Bruno wants eleven captains at Blackburn Rovers today to halt Albion’s slide.
The stand-in skipper has called for collective responsibility in the clash at Ewood Park to re-ignite the promotion challenge.
Gordon Greer has been sidelined again after sustaining a minor injury at Rotherham on Tuesday on his return from hamstring trouble.
Greer is expected to be fit for Huddersfield’s visit next Saturday but Bruno will wear the armband once more in Lancashire in his absence.
The former Valencia right-back told The Argus: “Captaincy and leadership is a lot different in Spain than it is here. In Spain the captain isn’t so important.
“Everyone needs to take responsibilities. I’ll be there to help, not just during games but at training too, but everyone needs to feel important in the team.
“When we are not scoring goals we can’t just blame the strikers and when we are conceding we cannot just blame the defenders. We’re a team.”
Bruno was an uncharacteristic culprit in the 2-0 defeat at Rotherham. The technically gifted veteran, looking to find team-mate Andrew Crofts so Albion could build from the back, misdirected a header inside his own box which allowed Matt Derbyshire to seal the Seagulls’ fate.
Bruno shows concern for injured Gordon Greer
“I tried to look outside the box to see some yellow shirts but there weren’t any,” he said. “I saw Crofty next to me, I tried to play it back in his direction and I made a mistake.
“If we were 1-0*up maybe I would just clear the ball as far as possible but in that game we needed the ball and I tried to keep possession.”
Blatant errors of the kind which marred the 150th League start of Bruno’s career for Albion and Valencia have been rare during his three-and-a-half seasons in English football. The 35-year-old is the only outfield player to have started every Championship match in the current campaign, which is testimony to his fitness levels and hard graft at the training complex in Lancing.
“I try to work a lot in the gym, especially strength work mainly on my legs,” he said. “It’s now a lot easier with these facilities, open 24-7 with good staff. When you’re getting older you have to work harder to look after yourself and you just need to enjoy what you’re doing.”
There has not been much for Bruno and his team-mates to enjoy during Albion’s drop from setting the pace with a 21-match unbeaten run to sixth in the table.
The Rotherham defeat was the fourth in succession in all competitions and stretched the winless sequence to eight games.
Bruno admitted: “It’s surprising because we have a lot of the same players. It’s not about excuses, it’s about actions we now take.
“It’s not just a surprise for us, it’s a surprise for the fans as well. This league is about small details and we have to change them and push hard so we can win as soon as possible.
"It’s not about how many games we were unbeaten and now not having won in several games. It’s time for the experienced players to step in and help.”
“It’s so important to score first because the match can be crazy,” Bruno said. “It’s about the small details.
“They have a new manager and they have quality players. It’s going to be a tough game and different than Rotherham, because the pitch is bigger. It will still be intense.
“The team is motivated, because the objective is so clear. After the Rotherham game we were a little bit down. Maybe our performance wasn’t the best but if you analyse it we haven’t deserved to lose all the (recent) games. When you get unlucky like we have been then you can’t be down about it all the time. We need to keep pushing hard
Original article
The stand-in skipper has called for collective responsibility in the clash at Ewood Park to re-ignite the promotion challenge.
Gordon Greer has been sidelined again after sustaining a minor injury at Rotherham on Tuesday on his return from hamstring trouble.
Greer is expected to be fit for Huddersfield’s visit next Saturday but Bruno will wear the armband once more in Lancashire in his absence.
The former Valencia right-back told The Argus: “Captaincy and leadership is a lot different in Spain than it is here. In Spain the captain isn’t so important.
“Everyone needs to take responsibilities. I’ll be there to help, not just during games but at training too, but everyone needs to feel important in the team.
“When we are not scoring goals we can’t just blame the strikers and when we are conceding we cannot just blame the defenders. We’re a team.”
Bruno was an uncharacteristic culprit in the 2-0 defeat at Rotherham. The technically gifted veteran, looking to find team-mate Andrew Crofts so Albion could build from the back, misdirected a header inside his own box which allowed Matt Derbyshire to seal the Seagulls’ fate.
Bruno shows concern for injured Gordon Greer
“I tried to look outside the box to see some yellow shirts but there weren’t any,” he said. “I saw Crofty next to me, I tried to play it back in his direction and I made a mistake.
“If we were 1-0*up maybe I would just clear the ball as far as possible but in that game we needed the ball and I tried to keep possession.”
Blatant errors of the kind which marred the 150th League start of Bruno’s career for Albion and Valencia have been rare during his three-and-a-half seasons in English football. The 35-year-old is the only outfield player to have started every Championship match in the current campaign, which is testimony to his fitness levels and hard graft at the training complex in Lancing.
“I try to work a lot in the gym, especially strength work mainly on my legs,” he said. “It’s now a lot easier with these facilities, open 24-7 with good staff. When you’re getting older you have to work harder to look after yourself and you just need to enjoy what you’re doing.”
There has not been much for Bruno and his team-mates to enjoy during Albion’s drop from setting the pace with a 21-match unbeaten run to sixth in the table.
The Rotherham defeat was the fourth in succession in all competitions and stretched the winless sequence to eight games.
Bruno admitted: “It’s surprising because we have a lot of the same players. It’s not about excuses, it’s about actions we now take.
“It’s not just a surprise for us, it’s a surprise for the fans as well. This league is about small details and we have to change them and push hard so we can win as soon as possible.
"It’s not about how many games we were unbeaten and now not having won in several games. It’s time for the experienced players to step in and help.”
- Bruno calls for 11 'captains' as Albion chase a win
- Towell pushing league action
- Hughton demands a reaction from Albion
- Yates says Reds are over-achieving
- Barnard aims to take chance at Reds
“It’s so important to score first because the match can be crazy,” Bruno said. “It’s about the small details.
“They have a new manager and they have quality players. It’s going to be a tough game and different than Rotherham, because the pitch is bigger. It will still be intense.
“The team is motivated, because the objective is so clear. After the Rotherham game we were a little bit down. Maybe our performance wasn’t the best but if you analyse it we haven’t deserved to lose all the (recent) games. When you get unlucky like we have been then you can’t be down about it all the time. We need to keep pushing hard
Original article