I certainly think it was a mistake to sign Bruce, half of his dad's post match interview last night was spent justifying that decision and I think we had perfectly good players already, who we're now going to pay to play for another team. I just noticed this on CI, from someone else who was there - 'Bruce pointed to Chester missing a header which was a little harsh as I thought Bruce junior panicked and hoofed it into the Blackburn forward rather than clear it with rather more finesse.'
yeah but what's one little error when you've played 350 championship level games? experience counts for everything..
i thought bruce was having a good game to that point, but it was a poor error ..anywhere would have done for the clearance except down the throat of a blackburn player
I agree with this. Pearson tried to do the same playing Chester out of position and it just bodges the team up. To often if you set up for a draw you end up with nothing, might aswell keep some attacking impetus in the team.
Absolutely appalling error in his own 6 yard box; Kazim missed the ball completely from about 5 yards out, it fell to Bruce who just had to clear it and he knocked it straight back to Kazim for him to poke it in The system worked pretty well overall, they had one decent chance early on and the very scrappy goal but apart from that they didn't come close. We definitely had the better chances but we didn't take them, just like always. Aluko has a brilliant touch and turn but his finishing was so casual last night it was like he thought he'd already scored when he got to the keeper. Koren also wasted a very good chance in the first half and whilst Prossy had probably our best shot of the game, he still didn't win a single header. I feel sorry for him, he's obviously not the big target man we want him to be he just happens to be tall, we're just punting it at him and he wins about 1 in 5 headers, which goes straight to the keeper. Everyone is a lot stronger than us, it seems to me a massive weakness for us this season already. Can anyone confirm wheter it was Bruce or Chester? I wasn't sure at first but I've seen both of them blamed for it on here. While I'm quoting you, I strongly disagree with the suggestion that having Fryatt in the team would be a solution to missing chances, but you already know that. It was definitely the fault of the guy who cleared it last, he knocked it straight to Kazim in our 6 yard box, if that was Bruce then OLM is right. I know we played a defensive looking formation but did we really set up for a draw? I reckon we had more shots than them and certainly the best chances. If that was us playing for a draw then I don't know what they were playing for. I thought Amos looked very comfortable, Chester had a very good game including one amazing tackle on Dunn (as usual), Dudgeon and Rosenior looked good but isolated without wingers in front of them, Bruce made on good tackle but cost us the goal and was ****e on the ball. I found it bizarre that we insisted on playing him on the left of the 3 when he absolutely refuses to use his left foot and not only that but he doesn't have the agility of say Dawson or Cairney (other one-footed players) so he can only kick in one direction, which was usually straight off the pitch on the left side. Evans just isn't very talented, he gets stuck in and runs around but his touch is appalling, at one point last night he controlled a clearance coming out of their box on the right wing with no one around but it took him so far away from his body that he eventually got tackled and they countered and nearly scored. I've seen McKenna get some criticism lately but I think he's miles better than Evans in a similar role. Aluko looks really skillful but a bit casual at times and Proschwitz just isn't a target man I'm afraid. Simpson once again looked our best player for the 5 minutes he was on, he looks sharper than everyone else and shows the urgency in attack that we lack.
It was definitely Bruce, I thought it was live, then it was confirmed on the big screen replay and it's now on Tigers Player for anyone who wants to check. I knew you wouldn't agree about Fryatt, but you're wrong, he's exactly the sort of player we were missing last night. He may take too many touches, but he has the guile we were lacking last night and he is a more natural finisher than anyone else at the club.
Having finally seen the goal, terrible error from Chester. Bruce's was just an unlucky clearance. If it had of been Bruce who missed the header, jesus some of you lot would have had a field day!! If there is a weakness in Chezz's game its in the air. Because of him missing the header the whole defencve was facing its own goal, all Alex Bruce could do was try and turn and hit it.
Thing is, all night he was totally off balance when playing the ball because he's so incredibly one-footed, and we played him on the left side. At one point he almost scored an own goal in the first half whe flashed a clearance back across the face of goal because he simply couldn't use his left foot to knock it on on the near side. It's no coincidence that he then gives a goal away in the second half doing the same thing. I'm not defending Chester because I haven't seen his part in the goal again, but for a centre back to be so limited in his ability to clear the ball unless it's all set up perfectly for him is a huge weakness and loses us possession even when it isn't resulting in a goal. Any other would have just knocked it out behind or somewhere with no danger, Bruce can only kick in one direction, it's ridiculous.
