TRO

" I set us up to be hard to beat".......on the back of 4 wins in 18 months, when we could'nt buy a win. I think 1 goal conceded in 8 and 6 wins in 7..........is a remarkable turnaround.

It was not so long ago.....I read 4 wins in 18 months. don't knock it. ps them in the ground might think its poor, them around the world think it's great spread the love.

I can't remember the last Villa team to do that.

I went tonight and I must say, it was a strange game.I have seen very few Villa teams play like that.....but, another 3 points. I do not think we will play like this next season. on the back of such an horrendous season....I still think he believes we have a chance of top 6......albeit a slim one. I think this is influencing what we are seeing. I think we are playing like ...to hell with anything else......3 points.

I guess you're right......but don't let that hold you back......fill your boots, like the complaints. I'll be watching with interest.

I don't quite get it either. a bit nondescript for me.

Ditto

In relation to tactics......no size fits all. In the main it is governed by the strength of your squad and subsequently proposed team. personally, I think tactics in football is over hyped......not dismissing it, but not as important as some will have you believe. I don't think Steve Bruce is particularly good or bad at it.....but who signs and develops these players who are going to get us up......who is responsible for this quality you talk about? I think if Steve Bruce gets us up ,his position will be strengthened, not weakened.

He can be a supremely talented player in a creative sense......but he is limited. when you see the players in the premiership who have similar skills they have so,so much more in their armoury. That limited bit he has, can be detrimental and puts a burden on other players, particularly when we are without the ball. He is like the curates egg......good in parts.

I am stuck for words with this lad. I really don't know where he is going with his career or what he is realistically expecting from it. Moore Bros my 2

I have no issue with fans complaining about poor spectacle football. If he had been with us c 4 seasons, I would join in with you. The repair job is so deep, he has other priorities like winning games and securing results. The cherry will go on the cake, but it's just come out of the oven.

But surely his complaining is part and parcel of getting his points over to the team, it's what he is working on and I guess he lets them know, when they do not follow instructions......thats part of the work in progress element. We are moaning, when he is already trying to put right the very points some of us are moaning about. that is tantamount to frustration for all concerned.

Thats why, we have to sometimes,remind ourselves......Its a team game. and the best team wins the league.....not the best individual players.

You say that now......but at the time , many fans thought it was unconvincing football. On reflection, it seems like we should have been happy with it.

I think is difficult to argue against that and I would be surprised if the manager argued with it too. I aborted my season ticket in the last season of Mon due to the style of football and never renewed until Monday this week ready for next season.so it seems ironic that I am empathising with more attractive football on this occasion. so why, have I defended Steve Bruce with his current offerings and why have I renewed when the football is not too dissimilar to O,Neills except for individual quality. 1. Martin O'Neill was there 4 years and spent over 100 million gross in the process.....in contrast Steve Bruce has had one window and not completed a season.That suggests to me , the former was by design, the latter is not complete and is in transition of a building job.....so it's possibly temporary. 2. We have just presided over 7 odd years of demise.....its clearly not that easy to play eye catching football and at the same time create the necessary resilience to sustain good results, on the back of such necessary rectification. I believe it's merely a means to an end now and not the desired style. I am not convinced in the same degree that this style of football sits comfortable with Steve Bruce as I think it did with MON. When Steve is someway in to his rebuilding I think it will change......but bear this in mind, when a manager finds a way of winning games I.e Mourinho/Graham Taylor/Pulis/Saunders. It takes some doing to convince them to drop all their theories/ Philosophies and completely change.....so its more likely to get a kinda hybrid version with SB. but we will see.

No one as I understand is arguing with the point" we need to improve"......the team and the manager probably agrees. Most teams have got issues they need to improve, if you look for them. where we differ is some of us accept transition and the imperfections that come with that........some want perfect eye catching football from day one. Thats where we are at odds. I think you will find the argument actually centres around expectation and what is reasonable in the time scale.

I don't think it was......I don't think he was throwing his dummy out of the pram in public or private. He knew the players needed time to work with him. He struck me as a man who knew what had to be done.....was doing it.....but the results were not forth coming, due to the length of time he had been there and losing our 2 most influential players.....his new players had to find their feet too. and now here we are. I seen him disappointed, but never lost as to not know what to do....It was always, we have to work our way through this and thats what came across to me.

Its a bloomin' good job I never took a bet on that.....amazing. just goes to show.....its what you do with it, when you have it.

who was it who said? " Stats are for tw*ts" Oh! me I think ps and those that Dave submitted, go a log way to highlight it.

For someone that is not that opposed to the significance of possession as my posts suggest......(However I do think a lot is to do with our stage of development) That is really,really interesting.

I take your point, but there are good valid reasons for our difficulties during that period......you either accept them or you don't. what kep't my pecker up, was that I was sure we would come through it, with the new lads settling in and getting used to each other. There is nothing wrong with critique.....I just think the critique has come in too early when we are still work in progress. as I have said earlier.....Its everyones right to say what they like.....but it can be a pretty miserable existence, keep barking up the same tree and not accepting the wins when they come as a measure of pleasure.....I'm a poet and I know it. UTV

Its not lucky football.....its effective football. Its like any style.....No team is going to stand by and allow you to win match after match, teams will be watching us.....we are top of the form league, that will not go unnoticed. Its not so much that the STYLE is not sustainable.....other teams will be planning to undo us.

Dave, wasn't it Graham Taylors instruction to his troops in his early days? " Don't let them run the legs off you"....." pick them up when they get in to the danger zone".....if they take the ball for a ride ,let them, keep your shape and have them when they raid again".....it was basically to hell with possession..............AT THIS STAGE OF OUR DEVELOPMENT. words to that effect.

Its a good point....good football is in the eye of the beholder.......some fans are turned on by watching good defensive work.....each to their own. Its kinda tangible v intangible. I'll stick to the tangible bit for now...... 6 wins.

If you can't see for yourself the difference in our circumstances during the Xmas/January period to now......then I'm not going to explain. Its been said enough times.....you either accept it or you don't ......clearly you don't.