I was thinking earlier no one had put anything about how well AB had done, if it'd been the other way round the forum would have been full of it. So well done AB!!! Now then Elmo he isn't premier league he was crap towards the end of last season aswell, I banged on about it pre season aswell
Elmo doesn't have the guile to beat defenders often enough at this level & also I think he has an issue psychologically with the step up to PL.
I think the bullshit man is correct in calling bullshit in this instance, Sydney. SB's sale of Hobbs was down to the player's own wishes (partly geography-related) and partly down to the fact that another club wanted him, whereas we've no knowledge of anyone coming in for the others. It really wasn't as simple as SB thinking Hobbs would be weaker than the others in the Premier League (which is a reach if you ask me).
As a defender he rarely if ever put a foot wrong. The rest is urban myth believed by the few who follow the consensus set by our 'Super Fans' - The ones that ridicule and sneer players either before they have played a competitive game, or after less than half a dozen games.
So you're saying that Hobbs wanted to leave a premier league club for a championship club that is an hour and a half away partly for geographical reasons? I'm fairly certain SB at the time said he was paid to make tough calls and he made one on Jack Hobbs
We had too many central defenders and Hobbs was the only one we actually had any interest in, he also wanted first team football and lived in the Midlands, it's fairly obvious why he went.
It's not like going to Forest is throwing away EPL ambitions either. Forest have a lot of money and have done well so far. This time next year we may be seeing Jack Hobbs in red at the KC. TWT.
Alex Bruce hasn't been found lacking as often as some think. Last season he pulled some great displays out of the bag. He was clattered and clattered back. Selective memories rule, just like with McShane.
He's great at clattering, it's the rest of his game that's limited. And McShane was probably the worst right back in Premier League history, he's better as a centre back, but he's well behind Chester, Davies or Faye.
McShane had actually improved no end since Bruce came. Actually, he hasn't improved at all, but he's managed to learn to stay calm and cut out those customary 2 or 3 per game calamity errors, which has made him a far better player. I actually think he's a very good centre half now and can relax with him playing there.
He did alright in midfield as well. I remember very well him being lined up to play midfield for the first time against Milwall away, to the confusion of all of us on here, but he did well, we won 1-0 and he carried on playing midfield in the next game but also in a few other games as the season went on. Against Watford he struggled, but so did the rest of the midfield as theirs was far better on the day. Some may recall that Boyd also played midfield that day, he got loads of criticism and everyone said he can't play midfield despite Bruce explicitly stating he was knackered from being with the Scotland squad earlier that week and he didn't even want to pick him, but had to because Meyler was suspended and I think Quinn was injured too. That one game seems to have made everyone's minds up that neither of Bruce nor Boyd can play CM. Bruce was never really bad for us even when playing out of position. His passing is shocking and as a result he isn't a great midfielder overall, but he certainly did a job there for us at one point.
Bruce played in centre midfield because we were lacking a holding midfielder who had a bit of bite. That's why against a physical side like Milwall it worked. He's not a central midfielder as you could tell by his positioning at times but he did alright. He was excellent at centre half for us last season, and he was good against Spurs, not saying he's our new top centre half and he deserves to start every week but if needed, I think he can certainly be trusted to come in at centre half for the odd game.
My criticism of that selection was that Bruce has always been a centre back, he's never once played a midfield holding role (after asking some Leeds, Leicester and Birmingham supporting mates- maybe he did at Ipswich, I don't know). Both Chester and Faye had in the past, and yet they were deployed in the CB role. Chester is quicker and a better passer of the ball, so why wasn't he or Faye played in that role instead? I believe we had Olofinjana too, who might not be as mobile, but he'd have done a job.
Am I correct in thinking McShane was out of contract at the end of last season - if so, Bruce had a clear choice between keeping McShane or Hobbs, regardless of outside interest. I don't think Bruce rated Hobbs anywhere near as much as the football experts on here, if he did Hobbs would have been offered another contract
