We've all had a moan about Burnley but what's the answer? Who should come in to improve things, if anyone? Bruce says it won't happen again. But thinking about it he hardly ever makes several changes does he? Is he gonna break that habit for the Tottenham game? I don't even know what I think the answer is, but I wouldn't mind seeing people like Rosenior and/or Meyler come in. It'll irritate me a bit if, after all his apparent anger at the players, he doesn't shake things up a bit. We can talk about formations and whatever but there seems to be a constant to me, that even when we play well and win, we're seriously short of creativity. All our goals seem to come from crosses but we never get behind teams. The wingers don't and Hernandez doesn't. It was the same last year. Last year we didn't have talented wingers and attacking midfielders but we've supposedly got loads of 'em now, so what's the reason for it and how do you fix it? Extra training and laying into them is one thing, but we seriously lacked basic skill and creativity at Burnley, it wasn't just effort. All those misplaced passes in our own half can't be down to complacency surely? I really don't know what I'd do.
IMO the system 352 does not suit our attacking options, but makes us more defensive minded. When we were playing 442 Elmo gets forward more, because he has Rossy behind him. Robertson needs to be back in, and Davies may well be out with his back problem, but frankly he has been average this season so far. I would play the following. McGregor Rossy Chezzy Dawson Robertson Elmo Hudd/Quinn Diame Livermore/Meyler Hernandex Jelly.
Rossy, Meyler, and Robertson definitely need to be back in to give us more energy and movement which was sadly lacking against Burnley. Also the return of McGregor, Dawson, and Jelavic (assuming they are fit) will definitely make us stronger. Hudd needs to be rested which might light a fire under him as he's been well below his best recently. Most important we need to start playing higher up the pitch and get the CMFers like Meyler and Diame into the box more with Elmo and Brady in support. Lets start playing more aggressively...we have the players to score goals. At least we'll learn what Hernandez is capable of with more support. McGregor Rossy Chester Dawson Robertson Elmo Meyler Diame Brady Jelavic Hernandez Jakupovic McShane BenArfa Livermore Huddlestone Quinn Aluko
Something that bugged me about the post match interview with Bruce, he mentioned that he's been telling the players all week that they have to match burnleys desire, effort & passion... but then he hardly made any changes to the team which has been lacking those 3 things for most of the season. surely the burnley game was the perfect game to play quinn, meyler, robertson, rosie etc.. quinn and meyler are hardly world beaters, but they give their all every game and would certainly give ****ing dean marney a game in midfield. I think bruce is short of ideas and/or is scared of shaking things up and dropping some of the big names who are under performing. The solution? ... Only Bruce can change it, and we have to be realistic that if we keep up this current form, with the games we have ahead of us, we could be in the bottom 3 by xmas.. and then the allams have a lot to think about.. giving how controversial the allams are, i dont think they'd think twice about sacking bruce if they thought they could bring in someone better who would keep us up.
Kinell. We don't need to bring anyone in. Not anyone new. We have a perfectly capable squad. Sure, Snoddy fit would help, we've missed Jela and Dawson, and possibly Greegs but enough with the teeth gnashing and wailing ffs. You think Spurs will be looking to sack their manager or change their entire team? Arsenal? Man C got ONE point at QPR and their manager praised his team. So we lost. It happens. Burnley have REEALLY had some ****ty luck so far this season, Saturday they had some good. We were ****. It's easy to blame Bruce, but ultimately it was the players who didnt perform. This break is perfect timing for us, I would hope at the end of it, we'll have Jelly back alongside Greegsy and Dawson. We need that backbone back in the side, and a sharp pointy end that can score. Some of you are starting to sound like Geordies. Pardews got the same players, they've just started playing like they can. So, the solution is for the players to start making a frigging effort.
back to 4.4.2, drop Huddlestone and Livermore. Play quicker, stop time wasting. Play with passion and heart and try and score goals.
Chelsea aside (and even they dont have a swagger) , this league is as tight as anything i can ever remember OK Burnley are a team we should be targeting for 3pts , But for Burnley we are exactly the team they are targeting also . Losing Jelly has totally disrupted our flow , something we accepted in the previous 3 games ,
I agree, Rosie, Meyler and Robertson need to come back in. Meyler although not the greatest player has that little bit of grit, usually gets a couple of interceptions which put us on the break and he's quite good at getting in the box. Greggs Rosie - Chesters - Dawson/Davies (whoever is fit enough) - Brady Elmo - Meyler - Huddlestone - Diame - Robertson Jelavic (if fit)
I don't disagree a shake up is needed - maybe some of the bench players need an chance to re-take the starting position? We have a couple of great loan singings in Ben Arfur and Ramirez - they just need to be played! Rossie is class and never lets the side down. Meyler's determintation and drive is certainly missing for me. IMHO - we wouldnt have targetted to get a point a piece at Emirates and Anfield, but would have targetted 3 at Turf Moor - so that makes us a point down. The problem is losing 5-6 points with silly mistakes earlier in the season. Jelly & Daws being injured hasn't helped, but they will be back and I'm onfident they will lift the team with their work rate and quality. All we need is 3 teams to be worse than us (points wise) come end of May. We have bags of quality and the motivation will come back!
I don't there's much chance that Bruce will make wholesale changes for the Spurs game, he'll just be hoping he's got Jelavic, Dawson and McGregor available again. Starting Aluko against a team who were always going to battle for everything was a terrible decision, the players can take the blame for not putting enough effort in, but the team selection is down to Brucey and he dropped a right clanger.
I think SB's decision to start Aluko was influenced by his 15-20 mins he played at Anfield when he came on. He looked quick and caused Liverpool's defence a few problems. It's gonna be a long 2 weeks before the players get a chance to put it right.
I've finally caught up on the posts after a busy Remembrance weekend and I have to admit to not wishing to remember this game. The OP asks what is the solution, but I really think it would be better to understand the problem(s). Attitude issues are the responsibility of everyone, players and coaching staff, and there is a clear attitude issue within the club. I do not believe for one minute that the majority of the team turned out to be 'Big Time Charlies', I think they are demoralised and the cause of that needs to be removed. I read somewhere a comment by OLM about the team being unbalanced and I totally agree; it is glaringly obvious and, as OLM stated, not too hard to remedy - recall Sagbo. Aluko was started, but exactly what position was he playing? I posted last week that Hernandez is a wasted player unless he has a decent foil to play off - if Aluko wqas intended to be that foil then he had no idea what was needed and that meant we had two wasted players. Steve Bruce bought or kept these players, he should show that he understands their abilities and how he can deploy them to offer a strong defensive unit with the ability to create a goal threat. He isn't doing that; yes, he has injuries to cope with, but he bought a squad of players and I want to see him prove he can halt this slide - a slide that has been there for quite some time. I think the problem is the manager and the coaching staff's inability to create a team from the available squad, the teams we have been seeing, as OLM said, lacks balance and a blind man could see that, so why can't Bruce and Agnew? Bugger the Charlie's, I want to see the Big Time Steves get a grip and do their job, because many of us saw this coming.
Just to be clear. I didn't mean sign anyone. By 'bring anyone in' I was talking about those on the bench.
I didn't see it mentioned on here, but in the first half against Southampton we played a lot of fast, one-touch passing football.The players kept possession well and on several occasions waltzed through their defence only to mis-place the final pass or finish badly. It showed they can do it when they want to, but Bruce needs to encourage that sort of play (even if it means a few bad results initially) and not revert back to the safe defensive block every time the fans start moaning. In short we need to learn how to attack and not just defend.
You are not wrong mate but the trouble is we have had nothing to attack with. Injuries have caused this predicament nothing else. There is little or nothing anyone can do until we start getting some of our injured players back into the side. We are going to go through a lean spell for a while I feel but when these guys are back on deck, fully fit and have 'bonded' they will make their presence felt. Have faith.
Look on the bright side. As lack-lustre and ineffectual as we were on Saturday the fact is we still only got beat 1-0 and played 20 mins with only 10 men. If it had been 3 or 4-0 that would have been cause for concern.
