[Slick_Footwork]

Some of your comments surprise me slick, but of course we are all entitled to our opinion and that is what make these forums interesting.  We have been the better team in all three of our games so far, but its scoring that brings home the bacon and that is where we a lacking.

I did think some of your points a touch contradictory,  Such as "Our best player sat on the bench watching that dross for 60 minutes" (which is probably a fitness issue, more than a tactical one).  Then you say "a manager who will not know a good player as long as he's got a hole up his arse... Just buys individuals with no idea of how they will fit into a system."

I am also a little surprised at the criticism of Wallace, I certainly don't see him as just "a crosser of the ball", I suppose it is about your definition of a cross and a pass.  To me a cross is putting the ball in a dangerous area and hoping for the best.  A pass is when a player puts the ball exactly where they intend to for a team mate.  Wallace is putting the ball exactly where he intends to, if the player at the other end does not know what to do with it that is not Wallace's fault.

I didn't intend to be critical of Wallace. I thought he was the best player against Boro and good against Watford.

(After re-reading my post, I don't think it comes across as critical about him)

I did say he's an old fashioned direct winger who likes to put balls into the box early. That is in no way a criticism, it's just an observation on his style of play.

What I am critical of is Bruce.

Because with Wallace's attributes, he needs to play with a target man...

Yet Bruce got shot of Andy Carroll...

Wallace will not get that assists that he got for Millwall if he's aiming at Grant, who simply doesn't have the presence to lead the line on his own. That isn't critical of Wallace, it's critical of Bruce for signing Wallace with no thought of the bigger picture and how to get the best out of him.

Yesterday Bruce should've thrown Bartley on at the death to try and get on the end of Wallace's deliveries. Instead he brought Reach on. That's where I'm critical, the manager's clueless decisions. Bartley is excellent at attacking balls in the air but the manager just doesn't think outside of the box.

As for Yokuslu, maybe you're right and he wasn't fit. We'll see on the next game because he has to start now.

I do disagree that we've been the best team in the 3 games though. I thought Boro completely outplayed us up there and should've been out of sight at half time. Against Watford we did play really well and deserved to win, but actually only ended up getting a point because they missed a penalty after Townsend's dodgy back pass put Sarr clean through. Yesterday we had most of the play but never looked like we were going to score a proper goal IMO. We almost got a route back thanks to a dodgy deflection. I thought Blackburn executed their game plan while we didn't seem to have one. Which seems to be the theme away from home under Bruce.

Considering we haven't got any money, we did well in the summer signing Swift, Wallace and Yokuslu who all look excellent and far better than the dross we signed last summer.

But is Bruce the man to put them into a "system" that gets results? 2 points from 3 games suggests not. But I do hope I'm wrong.