M_Afro

The introduction of him and Gabby yesterday effectively ended any forward threat we had. Maybe try him and Davis though.

Blimey. Give the kid a break. He is 19 and has no previous experience of regular first team football at this level. If he hadn’t stepped up during this period, we would be in a much worse position than we are. The manager is to blame for not signing a similar more experienced player when it was so obvious that we needed one!

I think we will have to agree to disagree. In nearly a year as a Villa player, playing in a rubbish league, I have not seen him dominate a match once. I don’t know what his stats are for us but my eyes tell me that he is not very good.

I don’t think he was the best midfielder in the Championship before signing for Villa. He did have really good goal and assist stats but that can happen over short periods with a bit of a purple patch. I think you have to look deeper at the actual performance in each match. He offers very little. I do not think it would matter too much about tactics because he is not very good. The tactics of the manager are poor though. That is something that we can definitely agree on.

I don’t want to disagree or fall out but he had 6 good months at Barnsley, in the Championship. He has since had 11 months at Villa where, in my opinion, he has been a passenger. He has only been at this level for 17 months and for the last 11 of those he has been poor. I’m not sure where the 2 years is coming from. I don’t like Bruce. Never wanted him. Want rid now but the poor form of Conor is more to do with the fact that he is and has never been very good. It is nothing to do with the tactics of Bruce, in my opinion. Blame Bruce for buying him but the rest is up to Conor and his lack of ability.

He hasn’t been playing at this level for 2 years. Please check your facts.

Not wanting to call you out pal but please remind me how many of those games were at “this level”? He has only been in the championship for 18 months. First 6 good and the rest poor/average.

When has he done anything at this level? He had a few good months at Barnsley and that is it. His lower league stats before that are average at best. He offers little at this level. We should have left him where he was.

Problem is this. When the opposition have the ball in their half, as they did for both goals, the keeper should position himself around about the penalty spot. As the play moves forward he should adjust his position accordingly. The first goal today he has ample opportunity to see what was happening and retreat. He didn’t. He was wrong. They scored. I really think that this had an impact on the second. Normally in this situation you would look to attack the striker, trying to rush and distract him. Our keeper stood his ground and applied no pressure. It’s a fine line but good keepers make the correct call more often than not. Johnstone is too indecisive.

He is so average. Never seen him command a game. I know that people hate Whelan on this thread but he offers so much more than Conor. Whelan is good at his limited game (not saying he is good or the answer but he does contribute). Conor is not good at anything. Weak in the tackle. Weak in possession. No pace. Set pieces are generally poor. He covers a lot of ground but to little effect. All round very average.

Further good news as it will also finally be the end of Gabby too!

The first he got caught in no mans land. It was really hard for the player to score from where he receives the ball. He had two defenders quickly closing. Johnstone stays on his line and they do not score. Second was the opposite. He needed to come out and pressure the forward. On both occasions the ball travelled long distances through the air. He could see it the entire way. Poor decision making cost us dearly.

Forget everything else that happened, this guy was fundamentally at fault for both goals today. I really hope we do not sign him. He is a really poor decision maker. We already have too many players with no intelligence!

16 points behind Wolves at half way. It is almost impossible to achieve that level of performance with our players. He has got to go. We never play well. Today we were good for 10 minutes and then awful for 80. Bringing on Gabby and Hogan killed any chance we had of getting anything more than a point. They were both woeful. We will still be in the Championship when Bruce finally gets sacked. May as well roll the dice now.

I think we are in danger of violently agreeing! It is unlikely that we will get promoted with him but we do not need to replace him....we do not need him full stop! I do think he has a place in the squad though. In tight games, if we are already ahead, he would be a good bench option to help close out the game. This should be a rare requirement however because not that many games should be close!

Neither do I. Not sure what your point is! People will always make mistakes. Human nature. The point is, Whelan has a place in the game. He has been fairly successful for a reason. However, for a team looking to dominate and take the game to the opposition, he is not the man! Have better players, press high up the pitch, win more often than not. Be better than we currently are. It is predominantly attitude and application. Bruce sets us up for an arm wrestle. Result is.........we get an arm wrestle. With our resources it should not be so.

Whelan is good at what he is supposed to be good at. He has a lot of appearances for a low level premier league team and a fairly low level international team. This is not meant to be disrespectful to those teams. If you have an inferior team then having Whelan sit in front of the defence, whilst the team soaks up pressure, is a good tactic. You can then look to strike on the break. This is a scenario that really suits his qualities. If you are a better side, which we should be, then you push the defence back by having more attacking midfield players. You do not require a player to sit in front of the back four because you are dictating the play in the opposing half. In this scenario you do not require a Whelan. Bruce is to blame, not Whelan. Whelan does his job well. Unfortunately we do not really need him to do that job for us because we should be the aggressor not the victim!

Do you actually watch the games though? Even when we win we rarely play well. That is the crux of the matter for me. If you play well then eventually things will work out for you despite results! If you play poorly then, despite results, eventually you will be found out! We always get found out against the better teams. This is a poor league. We are competing with teams who are significantly inferior to us. I like Bruce. He is a decent human being. I want him to do well but unfortunately, in my view, he isn’t. I don’t want us to gamble though. We must have a top replacement ready before getting rid.

We will not get promoted with Bruce. He is suited to managing an average club with low expectations. The pressure of managing a bigger club is too much for him. He is way too negative. The league is very poor. Any team with the advantages that we have should be neck and neck with Wolves. We are miles behind. I would sack him now. Every game in the Championship is a massive opportunity to gain 3 points. Bruce approaches all of them as though they are going to be a battle. As if any point is really hard won. It’s a nonsense. Teams cannot defend. Attack them and you will create chances all day long. How many chances do we create?.......Not very many. Why? Because we do not try to! I want a manager to sit in a press conference on a Friday and be positive. Say we are Aston Villa. We are going to attack for 90 minutes. Good luck to the opposition if they can cope with that, because we are coming for them from the off. Instead we get the same old nonsense. Milwall are a really strong side......Yawn!!!! There are no easy games.......Yawn. Funny how all of the games that Wolves play seem so easy! It’s utter garbage. We need some positivity. A bit of positivity could bring momentum that would take us all the way back to the top half of the premiership. It will not happen under Bruce, so why wait! Get rid now! I am bored!

That does not wash I'm afraid. We were in the premier league with a vastly inferior team. We are now in the championship with players that the other clubs can only dream of. Back Bruce all the way if you wish and ignore what you actually see. I want Bruce to do well because that means that we will do well. It is his negativity that is killing us not some rubbish about how we were bad 5 years ago!

Very interesting point. I have no problem with 3 cbs. It can work well. What I do not understand is why, after stumbling upon a formation that worked so well against Norwich, you decide to change it in the very next match! That is bizarre

Spin this.......1 away league win in last 14 away matches

Results are not everything at this stage of the season. It is more important to look at the performance. Sadly the three away performances have been poor. Bruce is to blame for this. How many Bristol players would get into our team? Rhetorical question obviously! Yet Steve let's them attack time and again. If you invite pressure then guess what will happen. Boring

Trying to win would be a start as opposed to trying not to lose

Last 14 league games away from home we have lost 10, drawn 3 and won 1. Let's decide if that is good enough! 6 points in 14 games. Yep 6 points........ha ha ha