Sheff Utd v Aston Villa, Sat 1st September @ 3pm

[JW1985]

Ok fair enough but they also drew with Sunderland at home, lost to Forest 2-0 at home, and lost to us 4-1.... all games they would be expected to win.. or at least not get thrashed.

But how did they follow up those bad days? Probably by winning I'd guess. If it was 1 bad game then fine but it's not. 3 draws in a row, 2 of which were against the worst 2 sides in the league and then a terrible cup performance followed by getting battered. It's these little spells of being hopeless that did us last year and it'll do us this year again.

 

[gmvillan]

My confidence in Bruce to turn things around is waning massively. Not because of his knowledge or tactics or any on-field stuff, but because the psychological balance of the team is all wrong. I believe all these players are perfectly capable of performing at the required level. What I'm talking about is the "personality" of the team and the lack of natural leadership. At a time like this I want to see a few of them coming out publicly and stating that they are working to put things right. Our captain should be apologizing to the fans, Adomah should be distancing himself from his brother's comments, and veterans like Jedinak and Whelan should be doing whatever they can to galvanize the team and get the fans on side. I don't see any of that, and I think the team spirit is fractured. I don't think Chester has the personality to be a captain and was the wrong selection for the role by Bruce. Hard worker, yes. Good professional, yes. But not an inspiration. It reminds me of the early 1980's when Allan Evans took over from Sir Dennis.

 

[CDX_EIRE]

Only seen the "highlights", thank McGrath

Goal 1 - Axel asleep loses man , free header
Goal 2 - McGinn brushed aside like Westwood in disguise, good finish mind you
Goal 3 - dear oh dear , Enckleman award goes to....
Goal 4 - poor throwout puts us under the cosh , but beyond bad keystone cops defending .

Goal 5 - nice finish by El Ghazi . Glad he's off the mark

Goal 1 I put to Ghazi too he had no business diving in and giving a needless FK
Goal 2 - where is Glenn Whelan.
Goal 4 - Ghazi tried to let it run and you can see Hutton giving him shit for giving away the ball

Looking at things again the whole side had no shape and we were constantly at 6s and 7s both in midfield and at the back. I think you almost have to give the backline a free pass in that game because we had zero midfield. Time and again our so called midfield anchor Glenn Whelan was nowhere to be seen.

Any team with any sort of mobility will run riot over Glenn Whelan. I don't think Bruce has learned that Thor needs to be playing 90% of the games. I also think the reason why he won't put Tuanzebe beside Chester is we'll lose 50% of the aerial battles but we can't keep Tuanzebe at RB because he offers nothing. Realistically we have zero threat down the right hand side and are ineffectual at times down the left because Hutton has to cut inside on his right. (I should also add this creates a lack of width which was been a hallmark of our teams since Houllier left).

If you sit down and analyse the side that went out against Sheff Wed and for other games this year its no wonder we (A) struggled to score (B) looked ropey at the back and (C) failed to create much of a threat. I still can't believe we've 4 right backs in the squad, 2 of them start and neither of the two play at right back.

Bruce please make changes I literally cannot defend you or justify giving you more than 2 games to turn it around. The deeper you dig the more you'll convince yourself he needs to go.

 

[Tierney]

CDX, from the limited highlights I've seen, my concern in midfield wasn't Whelan but McGinn who looked like he had a horrendous time of it (admittedly for the first time). All the attributes that had endeared him to us were lacking and he just seemed "lost".

 

[JW1985]

Wasn't McGinn one of the 5 who were supposedly injured and hadn't trained all week. Could explain a drop from his usual intensity? Apparently they'd also hauled Kodjia, grealish and Hutton off the treatment table to play as well.

 

[Villan57]

Wasn't McGinn one of the 5 who were supposedly injured and hadn't trained all week. Could explain a drop from his usual intensity? Apparently they'd also hauled Kodjia, grealish and Hutton off the treatment table to play as well.

I think it was a couple of weeks ago that Bruce said he'd learned from his mistakes and would be rotating his squad, I even had a heated debate with holte lower about it, when I said he'd dropped a few and I was assured by Holte that it was part of some great new thinking on Bruce's part, and they hadn't been dropped ie Hourihane and Elphick Albert, Green etc etc. Not only dropped but sent out on loan or would have been
Turns out I was right and Bruces idea of rotating is Whelan for Barny.

 

[McParlandTheGreat]

Whelan's OK when you want thing's played tight. If we're playing on the front foot then he's too easy to pass. Still better than Jedi, who's only advantage is in the air.

The lack of shape was critical. But Bruce doesn't do shape.

 

["Merd"]

I think the analysis of one game and the failings of individuals will cloud the real issue. The truth is that we rarely play as a team and this has to come back to the coaching staff.

Can anyone argue that Pep or Jurgen couldn't deliver more with the players that we have at our disposal. Therefore while the players have individual responsibility, the manager will have a huge effect on them as individuals and the overall team performance.