I'm started to really doubt Bruce now. Because I think our team is under achieving. On paper we are much better than our performances. So to me that indicates that the fault is with the manager.
Second half performance wasn't bad at all. Lacked cutting edge though. It's the team selection that's a head scratcher. Why be so negative on the back of a confidence boosting point at Everton against a team there for the taking?
Very disappointing, don't know why Jela didn't start. Hernandez hasn't the toughness to lead the line, surely he was brought in specifically to play off Saggers or Jela, not to run 1-2s with Aluko on the 18 yard line. But we had 2 or 3 clear chances that could have been goals if Aluko and Thudd didn't scuff their shots. Why Bruce took Quinn off instead of Meyler is beyond me, particularly given Meyler's tendency to drift into the centre (and his complete lack of vision). Problem with this season is too many draws that should have been wins. this wasn't one of those - we never really looked like winning it. But let's try a bit of pragmatism and perspective. After the Chelsea match we have three winnable games, so we should treat the Chelsea match as a chance for the players to show some ****ing bollocks and conviction. We haven't won in 8 league matches, and we've only scored 4 goals in those, but on paper this match and the defeat to Burnley are the only results I'd say we could have hoped for owt better. Two wins and a draw before halfway point sees us at 20 points, exactly where we need to be. No point panicking until January imo, the second half of our fixture list looks a lot kinder to me than the first.
possession about 60:40 to west brom in first half and about 60:40 to us second half west brom's passing was far superior to ours at least we have some good strikers although not good enough service. previously the strikers we had were rubbish the two midfielders we got on loan were a waste; and snodgrass is injured I think there's three teams worse than us but we need to look near mid table and we are nowhere near that bruce is the best manager we can have; I have faith in him; everybody makes mistakes as a manager
rosie shouldn't play left back but who should? 3 at back and wing backs?; robertson and brady work well together davies will come back aluko started because of his goal but I don't think he's consistently effective enough need jelly and hernandez together otherwise we might as well not have a striker
It's not as bad as some of you are making out. We lacked a cutting edge today but otherwise were comfortable throughout and never looked like losing. Chester and Livermore played well, as did Aluko. My only criticism would be Meyler's sideway passing out on the right and constantly going towards the ball rather than looking to run away from it and extend play from the right.
The difference this season to last is more draws. We've drawn much more than last season (I don't have the exact numbers as I'm on my way home).
Losing close games and in the last few minutes as well isn't a sign that the team is outclassed in those games so you obviously have to look beyond the players.
the big irritation for me is how many balls we play backwards west brom hit the ball forward a lot more than us and seemed to switch from defence to attack in a second we were attacking on the right early on and then more on the left later when the subs came on but we hardly do anything down the middle when we had jelly and long up front we were a threat in all positions because of long's speed now we have to do more to bring the best out of hernandez
that startin XI is what deserved to start to be fair , but it clearly was all wrong before HT , Brucie should have seen this , he has sacrificed our only hope hope playing a different way by shooting Ben Albert , we need to be able to adapt better
