carewjust4u

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Whelan's pass completion is 81.7%

Last season Jedinak's was 66.7%

I love Mile, but they are very different players. We're playing the best football we have under Bruce with Whelan in the team, in my opinion, both in terms of performances and results. We can argue that it is in spite of Whelan, but I don't agree.

Jedinak will have a role to play I'm sure. With Whelan, without Whelan, but never in a 2 man midfield. He's a very specialised player.

I would actually prefer him to Samba in central defence. 

Very fair argument, and you are totally right. 

I would question is the difference in pass rates down to the players, or how we were playing at the time? Difficult to know untill mile has a run in the team. 

You'e definitely correct about the midfield two, but the same goes for Whelan...hes struggled with a two man midfield. Onamah is a god-send for both players.

At the end of the day, it's a nice problem to have both fit and challenging for a place in the team.

11 hours ago, Grasshopper said:

We are not top 2

The playoffs are ONLY a worthy alternative IF we happen to WIN at Wemberlee - presuming we get through the semi‘s - presuming we FINISH in the playoffs.

Judging ONLY the QPR game - we can win this league with these players playing to this effect (I‘m not talking about hoofball or tiki taki)

The manager MUST let the players play

I agree with all of this.

But what i would say, is that doesnt Bruce have a very good play-off record?

I think we are seeing the progress inaction, and with so many points to play for we'll make top two due to the quality of our squad. Failing that, we'll still go up through the playoffs, we really haven' lost many games at all this season.

11 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I love Mile but I have to question this. When have we played so much better with him and as opposed to whom? 

Last season I think we won only 2 or 3 games without him in the team. Whelan has done a job, but Jedinak brings superior defensive qualities...even neither of them can pass mind you haha.

Spurs are a title chasing team, with one of the best strikers in the world. If anything they will buy another ready-made world class striker to supplement (llorente already?), there's no danger here on Davis.

Onamah is surpluses to requirements, they have; Alli,  Erikisen, Winks, Deir, Dembele, Lamela, Benteleb all ahead of him for the CM & CAM. We will either buy him if we get promoted, or he will get sold for a nice english-driven transfer fee.

Can' wait for him to be back in the starting XI, we play so much better with him.

I have to say, he was bang on the money today...that was a superb performance. Steve has been fortunate in the sense that injuries have forced him to play a certain team & formation. I hate to say it, but could I be that 4-5-1 without Kodija is our best set up? On today's evidence it would seem So, we obliterated QPR.

10 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

Predictions not negative just realistic

QPR Loss 5 wins 1 defeat from 8 at home

Sunderland Draw We should win but they've got several score draws away

Ipswich Loss they've only lost to top teams 

Leeds Loss tough away game. Not won there last 3 and that's going back to 2003

 

That's 1pt from 12. Maybe turn couple of losses to draws and that's 3. The way were playing and with injuries I struggle to see a win in these games. Hopefully I'm wrong but if not what happens to our season and Bruce?

Sunderland are ridiculously bad, be realistic. 

We go on a good run of form, lose a game to Wednesday and now people are predicting 1 point in 12. Come on lads.

@Grasshopper, I understand and respect your opinion based around the style of play and the entertainment factor.

My question is, when was the last time we ever had a manager that played the type of football you're after, over an entire season?

I can't remember a single season for a very long time in which we have played the assertive, controlling, and attacking football you're after.

The difference with Bruce, is that he is actually getting results...whereas his predecessors all failed in that department. 

14 minutes ago, Grasshopper said:

Throw in that the „final jigsaw piece“ appears to be Davis, a fluke in all honesty, and Adomah‘s re-intro to the team, I have no confidence of his design for our future.

 

Could you not argue that Bruce created his own luck with Davis, after all, he would of assessed the young lad before he put him into the side. Look at Rashford for example, he only got played when Martial and all the other strikers picked up an injury...now he is the only United player that has started every game.

With Adomah, could you not argue that benching him drove the player into hitting his best ever form for us? 

Football is a game that has a close and direct relationship with luck and fine margins, it goes for and against.   

1 hour ago, TrentVilla said:

 

I think it’s ridiculous to argue we aren’t currently in great form, it can’t really be disputed. 

I also think it’s ridiculous to argue that our woeful start to the season hasn’t had an impact on our push for automatic promotion.

Whatever people’s issues with some of the things Bruce does or decisions he makes right now we just have to enjoy the ride and hope it gets us where we need to be.

I’d have sacked him earlier in the season, the form currently suggests that would have been the wrong move. I hope that come the end of the season that still proves to be the case.

I still think we need to be more dominant in games through possession and mentality but perhaps those things will come, perhaps not.

One thing is for sure I’m starting to look forward to games again and look at the fixtures and try and figure out where we could be.

The next three games are crucial In my view, they won’t define our season but they will have a big impact ahead of the festive period.

A win against Wednesday would be a great start.

Fair play Trent, this is a great and reasoned post. I think the vast majority of people feel very similar to this.

I guess in some ways our season starts now, in the sense that our manager knows his starting XI and they seem to have gelled.

As you've said before, we all want the same end result come the close of the season.

19 minutes ago, striker said:

Yeah mate no worries (I didn't see the game against Fulham) but I just don't think he's affected the games that i've seen in the way that he did last season. That may be due to his recovery from injury of course but I certainly feel Villa this season are less reliant on his individuality because as we've seen goals are now coming from all the pitch and that is certainly a good thing would you not agree?  

Don't underestimate the space he creates for his team-mates. The opposition seem to pay alot of attention to our Kodj, and try and get close. This as a result creates space for the midfielders & Davis, as they have more space to operate, and at the moment score goals.

We are a far better side with him, imagine how much better we will be when he starts hitting form.

Fast becoming my favorite villa player.

that through-ball he played to Adomah in the first half nourished me.

So happy he is proving the doubters wrong, class is truly permanent.

This thread is so much more bearable when there's some positivity, fair play Bruce...a great performance and a fantastic result tonight.

Lots of people on here would of been champing at the 451 with onomah when it was announced, but it worked beautifully today...and the lad had a brilliant game.

.

WE'RE GONNA WIN THE LEAGUE 

Just now, alreadyexists said:

Sorry to sound naive, where does O’Hare generally play? Is he a number 9 sort of striker or is he more a forward? 

i thought he was more of a number 10, but i may be wrong.

Game-wise, a win here would be a really great result.

15 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

4-4-2 works in certain situations. Not in others. It didn’t work vs wolves and it probably wouldn’t have worked vs Fulham which is why we went with the extra man in midfield. 

 

For all the moaning about Bruce’s lack of tactics and inability to adapt to the opposition, there are a lot of posters who seemingly want us to play 4-4-2 regardless. 

To quote Mike Basset; "Four Four F**cking Two"

16 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Made out of Velcro.

As in he holds together well?

Will he be fit for the weekend?

Wolves played very well against the best team in the country last night, perhaps not such a bad result as originally feared for Bruce a couple of weeks ago.