flashingqwerty

The point being TRO, these players were bossing the league before they came here and its down to how they are being utilized (example, hourihane as a holding midfielder...) which is what has hampered their ability to impact the teams performance. How well these plaeyers were doing before they came here has little to do with their 'reputations' as you put it - facts is facts and they were playing well. And it's SB's use of them that has stopped them from playing well - which is well documented and quite simple to prove.

saddle sore?

i can pretty much guarantee you that any manager in this league would kill to have their pick of the players in our squad. Kodija, one of the best strikers in the division last year despite missing a sizable chunk of it, and also one of the top strikers in the division the season before that. Hourihane, the top ranked midfielder in the division when we signed him. Lansbury the 3rd top ranked midfielder in the division when we signed him. Terry, arguable the best defender in the division. Chester one of the top 5 defenders in the division last season. And i could go on...

Cant disagree enough with this... With the money we have spent and the quality of the players we have at our disposal we should be walking this league. Only for the poor decisions and poor coaching of the man in charge have we failed to impose ourselves thus far. Today, as others have said, highlights the best and worst of our season. The first half showing the limited though pattern of our manager in setting us up in such a negative way, couple with no small amount of good fortune for the 2 goals, followed by the second half where the shackles were somewhat loosened and we played some nice football showing way we could be capable of. I would be more of the opinion that the 2 1st half goals had more to do with the improved performance than anything the manager may have said or done - but then i don't like the man so i am probably biased...

Great post!

Dont think he will get sacked until at least the end of september... Should have been sscked in february.

Lee hendrie thinks we should stand by SB as he will come good. Yeah he has a good cv but we have seen zero progress on the pitch since his arrival and nothing to suggest its going to change. He should have gone at the end of last season

Fergie was tactically astute, could spot a player, had a great backroom staff but also had the hairdryer in him. There are few that have all of those and without the tactics bit i dont think you can succeed in the modern game.

Lets not forget that the board also blocked him from bringing in the backroom staff that he wanted. Not saying he was any good (i actual dont rate him that highly) but i do agree that its unfair to judge him y his time at villa due to the situation he inherited and the constrainst imposed on him by the board. It was clear he was promised far more support than he was given and that no doubt affected his performance too.

If it were still the 70's/80's i'd agree. In those days all you needed was a team with a good work ethic and little ability and you'd go far. Unfortunately, times have changed and a group of hard working players with little talent just isnt enough these days. You need a lot more talent than ever to get somewhere on top of the work ethic. Currently i think we have the talent, sadly the work ethic is still not there. My opinion would be that this is because we overpay our players reducing their motivation.

Dwight may be a former villa player but i cant see him as a villa fan as he has said some truly horrible things about the club on tv!! I for one do not want him anywhere near this club again.

Im going for "stuck in china. Manager walking soon. UTV"

Cant see villa accepting an offer unless its silly money

Thats kinda my point

The only issue i have with andre is that we dont really have a backup for him. Anyone else we put wide left is a square peg.

The difference being that what Gabby has done in the first team, which is create or score our only goals, is FACT whilst saying "the kids could have done better" is conjecture. To hate on gabby for SBs decisions is ludicrous in the extreme. Equivalent to me blaming the admins for something you type. Hate SB for picking Gabby? Yes, i'm right there with you. But dont hate on gabby when hes the only player we have making goals happen.

in our clueless, terrible, no tactic team, gabby is the only one who has had a major influence. Scored 1, created 1. Without Gabby we'd have no goals. Without doubt our best striker this season, and i fail to see where all the hate is coming from. Yes, he is limited, but by god he's been very important to us so far this season as trying harder than most!

As a former blues manager he needs to "keep right on to the end of the road" away from villa park.

Has anyone seen SBs post match interview?!?!? And i quote "... we didn't deserve to lose..." What football match was he watching? Cos the one i saw should have been a lot worse than 2-1!!!

For me the last 5 mins show that bruce is the problem. When the shackles came off and the players took ot upon themselves to do it alone we looked half decent. Imagine what a manager who isnt a buffoon could do!

We're the new aston villa and we're free fallin

Im much less confident. I am going for a score draw.

The 2017/18 season

Game soon then anouncement time?

Arent those you 5/6 youngsters that are to be brought into the senior squad as cover?