M_Afro

7 minutes ago, Cizzler said:

Oh come off it. We’re 4th in the league, guaranteed play offs and still in with a shout of automatics with 3 games to go.

It wasn’t a fantastic display by all means, but we dominated. Had several good chances and they didn’t have any.

What was it? 5th game in 13 days? Stealing a living? That’s a joke surely 

 

Maybe a bit harsh. I just watched his interview and he really is a good bloke but the truth is, I just do not enjoy watching Villa anymore. With the resources he has, we should be much better. He is scared of everyone we play despite all the advantages we have. I think we could smash this league with a positive approach. 

He is a good guy. I want him to prove me wrong. I just don’t think he will!

Epitomised everything I cannot stand about Bruce. Our U23 side would have won that with ease. If we had pressed high up from the off and put them under pressure we could have scored 10. If he thinks we have a chance of second (which we don’t) then goal difference will be critical. Go up/stay down I want to enjoy football again. It’s bye bye Steve for me regardless. Totally stealing a living

Think this could be really messy. That is such a puzzling team selection. I hope I am wrong. Please prove me wrong Steve.........long night ahead I fear!

I think we will win the play offs. I have no real reasoning for this other than a faint hope that once we get there, regardless of Bruce tactics, the players will throw caution to the wind and have a real go. If they are let off the leash they could do some damage. Regardless, Bruce out at the end of it all

The team selection was fine. The issue is the way we play. We need to press high up the pitch. We do not pressure defences anywhere near enough. We need a high pressing, high energy approach. Bruce just makes us sit back inviting pressure. When we go behind his only answer is to send on more strikers. We can still go up this season but it will be in spite of Bruce. He is our biggest handicap. Out at the end of the season whatever happens

For me, the problem was the two behind Jack. Jedi and Lansbury are both lacking in energy and mobility. When the ball was moved to Jack effectively, he made a difference. He set Albert up for two sitters in the first half but Albert was fast asleep on both occasions. 

Considering Lansbury was effectively playing to show his worth, I thought his performance was disgraceful. No urgency whatsoever. Why Bruce signed him I will never know

Top 2 was unlikely before today. Now it is even more unlikely. I guess we are at least getting our bad run out of the way now. It is too early to peak for the play offs yet. Still fancy us to win at Wembley, especially with the Kodj back. He should be up to speed by then.

1 hour ago, VillaJ100 said:

Since we put in a mid table league 2 performance against QPR

Ha ha. Good point. We may as well give up then because we lost a match! I’m pretty sure that the RAF adopted a similar attitude ahead of the Battle of Britain which is why the dominant language on this forum is German. Guter punkt gut gemacht! I am just off to cancel the coach for tonight’s game!

4 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Really wouldn’t fancy a trip to the den in the play offs - we’d be lambs to the slaughter 

Blimey. I thought that we were Aston Villa. Since when has a two leg fixture against Millwall been considered a difficult prospect for us? If we finish in the play offs I would love to play them in a semi final.

As Villa fans we need to man up a bit. We still have a very good chance of promotion this season. Second is looking unlikely but it is not yet impossible. If we are in the play offs then we will be the team to avoid.

The good news is, we are only playing QPR. One goal back early in the second half and we are still in there. They have a poor record away. There is still hope here

20 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

And that attitude is EXACTLY what lead us to Bruce........ Its time to accept that we need to try something completely different.

I think you should read back. I never wanted Bruce. I knew exactly what we would be getting with him and I was right. A lack of imagination lead us to Bruce. A similar lack of imagination would lead us to Smith. What are his credentials; His team play well against us, he is a villa fan, he isn’t Steve Bruce! What else exactly? 

He may turn out to be a brilliant manager at a big club but why take the risk. The Villa job is much more attractive than people give it credit. We are a big club, have great facilities, great support, a patient owner, a good squad at this level, a big budget. We should not be scraping around for managers like Smith who have never achieved anything. There is a World of difference between managing Brentford and managing AVFC. We need an innovative but shrewd appointment. We cannot afford another failure!

15 minutes ago, USA_Villa said:

Not worried at all. Look at how a Dean Smith plays the game, with speed, aggression, expansive and never afraid to go for goal. That's what excites us about bringing him in and playing a style of football that we all crave. 

We've played the safe card with Bruce and it is absolute dross. No more. We want young, exciting and a team that looks like it has a chance to win every game, not hopefully grind out a result.

I want those things too but I would like a manager who has already provided that environment at a similar size club. 

4 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Yep, people don't understand the sort of player Hourihane is. He does not have a good forward pass in him, the majority of his assists came from set pieces and crosses, which is he good at. Grealish is the closest we have to a midfielder who can play through balls that Hogan will thrive from, but Grealish doesn't deliver this consistently enough.

What about Snodgrass as a Nr 10? I think he could be good there. I don’t think he has enough pace for his current role but as nobody else is nailing the spot down, why not try him?

Is anybody else starting to get worried about the growing number of Villans supporting Dean Smith as the heir apparent? Regardless of the past few years of under achieving, Villa is still a massive job. Why risk someone who has only ever managed very small clubs with low expectations? This is what he said after the match:

”Aston Villa are a big football club and the expectations from their supporters are that they win the league,” Smith added. “Ours are to go and compete against these teams and finish in the top six if we can.”

Being manager at Brentford, as he himself accepts, is totally different to being manager at AVFC. If he got the job, he may be brilliant. It is a massive risk however. I think we get into the mindset that any change is welcome and good. That is just not true. We need someone who has taken a big club and moved them forward. Someone used to the pressure of expectation. Someone used to working with highly paid egotistical footballers.

I don’t know who that person is but surely there are people at the club, who get paid lots of money, who should be able to identify a suitable replacement! I too want rid of Bruce. I never wanted him in the first place but we have made so many awful appointments. If Bruce goes, which he definitely should, then the replacement has to be suitable. Why risk someone just because his team has played well against us and he was a boyhood supporter? Most teams have played well against us this season but that is why we want to change the manager more than anything else!

27 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Oh dear - is this yet more street talk that an old git like me has missed out on? I know about the Book of Tobit in the Catholic bible - he was a man who suffered a series of misfortunes and then went blind but had his sight restored after praying to god.

But I’m guessing this is not what is being referenced here? Someone please help a dinosaur by explaining!

Apologies. Just a typo I’m afraid. Should read “go but” not “Tobit”.

His tweet is receiving some interesting responses. Villa fans venting their spleens!

5 hours ago, Eastie said:

Like anyone else they will be judged on performance not age - 13 games without a goal at this level is terrible for a striker - he’s not good enough yet 

I would agree if he played in a team that were allowed to cross the half way line. Sadly he plays for us. It is so hard to get into and stay in the game when you are isolated for such long periods. He is doing well considering.

I really believe that if he had not stepped up we would be in a much worse position. He deserves our unreserved support in my view.

Before the last January transfer window he said that he would only buy players that significantly improved the team. In the summer he was only going to buy players with premier league experience. Both of these things were going to allow us to compete for automatic promotion. 

We are now only 3 points better off than this time last year with no obvious improvements in style or teamwork. Surely the board must see that no progress has been made. 

I agree with some of the other posters on here regarding the complete failure of Bruce to accept any kind of responsibility. It is as if the universe dictates what happens and he/we just have to accept it! It is infuriating. 

Steve Bruce “I find every game in the Championship difficult”. Yep.......yep indeed. There’s a reason for that Steve.......Wolves say hi by the way!!!!

Why is he not trying to win this game? He is clearly happy with a draw but we are desperate for 3 points. The only time we applied pressure we scored. Lesson there surely. I like Steve, he is a really good bloke. I really want him to do well but he is too negative. We should be waltzing around like peacocks on heat in this league but under Bruce we are nothing more than a collective of feral pigeons!

Just seen the team. Very negative, very disappointing. I think he thinks we are playing Barcelona! It may be good enough to win, unlikely but possible. Why take that approach though? We need to win so go for it. Blow them away. He is finished here thank goodness!

We need to win tonight. He knows that. I feel as though we are in a similar position to the one we were in pre Norwich. He went for it that day and we won. I think he will take the same approach today. I think that if we do go for it, we will win.

The worry is that he will almost certainly revert to a negative approach against Middlesbrough! He is on borrowed time now in my view. It will be almost impossible for him to turn it around! Question of when and who rather than if.

33 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

You mean the attacking threat that Davis was not one single shot on target?

You attack and defend as a team. Davis at least provides a focal point which is something positive that we lost once he departed. He also won a penalty.