delboy54

Maybe Bruce has accidently discovered the right formation for us Maybe Bruce has see that playing players in their normal positions works Maybe we have finally found the "start" button for this season Maybe he has seen how bad Hutton played Maybe he now has seen we have abundance of young players who want to perform on the "stage" and not worried about the opposition Maybe we are on the way back Maybe the Wigan and Bristol City games coming up will see us reverting to "business as usual" Maybe I sould stop typing maybe Maybe....

Ok if the players are good enough to get us out of this league, and the manager has done it 4 times before, then who is to blame? I would look at getting rid of the coaches - is it true that Bruce has never worked with Calderwood?

I think Bruce is a genuinely nice guy tbh. I wish he would just resign now it will be best for everyone. What gets me though he was a professional footballer at the highest level, took teams out of this league a number of times (4?) and yet seems to have no idea on what to do, tactics, formation, team etc etc... I think football has passed Bruce by...

Hi Just read that Guardian article again (posted in full elsewhere)....snippets of it below.....it makes scary reading to be honest.. "Shortly after taking charge at Sunderland Steve Bruce was asked if he had considered experimenting with a Christmas Tree formation. "I'm not really into tactics," he replied. At the time that response was easy to interpret as a deliberately flippant or, perhaps, a self-deprecating means of avoiding answering the question. As the seasons passed, though, the suspicion grew that the former Manchester United captain had simply been honest." "Arguably one of the principal reasons Bruce is no longer in charge at the Stadium of Light concerns his apparent inability to tweak formations or tactics during matches. Whenever a rival manager re-configured his system mid-game, Bruce invariably failed to come up with a countermeasure." "If he failed to cut it as a tactician, the 50-year-old did not seem much of a strategist either. Including loans, 30 players were signed – several of whom have subsequently been moved on – during Bruce's two-and-a-half years on Wearside. That represents an unsettling "churn" factor and hardly proved conducive to developing either a clear playing philosophy or strong team spirit." "Always rather amorphous, if not downright scrappy, Sunderland's high-tempo style lacked creativity, not to mention control, in central midfield. Unable to dictate play, the team frequently failed to press home early advantages."

My thoughts: Giving Bruce the job was a no brainer at the time to be honest, he had been there done that and got teams out of this league. On paper it was the correct choice in my book. I never liked any of the football his previous teams played, but at the time we needed an experienced manager. The problem is I think modern football has passed him by, he is on record of not really being into tactics. Yes I know footy is a simple game but there are areas you try and exploit other teams weaknesses as seems to be case every week when opposition find it easy to find our weaknesses. If its not Bruce that is the problem, that what is? My conclusion is that its the coaching of players and I think as much as I like the bloke and really wanted him to do well for us, he seems now at a loss at what to do next. Its time for SB to consider his position. The Dr like any owner is not going to sit on his hands and see his investment give him such a poor return without action, so I think its a case of SB to honourably leave or wait get pushed by the Dr to be honest.. But who we have as the new manager?..................... as long as its not Moyes Regards Del

Moyes???......is anyone serious about him coming to Villa as manager?......come on my 84 year old mum could do a better job Mind you as mentioned by Dimitri_C, Moyes will fit right in with our boring, predicable, negative football that is currently on offer

Danger of over reacting to last nights game. It was on the TV, how many times does Colchester play in front of Sky TV? Colchester are up against the mighty Villa. Of course Colchester want to raise their game. Its always going to be tricky playing lower league clubs on a cold and rainy night on a water logged unfamiliar pitch in front of SkyTV. Regards Del

What was that saying ? "if you put an infinite number of monkeys in a room with a typewriter (remember those), one day they will write the complete works of Shakespeare". So in a similar way, if Villa keep buying new players and playing them in different positions and in different combinations of players, one day we will end up with a team that can play football for 90 minutes. Regards to all Del

I see on the official site that kick off is August the 4th at 2:30 pm So we should have about 20 minutes to go now...anyone know the score?....it seems quieter on here than usual when the Villa are playing... Regards Del

I am still concerned with lack of proven regular goal scorers in the team. If Hogan "clicks" then great, but what if he doesnt?, can we rely on Gabby until the "Kodger" is back from injury? Regards to all Del BTW shame about Grealish. It always seems to be our players. When you think about how many good Villa players suffered career threatening (and ending) injuries over the years.....does this happen at other clubs?....should we be looking for a loan to replace Grealish in the meantime?

Just bear in mind that Newcastle lost their first two games of the season last year and still went up. Its consistancy that we need this year - convert those draws last season to wins and those losses to draws and we will be near the top. Regards Del

Hi all Not sure if this belongs in this thread but may affect many of us for the first few home games (the mods will make a new thread i guess if not..). I have seen on the www.roads.highways.gov.uk that Junction 6 on the M6 Aston Expressway is going to be closed every weekend from 7th July through to the 4th September (i.e 6 or 7 consequetive weekends). Now this effects me coming from the South on the M6 so I am wondering if its a good idea to get off at Junction 5, get to and park at, Star City and walk to the ground during the home games. Any thoughts on this or alternatives? I normally park at the King Edward VI Aston School car park - convenient but normally 1 hour to get out - which is a pain. Best regards Del

I called the ticket office yesterday Monday, and they were just about to release them at 1700 yesterday.....looked now and they are on sale. Yes I agree it seems very late in the day. I want to go to the Colchester game (I only live 45 mins away) no tickets yet for non season tickete holders like me. Hoping that there will be a few left... All the best Del

Saw some of the game last night. JT was in a different class, made space for himself, and allowed others to pass to him when his team mates ran out of options...which was most of the time. He is a proper footballer...wish we had a few more footballers in the team as well. I agree with some posts on here...JT must be wondering "what the hell was I thinking when I signed for this lot"... Del

Please not Moyes he has proven himself to be rubbish now.......sooner stick with SB Cannot even believe that we are discussing SB exit after a couple of friendlies.! If after the first 10 games things are no different I am sure there will be changes.....there will HAVE to be changes. Now what those will be who knows, but SB and coaching staff will be under pressure . If I were a manager and needed to recruit someone who could touch type I would not expect to have to teach that person once I employed, them how to type....they would know how to type. So why are footballers any different?. It has to be a case of poor coaching, poor (or lack of tactics/game plan) or not using the players correctly or all of these factors. I would hardly expect the typist in my example to have to clean the drains if its not a skill they have... Regards to all on this great forum! Del

Hi all I didnt see any of the Shrewsbury game but it sounded like any of the games we played last year...hardly any shots on target etc... I was able to see the Villa 10 times last year and apart from the very rare second or first half of a game where we actually looked good, the rest of it was pretty dire to be honest. In almost 50 years seeing Villa play,..... for the first time I walked out early during the Ipswich game home loss.....dreadful performance. My concern is not really the players to be honest. Most of the "new" signings have proven themselves playing with other clubs. My concern is when SB says he "doesnt do tactics". Now if he is not involved with this side of the game them who is? Arguably many will say tactics is overrated, its just a simple game. But many teams that we played last year were able to neutralise us and take advantage of our known weaknesses. So why are we not doing the same to these teams? Coaching is I think the main issue, this is where the problem lies... Why are we not playing our players in their natural position? what is the point during these friendlies in experimenting by playing players in positions that they dont normally play in? SB should be by now, fine tuning the "playing system", so that all players know their jobs and when injuries and suspensions come along then integrating replacements into a known (hopefully successful) system should be easy. It appears that we are far far away from this as possible. In fact I would say that tactics, team formation or style of play, call it what you want, we are no further forward in developing this than we were 9 months ago. Rant over........Enjoy the Summer! Regards to all Del

Interesting all this. Perhaps we should insist on a second medical test done by a third party. If he comes out as ok then get some oily lawyer to extract £ millions from Seville in compensation.... Regards Del

Hi all Might be slightly off topic...but relevant to next Summer!.... Interesting to read yesterday that Newcastle (well Rafa) was saying how difficilt it is to sign players now they are in the premier league due to the huge and crazy transfer fees. Of course the mighty Villa will be promoted at the end of this upcoming season, but does this mean that we could be in the same position needing to recruit more players for life in the premier league? Regards to all Del

Hi everyone Well what with all this John Terry speculation, I am still concerned regarding this Villa team that still has not been addressed. Last season one of our main problems was lack of goals. So many times we tried to hang on 1 - 0 up only to lose or draw. Whereas if we had been 2 or 3-0 up we (probably) would have still won. Too much reliance on "young Codger" we need more goals to come from elsewhere, we all know what happens when he is injured/suspended... We need more goals...where are they coming from? I have seen nothing so far that changes things from last season VTID (all the way from Suffolk) BTW looking forward to the Colchester game...just 45 minutes from me (instead of 2 hours drive to VP)...as Del Boy would say "Cushtie"

Well I am still confused about FFP (financial Fair Play).... How come Chelski, Man Ure, Man C$ty can all able to buy players with hyper inflated transfer fees and wages with countless 10's of millions of £, and yet Stoke, Watford etc etc cannot......where is the fair play with that? Personally I think the usual top 4/5 have contrived to sew the whole premier league thing up with Sky TV to be honest. Leicester were an anomally last season. The premier league is now as boring as the "Scottish Pointless League", where Celtic will always win it or a few years ago it was shared between them and Rangers. We can already predict the top 4/5 in the premier league for the end of next season......zzzzzzzzzz All the best Del

Hi all The way I see it there are now three options 1, Bruce leaves at end of the season - yes he has steadied the ship but the football is rubbish and why does he play players out of their natural positon? 2, Bruce leaves at the end of next season (as we won't go up playing like we have this season) 3, Give Bruce the Summer and 10 games into the next season and if not in top 6, Bruce should leave I have seen so many scrappy games that we have won by virtue of a good 45 minutes then by only hanging on for the other 45 minutes. We have never truely dominated any opposition. My thoughts yesterday watching the results coming in was particularly the Leeds Norwich game. How many times have Villa won this season after being a goal down? Can any of us really see Villa battling back as leeds did yesterday from 0 - 3 down to get back to 3 - 3? I was on the fence with Bruce, I think he is a genuine guy, but yes his track record of getting teams out of this league is good, but perhaps modern football and tactics have moved forward and passed and overtaken Bruce now. There was a Guardian article about Bruce quoted elsewhere and it was really an opener to read... Oh well rant over! All the best VTID Derek

Hi, got back from the game last night no thanks to the closure of the A14 and the A11... It was the game of two halves... First half I thought we played well but really needed to build on that 1-0 lead. Second half was backs to the wall and very frustrating, however a few months ago we would have conceded. The team look much more like a team now.......but a few comments Agree with comments about our keeper looking solid but chose to punch a couple of times when possibly did not have to and his kicking at times was poor. Jedinak was great but a few astray passes put ourselves under pressure Amavi, I am sorry he is a lightweight, gets caught in possession and loses possession too easily he also gets pushed off the ball and makes the wrong choice for the final ball. Kodja looked tired, did he pick up a knock?, I saw him limping towards the end of the game. We were pretty awful the second half to be honest but we battled on but the ball just kept coming back at us, we need to kill these teams off with a second goal or be able to hold on to the ball and pass the ball to each other without putting the players under pressure. Defended too deep camped out a lot of the time in our own half. Anyway one question....so thats 4 straight games that we have won without conceding, when was the last time that happened? All the best Del

I recall (tender age of 19!) being at this fixture 40 years ago or so ...1977 league cup semi final 2nd leg at Villa Park, it finished 2 -2. I am pretty sure an anouncement was made that the Holte End gates were shut as it was packed that night. A great night if I remember, even better though was the replay at Highbury when Sir Brian got his hat trick ....lets hope we win. I am heading up from home (Newmarket - Suffolk) with my daughter for this one K4 Upper Holte....she loves it!....she has no choice its in her DNA ! All the best Del

Any news on the injury? I expect he wont feature against QPR, which is a great shame. Regards Del

It certainly makes a nice change to have difficulty deciding who is player of the season, quite a few canditates this season, unlike previous seasons.......where an empty crisp bag or a pigeon were the only two to vote for... All the best Del