The Bruno Lage Appreciation Thread

[thisisgil]

"credit in the bank".

He was overdrawn by Christmas.

 

[big mean bunny]

It's not a strategy though is it?

It's my expectation on how a game will turn out, it's not me saying it's fine to lose to better teams. By the nature of the beast, teams which are better than us will tend to beat us.

Expecting us to beat better teams defies logic, for me anyway.

What I meant is it isn't as arbitrary as that and people are saying that it's fine given that we played strong teams, as soon as you start saying "as long as we beat those around us" I feel you are in trouble. Teams that win 0 games against the top 6 are usually the ones that get relegated, it's that inability to get an against the predicted trend result that matters.

I am not impressed with Lage as I judge him on results then performances, I am not wowed by "oh we've had loads of shots".

 

[redvictor]

I think first 3 games we caught teams on the hop. Our tactics were different from Nuno's time so they (opponents) had no data on us. After the international break teams would have had time to study us, and Brentford clearly saw what would stop us. I can see what stops us, so any pro team will be able to!
Overload the midfield and play through the lines by Coady. It's not even hard!
Bruno will need to change his tactics per team for the ones we are "supposed" to beat. The top 6 just play their own game, and imo we'll have more chance of getting a result off them than the lower teams.

 

[WsWolf]

I think first 3 games we caught teams on the hop. Our tactics were different from Nuno's time so they (opponents) had no data on us. After the international break teams would have had time to study us, and Brentford clearly saw what would stop us. I can see what stops us, so any pro team will be able to!
Overload the midfield and play through the lines by Coady. It's not even hard!
Bruno will need to change his tactics per team for the ones we are "supposed" to beat. The top 6 just play their own game, and imo we'll have more chance of getting a result off them than the lower teams.

This is why most teams see a slump in the second year in the premier League and we did so well to avoid it. You need to adapt regularly as teams will work out how to stop you.

 

[redvictor]

This is why most teams see a slump in the second year in the premier League and we did so well to avoid it. You need to adapt regularly as teams will work out how to stop you.

Yea. Leeds particularly are really suffering for it this season as Bielsa will not change for love nor money. Hopefully Bruno has some smarts about him.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

I think first 3 games we caught teams on the hop. Our tactics were different from Nuno's time so they (opponents) had no data on us. After the international break teams would have had time to study us, and Brentford clearly saw what would stop us. I can see what stops us, so any pro team will be able to!

Yeah i think that is spot on, the most frustrating thing is that during that period of "the unknown" we failed to get a point!

 

[redvictor]

Yeah i think that is spot on, the most frustrating thing is that during that period of "the unknown" we failed to get a point!

Yea. A few points from that would have been welcome, but alas we couldn't even knock coconuts off a shy with a 10" x 10" ball!

 

[Papper]

There is a defined continuum going back thirty games concerning the playing staff and results (which is not good).

The model is geared to movement of assets and the profits it generates. ( See Jota and Nuno for details)

While we may have enough this season the trend is desperately downwards but the asset will have realised by the time Fosun decide to pull the plug. I give it eighteen months.

 

[WolfMan]

So there's been a decent sample size of games to judge now, what are everyone's thoughts on Bruno?

For me, its been a solid but unspectacular start. He's not been backed in the transfer window but has shown he can adapt his tactics to the players at his disposal. Is it better than if we'd kept Nuno? I think so but maybe not by as much as I was hoping for, but again that's not his fault it's the club's for failing to buy a defender/midfielder.

Raul/Hwang have the hallmarks of a dangerous duo up front, if we can add a few more players behind them then the future is potentially bright if he can implement his attacking style. The fact Neto and Jonny are still to come back and will strengthen us further is also a positive.

Bruno gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me so far.

 

[sycophantia]

The first 3 games were great to watch but ultimately failed so he had to do something so used a more pragmatic approach, think he's trying to find a middle ground atm which might take time, think 6-7 out of 10 is fair

 

[Lupo]

All very well taking the purist approach but must say I feel much better after 3 relatively scruffy wins from 4 than I did after 3 plucky defeats.

Regarding Nuno, love the bloke and all that but I am seeing nothing of him at Spurs which suggests he is through his malaise of 2020-21 and I think we were in for more of the same.

He needs a good break with his family and to take his time looking for a new role, maybe even back in Portugal or Spain, so sad to see the Spurs fans ridiculing him and calling him all the names under the sun.

 

[Tony Towner]

Points wise I think 10 from the games we've played opposition wise would be about par for a mid table not troubling relegation side, so can't really quibble being a point off that. The first 3 games were a significant departure from the recent past style wise, the last 4 less so, but brought better results. I thought he was slow to react yesterday when a combination of fatigue, nerves and Newcastle putting another attacking option on the pitch were getting the better of us - one to watch

As long as he keeps us in that upper, bottom half position then I don't think we can complain given how he was so badly let down in the transfer market. We haven't got the real Bruno experience because he wasn't supported by getting the players in to do it, so I doubt we'll know at least in the first half of the season how successful that is.

 

[sycophantia]

Points wise I think 10 from the games we've played opposition wise would be about par for a mid table not troubling relegation side, so can't really quibble being a point off that. The first 3 games were a significant departure from the recent past style wise, the last 4 less so, but brought better results. I thought he was slow to react yesterday when a combination of fatigue, nerves and Newcastle putting another attacking option on the pitch were getting the better of us - one to watch

As long as he keeps us in that upper, bottom half position then I don't think we can complain given how he was so badly let down in the transfer market. We haven't got the real Bruno experience because he wasn't supported by getting the players in to do it, so I doubt we'll know at least in the first half of the season how successful that is.

Agree with this to a certain amount but with my happy clapper hat on, can see us improving more and finishing a strong top half

 

[redvictor]

So there's been a decent sample size of games to judge now, what are everyone's thoughts on Bruno?

For me, its been a solid but unspectacular start. He's not been backed in the transfer window but has shown he can adapt his tactics to the players at his disposal. Is it better than if we'd kept Nuno? I think so but maybe not by as much as I was hoping for, but again that's not his fault it's the club's for failing to buy a defender/midfielder.

Raul/Hwang have the hallmarks of a dangerous duo up front, if we can add a few more players behind them then the future is potentially bright if he can implement his attacking style. The fact Neto and Jonny are still to come back and will strengthen us further is also a positive.

Bruno gets a 6.5 out of 10 from me so far.

Doing ok with what he has to work with from me. 9 points was about as good as we could hope for after seeing the first 7 fixtures (apart from the Brentford game). Raul getting back to his old self, and Hwang being better than we all hoped has helped.
I like that he has the ability to change per game, but agree he's not so good at getting subs on in a timely manner.
In fairness he's learning as he goes along, so hopefully he can look at the game film and see his mistake!
I definitely think the attacking game will come back against the bigger teams. If you lose to them it was to be expected, so it's worth having a go. Got to win against the ones around you. That is the key, at least till January.
7/10 for me.

 

[Freddeno]

I would give him 9 out of 10 because lack of funds in the transfer window(he wanted what 4-5 players in), very good footballing enterrainment, many long term injuries and still capable of turning our "old" players playing modern football

 

[pavlosmacwolf]

I think we have reverted to Juno style, and that's not down to Bruno. The players, who swear they never look at the table have gone for nuno style safety first, whether Bruno likes it or not, but now we have climbed the table I expect them to get back to Bruno ball.
Yesterdays second half was for me nuno panic mode in spades

 

[Leigh Griffiths' Hairline]

I think we have reverted to Juno style, and that's not down to Bruno. The players, who swear they never look at the table have gone for nuno style safety first, whether Bruno likes it or not, but now we have climbed the table I expect them to get back to Bruno ball.
Yesterdays second half was for me nuno panic mode in spades

There were periods of yesterday where we were really playing some lovely stuff - after we scored. However, as soon as we conceded it knocked our confidence.

I still think we are going to absolutely smash some teams a couple of times this year. If we get a bit of a winning streak going, I can see Bruno reverting back to a more expansive style. Hopefully we start this vs Villa..

 

[prawnking]

With the squad restrictions he has, he's doing OK. Certainly looks closer to finding a half-decent balance between expansive and pragmatic football than Nuno did last season.

3 pts off 7th/8th and ahead of Leicester isn't too bad.

 

[AndyWolves]

Got results from the games you'd expect us to.
Played well in the games where maybe you wouldn't necessarily expect us to get a result.

Brentford seems to be the only blot so far, but Brentford are getting some really good results at the moment.

Iron out the defensive brain farts and continue to be take chances and we'll do ok.

 

[big mean bunny]

Similar to PK for me, I am not as enamoured by him as some, but he isn't the car crash I was expecting, or worse fearing. He isn't an improvement for me though.