I forgot about Jaks antics in that match, another black mark on him. He's had a good few years with us without ever proving himself.
You seem to be forgetting why Bruce came up with the 3-5-2 in the first place - purely to make up for Abdoulaye Faye's lack of pace. Now that tactical decision has carried on through vastly different playing staff for two years since.
That's an interesting viewpoint, am racking my brains to think how that worked, they must have had one of the midfielders play so deep as to be practically playing at the back. I hope Bruce has a plan in mind similar when we had Brown and Turner working together at the back, Huddlestone won't be able to cover Dawson if played at CDM or maybe if the 3-5-2 is used Maguire would take that spot with Huddlestone in a different role.
There's absolutely no reason why a slow centre back can't prosper in the system, as long as he's a good player. It's far more about the personnel and how they gel.
"Hull have been playing in a 3-5-2 formation for most of this season, one of very few teams to do so in the second tier. "It's the first time I've played this way since I was at Crystal Palace 10 years ago," says Bruce, who explains the ploy is designed partially to compensate for the lack of pace of the veteran centre-back Abdoulaye Faye, partially to allow Robert Koren to flourish creatively and partially for the pleasure of trying something new." http://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2013/apr/18/hull-steve-bruce-redemption
-------Buttler------ Lyth--Cook--Bell--Root Bairstow--Stokes--Mooeen Ali--Wood ---------Broad---Finn----------
The only new man in the building since I started this thread is Akpom. Does Brucey throw him in right from the start? If so, would he trust Aluko to be disciplined enough to play LW in a 4-4-2?
No way known I would have Aluko starting in front of Akpom. Then again I wouldn't have him starting in front of anyone
Aluko - 8 goals and 4 assists in 19 games in his last stint in the championship. Total ****ing ****e.
Jelavic and Aluko will start upfront, Bruce has been playing them together most of pre-season so I can't imagine him throwing Akpom who has only been with us a few days in straight into the team..
Aluko was brilliant at times in the championship, we would have gone up as champions if he had stayed fit i reckon
It is quite funny how many people have forgotten how good Aluko was in this league. If he had been fit all season, he would got at least 15 goals and we wouldn't have had last day drama, we would've been up before then.
I don't think it's forgetting it. I think he's just got a lot worse as a player since then. Maybe I'm wrong, but I dont think it's as simple as getting relegated and suddenly its easy for him again. There'll still be big scary defenders who might occasionally bump into him, so he's still gonna be terrified of that when under pressure. The way Bruce plays him as a striker doesn't help either, but that doesn't seem like changing any time soon.
At this level Aluko can and should play like his arse is on fire. He did little or nothing before joining Rangers in the Scottish Premier League and then us in the Championship before finding that he was way out of his league in the Premier League. Back in the Championship he should start to enjoy his football again but the big BUT is how he plays. Will he become a team member or just play for Aluko United? We won't know for half a dozen games nor will we know how we are going to perform in this league until we know who we've signed and how they play together.
Be interesting to see who starts up front tomorrow. Akpom and Aluko can't start together imo, there just isn't enough of a threat between them. Jelavic has to start for me, despite looking terrible and uninterested in pre-season. Then there's N'Doye, if he's refusing to budge from his unrealistic wage demands we should use him whilst we're still paying his wages Jelavic and Akpom would be my choice, though I suspect Bruce will go Jelavic and Aluko
we expecting davies to start? im kinda baffled to what the squad will be mcgregor, elmo, huddlestone are probably the only certs i can see! with ndoye be on the bench? jelavic? what about the arsenal loanees dawson, davies? robertson? one thing for sure it'l give us an idea of how bruce plans to play for the season
I genuinely thought n doye had gone yesterday , this transfer window is getting harder to follow by the day ..
