i must admit i was shocked when we took off both our strikers once again and didn't replace either with hernandez. if he needs match fitness, that would have been ideal
I'm sorry to say this as perhaps I did expect a little too much from Hernandez but he is not putting in the proverbial shift. Still has a great chance of showing what he can do but, as another poster put it, he appears to like playing the 'invisible man' rather than playing football. I do hope this bloke is not joining the ranks of Simpson, Altidore, Folan, Vinegar of Hessle Road, Graham, Sagbo and Proschwitz. Geez, surely we are due to make a 'find' up front who can score just a few goals. We didn't play too bad for a spell just before The Hudd got his red so the potential is still there. Dawson injured again. We are due for a good break soon I feel.
Yes, I do realize that he didn't play. I watched the match from go to whoa! Dawson's injury and Hudd being sent off was the end for us. Robertson had some good runs but there was nobody there for his last touch. We are still a few noodles short of a stir fry but we were playing against the top team in the league so I didn't expect anyone to shine.
TigerRoo, he scored 3 in his first 5, and has barely played since then for a range of reasons, not sure how you're actually taking pot shots at him already. Agreed, no idea why Bruce didn't bring him on last night. I really hope Jela and Hernandez start our next three.
For once I agree with part of Roo's assessment - for huge chunks of games Hernandez is invisible. I'm certainly not writing him off yet, as we've seen that he's capable of sticking it in the onion bag, but he has work to do on becoming the sort of all-round striker that bottom-half Premier League teams need (and Jelavic is). I feel we should (or can afford to) play him against non-superstar teams, but away against Chelsea? No - I think Brucey made the right call. Above all, a player's price tag should not influence whether he is selected to play. Forget what we paid for him and just assess his game on what we see.
Amazing statement; why would you not expect anyone to shine against a battle-weary Chelsea? Sorry, but that is piss-poor expectation. But it's your expectations over strikers, who simply don't get a run of games in a side set-up to enable them to perform, that really confuses me; neither Sagbo or Ramirez have had the right type of opportunity. What we lack is the confidence that comes with the consistency of a manager making selections that the players can understand the logic of. What was in Huddlestone's head? It was a very poor foul (not a tackle) and it let everyone down - if that had of been Sagbo, these boards would of been full of vitriol towards him. Then, on the other hand, we have a fantastic tackle, a textbook act of football that deserved nothing less than applause for Alex Bruce; unfortunately the referee thought a yellow card more appropriate. Aluko up front might not be everyone's cup of tea, not too sure he's mine, even though I advocated it as a stop-gap, but let's recognise that he he has found bite and a more forward direction. Jelavic, complete with his 'Keith Lemon' bandage, is a top quality team player who we would really suffer without. There's. Only one tonic to get over that - watch the masterclass of Arsenal vs Newcastle.
I'm starting to worry that Jelavic might want out pretty soon if this continues. Must be frustrating playing in this sort of team every week.
I think most will want out before long - he's been pissing off Davies, pissing off ABH and Macca, he's gotta be pissing off Hernandez and Jelly because of the negative tactics - the only members of the team who must be happy are Junior, who has a job for life and Meyler who gets a game no matter how **** he plays
A "Battle Weary" Chelsea, without Fibreglass, are still 10 times the team we are - that's why they are top and we are one place off the bottom. Sagbo and Gaston will not get a 'run' in the team because they simply are not good enough. Aluko is Championship standard at best and will never make it in this league. I like Jelly as he gives 110% effort every game but he is far from prolific. Great for Celtic but didn't score in his last 9 games with Everton. I agree, however, when you say we would suffer without him as he's the best we've got just now.
Aluko has had his best spell in the PL over the last three games, cannot believe the observation that he won't make it in this league. He was brilliant against Chelsea with his footwork buying us time and soaking up pressure, and was quite often looking to get forward quickly. If he was a bit more accurate with his shots he may have bagged a goal yesterday, had a few decent chances.
People have been burned at the stake for less! It's Roo. Why on earth can't you believe it? You know perfectly well how he posts and what views he has.
If thats his best.... **** against WBA and **** yesterday, taken off in both games. What ****ing footwork, what buying us time. When he got clattered it was cos he didnt control the ball well.
What by dropping him for playing poorly?? The rotten bastard fancy doing that. Did him the world of good, best game he's had since the Cup Final yesterday. Pissing Hernandez off. what by letting him fly round the world to see his kid?? Bruce is nursing Abel through his first season here, he needs to up his ****ing game starting at home next week.
What game were you watching? He got clattered because he tapped the ball away to basically draw the tackle.
Ramirez isn't a striker, he's an Am, like ben Arfa. I found it odd that Bruce mentioned the pairing before the game and then didn't actually play them
Hernà ndez's goals per game ratio for us is better than his overall ratio for Palermo, although from obviously less games. However a worrying fact is that during last season in Serie B, presumably Bruce's main reason for signing him, he scored 14 goals from 28 games, whilst in the previous 5 seasons in Series A he scored only 17 goals from 83 games. Statistics are only part of the picture but, even so, I find that a little worrying. Having said that without an attacking midfield option to provide penetration, decent deadball delivery and any wingers, playing as wingers, it's difficult to see how anybody is currently going to be successful upfront for us.
