St. Maximin

Really expected better from Neville, but as annoying as the ignorant and lazy pundits are, when you look at our midfield and the fact ASM has been missing a while, we should really be in a relegation battle under most managers. I mean Matty Longstaff is deemed a first choice starter currently. So as horrible as the football has been, most managers probably wouldn’t have done better in terms of points. Just chances are they’d have had less luck in the first quarter, while scoring more in the second quarter of the season. So I can see why it looked silly to people calling for Bruce’s head, at least until that disaster against Sheffield United.

Because he doesn't need that couple of mill at all. Its just greed at this point, he will get another job easily (thanks to us), and he's already set for his entire life. He's been more than ahppy to ditch clubs before, Hull for instance because he didn't get what he wanted. This is from that time: Lol He’s made a living off ditching clubs. He never walks away from challenges though, does Steve. Clearly Palace, Birmingham City, Wigan Athletic, Hull City and Sheffield Wednesday were clearly not challenging enough for him. At least he’s accepted his current job has been a challenge.

To me it’s only worth comparing when people make ignorant comments about Rafa being no better. He got plenty of things wrong in my own opinion, but compare not just his management but his vision and fan engagement with Bruce... A few months ago I stuck up for Bruce a bit also ?. Apologies for this. Rafa got the most important things right. What that man could of done to improve the team with some small investment would have been brilliant. Good of you to apologise but ignorance is no excuse. Oh I agree with all that. I love the bloke, but I just wouldn’t want to bring Rafa into the debate over how well (or not) Bruce is doing and I do often also agree with people who criticised him in spite of that. It’s the lazy and ignorant comments about Rafa and/or Bruce that annoy me. Haha personally I was happy to cut him slack for his non-existent tactics as the spirit was good and the players seem to be playing for him. It was only a matter of time for the mess to unfold though...

To me it’s only worth comparing when people make ignorant comments about Rafa being no better. He got plenty of things wrong in my own opinion, but compare not just his management but his vision and fan engagement with Bruce... A few months ago I stuck up for Bruce a bit also ?. Apologies for this.

He shouldn’t be dropped imo. Dubravka was clearly an improvement when he signed, but I don’t remember him ever having as good a three months or so as Darlow has just had. Definitely looks an improved keeper.

I think that's probably fair but what happens if it's a normal Liverpool day for their strikers and 3 of their many chances go in and we lose 0-3? There's absolutely nothing else from that performance except the result to hang onto. There wasn't any attractive interplay to enjoy, because we barely had the ball because the manager hasn't the coaching or philosophy to make that happen. The chances we did create were individualism and set piece based. When the margins are that fine and you've only got heroic defending and goalkeeping keeping you from a heavy defeat, I don't get the positivity for the sake of it. It's a defeat on 9 out of 10 days. I dunno, maybe my glass is half empty I agree on the missed chances, though I think those often happen in good defensive displays against a much stronger team - often a bit of luck is involved and on another day maybe Wilson or Clark would have got on the scoresheet. To me as a team I like how we had some level of organisation at the back and composure on the ball. The heroics were more individual moments particularly from Darlow and Schar, but they were great to see, especially given what a different player Schar looked to before under Bruce. Good to see Matty play well in midfield.

Thought you’d fell out with him. Long covid mate. Still love big Steve.

I think it’s pretty reasonable to think both that Bruce is still terrible and for that result and performance to be pleasing. Sure we rode our luck, but forced a couple of good saves from them also and there were some excellent individual performances. Not going to pretend this was a tactical masterclass from Bruce or anything other than a terrible Liverpool performance, but it wasn’t simply the Bruce luck we’ve seen on plenty of other occasions.

Beat me to it! Some of our fans are off their heads for even thinking of comparing Rafa with this clueless clown never mind posting about it on social media! That was in relation to my comments on his style that I stated above were still a gamble in the Championship imo. We were often very frustrating at home against teams we should have easily beaten, which would have made promotion easier. I wasn’t comparing his style to Bruce myself. If people are saying there’s not much between them, then they’re probably not smart enough to understand or just wilfully ignorant. As I said most people don’t rate Bruce now and that guy on Facebook got destroyed in the comments. Aha - my comment wasn't aimed at you pal - it was at the ones on twitter who seem to think Bruce is a better manager! Ah fair play, I agree it’s crazy people seem to think he’s a better manager! Some people aren’t capable of or are unwilling to assess evidence properly sadly. I don’t think it has to be a comparison tbh. It shouldn’t be hard to see who is better, but both should be judged on their own merit. Shouldn’t need Rafa’s strong organisation to highlight Bruce’s incompetence when the stats speak for themselves!

Beat me to it! Some of our fans are off their heads for even thinking of comparing Rafa with this clueless clown never mind posting about it on social media! That was in relation to my comments on his style that I stated above were still a gamble in the Championship imo. We were often very frustrating at home against teams we should have easily beaten, which would have made promotion easier. I wasn’t comparing his style to Bruce myself. If people are saying there’s not much between them, then they’re probably not smart enough to understand or just wilfully ignorant. As I said most people don’t rate Bruce now and that guy on Facebook got destroyed in the comments.

I think it was a bit of a gamble though as we made hard work of it. I remember losing often at home and not looking certain of automatic promotion for a while, until we finished well and then Brighton choked at the end.

So much to love about Rafa, but so often in the Championship I thought we were underwhelming when he didn’t have lack of investment as an excuse. Interestingly finishing top 10 was remarkable the next season, though I still don’t buy the money comparisons with Bruce. Rafa had some cracking defensive/keeper deals and Rondon on loan. Bruce had spent £40m on Joelinton, but whatever Bruce has done wrong with him (plenty I’d guess), I think we can all agree he’s not a £40m player.

I remember playing cricket against him the summer before he made his debut and he was class. Wish he’d stuck with that now. There’s still a potential player in there - I think the Carrick comparisons weren’t silly in that spell under Rafa. In better teams he’ll also get chances to shoot more as he seems to have an impressive strike from what we’ve seen. Confidence looks shot to bits though sadly.

what the f*** is that I saw that and in fairness the original poster got slated in the comments. There is the odd exception but barely any fans seem to support Bruce now. I still don’t despise the bloke; I’m just ready for us to be taken over and for him to be swiftly shown the door. I know that’s asking for a lot still...

After the way he turned the club round and the success he brought them he deserved more respect than the classless way he was treated in his last year. Pretty much this. Wanting a change ok. Going in and in for years and getting more bitter and aggressive about it in the way that they did wasn’t. I found the lengths many of the fans went to bizarre, though when you feel like you’re continuously stagnating over a few years and the manager is unwilling to budge, I can understand them getting tireless. I think Arteta may well be a fine manager in time, but he looks devoid of ideas currently and four home defeats in a row is pretty concerning. That said his squad is shocking and the likes of Xhaka and Pepe really haven’t helped him out. Also what is Xhaka supposed to be good at? Still trying to work this out.

VAR is a good idea in theory. I can live with the risk of muted celebrations if major errors are overturned because ultimately people want to see good decisions. I think the average team/fans aren’t going to be too distraught that they conceded a goal to a player whose hand was offside. No method completely works, but daylight would be sufficient to determine ‘clear and obvious’ while maintaining the linesman’s influence. Even the 10cm rule should eradicate a lot of these stupidly close calls. Just personally glad I play hockey and don’t have to deal with any kind of offside rule...

It says a lot when he’s not even the best player on the pitch called Jeff.

Not to worry, Darren Farley is genuinely a far more insightful pundit than these fools

¨ Doesn't this apply to every England manager since SBR? Now you’ve said it... yes ?

I think Sancho and Sterling, while still great players, are heavily reliant on the quality and style of play of their team. They’re intelligent, but will always have space to run into and team mates to make the right runs off. They don’t have the technical ability of Grealish, who is terrific and England need to build the team around. I still think there’s things to like about Southgate, but with the quality he has available he’s frustrating. We don’t have great centre-backs, so he compensates by playing a third one and removing an attacker, meaning we have a disproportionate amount of attacking quality on the bench. He then chooses to start with Mount, who (while still a fine player) is an underwhelming winger choice. Kane, Grealish and Mount are not a quick front three and I’d like to think he wouldn’t be first choice if/when Sterling, Sancho, Rashford, Ings and Calvert-Lewin are also available. Then you’ve got a midfield four comprising of two full-backs and an uninspiring CM pairing of a CB/DM and a box-to-box midfielder with no goals in 57 caps...

People voted for Brexit and the Tories. They'll believe what they're told. True, but it really doesn’t matter what ignorant people think ultimately. Unfortunately Bruce won’t go soon regardless. I barely even think there’s much point slating fanbases of other teams for their opinions. Chances are they’re better informed on their managers having paid far more attention to their team.

As frustrating as it is seeing his mates defend him in the media, does the general public really care for the people talking? There’s very few pundits who seem to be universally respected and that certainly doesn’t include people like Lawro, Pardew, Sherwood, Pulis etc. On the other hand Sky have shared enough stats that reflect terribly on Bruce - I really doubt the public ignores them and simply forms their opinion based on some idiot pundits.

Bit confused by the end-product criticism. He was out top scorer last season (yes the FA Cup opposition did help) having not scored until December. Technically also got his first assist just before that, but has been involved in so many others before and after that. Pace and work rate aside I don’t think there’s anything amazing to his game, but clearly when he’s played left-wing/attacking-mid he’s been very influential imo even if the stats don’t show it.

not taking the p*ss, but genuinely asking which players are playing for him? even last season it was only really ASM. All of them look to be playing for him in my view. There doesn’t seem to be signs of bad attitudes like there have in the past. I mean if it’s not for him, then they’re at least showing the right attitude that’s helping us keep up the fight. Whether they’re all playing well or used the they should be is a different matter...

It is wrong I mean this is what I don’t get here... insult him constantly with regular references to his weight and appearance, but say one thing in praise of him? Nope, shocking...