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Bruce getting the message?

Discussion in 'Newcastle United' started by Albert's Chip Shop, May 11, 2021.

  1. Sheikh_of_Araby

    Sheikh_of_Araby Well-Known Member

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    Steve Bruce was in the movie Legend.

    0e2b5fab5ff020bd66fa5afebbac418e.gif
     
    #161
  2. Griffy

    Griffy Well-Known Member

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    Well the stats would suggest if he ever coached me he'd have a pretty good shot at that
     
    #162
  3. Sheikh_of_Araby

    Sheikh_of_Araby Well-Known Member

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    He'd probably injure himself first.
     
    #163
  4. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    Fixture congestion leads to injuries

    The thing is covid lead to more fixture congestion than ever before.


    :emoticon-0148-yes:
     
    #164
  5. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    <laugh>

    We've finally got down to blaming bruce for injuries
     
    #165
  6. Griffy

    Griffy Well-Known Member

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    No one ever said it was fixture congestion that lead to the injuries, once again you've pulled assumptions from nowhere.

    Bruce is notorious for rushing players back from injury too soon and having poor injury records at every club he's been at.
     
    #166
  7. Geordieginola

    Geordieginola Well-Known Member

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    #167
    LiamO and Sheikh_of_Araby like this.
  8. Geordieginola

    Geordieginola Well-Known Member

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    Shortly after taking charge at Sunderland Steve Bruce was asked if he had considered experimenting with a Christmas Tree formation. "I'm not really into tactics," he replied. At the time that response was easy to interpret as a deliberately flippant or, perhaps, a self-deprecating means of avoiding answering the question. As the seasons passed, though, the suspicion grew that the former Manchester United captain had simply been honest.

    Arguably one of the principal reasons Bruce is no longer in charge at the Stadium of Light concerns his apparent inability to tweak formations or tactics during matches. Whenever a rival manager re-configured his system mid-game, Bruce invariably failed to come up with a countermeasure.

    In recent months Alan Pardew, Mark Hughes, Roy Hodgson and, most recently, Roberto Martínez have all seemingly out-thought him as Sunderland dropped points against supposedly weaker sidesthey really should have beaten.

    If he failed to cut it as a tactician, the 50-year-old did not seem much of a strategist either. Including loans, 30 players were signed – several of whom have subsequently been moved on – during Bruce's two-and-a-half years on Wearside. That represents an unsettling "churn" factor and hardly proved conducive to developing either a clear playing philosophy or strong team spirit.

    Always rather amorphous, if not downright scrappy, Sunderland's high-tempo style lacked creativity, not to mention control, in central midfield. Unable to dictate play, the team frequently failed to press home early advantages.

    In many ways Bruce's decision to make the hot-headed, yellow card-prone Lee Cattermole his captain proved emblematic of a rather gung-ho reign during which players such as David Meyler were rushed back from serious injuries only to suffer further complications, the idea of hiring a sports psychologist was dismissed and the manager boasted about his inability to send an email. While Bruce – who did finally learn how to log on last summer when the club issued him with an iPad – may well argue this lack of computer literacy was hardly relevant, many of his peers spend countless hours checking out the latest sports science innovations, researching transfer targets and analysing Prozone statistics on their increasingly indispensable laptops.

    Unashamedly old school, Bruce believed that motivation was the key to management but the influx of overseas coaches has raised the Premier League's technical bar and despite his relative youth, he has begun to look suspiciously like a man whose era has passed.

    Unlike many modern managers he did not coach the team himself, delegating that job to his assistant, Eric Black. While Bruce's undoubtedly engaging, humour-suffused, personality had a broad appeal, he fell out with quite a few players, most notably Kenwyne Jones, now at Stoke, and Anton Ferdinand, now at QPR and who had by common consensus finally emerged as Sunderland's outstanding defender when he was sold in August.

    Shortly afterwards Sunderland's manager was badly let down by Titus Bramble, who faces a crown court trial on sexual assault charges in January. Other bad buys included Matthew Kilgallon, Christian Riveros, Marcos Angeleri and Paulo Da Silva. Meanwhile Craig Gardner, bought from Birmingham for £6m, has barely figured in the first team.

    There were some good purchases along the way, too, such as Lorik Cana, Asamoah Gyan and, above all, Darren Bent . Unfortunately Bent had become desperate to leave Sunderland six months before his eventual move to Aston Villa in January. Cana headed to Turkey after just a year while Gyan has newly gone to United Arab Emirates on loan. Money evidently played a big part in all these deals, but it does not represent the entire behind-the-scenes story.

    Something was clearly wrong because, as last season's promising beginning subsided into a post-new year collapse, managerial excuses increasingly became a recurring, if self-destructive, theme.

    It certainly did not play well with Sunderland fans when the crowd were blamed for harbouring overly "great expectations" or that Bruce constantly bemoaned the difficulty of attracting players to the north-east. More recently, his loudest lament has been that locals would not accept him purely because he had been born north of the Tyne and grew up supporting Newcastle United.

    Granted, a minority shamefully hurled chants of "You fat Geordie bastard – get out of our club" after Saturday's defeat to Wigan, but the overwhelming majority of supporters did not care about his roots. Moreover their "expectations" were mostly pretty modest.

    Two home wins since New Year's Day have tried Wearsiders' patience but, contrary to Bruce's theories, many would have taken the odd defeat to Newcastle in their stride had there been signs of progress or a discernible playing pattern emerging. Maybe the core problem was that Bruce never accepted that, sometimes, the devil really is in the detail. Soon after Ahmed Elmohamady arrived from Egypt, Sunderland's manager was asked if the winger would be observing Ramadan and if so, how the daylight fasting might affect his game.

    The question was met with a blank look. "Is Elmohamady a Coptic Christian rather than a Muslim then?" the questioner persisted. It was an important distinction and the answer should have tripped off Bruce's tongue, but he clearly did not have a clue.
     
    #168
  9. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    No

    He said Bruce was to blame for injuries

    I asked Bruce is to blame for covid, fixture congestion and injuries.... I asked that because that's the reality of what's caused injuries lol

    I've since tried to explain it to you <laugh>

    If it rains is that Steve's fault too
     
    #169
  10. Griffy

    Griffy Well-Known Member

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    Well I guess he had covid to blame during his time at Sunderland, Birmingham etc too in that case?

    They all had dog **** injury records whole he was at those clubs but no you're right it's all a conspiracy!

    I cant be bothered to bang my head against this brick wall anymore. I like you as a poster on this board but there's literally no point once you've decided evidence doesn't matter and you're right no matter what.
     
    #170

  11. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    Why are you talking about his time elsewhere? Was I?

    He's got the job done... Get over it lads.

    Youre sound mate
     
    #171
  12. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    Bruce actually did well at Sunderland
     
    #172
  13. Ben 10

    Ben 10 Well-Known Member

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    29.6% wins, fantastic achievement
     
    #173
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  14. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    That's good at Sunderland in the prem.

    He kept them up a few times and what happened after?
     
    #174
  15. Ben 10

    Ben 10 Well-Known Member

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    They carried on staying up for about 5 year
     
    #175
  16. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    So they got relegated.
     
    #176
  17. Ben 10

    Ben 10 Well-Known Member

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    Yeah about 5 year later. Not sure what that has to do with it
     
    #177
  18. Dr Nickilas Van Helsing

    Dr Nickilas Van Helsing Well-Known Member

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    If it wasn't for Bruce bringing in Jones we'd probably have been relegated and you've got Steve Bruce to thank for that. It was good management..

    Without Bruce keeping our club in the premier league for 2 full seasons the takeover would be off.

    Why can't you just be respectful and say well done.
     
    #178
  19. Sheikh_of_Araby

    Sheikh_of_Araby Well-Known Member

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    He did from the point of view of NUFC fans. He started the rot.
     
    #179
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  20. Sheikh_of_Araby

    Sheikh_of_Araby Well-Known Member

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    It wasn't Bruce who did. Steve Nickdon made the decision.
     
    #180

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