Who's ready to admit | Vital Football

Who's ready to admit

His tactics are shocking and he is a dreadful manager. However, he has done better than expected thanks to a few lucky results.
 
As bad as we are you could probably argue this us the best set of players he's worked with. I agree with you OM very limited manager probably going thru a honeymoon period with a decent set of players - a laPardew finishing 5th. I also believe the honeymoon period will eventually end, but there's no denying he's done a hell of a job. No relationship whatsoever with the owner, came into a club where fans didn't want him, not really any money to spend and the talk of his future/takeover. Then of course the lock down, which seems to have worked in our favour. Especially when he keeps picking joelinton so we're basically playingwith 10 men. That would be my criticism he hasn't gave certain players a chance - lazaro too.
 
I think he has done well with the players at his disposal and far better than Rafa would have. I can't imagine Rafa would have let St Maximum and Almiron off the leash to play so far forward for example. But I don't think he is the right man to take us forward if the takeover goes ahead.
 
An area of improvement over Benitez side (for me) is our short passing.

Whether the stats back it up or not I don't know but the little 'triangles' and 'keep possesion' passes seem to be effective this season

Bruce has done far better than I imagined he would though

And to disagree with OM - I don't believe shocking tactics and lucky results go hand in hand often enough to have us on 42 points at this stage of the season

I haven't watched too many games where our tactics have been shocking however I've watched a load of games where our front men have struggled to score gilt edge chances
 
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Bruce just needs to thank his lucky stars for many things.

One in that he got a job in the first place as only Ashley would have employed him for us.

Two in that his own tactics have been exposed many times over the years as shite but he has taken on a bunch of well drilled professionals and allowed them to continue doing what they already knew as well as using Rafa's tactic sheets.

For me, giving Bruce credit now is akin to someone previously drawing up the plans for building a house, a quality house which is then put together by a builder on the cheap. The house had a leaky roof which the previous 'builder' kept complaining about but now and then it kept the inside dry against the odds by reinforcing the loft area and being cautious. It wasn't pretty to look at but was successful in doing it's job.

Once the original owner of the plans and consequent house build got evicted, the new owner came in on the back of the bailiffs providing a brand new roof but the new owner is now getting all the credit for how the house looks every time he washes the windows.

Rafa laid the foundations for what is there now so if credit is being handed out then he has to be afforded some also although this will all be forgotten either way come the end of the season as there'll either be a takeover or a £50m sale of Saint-Maximin to get people kicking off again.
 
Quelle surprise, McDreary disagreeing with me. I could say the sky was blue and that numpty would find fault. It's mind-numbingly boring, especially when you look at SDU's possession statistics and attempts at goal.

Quite simply, Bruce is a shit manager, always has been and always will be. Luckily for him, Saint Maximin has saved his blushes.
 
I haven't watched too many games where our tactics have been shocking however I've watched a load of games where our front men have struggled to score gilt edge chances

Up until fairly recently we had only been playing 1 up front and you know who that is missing all the chances. Is Bruce really notgoing to give Gayle a chance or is he being forced to play joelinton?
 
Bruce just needs to thank his lucky stars for many things.

One in that he got a job in the first place as only Ashley would have employed him for us.

Two in that his own tactics have been exposed many times over the years as shite but he has taken on a bunch of well drilled professionals and allowed them to continue doing what they already knew as well as using Rafa's tactic sheets.

For me, giving Bruce credit now is akin to someone previously drawing up the plans for building a house, a quality house which is then put together by a builder on the cheap. The house had a leaky roof which the previous 'builder' kept complaining about but now and then it kept the inside dry against the odds by reinforcing the loft area and being cautious. It wasn't pretty to look at but was successful in doing it's job.

Once the original owner of the plans and consequent house build got evicted, the new owner came in on the back of the bailiffs providing a brand new roof but the new owner is now getting all the credit for how the house looks every time he washes the windows.

Rafa laid the foundations for what is there now so if credit is being handed out then he has to be afforded some also although this will all be forgotten either way come the end of the season as there'll either be a takeover or a £50m sale of Saint-Maximin to get people kicking off again.

Benitez had a lot of flaws, a LOT. so let's not pretend this is all about Benitez, maybe if rafa had Bruce's balls then he'd have changed from that mind numbing 5-4-1 a lot sooner. I'm not defending Bruce he's a championship manager at best, I'm just proving a point.
 
I will give him credit where credit is due. Some of the football has been dour and tactics shocking (Man City a prime example) he has rode his luck.

But he appears a decent guy, never moaned and got on with the job.

His man management seams canny and players play for himm

So overall I don’t think he has done a bad job in all fairness
 
Me I think Rafa would have vetoed the signing of St Maximum given his reported "history". He would have found us another gem like Murphy instead who will be a good boy and do as he is told. Go out on loan for example.
 
Me I think Rafa would have vetoed the signing of St Maximum given his reported "history". He would have found us another gem like Murphy instead who will be a good boy and do as he is told. Go out on loan for example.

Speaking of which, where is he playing his football now? Surely he's with a Champions League club or similar, given that he was so good.
 
Quelle surprise, McDreary disagreeing with me. I could say the sky was blue and that numpty would find fault. It's mind-numbingly boring, especially when you look at SDU's possession statistics and attempts at goal.

Quite simply, Bruce is a shit manager, always has been and always will be. Luckily for him, Saint Maximin has saved his blushes.

Good to see you take a simple difference of opinion with your usual playground attitude

and yeah - good players tend to improve teams - its not a new thing
 
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Up until fairly recently we had only been playing 1 up front and you know who that is missing all the chances. Is Bruce really notgoing to give Gayle a chance or is he being forced to play joelinton?


Joelinton is fairly shit infront of goal but his hold up play isn't too bad - I dare say Bruce would have liked to play Carroll more but his fitness has obviously been a problem
 
Up until fairly recently we had only been playing 1 up front and you know who that is missing all the chances. Is Bruce really notgoing to give Gayle a chance or is he being forced to play joelinton?

The bit you miss was he being "forced" to play Joe90, and now with the spectre of a takeover getting closer, he does not, and hence performances improve???
 
Good to see you take a simple difference of opinion with your usual playground attitude

Not at all. It's quite evident from this board that you either disagree with everything I say or like posts by other people if they disagree with me. Now that is childish. As previously mentioned, I could state the sky is blue and you would disagree.
 
Not at all. It's quite evident from this board that you either disagree with everything I say or like posts by other people if they disagree with me. Now that is childish. As previously mentioned, I could state the sky is blue and you would disagree.

no, no the sky is definitely blue

I just tend to disagree with you on most footballing matters - its called life kidda, suck it up
 
He inherited a team whose players had been uncoached in the art of playing attacking football.

His most effective player missed quiet a few matches in the first part of the season.
Imagine Liverpool without van dijk

He has amassed 3 points less than his predecessors total last season with 18 points still up for grabs.

He managed to get us to the quarter final of the FA cup, some say luckily the alternative view is at least he made the effort.

He has shown courage and some coaching ability in changing the system and getting players with limited ability playing while still managing to avoid relegation.

The fact the question "has he done a good job under the circumstances" needs to be asked shows the division Benitez has created by falsely raising expectation under Ashley's tenure.

Arise Sir Bruce,I've actually enjoyed watching Almiron and Saint Max this season.

He can still fuck off if we get taken over though :grinning: