Recent content by Bruce

It does depend on whether any of our walking wounded are fit enough to start. I would go to 3 at the back. If Bangura is fit enough I would start him. If not, it gets more complicated. Dieng RVDB Clarke Engel Jones Howson Barlaser O'Brien Bangura Azaz Latte Lath No Bangura? Either bring...

Just watched the highlights of the U21s vs Sunderland. About a minute in, we play out from the back using the exact same move we used against Hull when we scored and when we got it wrong. Centre midfielder runs back and lays it off. First two times he didn't have an out ball so it went back to...

I think there is an obligatory buy back if Burnley are relegated. Something Villa will be cursing now. To be fair to Azaz, he looks far better than Fabbrini. It's just I could see us upgrading him if we go into January in the top 4. I remain convinced that Azaz was bought to replace McGree on...

I reckon it depends on whether we're going all out for promotion next season or continuing to build with the aim for hitting the play-offs and seeing what happens from there. If we're going all out for promotion then we need someone of the level of Ramirez or Akpom for the #10 role and I don't...

If Carrick is keeping the same basic formation it feels like both a lot and not very much. Not very much because this season we'll probably end up on around 70 points which is a good return given everything that has happened. A lot because, if our aim is promotion, we need a minimum of 80...

It's the difference between Forss and Jones. In that position, Forss reads the keeper and puts it the other way. With Jones, the keeper reads him and despite a decent attempt, the keeper saves. Jones, of course, gives us things that Forss doesn't. Extra pace and trickery and the ability to work...

Interestingly, ELL's stats this season are very similar to his season in the Swiss super league last season. Makes me think that there's a good chance this is his actual level rather than being a just a good patch. Right now, he's earning the right to be our #1 striker next season. One way to...

Took him about a dozen games to adapt to the Premier league but then he ended up playing in a team where the manager was losing the plot. In some ways he was a Mustoe type: he got on with his job effectively but at that point we needed a Boateng type to boss the team. He was too inexperienced...

The problem seems to be that no one wants the seniors on loan and even when they go on loan, they don't play. Looking at outfield players 20 or over Gibson, injured, loaned-hardly played Sykes, loaned-hardly played Hannah, loaned-hardly played Willis - injured, never loaned Collins, Gitau...

True, in hindsight. I think we only loaned him because we couldn't get a purchase arranged in time and that the intent was to buy him alongside Rogers on the basis that at least 1 of the 2 would come good. Although he's a year older than Rogers, people tend to forget that Rogers had much more...

This season's recruitment Excellent. Dieng, RVDB, Latte Lath, Rogers Good. O'Brien, Ayling OK. Glover, Azaz (I think he will improve significantly though) Poor. Engel, Silvera Terrible. Greenwood, Thomas, Gilbert (based on Carrick's refusal to use him) Unknown. Bangura, J. Jones Total cost...

I think you can see reasons for that which may be changing. Summer 21. Warnock in charge after a poor end to the previous season despite a lot of high cost loans. Monk (& Pulis) boom still on the books. Scott comes in as HoF. Net spend of around £5m. Winter 22. Wilder in charge, going well but...

I think the other question when it comes to strikers is how good is Latte Lath? Last season, on the basis of 20 games for us, Archer was sold for £18m or so. 11 goals and 6 assists in 20 games (17 starts). Since he has come back into the team, Latte Lath has 9 games (8 starts), 5 goals, 0...

I don't think he is. He's another in the category of gets better the longer he's out. 9 starts in The Championship under Carrick including 2 red cards, 1 penalty conceded and twice getting taken off at half time. He did have a spell of 7 starts in a row under Carrick (interrupted by his red card...

That pretty much goes without saying. It's much easier to push yourself beyond your limits when you're winning. Harder when you're losing and there's no obvious way back.* And if you're a team that's collapsing then some of the players will collapse along with it. All you're saying here is that...