WakefieldVillan

First post in here as I was up until very recently in the Bruce-In camp, I hope he can turn it around and he will have my full 100% support whilst he's here, however I think we need a change.

My order of preference would be;

1) Arsene Wenger

2) Brendan Rogers

3) Rafa Benitez

4) Eddie Howe

5) David Wagner

6) Claudio Ranieri 

7) Thierry Henry 

Chris Wilder

9) Giovanni Van Bronckhorst

10) Remi Garde

Yes, I get that at least 9 of those are extremely unlikely to say the least!

Up until the Burton and Sheffield United games I have been one of the Bruce-In camp, this was mainly due to the fact I felt that having stability going into the new season would work in our favour and I was more concerned with what replacement we would get in as opposed to seeing Bruce as some kind of Messiah!

I like Bruce, he seems a good guy & I think he brought what we needed after Di Matteo was fired, BUT, this has been a poor start to the season, the results have been poor, the football even worse and I think it is criminal the state our defence has been left in going into this campaign, the last thing you would expect from an ex centre half and that of a Bruce side.

I feel he is underachieving with one of the strongest squads in the league (defence aside), the football is poor (most of the time), there is no real style of play, he is playing players out of position and first time I have said this, but I think it's time for a change! 

1 hour ago, DaveAV1 said:

My heart goes out to Ron and especially his family. I lost my Mom to this cruel disease. A nurse once said to me, you mourn twice for dementia sufferers, once for the person they were and a second time when they actually pass away. She was absolutely right. 

Ron gave my generation of Villa fans the best moments of our football lives. He and his teams always gave 110%. Wonderful, wonderful memories. I hope that he can still recall some of them himself, as his long term memory may still be partially intact. 

Bless you Ron, no words could ever thank you enough. UTV. 

I lost my mum 6 months ago to this cruel disease, so it is still very raw, there really isn't a positive, just hope he has the best care possible and my thoughts go out to him and all his family 

   I'd go...

                       Nyland 

Tuanzebe Chester Jedinak  Hutton

 Elmo    McGinn  Hourihane   Green

                 Grealish  

                             Kodija 

Morreira, Taylor, Lansbury, Whelan, Bjarnsson, Adomah, Hepburn-Murphy

Think Bruce will make 2 (or 3) changes with Nyland and Tuanzebe coming in and possibly Jedinak.

UTV

1 hour ago, GENTLEMAN said:

NVM I am

Apologies but what does this mean? Think the Jack will he stay or will he go thread has affected my brain!

16 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

You know what, I'd actually love to see this team going into the first game. It will be an unpopular opinion but I think it would be incredibly exciting.

                       Steer

Elmo   Suliman  Chester     Hutton

         Hourihane - Doyle-Hayes 

Taylor          Grealish             Green

                        Davis

Play the youth! 

Didn't realise we had re-signed Ian Taylor  

I must concur what others have already said on here and that we do not have the players for playing 3-5-2. I too, do not mind the system but we seriously lack the pace (particularly at the back) and the ability on the ball to play out from defence. I hope Bruce is just trying a few things out in pre season and doesn't try it away at Hull in a couple of weeks time.

As our team is at the moment I would play 4-1-4-1 and line up something like:

                             Steer

  De Laet    Chester    Jedinak     Hutton

                          Bjarnsson 

Adomah     Hourihane   Grealish     Kodija

                            Davis (if fit)

Bunn, Elmo, Elphick, Whelan, Green, Lansbury, Hogan

Think we desperately need to add a new keeper (seen we are linked with one, Bunn should not be anyway near the squad). A new centre half - Think Terry would have worked in a three, I'd take Tuanzebe on loan, Huth would be an upgrade on Elphick, hard to say who though without knowing whst funds we have to work with. I would prefer Jedinak mopping up in front of the defence but only in certain games against physical opponents. I think Davis is the best we have at holding the ball up and bringing others into play, hence Kodija out wide.

Need to keep Jack and Chester and I think with a couple of good loan signings we will be play-offs again UTV 

We have had worse. We have had better. I am more concerned about who will be wearing them.

I thought they were going to be dreadful to be honest but I quite like them both. 7/10. 

Not keen on the Luke logo though and I have seen better kit designs from people on here.

Feeling very nervous already, I would love to come away from the Riverside all square (in some ways, I think I would prefer that than an odd-goal Villa win as I think we would find a way to blow it as clear favourites).

I think Bruce will go;

Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Terry, Hutton, Snodgrass, Jedinak, Hourihane, Adomah, Grealish, Grabban.

Not sure if I agree, not easy to call. 

1 hour ago, maqroll said:

Is the away goals rule in effect for this?

I believe not 

Think Chappy was pretty much spot on with his match summary earlier in this thread, I went with an Ex Huddersfield Town player (supporting Villa) he thought like me we were worthy of at least a point, possibly three. In the end missed chances cost us and a very sloppy goal to concede. My player ratings are as follows;

Johnstone 6/10 - Made a good save early on but the linesman flagged so wouldn't have counted, didn't have much to do other than routine catches. I think it would be a little harsh to blame him for the goal.

Bree 7/10 - Looks a good signing, composed on the ball and nullified the Huddersfield pacy winger. Would have liked him to push on a bit more but that may be Bruce's instructions.

Taylor 5/10 - Think he's a little more solid than Amavi defensively but still got caught a couple of times in the first half where he was a bit hesitant. 

Chester 6/10 - Solid enough.

Baker 6/10 - See Chester. Though he did get caught out in the second half when he pulled down Wells. Rightly carded.

Jedinak 8/10 - My MOTM. We look a much more stronger unit with Mile in the side. Won all his headers. Does the dirty stuff.

Lansbury 7/10 - Worked hard, extremely unlucky with the strike that rattled the bar, felt like he tried the ball into the channel too much second half, again maybe Bruce's instructions.

Hourihane 5/10 - Surprised he's had any votes for MOTM?! Was most looking forward to watching this guy live but was left disappointed. Think the 1st half miss affected his game somewhat - In a Barnsley shirt that breaks the net! Tried hard but quality was lacking. Spent most of the night closing down the Town centre halves, but when we do this we need to hunt in packs not as individuals.

 Adomah 4/10 - That rating could be a little high! Was invisible most of the match and showed nothing on the ball. Disappointing to say the least.

Amavi 5/10 - Looked like he was asking Bruce where he needed to be during the first half. Think it's a straight choice at LB between him and Taylor. Last night with them both on the pitch we struggled physically.

Kodija 6/10 - Showed some nice touches and battled hard against two physical Town defenders but had little support from his team-mates or the referee.

Subs; - Both a little too late to judge

Referee 4/10 - Rated poor - Jedinak harshly yellow carded with his first challenge yet the Town players seemed to get away with lots of similar challenges, niggly ones that went unpunished. Mooy's foul on Lansbury looked a nasty one (yellow given, perhaps a red?! but would need to see it again). Think the pen for the tackle on Kodija would have been harsh, think he should have just fallen naturally and it may have been given, the theatrical dive made it easy for the ref to give it Town's way and to appease the home fans.

Bruce  6/10 - Average - I think he played the right team and on another day we win that, but don't think it was particularly pleasing on the eye from either team. Injuries/Suspensions didn't help as we had no one on the bench who could really come on and affect the game. 

7 hours ago, KSV said:

HITC claiming Bruce watched Hourihane on the weekend and we will step up our efforts to get him. Didnt someone say HITC had a reliable reporter working part time for them or something? 

Please be true! 

Taken off twitter. Why wouldnt we sign this guy??

 

Didn't realise he was Pontus Jansson's twin ;-)

                    Gollini

Bacuna   Chester   Baker   Amavi

                  Jedinak

          Tshibola       Grealish

Adomah                          Kodija

                    Gestede

Subs:   Sarkic, Hutton, Elphick, Gardner, Ayew, McCormack, Westwood

Spoke to the Ticket Office yesterday and was told that we have sold out the initial allocation and the club were awaiting official confirmation from Fulham F.C. whether we will be allocated anymore tickets.

I was desperate to go to this with the match being switched to Sunday and it not clashing with playing football myself, therefore signed up to the Fulham Supporters Club and managed to order two tickets in the "Neutral" end.

Never been before and not sure what to expect, but I am hoping that it will have plenty of Villa fans in there. I am in Block P4 which I think may be the closest to the "Away" end but others may be able to confirm?

Some ridiculous over reactions on here in my opinion. I stated on the match thread that I was worried that the two high intensity matches we have had combined with Liverpool's week of preparation may play a part in yesterday's result and for me it did. First half they obviously bossed the game which was clearly evident for all to see and we struggled in midfield to get close and the Liverpool trio of Lucas, Henderson and in particular Gerrard were dictating play. Thought to be fair to the reds they played some pretty decent stuff without really testing Brad apart from a wonderful taken Sturridge goal. I feel that although Okore may have switched off slightly from an attacking perspective, you have to give credit to Sturridge for his movement, quick feet and calm finish. As hard as it was to take. I felt though from 40 mins on we were the better side and definitely deserved a point from the game. Benteke had chances at the end of each half which produced great saves from his Belgium counterpart and Gabby should have done better with his sliced effort. Delph for me was our MOTM. I feel that the comments regarding Bacuna are slightly OTT. Yes it wasn't a Stan debut but give the guy a chance, thought he looked half decent at RB. I feel 3 points from our first 3 matches is a good start to the season and we are very unlucky not to have 5 possibly 7! I would love one more signing before the window shuts - most noticeably in the AM area and someone that can provide the killer pass and the key to unlock a deep sitting defence. UTV.

I am loving the optimism in this thread and although I can appreciate where it is coming from after two extremely good performances, I just hope that if it doesn't go our way then we all can accept that 3 points (should be 4, possibly 6) from the opening 3 games is still a decent start bearing in mind the teams we have faced.

Even though we have a young, energetic team I actually agree with Lawro (1st time for everything  ) that playing midweek in a high intensity match and given the reds have had a week off to prepare I think that we will lose this one unfortunately. I hope to god I am wrong because I f***ing hate Liverpool with a passion, but that's my honest gut feeling. Probably 1-3. 

Although whilst I agree that it's pretty difficult to drop anybody after the opening two matches, Lambert has the dressing room behind him therefore it's not like it is going to cause any problems telling someone that he's just looking to freshen things up and that is what I would choose to do.

I would play the same back 4 that completed the game at The Bridge, but maybe bring Sylla in for El Ahmadi and Tonev for Weimann - doesn't always work but the players coming in will be just as eager to impress and keep their place in future starting line ups.

Come on you Villa boys!!! 

http://s1351.photobucket.com/user/TheFelt1982/media/Video_zps54413664.mp4.html

Hope this has worked?! First time I have tried to post a video 

Oh and we were both recording it on our phone though, mainly when Sagna was down injured and you were all singing - We shall not be moved!!! 

I was in the West Stand Robbie, half way up and a little to the right of the dugouts, a fair way though from the Villa fans, though I had a great view of the celebrations and could hear them as loud as ever!

I'm glad we have benteke with us, he is a monster...but I just hope we as fans are all ready to accept he'll probably leave next year if he does well?  Let us not forget his intentions this transfer window and set ourselves up for bitter resentment come next year.

 

I'm just thankful he's giving us one more season to allow others to flourish around the team that was being built upon the foundations he's provided, and a signed deal extension to increase his price.  If he leaves the rest of the team in a much stronger position through his help this season and allows the others to really come through as natural replacements, he'll get my blessing if he must leave.

Of course that doesn't mean we can't heap praise and salute his time here, just need to keep our feet on the ground and bare in mind we need to keep our fingers on the pulse for replacing a big hole in the team if he does go.

THIS! 

As stated a couple of times already on the thread, anything at all from this game would be a bonus, however, I just can't see anything other than a comfortable home victory.

It is obvious with our front three that we are capable of giving any side problems but Chelsea to me looked very impressive in the first half against Hull and I really fear that if they get an early goal then we are in for a very long evening. We struggled at times with little one-twos and quick passing around the box at the Emirates with Rosicky in particular a constant menace and I feel we will have our work cut out defending against the likes of Hazard, Mata, Oscar et al.

Key for me then is not to concede early (obviously this is the case in all games), psychologically I just feel that the longer we can stay in the game at The Bridge, the more confident the players will become and we can create a few chances of our own.

I would stick with the same eleven that took us into a 3-1 leading position, with Clark in for Baker again. Not sure if Sylla is fit for this game and if so there may be a temptation to stick him in the middle for more protection to the back four however I feel that it would be a little unfair on any of Saturday's middle three whom all did admirably.

Head 4-1 Heart 2-3 (I said 2-3 for the Arsenal game and will continue to do so until we lose  )

I had a top day South, really did. Up there with my favourite Villa matches - Sheffield Wed 2 V's 3 Villa (Ron's Return) and Spurs 3 V's 4 Villa (Saunders 90th Min winner) spring to mind that I have been to... However this one was definitely up there! 

I think that the whole situation with the tickets played a huge part, I think if I had of received the tickets initially I would probably have just been disappointed not to be with the Villa fans, however I was just so relieved to be able to watch that I really didn't mind, spending some time in the pub before and after with the Villa fans more than made up for that.

My girlfriend isn't that into football but she was worse than me when the goals went in, when the first penalty was saved, all the gooners cheered and she let out a big sigh then the rebound went in and they all groaned and she cheered, a lot of them knew we were Villa at this point.   She cheered for the second and third as well and a young lad just turned round and started smiling at her. I was a little more reserved.

To be honest when the third went in they all started filtering out with chants of “spend ya **** money“ and I think the fact we were stood applauding the Villa lads were the least of their worries   

"I don't care about Arsenal... They don't care about me... All I care about.... Is...AVFC". WOW! What a day... Feared the worst when we conceded the early goal but once we got the equaliser we gained a foot hold in the match. Second half we looked a lot more assured and apart from a 10 minute spell when they went down to 10 men in which Brad made a couple of great saves we were the better side. Gabby MOTM for me, creating the first two goals - first one def pen and a sending off for me, however I can see it from an Arsenal perspective that he had let advantage go but Weimaan missed the chance. Second one also a penalty for me, thought it at the time & that hasn't changed. I saw it from the west stand with the Arsenal fans & one sat next to me with his head in his hands straight away, think he took the view it was a pen too. Sending off was harsh for me but silly to even give the referee the decision to make by diving in. A special mention to the Villa fans - I was disappointed I wasn't in with them - though it was just as enjoyable watching & listening to them throughout. I'm not ashamed to say I was literally in tears at the end of the match - overwhelming!