Listened to Brucie post match on RH bemoaning the fact that he probably wished he had swopped the side about a bit after suffering defeat in the third of three games in 8 days in the way we did against Leicester in September. A draw would have been a good result if only to stop Cardiff stealing a march on us points wise. Cardiff were the better side and deserved to win as Leicester were a couple a months ago. Now we have this guy Meyler on board and am sure SB will go more defensive in the harder away games to come.
Didnt go, so can't comment on performance. But you're right. Bruce will be thinking, win at home, draw (at least) away. 4 points every 2 games. 30 games left equals 60 points, or 88 total = promotion. Can't help thinking that is what he is telling the players. Instilling into them the need to win. How many of the players recently have said we're aiming for top two, we want promotion, we're good enough etc?
We're not going to get automatic promotion without serious investment in January, and as that won't happen anybody thinking we'll be top two is kidding themselves. We do at times look very much like a play-off side though, but with us playing three at the back these days, and with one of those usually being Alex Bruce, we always look like conceding. You only have to look at the Peterborough and Blackpool home games to see that. Not only did we fail to take the six points we should have done, but we contrived to lose both and also shipped six goals. Abdoulaye Faye is usually pretty solid, but at his age he can't be expected to play 90 minutes every week. An experienced but relatively young (29 or less) centre-half is something we are crying out for. Another forward is desperately needed too. Jay Simpson is NOT the answer to our goal-scoring issues. We can't just look at the squad we have and say, "oh well, we'll have Matty Fryatt back next season so we can push on". As true as that may be, we shouldn't be content with treading water. A failure to capitalise when circumstances are such that a few extra goals could get you to the Premier League can have serious implications in the long run (see Preston North End, Coventry City and Sheffield United for reasons why).
We're not exactly in bad shape for it either. Of our competitors we've played 4 of the top 6 away from home already, and we've only had 2 of the top 12 at the KC.
Good point and it "should" even out over the season. Hobbs will take McShane's position and Faye won't need to play every match as Bruce Jnr will be back too. The striker issue isn't as clear, need to get one in January. Mclean isn't the answer and Bruce must wonder about Prossy now but all his other signings have been top drawer. Elmohamady needs a rest. Do u stick with Amos? difficult one..
Think it is time to drop Amos to the bench, starting to have too many howlers. If nothing else it would give him a wake up call to improve.
I'm not quite sure what he was doing on that first goal, but I also don't understand how Chester was beaten to the ball. Fair enough in the air Helguson is known to be good so I can see him winning the header, but he seemed to out pace Chester to it in the first place which meant it was a free header (if Amos didn't come). Has Amos maybe expected Chester to be getting his body between Helguson and the ball to shepherd him away from the opportunity, then been caught out by it and made a last minute decision that's gone wrong? Second one was all Elmo for what ever reason.
