Steve Brute

[Guest]

If certain players were Pardewed, could the likes of Almiron & Joelinton have been Brucified?

 

SB: “Brucifixion?”

MA: “Yes”

SB: “Good. Out of the tunnel, line up on the right, one cross a game. Next. Brucifixion?”

J: “Ah no, inside forward.”

SB: “what?”

J: “Ur, inside forward for me. They said I could cut in from the wing, so I could roam free and cause them problems.”

SB: “Oh well that’s jolly good. Out you go then.”

J: “Naaa, I’m only pulling your leg. It’s Brucifixion really”.

 

 

 

[Robster]

Bruce deserves credit for the season so far, find it remarkable people are saying it's all down to Benitez though, have a worse team than last season as lost Rondon and Perez and would be even higher now if them two were still here playing up front with Maxi, dont expect it to last but Bruce is certainly making a fool out of a lot of people so far( me included).

[Mattoon]

Bruce deserves credit for the season so far, find it remarkable people are saying it's all down to Benitez though, have a worse team than last season as lost Rondon and Perez and would be even higher now if them two were still here playing up front with Maxi, dont expect it to last but Bruce is certainly making a fool out of a lot of people so far( me included).

 

 

[AyeDubbleYoo]

I don't think Bruce is necessarily a terrible manager, it doesn't really matter either way. And obviously some players will prefer a manager that expects less from them (Shelvey?). He's just a massive symbol of the fact the club don't want to achieve anything.

 

He might well do his job, which is to scrape together 35-40 points and stay up. But so what?

[Guest]

He’s in the Hughes, Pardew, Pulis ilk. If he’s got a few good players he might get the odd top 10 finish but not good enough to sustain that.

[samptime29]

We don't create enough and I have no confidence he can develop that. Long term he won't improve the team.

 

As said previously the squad looks up for the fight. Thought his subs were okay yesterday. Southampton, Burnley, Palace, Man U, Everton next 5. Say 6-7 points there and in a healthy position.

 

 

 

[tgarve]

Only thing I’m confused about

If we were losing game after game it would be Bruce’s fault

We are winning- it’s Benitez and isn’t bruce

Surely them 2 things arnt exclusive?

[Raconteur]

Bruce deserves credit for the season so far, find it remarkable people are saying it's all down to Benitez though, have a worse team than last season as lost Rondon and Perez and would be even higher now if them two were still here playing up front with Maxi, dont expect it to last but Bruce is certainly making a fool out of a lot of people so far( me included).

 

the wum is strong with this one

 

The hint is in the username which, in an understated manner, describes Ashley’s playing with our hearts...

 

 

[La Parka]

Only thing I’m confused about

If we were losing game after game it would be Bruce’s fault

We are winning- it’s Benitez and isn’t bruce

Surely them 2 things arnt exclusive?

 

It is fucking annoying to be fair. I know Rafa was good, but let it go.

[STM]

I think I've said from the start that I dont dislike Bruce, the person. Hes taken a job he cant refuse and seems a pretty decent bloke.

 

He's just not a very good manager and more importantly, hes worse than Rafa. That's the issue here, hes worse than Rafa and its typical of this club to downgrade is quality/ambition/expectations.

 

I will give Bruce credit for a couple of things. His team selections have been decent and he's a decent motivator.

 

The tactics are entirely Rafa's. We are set up in exactly the same way and getting similar results. When he tried to fiddle with it, he proved to be incapable.

[Ikon]

Except that under Rafa we were decent on the ball and in possession when we decided to move forward.

[Guest]

Only thing I’m confused about

If we were losing game after game it would be Bruce’s fault

We are winning- it’s Benitez and isn’t bruce

Surely them 2 things arnt exclusive?

 

It is fucking annoying to be fair. I know Rafa was good, but let it go.

 

No. You let it go.

[AyeDubbleYoo]

As long as you admit your ambition is to just stay up every year, you’re perfectly entitled to be happy with Bruce. That’s logical.

[triggs]

As long as you admit your ambition is to just stay up every year, you’re perfectly entitled to be happy with Bruce. That’s logical.

Even under Rafa, as long as Mike was here that was the ambition

[Andy]

Except that under Rafa we were decent on the ball and in possession when we decided to move forward.

 

That's true for the end of last season when the front three clicked, but not before that. We played some awful football before Christmas last season too - not quite as bad as we were in the first half on Thursday, but not far off. The difference with Rafa, to me, was that you always had some faith that it finally would click even if it ultimately took until the very end of his reign for it to happen. I don't really have any faith in Bruce making us gel like that.

[sh74]

Mike Ashley will be laughing his little acorn cock off because the broosters taking the spotlight away from him when he’s the root of the problem.

[Collage]

As long as you admit your ambition is to just stay up every year, you’re perfectly entitled to be happy with Bruce. That’s logical.

Even under Rafa, as long as Mike was here that was the ambition

 

It wasn’t Rafa’s ambition though. He wasn’t tagging along, as opposed to your Bruces and your Pardews. Rafa had a long-term vision of progress, and a plan to get there. Big difference.

[Kanji]

spot on ManDoon

[samptime29]

Not heard any "pity me" interviews recently which is better. They were annoying.

 

 

[Tsunami]

What exactly is it, other than taking the job (which he was always going to do) and not being Rafa, that Bruce has done wrong? I’ve never rated him and he’s a Geordie only when it suits but he’s doing better than expected.

 

He’s tried 4 at the back and reverted back after 1 game, he’s been tactically shown up a couple of times but he’s also got every player putting their all in, they’re disciplined and organised. It can quickly go to shit once a manager leaves but that hasn’t happened, we’re currently operating with a different and weaker back 5 to last year and we’ve lost Perez and Rondon.

 

From the outside looking in you can understand the praise he’s getting and frankly some of the criticism he gets on here is simply not warranted. Having a cabbage face, looking like a tramp and using Rafa’s tactics are not valid, the squad was assembled for the tactics being used and if we still had Rondon we’d be a good few points ahead of where we are.

 

It will turn to shit, either the players will lose the drills put into them by Rafa or Bruce (the club) will buy the wrong players or probably a combination of both but for now Bruce is doing fine.

 

This doesn’t mean that a majority of fans are complicit or supportive of Ashley, some will be, others are simply looking at how the team are doing.

 

Ashley is the disease, get him out, we could do the double and most fans would want him out. Attendances are down the atmosphere is non existent so Ashley knows the score. He’ll only ever go on his terms and so far he’s been getting a far too easy a ride.

 

The manager and team should be looked at and commented upon judged on what they are doing on the pitch, the club on the other hand should be judged on the owner and the one constant there is that he’s a twat, always will be and he’ll never let the club be the best version of itself. It frustrates the hell out of me that people say, yes but Bruce is the face of Ashley, no he’s not, he’s a manager trying to do his best and getting pelters for it. Where’s Ashley Out, where’s the protests against the owner for what he’s really doing? He let Rafa go, he’s a proven liar, he’ll not invest in improving infrastructure, he’s selling land and he’s ambition for the team is to avoid relegation.

 

Bruce - yeah he’s the problem.

[KaKa]

Severe double standards when it comes to this man v. Rafa.

 

If Rafa was still in charge, everyone tonight would be lauding his tactics and how he masterminded a win against a form team while having a shit squad etc..

 

Steve Bruce does it.. “oh the keeper had the game of his life”, “just defend and hope for the best”

 

I find him excruciating like I do many of those journeymen managers who seem to specialise in teams that battle relegation year in year out. But let’s face it, he’s doing better than any of us thought. He deserves credit for that.

 

You look at teams like Everton, Arsenal and especially West Ham when we played them, and you see teams who have thrown in the towel for their managers. Players who don’t give a fuck. Don’t want to make any effort while those managers are still there etc.

 

That’s not nufc. Every single player is putting in a shift. Heads haven’t dropped when we’ve lost.

 

We’re now 6 points better off and 3 places higher than we were at this stage last season with a better goal difference of +1

 

All of this without an actual center forward like we had last season with Rondon..

 

Yes, because we'd actually look competent and convincing in getting the result. This is a really silly argument.

 

it's not the result in question, it's the nature of the how the team is performing. It is very clear that how we play is not sustainable. It doesn't look like there is any quality approach out there.

 

We have a group of really good defenders that serve us well when we sit deep and that is the crux of it. They are even scoring the majority of our goals. It's ridiculous.

[Collage]

It’s not the results or performances (even though they’ve been terrible) for me. It’s the big picture, the ambition. SB is a second rate manager. We picked him up from Sheff Wed like we picked up Pardew from League 1. It’s the regression and lack of hope.

[Tiresias]

He's done alright but the attention to detail is gone, Rafa would never fall into the trap of just playing the same team if they played alright previous game, I know that's not a totally unreasonable pool of thought, but for example while our CBs have done very well our possession has been terrible (then making defence look good for having to make more last ditch tackles etc), this would be fixed by at least just one of Schar or Lejeune coming in now they are available as they actually can play out from the back. I suspect this change will only happen under Bruce when we lose a game or two.

 

People have totally forgotten how much of a tune Rafa had got out of us second half of last season, now without Rondon and Perez and them not being adequately replaced was always going to mean we struggled but it's like we've reset and I think we look permanently like a team that will probably finish 14th, which for a lot is probably good enough and pundits think is all we should aim for anyway. We spent £40m on a striker. I still can't get over how many people a) believe that Ashley has invested a lot of money in players rather than spent what we've sold, and b) don't understand that it's also the incompetence of what players we buy etc and not allowing manager input into signings. Honestly with sale of Perez probably inevitable, if we'd rather than buy Joelinton with that pile of money bought rondon, kept Rafa, got ASM and a Perez replacement we'd have built on that season before, be in a much stronger position and not spent any more money than we have, instead Steve Bruce is getting praised to the moon for exceeding rock bottom expectations rather than anything particularly special.

[ToonArmy1892]

You would think we were second in the league the way some people are gannin on.

 

4 points above the relegation zone.

[SteV]

You would think we were second in the league the way some people are gannin on.

 

4 points above the relegation zone.

 

And you would think we were bottom of the league the some people are gannin on.

 

4 points below 5th.

 

That said, I understand and share many of the concerns. You look at it however you want I suppose.