would not allow him to risk certain names for such events. As for a Myler,blows Luke warm and cold for me,one of four or five that do the same,increasingly looking like a player who is out of his depth now and his omissions of late from the starting eleven reflect that. **** happens,he won't go hungry,we move on.
Yep. Would wager Bruce slept like baby Thursday night. Thoughts now on Villa,real bread n butter game and another potential 6 pointer.
We didn't take it seriously? Steve Bruce put out a team (first leg) that should haves pissed all over the opposition, but didn't. To cap it off the Keeper made the sort of mistake you simply shouldn't see at that level. Even though our recruitment is incomplete, there was no excuse for how the majority of that team turned up. Second leg we won, with ten men for twenty minutes. Again we could have played better, the hot and cold Aluko was a definite after his first performance, so how the hell was Bruce supposed to 'be serious' and discount him? Explain what Bruce should have done about the insistant Livermore? The team was good enough to win both legs, they only won the second and lost on the away goal rule. I very much doubt any footballer in that dressing room would pass any part of the blame for our exit onto the manager - their ability was there in spades, they applied it poorly.
We wouldn't have got Lokeren's group, our coefficient would have moved us up the list and out of pot 4, so we'd have got a completely different group.
Who said we were going to win it or get to the final ? Most people have just said they wanted to get to the group stages in what may be a very rare opportunity
Even championship side Birmingham chuffing city got through the preliminaries. Shows just how catastrophic this really is. At least we've done our bit in dropping England's coefficient ratig even lower.
Both for me; Livermore publicly stated he was going to have a quiet word with the manager to play him, so if he is going to be insistent that he start he really should do the business.
By taking seriously I don't just mean the team selection itself but the attitude of players/staff towards it. Do you think those same players would have put in such an abject performance if the game was built up to them as something of real importance? If it was say an FA cup final they would have ran themselves into the ground and would have collapsed onto the pitch at the end with their heads in their hands. The simple fact is that picking different players in a different system not only causes the game to be disjointed, but also sends out a message to the players that it isn't important.
Disagree. The players could not mistake the importance of the game, most of them commented on it, as did the manager. One of the key messages that has constantly been passed is that it was always intended to use the full squad, ideally two teams, but late recruitment curtailed that. The players fully expected team changes, as they made total sense. It can be argued that maybe different players should or should not have started, or been substitutes; what cannot be argued is that both teams (1st/2nd legs) were capable of doing better. Blaming some fictional motivation issue is utter bollocks, it's down to certain players failing to pull their weight, being hit and miss, hot and cold, decent and ****ing ****e. It annoys me, so it must drive the manager crazy; which is why he is getting players in to get competition for places - the prize will always be a first pick for the PL games.
