dn1982

I think Bruce is permanently 3/4 games away from being sacked. He got the benefit of the doubt for the start from the board but now he hasn't got any excuses left. The Wolves game has shown a new manager can instill a style in just a few months something Bruce still hasn't done. I'll accept the crap football as long as it's winning crap football. I think the DR will look at our position at the next international break and then decide if Bruce gets another transfer window. If he doesn't get enough points I think he'll pull the plug and let the new bloke have a fair run before the window. If we saw progress on the pitch Bruce would have some credit left but it's mix and match football with a default tactic of defend. I hope Bruce is still our manager in April as it'll mean we are still looking at promotion but he'll need to find a magic touch to do so IMO.

I don't think Bruce will change anything. I can see him saying that the players need a chance to put it behind them so will go with the same team. I would shake it up. Until Wolves the results were good but performances weren't that good so I'd go SJ RDL Chester Terry Hutton Snodgrass Onomah Hourihane Adomah Davis Hogan Steer Whelan Grealish OHare Kodija Samba Lyden Kodija needs a kick up the arse. Lyden deserves to be involved. Grealish would be good last 15 if needed.

He isn't a good RB but he's got a decent cross and against lost teams in this league that'll be good enough but against good teams like on Saturday he'll fall short. We don't need him to play there as we have better RB options. Start RDL.

I'd have him on the bench on Saturday instead of Thor.

How many points do we need on Saturday to reach 86 then?

It gets forgotten he looked good in a struggling premier league side and if he never got injured would've forced his way in last year. If he is fully fit give him a go. He can cover RB and CM from the bench. Give him game time or we will lose him. Johnson should've been given time to fail instead of being bombed out but can't see Bruce doing it. Davis got picked because of injuries. You can look at Bree to show how he really treats youth.

We now know we aren't as good as Wolves but there's not much else in this league to be afraid of. The next 4 games will show if we can look at 2nd or we will be lucky to challenge for the playoffs. You have to shrug off defeat in this league and just keep going. We need to go undefeated till the next international break now.

Why has he stopped passing forwards? It's like he's been told off for trying to create and now takes the easy option and just pops it to the defence every time. He's looked good going forward and has the ability to pass long range, create and score yet he's getting worse not better. You can't have both centre Mids keeping it simple at tines yes do repercussions than our defensive midfielder!

Especially based on the football he serves up. Utter garbage! How many passes forward to our midfield make? Hourihane the top assister last season looks frightened to create anything!

To be fair Brentford ripped us apart more without the reward and Reading out passed us more so though Wolves maybe the best in the league beating us isn't the greatest barometer. I do blame Bruce but totally agree wit him the rest of it. I can't see us going up automatically and after tonight I would bite your hand off if offered 6th!!

We don't do the ugly stuff good enough and we don't keeep the ball. So what is Bruce doing? I've said all along Bruce relies on his good players showing individual brilliance to win most games it's not good management. We've still not got a style after all these months and we played a team with lots of it after 6. This Wolves performance has been seen before against other teams that keep the ball.

We can all pick an amount of games to back up an argument. Ultimately though until we are firmly in the top 2 Bruce will be underacheiving in most fans eyes. That's why these next 5 games are so important. We actually play teams that are going to be involved. My concern is so far this season we've not beat anyone yet who will be. We've improved but have we improved enough? Today is the start of finding that answer out. I just hope he doesn't flap it like Bristol and change to match them to much. We can outscore any team in this league.

I'm not sure Blues have done us a favour. Today would've been must win if Cardiff where further away now with them losing and Bristol drawing as long as we don't lose it'll all bunch up anyway. Will that affect Bruces team today? I hope not.

That's where I'd like to see him play. Thanks.

He's played there for us and not been that good.

So far his best games have been from the left. At the minute he's a winger that plays 10 IMO and so far not that well. He holds on to the ball way too much. What sort of 10 is he? For me he should stay as a LW and look to be a Waddle type of winger. If he becomes a 10 he'll to develop his passing and finishing.

He's been a winger his whole up bringing so to stay he's not is silly. I still think he needs time to develop and he may grow into a no10 but he's flattered to deceive there yet. For now I'd have him LW till he finds his form then think about moving him around.

Did he come on as sub? He plays deeper for England than he does for us and I don't like to see him subbing on for Whelan at times a season he wants to be a CM not just an AM. if he can play a team a high tempo in CM he'll be some player but at the minute he's quite ponderous and reminds me of Tom Huddleston. Loads of ability but a bit slow in doing everything and that separates the decent players to the top players.

Congratulations but i covered half the things he said in my OP!!

Anytime! In my OP I stated a lot more than the quote you took as I said so far we've not beaten anyone who will be in contention. He will have to improve his record to be a success here but I don't buy into the state of the club when Bruce arrived as much as you do but that's a debatable issue. The biggest thing is this season we are still not where we'd want to be. We now have a run of games that will show if September was a blip. I'm more confident than I was after Boro but Bruce still has lots of questions to answer. We are still short of his 2pts game target and have been since he's been here. If we average 2 pts a game from the next 4 I maybe as confident as you. Let's hope I am.

Did you read my original OP and not the selected quote?

We all know his CV and that's what you're basing your feelings on but he's fell short so far and we all hope he gets it right. The thing is none of us know we can only hope he does. He has to improve our position. We are still short of where we need to be this season so so far he's underachieved. Let's hope we can start beating the teams that are going to be in contention as so fat this season in the big games we haven't done it. We've still had more poor performances than good I just hope we've turned the corner. I'd look up what hope means next time if I was you. If id put blind faith you may have had a point.

Most fans that dislike Bruce based it on his record here, his style and where we finished last year and the start we had this season. Those that back him do it in the hope he's the right man. That's something we all do. We all want Villa to be successful. The last month has been more positive but it's still short of what we need. The old adage of you can only beat what's in front if you cuts both ways. We've not beaten anyone of note yet and now have a run of games against sides who will be there or there abouts and our local rivals. It's a much tougher month than last month. If we do well Bruce will have killed off most of his doubters but until we are beating good teams regularly the jury is still out on him. Wolves is massive as after the last break we luckily didn't get spanked by Brentford who are 19th!

We'd get smashed with that! If he went 3 at the back it'd be Samba in there but we are an awful team playing it so stay well clear. I do agree though about them being strong through the middle. I'd just slot in a replacement for Taylor if everyone comes back raring. Hopefully that'll be RDL if not still play RDL but go 433 with Kodija up top on his own.

All i saw last week was fans begging for Blues tickets but 3 days later we go to Preston I wonder how many want to go there. Fir me it's the bigger game. Anything can happen in a derby but we've got 4 tough games coming up. Last month we'd never won a game I didn't think we should. This month we've got games we need to get something out if we are to challenge. Wolves and Preston are as tough away as you get. Fulham at home is the same. Blues who knows what will happen. If we average 2 pts a game from that lot we will be right in it. I'd be happy with 6 if we remain undefeated.