I think it was Steve bruce who himself said, "You're only as good as your strikers" The match I attended this season at the KC was the 3-0 vs Burnley & I remember saying to my Bro-in-Law, "Good thing we got Hernandez and didn't sign Andre Gray".. well that's backfired..
Fine margins. We lose to a 90th min goal last night. Wolves get last min equaliser at Burnley BHA get 3 points after MK miss last min pen.
To people who really follow the whole of the Championship: have we got the best squad in the division or not?
Yes and no. Defence and midfield yes. Attack no= in quality and quantity, midtable at best. Lopsided squad,
Look at the form table, it tells you how bad we are. 3-5-2 we left it, we shouldn't have, it favours our players and would allow them to regain form and confidence. Let's assume a fit squad for Brittle: Gregg Maguire Dawson Davies Snodgrass Livermore Maloney Meyler Robertson Powell Abel Subs: Jak, Diame, Clucas, Hudds, Bruce, Dave, Elmo
Good question and I understand it looks harsh, but I would hope Meyler is back in sorts with himself. I would want his strength and energy, along with Livermore' s, either side of Maloney, who has the guile and craft - it's a centre midfield of craft and graft. The subs allow us to refresh hard working wingbacks and to drop either Diame or Hudds in for Maloney if needed. I think we need to start playing to strengths. Powell is a gamble, but the alternatives are a liability; Snodgrass is capable of dropping in there. For me this is a team that, even with substitutions, can develop an attacking mind set and rid us of this numbing defensiveness that is our downfall.
Way too many changes in that 352. You would have Dave down the right, I would go with Hudd, Liv and Diame as the middle 3 and have Snodgrass up with Hernandez. But you could swap Snods and Diame. Don't think any of our other strikers are good enough although we haven't seen enough of Powell yet.
Just watched the highlights, we played well, marginally better than Boro. Snodgrass & Elmo had the best chances but neiher was simple. To be honest, we're one of 4 decent teams but we don't score as many as Burnley. Everyone's had a wobble now, it might be play-offs & that means one of the other 3 top teams will be in it too. Bruce has always being a defensively minded, "keep what you've got" coach, that won't change under him
This exactly. But as Bruce says, you're only as good as your strikers. So our defence and midfield is pretty much wasted. Burnley don't have anything like the calibre of players we've got, but they've got two strikers who are miles better than any of ours.
Defence and midfield yes - strikers are the let down - distinctly average apart from Abel and he is totally off the boil at the minute. As others have said, failing to sign Gray is going to prove costly and I don't know why SB keeps going for the cheap European option like Proschwitz (the only ****ing German who can't take a penalty when it counts) and Diomande who - from what little we have seen of him looks out of his depth. We need a battering ram type centre forward to compliment what we've got and why SB can't see that I don't know. Lack of a clinical edge could well have cost us an automatic place and could cost us in the play offs
There are no changes in that 3-5-2, we haven't been playing 3-5-2 so there is nothing to change; unless you think that when you radically change shape and tactic from a 4-4-2 that the same players are automatic picks. Why would I have Dave down the right? I would want Snodgrass to fulfill the position of the RWB, but to behave more like a RW; the energy of Livermore and Maguire is there to compensate - focusing on the talent, rather than the shape is not uncommon. Your midfield does not produce goals, we need goals, there needs to be change. The only way to see enough of Powell is to see him play and, due to the dwindling number of games, we need to see what Giggs has seen sooner rather than later. You want the same-old, same-old, just tweaking the odd player, I want a rethink of how our best players should be played, as we do not have a full-backs arsehole amongst them. I think this team would win every one of our remaining games with plenty of goals involved.
Call me an old bastard like, but if we had Bunter Marwood and Sir Les as our front two, or even better Edwards and Whitehurst we would have absolutely pissed this league
