M_Afro

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.

24 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Time to give hogan a extended run. Davis has had more than enough starts compared to hogan and delivered two goals. Hogan vs his old side let's throw him in the lions den see how he gets on. Him and gabby up top something different. 

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! 

8 hours ago, omariqy said:

He was the most highly rated for goals, assists, tackles, interceptions and distance ran. I would say that is more than just goals and assists. It wasn't a purple patch he has done it for Barnsley for 2 and a half years. 

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.

2 minutes ago, omariqy said:

No but he was too good for League 1, every Barnsley fan will tell you. He then carried on being the best midfielder in the Champ until he came here. He plays and scores when we play him further forward but not when he sits. It's simple. Players like Hourihane, Grealish, Hogan etc will never flourish under Bruce. They rely on movement, good football an good interplay. Players like Kodjia and Adomah do well because they can't make something happen out of nothing. Unfortunately, you can't rely on that as a team because those kind of players do not always turn up to the party.

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.

6 minutes ago, av1 said:

11 of those goals came in the Championship. And as @omariqy said, he has been been one of the best players at this level for 2 years.

He comes to Villa, Bruce stops him doing what has made him that player by playing him out of position and surprise surprise, he doesn't look as good. 

Its on Bruce. 

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.

3 minutes ago, omariqy said:

He has been one of the best CM's in the league for the last two years. A few months haha.

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

2 minutes ago, av1 said:

2011–2014 Plymouth Argyle125 (15 goals)

2014–2017 Barnsley 112 (29 goals)

 

A few good months is stretching it pal. 

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.

18 minutes ago, av1 said:

If i was to judge Conor on his Villa career alone i would agree with you. But if you look at his career as a whole, I'd place an awful lot of the blame on Bruce. Conor is has not, and never will flourish in the role Bruce is asking him to play. 

18 minutes ago, av1 said:

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.

2 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Johnstone plays as a kind of sweeper keeper quick off his line , it’s paid off for him (and us )many a time , including later in the match today when our plodding defence was caught out again

 

i suspect that’s what lead to his positioning for the first goal , it happens some times , all you can really do is admire the finish

Johnstone , worryingly , is probably still in the running for our player of the season , which tells you how inept we are with Bruce at the helm 

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.

2 minutes ago, Farlz said:

I look forward to the end of the season when we should finally see Steve Bruce go. It's a waiting game until then. 

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.

19 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Im sick to death seeing whelan making stupid mistakes. Misplace passing, stupid back passes. The guy is a complete liability. We will never get promoted with players like whelan in the side.  He has no attacking/positive instinct.  9/10 his passes are backwards away from goal. He slows down play and plays like he has concrete in his boots.

I seen and had enough of him i want him replaced in January. Its not one mistake its countless and todays one cost us dearly

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!