The Bruno Lage Appreciation Thread

[North Shropshire Lad]

I had never heard of Bruno before we were linked with him - one of the disadvantages in residing in Oz.

Nothing to do with residing in Oz. I've never been there and I'd never heard of him either.

 

[AndyWolves]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1463081698208501760

 

[Dire Wolf]

And that with being very unfortunate to not get anything from the 1st 3 fixtures, where our performances were almost certainly worth 5/6 points. Where would we be if we had those points? Top 3?

 

[Tony Towner]

If you take the points we should have won, then you have to take off those we shouldn't have. Probably a net 4. Wins against Spurs and Utd, draw at Leicester, defeat at Villa. Not having Leeds, brought that on ourselves. So 5th, same points as West Ham

 

[Dire Wolf]

Fair point, yeah.

 

[sycophantia]

2 moments of brilliance from Sa and Raul got us 3 points at Saints too, from a very pragmatic performance.
It's the way of football, its what helps to make it interesting. I'd say, given our performances overall, we're just about where we deserve to be.

 

[Tom Hark]

That pre-season 5/4 against us getting >44 points doesn't look too shabby now. We just need 1 ppg until the end of the season to hit 45.

 

[Jinky]

Time for Bruno to start getting the credit he deserves. He's got us 6th in the table with zero backing in his first transfer window in charge, a small squad - one that probably underperformed last season - and he's noticed early doors what this squad is/is not capable of (i.e. not playing 4 at the back) and adapted to that, as well as putting his own stamp/style on the way we play. He's been brilliant.

What I will say is, it's good that he keeps saying "points, points, points" every game, because he's probably going to have one eye on those December fixtures at the moment. If we can get full points from the next couple (Norwich & Burnley), we'll be in a good position when those difficult fixtures roll around thick & fast in December.

I don't want to see anyone questioning him on here when we inevitably drop a few places down the table with Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & Man Utd all to come before 3rd January (unless something goes drastically wrong and our performances are abysmal and we're spanked 5-0 in all of those games). The man needs backing.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Watford and Brighton games within that really tough run so still some possibilities for points, and I’m not writing off the others, although they will obviously be difficult games.

 

[Johnny75]

Time for Bruno to start getting the credit he deserves. He's got us 6th in the table with zero backing in his first transfer window in charge, a small squad - one that probably underperformed last season - and he's noticed early doors what this squad is/is not capable of (i.e. not playing 4 at the back) and adapted to that, as well as putting his own stamp/style on the way we play. He's been brilliant.

What I will say is, it's good that he keeps saying "points, points, points" every game, because he's probably going to have one eye on those December fixtures at the moment. If we can get full points from the next couple (Norwich & Burnley), we'll be in a good position when those difficult fixtures roll around thick & fast in December.

I don't want to see anyone questioning him on here when we inevitably drop a few places down the table with Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal & Man Utd all to come before 3rd January (unless something goes drastically wrong and our performances are abysmal and we're spanked 5-0 in all of those games). The man needs backing.

What is it with people telling others how to think?

Bruno should be judged after a good half season and another transfer window imo.

 

[Throbber3]

Brunos appointment was not exactly greeted with wild approval. In many cases quite the opposite. Part of that was down to the fondness for Nuno I believe , I may be wrong. However, Jinky highlights several areas that Lage deserves credit on so far and those posters who have said lets wait and see are being rewarded for their patience. If we get to January 3rd with more wins than losses we have done very very well with the resources at our disposal , but that is only my opinion, others may disagree.

 

[sycophantia]

It's inevitable we will drop points and also have poor performances. I agree people shouldn't go full on anti Bruno but to expect people not to criticise tactics game to game is just unreasonable on a forum...Nuno got plenty of criticism last season when he got it wrong despite his credit in the bank.

 

[WolfMan]

I'm getting a bit sick of the constant comparisons to Nuno's reign tbh - how long before we can just judge Bruno on his merits/shortcoming in isolation

 

[Johnny75]

I'm getting a bit sick of the constant comparisons to Nuno's reign tbh - how long before we can just judge Bruno on his merits/shortcoming in isolation

Whenever you like, we all don't need to be at the same time.

Some folks might want an entire season, others 1 game.

Up to you, just don't expect people to not compare things or think like you do.

 

[Tony Towner]

He's doing well after being let down by Jeff and Co. He's done some good, some bad and some indifferent. We are over achieving in the table versus the squad, but haven't played the best 3 teams, so come Xmas I expect us to be 10-13, which would be decent.

We played very well on Saturday, but he was out coached by Vieira the game before, so there are ups and downs as you'd expect. I'll comment as we go along, be that positive or negative. If that disappoints Jinky then I'm sure we'll both be able to get over it.

 

[Throbber3]

Games we played well and got nothing- Spurs, Man U, Leicester
Games we played poorly and got nothing- Brentford, Palace
Games we deserved to win and played ok to well- Leeds , Everton, West Ham, Watford, Newcastle
Games we rode our luck- Aston Villa
Games we sneaked that could have gone either way- Southampton where we won with the only piece of quality in the game

It makes decent reading . We are winning games now when we look like we deserve to win and are solid enough in other cases to keep us competitive.

After the first three games we have become a tougher proposition to both score against and to stop scoring.

 

[WolfMan]

Whenever you like, we all don't need to be at the same time.

Some folks might want an entire season, others 1 game.

Up to you, just don't expect people to not compare things or think like you do.

That's fair enough I guess - just seems like Nuno is still casting a very long shadow still. I suppose that's inevitable with how much he achieved and how fondly he is still thought of.

 

[Jinky]

What is it with people telling others how to think?

Bruno should be judged after a good half season and another transfer window imo.

Perhaps I explained it badly. People can think how they please, of course. What I'm saying is, there was a lot of people who had reservations about Bruno when he joined and were happy to be noisy about their views at that point. Now Bruno is doing well, we're 6th and there are more positives than negative, that same section of the board/fan-base are either very quiet; or they're almost begrudgingly admitting they might be wrong. It's still early days, but considering the negativity was very easily handed out before he'd even managed a competitive match for us (heightened by the fact he isn't Nuno and people let their emotions get in the way), it's only fair he gets praise when it's due.

Apologies if it sounded like I was trying to tell people how to think. That wasn't my intention.

 

[WsWolf]

Agreed. Way to early to be making assessments. Started well but so often teams do then drift down the table.

 

[Dire Wolf]

I also think it is fair to say that for the 1st 6-7 games we were playing with a Raul who was nowhere close to the Raul we know and love. The last few games there have definitely been signs that he is beginning to return to the kind of influential player that will win some points for us. Certainly the West Ham game he looked to be close to what we have been used to, it was his best performance of his comeback by an absolute mile.

If he can get back to his very best, and we can get Hwang, Trincao, Podence and Adama linking effectively with him we will win more games than we lose IMO.