So you're telling me that a spine of Harper, Bruce, Meyler and Quinn, the players that replaced the ones you mentioned, were good enough to keep us up? No chance. They try hard and put effort in, but that is not enough and it certainly isn't enough to be considered good enough for the Premier League. The players we bought in the Summer (for the most part) were PL quality but for one reason or another they weren't in side and therefore we relied on the likes of Meyler, Bruce and Quinn to plug the gaps and it cost us a place in the top flight. If we were going to persist with those kinds of players then we should've played a formation that suited them. Other teams had our card marked from the start of the season. We became synonymous with 3-5-2 and it was too easy to exploit; get in behind the wing backs, draw the centre halves out of position, cross it and score. You play the same formation every week, you're going to get worked out.
You're completely ignoring the injuries and players like Huddlestone not performing, not surprising really when I remember your comments leading up to the Burnley match saying Huddlestone was going to pass them off the park, what happened there?
But it's up to SB to pick players up and motivate them, if he can't then he isn't doing his job properly.
No Im telling you they didnt replace them. Hudd carried on playing when he shouldnt have been in the team since Xmas. Mcgregor should have been dropped way sooner, ****ing awful errors. As should Livermore. Bruce called them big time Charlies after the loss away to Burnley but then dropped Macca instead of Davies Hudd and Livermore.
I'm not ignoring injuries, of course they played a part, but you have to live with injuries as a club. The cover that we had to compensate for those injuries wasn't good enough. And I fully expected Huddlestone to outclass Burnley, because he's capable of being that kind of player. He, along with the rest of the side that day, decided that they were going to win simply by turning up and it cost him/them.
I was behind Bruce and Phelan at the Burnley game, there was nothing more they could do with a bunch of prima donnas who downed tools, ****ing Jose Mourinho would have given up with them
and if we had lost two more we'd have been bottom - I don't know how you can blame Davies because Bruce didn't play him most of the time - however I agree it was Brucie's fault as he is responsible for buying the players, picking the team, deciding the tactics and motivating the team - on every single level he messed up
I think you talk a good game but overlook the obvious, the players let everybody down. You could have had Jose Mourinho/Brownie/whoever as the manager and not got Huddlestone and Livermore doing what they were supposed to do
The damage wasn't done at Burnley, it was throughout the season. We had no incomings in January to compensate for the injuries/poor performances, why wasn't Bruce 'asking the question' as he says? Why did we persist with the same formation and tactics when it clearly wasn't working? Who was responsible for picking the players up when they're down, or keeping their feet on the ground after a win? As good were the times that he brought us, face it, Bruce blew it big time.
I think it's pathetic how the players are let off the hook, everybody at the matches around me could see what was going on, certain players gave up
too late in the season to do anything - should have changed Brownie in Jan or left him in charge - I think they should have left him because he couldn't have done any worse than Dowie
I agree with you on Huddlestone and Livermore, both have played for England and both cost a pretty penny so there was a lot of expectation so it's no surprised they came under a lot of criticism this season. However, the difference is Jose Mourinho/Brownie/Whoever wouldn't have continued picking them, they'd have changed it round and tried something else. Who's fault is that?
'Asking the question'? Anybody I know who likes football but isn't a City fan could see the likes of Huddlestone and Livermore were gash and there was nobody to bring in for them, also how the **** would anybody know in January about Diames injury for example?
Bruce made a lot of errors but the terrible form of Huddlestone, Livermore, McGregor and Davis had to have an impact on the team, 4 of our best players last season playing ****e. We seem to be emulating West Brom, I hope so, a yo yo team three times relegated four times promoted that will do for me
As in, "can I have some money to strengthen, we aren't scoring enough goals and I ****ed up with Ben Arfa, we need to change something or we're going to be relegated". No, you couldn't have forseen Diame's injury, but the signs were there long before that happened.
Ye cos a Mourinho has world class back ups. Clubs like ours are reliant on their big players having a level of consistency. If Cambiasso had downed tools for Leicester they wouldnt have anyone of his quality as back up to step in,they'd have been ****ed and relegated.
Meyler, Quinn, Ramirez (pre injury)...or, here's a novel idea, play a formation that doesn't require 3 CM's. But again, he did. And that's his fault. Nobody made him choose those tactics, he just persisted with it in the vein hope it'd come good.
