M_Afro

This is a real test of our new owners and our supporters. The Dr was a fool but I think/hope the new guys are more clued up. Nothing they will have seen will have convinced them that Bruce is the answer. They will definitely fire him at some stage, probably very soon. 

The big test is replacing him with a suitable candidate. We need to be brave and think about the medium term. Any manager must bring a strategy that will lead to a sustainable future. Our job as supporters is to get behind the new man, even if choppy waters await. We must recognise progress even when results may not follow immediately. I always thought Houllier would have done this job for us had it not been for ill health but the fans were not patient enough with him. We must not make that mistake again.

Over to the new owners. Young, progressive manager who will go into every game expecting to win please. No more Bruceasaurus Rex rubbish!

We will probably win. This is a better balanced, more attacking team. It really annoys me that he has to wait until we play the worst team, at home before going for it! We should be going after every team in this league, home and away.

Win, lose or draw this must be his last game. He is a total coward! His team selections undermine and degrade the biggest and best club, in the Championship, by a mile. We are the Man City of this division and he approaches most games like we are Huddersfield! Infuriating!!!!

Hopefully this will be the last time I have to post on this thread. In my mind this is some of the reasons why yesterday was so wrong:

Generally a much better balanced defence, although Hutton and Taylor both need to work much harder to stop crosses coming in to the box. Hutton is also too slow now. He cannot defend one on one. Elmo or Bree should both be picked ahead of him.

Playing Jedinak has got to stop. He is only capable of sitting in front of the defence. This just creates pressure. We need more energetic midfielders who can press and keep the ball away from our box. Even when Jedi wins the ball he almost always gifts it straight back to the opposition in an advanced part of the pitch. He must be replaced by Connor or Birkir.

Generally we need to play much higher up the pitch. Abraham was terribly isolated yesterday. We have better attacking players than any other team in the division. We need to press high up the pitch which will also push their defence back and relieve the pressure on our defence.

Elmo is useless in an advanced position. He cannot/doesn’t try to beat his man. His crosses are awful. Right back or nowhere. How he can be picked ahead of El Ghazi is anybody’s guess!

We need to try and win every game. We are capable of beating anybody, home or away. We cannot afford to give teams like Blackburn (or anybody) the respect that we do. We need to pick attacking teams, employ attacking tactics from the start and just go for it. Bruce is so scared of losing that it is detrimental to our chances of winning!

Albert and Elmo must never be picked ahead of Bolaise, El Ghazi or Kodija. Neither offer much in attack. They get praised for their tracking back but if they posed any threat going forward they wouldn’t need to track back so much!

We need to make changes much earlier in games. Tactical changes were needed before halftime yesterday. It was clear that things weren’t working and yet Bruce did nothing about it. His approach is much too formulaic. We need a manager who can outwit his opposition. This never happens with Bruce. Every week he comes up against a manager with inferior resources and yet he never significantly gets the better of them. 

He is a good man Steve and I want a good man in charge of our club but being decent is not enough. He is not capable of fulfilling the most simple managerial requirements. It is time for him to go. A few months ago I posted a message saying how important it was that we made a good start this season, particularly with our kind fixture list. We have failed. Our start has been pathetic. He must go now!

Hutton is terrible at defending 

Last team selection from this fool I predict. Awful, defensive, cowardly selection. Don’t deserve to win. Sacked in the morning, sacked in the morning.....

He has the raw attributes to be very good. He is clearly struggling with confidence. Our poor defence does not help.

He will come good but he needs our support. We are much too quick to form an opinion. Let’s get behind him.

12 minutes ago, Stockport_Villain said:

Blimey, give the lad a break. It doesn’t matter whether he’s a footballer or not. Any negative feedback isn’t particularly nice to hear and we all react to things differently. I like him and think he will make it at Villa because I think he is good enough and he will build on his game time at Port Vale.

I hope so but he will need to improve his attitude. We all face obstacles in life but it is how you deal with them that ultimately matters.

40 minutes ago, sne said:

Really has to wonder what Bruce actually does if so.

"Doesn't do tactics"

Doesn't handle training?

Doesn't manage or organize the team? 

I know he's supposed to be the one behind the improved team spirit, but I'm starting to suspect he's not the one making the s'mores or leading the sing along around the camp fire.

Other than having people skills...

Wow. Filled in quite a few gaps there my friend! Perhaps you should purchase a dictionary and look up the meaning of the words “partly” and “informally”.

I have a feeling that JT was partly, informally managing the team last year. Without him all organisation has disappeared. I would not be surprised to see an instant improvement to our overall play if he does come back. He is much more important to us than his own individual performance.

I’m sorry but I despair sometimes! It didn’t go the way I wanted it to for a few weeks so I stopped trying. Got a new advisor and he told me to start trying again so I did. Despite acting like a 3 year old I am definitely ready for Championship football! Of course you are mate............grow up! There is not a footballer alive who is worth a place in the team but gets constantly overlooked! If you are good enough you will get a chance.

5 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

And Cardiff were below us in the Championship. 

And Wolves finished below us in his first season

5 minutes ago, Cliffy Biro said:

This is such nonsense though, Liverpools strength is not that they are deluded its actually one of their worst qualities and why they are so hated. Theres a difference between dreaming big and being totally deluded. I get the point you are trying to make but its a very naive one. 

Why is it naive? Surely it is naive to ask someone to do something that they have never done before and expect them to do it well. We are beyond risk taking. I accept that each appointment is a risk but it is the job of the exec to mitigate that risk as much as possible. Appointing a man with no experience of fulfilling the objectives of the club is not risk mitigation, it is madness!

Come on. You are an oak. Of course you are....because you are a Villan. We don’t want/need Dean Smith. We need Pep Guardiola. Let’s make it happen. Oak

33 minutes ago, Cliffy Biro said:

Sorry but this is exactly the kind of thinking that limits us, none of that means anything in reality, literally nobody but us cares that we won a European cup 36 years ago. We don't need a big name manager at all, Bruce was seen as a safe option and look how that has turned out.

Sorry, but this is exactly the kind of thinking that limits us! The fact that nobody else cares does not stop it from being true. Nobody cares about any other football club apart from the one they support. We are still a massive club and you should never underestimate that. If we, Villa fans, do not believe in our club then how can we expect anybody else to. Liverpool fans have not won the league for three million years but they still think they are the biggest and best club in the World. Therein lies their strength.

I don’t think Bruce was a safe option. I have never thought he was worthy of managing our fantastic club. Bruce was another manager who had never proven himself capable or worthy of managing a club like ours. Not surprising then that he too has failed. He was slightly more worthy than Smith but not much! Think small and you will never progress beyond an acorn! Think big and the World is your oyster! I always wanted to be an oak. I am a massive fu**ing oak. Be an oak with me and think bigger than Dean Smith.

7 minutes ago, Django_Zooms said:

I have been a football fan and a Villa fan for a very long time. Every single instinct I sense says that Dean Smith must be appointed Villa manager this week, or we will slither into year 4 in the Chumpionship.

I really feel the need to challenge this. We are Aston Villa. Founder members of the league. European Cup winners. Until 2 years ago, premier league ever presents. We have massive support, wealthy owners, a brilliant stadium and huge expectations. What has Dean Smith ever done to suggest that he should get a chance? We really should be aiming much, much higher than this. We need somebody big enough to take on the challenge. Dean Smith would be a massive risk. Why take the risk?

I doubt he will be sacked just yet but it won’t be much longer. He is on trial in my view. He certainly will not be afforded the ridiculous amount of slack that he has been previously. We are in the unfortunate position of watching a man self combust very slowly. 

The big worry is who we will get as a replacement. The talk of Dean Smith is terrifying. We have a squad full of big egos. They will require a bit of a name to get them to toe the line. Also, managing Brentford and managing Villa are completely different. We need a big manager, with a big ego.

Also, talk of Big Sam is equally as ridiculous. He is not all that different to Bruce! We have enough attraction, particularly with our new owners, to aim a fair bit higher. We need a big club manager, with proven ability, who can build a sustainable, successful club. Bruce and Sam are the ultimate short term managers. They both buy and cast aside players with ridiculous regularity. We need to go all out to get Brendon R for me. He really works with players to develop them. With our squad, he would have us cruising within weeks. 

Is anybody still behind Bruce? He is an absolute embarrassment. Uses the media to protect his position with spin and some people are still falling for it! Laughable really. Hopefully the final straw now. 

2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Don't worry guys bruce has it covered up front. A new signing and wont be a loan....

 

 

Centre half and centre forward........job done. Leaves us space to still loan another right back

The way I look at, we have played 7 games this season. We have been favourites to win every game. We have won 3. You cannot argue against that. It is a diabolical statistic. Lo and behold we actually win a game that we are not expected to! Now that would be something!

We are 4 points off the top already, after a ridiculously easy set of fixtures! That nearly amounts to a point a game! We spent all of last season playing catch up and we failed miserably! It was a chance for us to set the pace and put pressure on the rest to chase us. Huge failure.

He is also unbelievably lucky not to have been sacked last season. First aim 2 points/game = failed. Second aim automatic promotion = failed. Third aim win play offs = failed. He even said himself, on more than one occasion, that he understood the implications of not getting promoted and yet he is still here! Not for much longer me thinks. Time to go and ruin another set of supporters weekends!

1 hour ago, lexicon said:

How is he supposed to prove himself if he can't get a game ahead of a player who is totally out of form? 

He needs to earn his place by performing when he gets a chance. He is failing. It is up to him.

On 25/08/2018 at 18:12, lexicon said:

He's in an atrocious vein of form right now and with the people we've just brought in plus Green, should be nowhere near the first team, sadly. An immensely likeable guy but there's no time for sentimentality or room for passengers. 

He is not very good but to intimate that Green is better is ridiculous. Green has done nothing yet and at least Albert has had a couple of purple patches! Green has been awful every time he has played in the first team this season.

16 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Nah mate. He walked hours ago, we were waiting for you to ask. 

Splendid news. Cannot find it being reported anywhere yet but it must be true. Truly enthused. Thank you

Yawn.............is he still here?!