St1pe

I think it’s a bit of an odd one this. I thought Bruce handled himself quite well but I also think he’s a shit manager and shouldn’t be in charge of us. I also like how Hope has been pulling him up for a lot of things lately but he also did a fair bit of shit stirring in that article claiming clubs are monitoring the situation which is obviously bollocks. I’m surprised how many people are taking Bruce’s side on twitter etc though.

Would be pleased with a point but expecting zero. I hope he keeps the 4 forward players the same but I’m guessing he’ll swap one out for Richie.

He seems to be getting a lot of grief from his performances, especially after last night. I quite like him though, he looks promising. He’s made a lot of errors and clearly isn’t match fit or back to the speed of the English game yet but positionally he looks good and he wants to keep the ball moving rather than it getting bogged down. More to the point I don’t think he’s as shit as people are making out and he might turn out to be a decent signing.

He looks an absolute natural in the no10 position too.

Back 4 won't work long term unless you upgrade the fullbacks and center midfield - 4 new players IMO. Aye, centre midfielders put unneccesary pressure on the defence too often. You need a Cabaye-Tiote-esque duo and we currently have nobody near their level. Would love a cm with the guile and class of Cabaye again

Thought it was decent until around 60minutes or so then it just went to shit. Longstaff’s range of passing looked back to what it was.

Good cup game! We made it hard for ourselves but should have scored a couple of goals on the break. There’s a bit of a worry with this formation that once you get past the 3 behind the striker we’re wide open and we’ll get pissed on in the Premier league. I’d like to see the same team v Southampton with Hayden and Shelvey. Or Hayden and Longstaff. West Brom are decent though. Billic has got them playing some decent stuff and their squad seems decent. I think they’ll come up. Sick of seeing teams look better organised/coached than us mind ?

Fuck sake

Krovinovic (sp?) is absolutely class

Always seems to happen when we sit back.

Really not keen on taking Miggy off for another centre mid. Now they’ve scored it’s just to be wave after wave

Wish we’d just patiently keep the ball. Absolutely no need for giving them momentum

The Darlow song is better than him as a keeper

Would like to enjoy this game so can we please not sit back, lose the ball often, concede and then have a meltdown please.

Miggy looks great as a 10

Goal on here before the iPlayer ? Great by ASM

IPlayer is killing me here

Schar has been Bruced

Great by Joelinton but that looks like he’s going to need subbing off

Weird watching the first 10 minutes and thinking we’ve looked quite bright then come on here to see most people whinging ?

If we can’t play decent football with some attacking intent with that team/formation against their second team it’s never happening is it ?

Think it’s a flat out mistake playing Manquillo given he’s just got back from injury and he’s our best right back (weird saying that). I quite like the look of that lineup though. Seeing Lazaro in a more natural role could be interesting.

Pellegrini’s Man City also played a narrow 442 and did well. Still.. shit formation.

Think I’m going to stay out of the match thread today because this game has got spoiling my Saturday afternoon written all over it.

I can’t think of a single successful team that has played 442 since arguably Ferguson’s Man United. It’s been a dead formation for years unless you like/want Allardyce football ... I stand corrected!