MarkLillis

Did anyone else make the mistake of getting the train to Witton instead of Aston?

My brother and I usually get off at Witton so we did the same yesterday (really should have known better but though "how bad could it be").....

The train was full of them but to be fair they didn't sound to confident before the game, a couple of songs about Aston being a shithole and the usual KRO stuff.

Interesting how more than one of them could be heard to say that they wished they didn't have to play us and that they hated this game.

1 hour ago, romavillan said:

How far off were Fulham when they clicked last year?

Last season after 15 games Fulham had 19 points and they were in 16th place.....

After 25 games they were 12th on 36 points

And started to surge up the table after that because after 35 games they were one point behind Villa on 62 points in 4th place

Of course they finish 3rd as we know.

Of course the result was disappointing,

The way we played at times was far from it though.Under Bruce we struggled to see any pattern to the team play (i was a fan so i looked really hard!)

Watching the early Smith offerings i would say that soon we will see a side to be proud of. A side that is obviously playing a style of play that the manager has thought about and developed.

Its possible the Bruce plan (big players,doing special things) would of worked but he blew it after the Wolves match.

Who knows the future may be brighter now under Smith than if we had gone on and secured promotion under bruce last season.

4 minutes ago, fifamad said:

 No wonder so many other fans think we are smug, arrogant, deluded. 

Who cares what other clubs think! We’re Aston Villa we’ll do what we want!

*oh,ok I see what you mean

4 hours ago, Junxs said:

I've seen the "steadied the ship" comments again in the last few pages.. For me the ship is in exactly the same place as it was this time 2 years ago. 

Which is steady.Is it not?

On 29/09/2018 at 16:40, jackbauer24 said:

 

 

Not going well is it... And we can't make up points versus Preston as we won their last season. We've improved on ONE result from last season, maintained status quo against five teams and had four poorer results.

Another reason to shout BRUCE OUT.

Last season we drew at home to Preston and lost to Millwall.

However slim the possibility is, if we win the next two we pick 5 points versus last year.

Not sure we can beat Bristol City.

At their ground, in the from we are in.......

So I'll go for 1-3 loss, in which we start off well ,take the lead  andthen get penned in until we finally concede and let in a couple of late goals.

6 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

 

I reckon that Purslow is probably furious at Bruce at the moment. When Purslow joined the club he probably thought that at least Steve Bruce was a safe pair of hands to act as a decent stop gap until the structure was installed behind the scenes, especially since he was given some new signings to keep the team competitive. Now he is 1 or 2 games away from a total fan revolt and being forced to sack (and pay off) Bruce much sooner than expected, and he will then have to try to recruit a replacement without the help of a DoF or technical director in place. A nightmare scenario for a new CEO...I bet it's tense on the Monday morning management call. 

I see your point.Fans (including myself) are worried about results and performances.Depending on the personality of the fan that anxiety will manifest into a physical reaction at VP when things go wrong in the pitch.

We could help of course.By just keeping our doubts and anger inside....and then go to the pub and have a winge in a safe environment that doesn’t affect the team.

Of course no one can or should be expected to do this.Football is an emotional game and ALL fans react badly to situations like this.

Which is why Bruce will go....unless he turns it around starting Friday.

26 minutes ago, 1974Centenary said:

Its simple really...is 13th in the championship good enough....if yes Bruce stays,if no...........

I think it’s entirely possible if we give him another month we can complete two years of Bruce tenure  by being in virtually the same position that he found us in....

When strikers demand the ball then it is because they are confident - Scott Hogan had lost his and so he did the running without the demanding....

The lad obviously has standards that he expects form his team mates regarding when he should have the ball passed to him.

I'm sure that our lads will start look for him now they know they will get a mouthful when they don't!

Of course the harmony of the team will rest upon his finishing as players wont put up with it if he is not doing anything when he gets it!

Please no...

Just no...nothing else

No.

2 hours ago, romavillan said:

He was one of the best at this level when we got him, Jedinak is not a central defender and the fact he gets some stuff to bounce off his head may look great but given a run of games I'd back Elphick to be less of a liability. Jedinak is our first choice, who do you want to play in there if Chester, Axel and Jedinak get a knock? 

Letting Elphick go out before we had a central defender better than him to take his place is folly. Total lunacy, the work of a mentalist, a crazy **** bonkers shitbag of a mad man's mental musing of a footballing decision.

Its difficult to argue with your reasoning . But if I'm honest I would be more worried seeing him ON the team sheet than off it...

There are many reasons why football managers do things and this decision will be played out to its conclusion in the next few weeks no doubt. Either we get results with the team Bruce has decided to stick with or we don't and he loses his job.

But you seem to be a little annoyed by Mr Bruce at present I can see, I hope results don't get worse......

20 hours ago, romavillan said:

So Elphick is worse than no central defender at all? worse than fresh air? He scored and played all right, that's a contribution that fresh air is not going to give.

But of course we will not play with ten men. We will use another player.

My question is how do Elphick' s Villa performances make it mean that our other options (however poor they maybe!) are worse?

As whenever I have seen him he has been ponderous and flat footed,not especially strong in the air and not a very good reader of the game either.....

Or is it just that his official position is CB and that makes all of the difference? 

Ok so I understand not wanting Huth.

Yes Bruce should have address the CB problem with someone younger with a real future.

But the Elphick thing really?

 When has Elphick done anything to justify being kept on? He has hardly played well for us at all and his performances this year have been no better than Jedi.......

4 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

I want him to be given a run at CB, I want us to give him that chance to develop and am hopeful he will push on and become reliable there. It is better to take the hit on some ropey performances than presist with Mile, at least there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

 

How can this chance be given to him?

Fans do not accept mistakes, he will be crucified.

Young Ugo performances cant happen in this team, the players aren't big enough to support him and the neither are the fans. 

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I’d favour Huth to Terry simple as he is a younger. If fit of course. 

edit: Terry may be past it now

This opinion is misguided.

I know many older people who are very fit. Simply because they do what it takes to stay in shape.

I also know very unfit younger people who cant run for a bus....

Age is not an indicator of a persons condition.

When I think of Steve Bruce I'm picturing an evil plotting character with dark rings round his eyes cackling and plotting our downfall to line his own pockets.....

Well I do now after reading this thread.

Honestly the man has had a bad start to the season after a very difficult summer.

We were very close last season and we will be again...... if not he will go well before. I worry about our fans sometimes no wonder we are a laughing stock despite our numbers.......

When I played Sunday league (a while back) we were a reasonably good team.

Good players in all areas for the standard anyway.

All of us though would look around the pub car park waiting for our captain to show. Not because he was the best player or the youngest....

But because when he arrived the team felt more confident...without him which (fortunately was not often) we suffered and lost games we should have won.

If Terry has this effect on us as a team its a no brainer.

Call it anyone's fault if you like....... but this team needs a player like him and there is only one available so I pray it happens!

2 minutes ago, Rodders said:

 

actually coach the players, play centre halves at centre half. Work with the defence he has.  Or find a player who isn't on the way out and hasn't trained in months. Or quit.

There are many solutions to our problems....

Terry is a legitimate choice that many other managers may also make if the opportunity presented itself.

Bruce will stand or fall by his decisions.

46 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

Npt sure we can get these players to play to their full capabilities, when we still haven't seen Lansbury, Hourihane, Hogan, or anybody else Bruce has signed to do so.  It clearly takes Bruce a year and a half, or more to get players bedded in and performing at full capabilities.  I take it you expect it to be faster this time.  On what basis?

You can argue that Terry,Elmo,Snodgrass and Hourihane all played well enough last year. They are Bruce signings.

No manager has a 100% success rate with signings.

I am providing what seems to be alternate view on Bruce, we played very well for long periods ;last season the reason we didn't go up was the bad start we had.

This year the opportunity to NOT make such a bad start is still here... there is a possibility of at least 10 (if not 12) out of the next 12 points.

I think we can expect a reaction from Bruce and his team and I think we will get one too.

This is of course is my own opinion and not really based on this seasons dire performances but on my experiences of the championship and how transient from can be in this division. 

I think they are not looking to sack him.

I think the funds were made available for new players and Steve Bruce has to be allowed to bed these new players in.

McGinn looks good but is not at Snodgrass level yet

Nyland shows flash's of form but in general has not hit the ground running

EL Ghazi two games one assist one goal

Bolasie and Abrahams yet to play

Jedinak  is Bruce's choice at CB and also will get better as the season goes along (disclaimer - not saying I agree with this but he is a seasoned professional and can adjust to his new position)

We are definitely weaker this season at present than we were last year. I would say that we will improve as these players start to play to their full capabilities.

of course sky sources say he will be "bitterly disappointed" if he cant get his dream move to Boro.

51 minutes ago, osmark86 said:

2) the players do not have clear instructions from the manager what to do off the ball?

I have a lot of faith in Steve Bruce and the way he builds a team.

We should have a certain type of player at Villa, recent managers have not understood this.

However I believe he is very much of the opinion that "players win you games" and the players are expected to be able to see problems arising and adjust to them as and when they happen.

If this is true and their are only guidelines from the management team not clear instructions on what they should do for every period during the game rather than clear rigid instructions, then we have a problem as players on the pitch are not reacting when patterns of play change.

27 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Can't quite recall the precise details, but I'm sure there's an article out there on tinternet, where some woman from the Guardian is talking to Bruce and he says, "I don't do tactics". Anyone seen it? Think it would really add something to the debate in this thread.

This sounds around about right.

He looks at the players he has and decides the best format (4 3 3 last year) then tells them to sit in when the other team has the ball and only press when they think they can definitely win the ball back.

Its hardly tactical genius.

What he does well is decide on those players and motivate and keep them "up" for what is a long hard season.

Steve Bruce.

Would i like him to stay?  Yes,I like having him in charge, he is a very knowledgable man who is widely respected,he chooses to play in a style that sometimes i don't enjoy but on the whole i respect his decisions as he has earnt that respect.He also signs "proper footballers" players which for too long have passed us by. If he gets a budget this year he will not waste it as so many people think,he hasn't done it before and he won't do it again.

Should he stay based on his performance over nearly two seasons of managing the biggest club in the division? This is more difficult to answer,as he had a very strong squad in both seasons and on occasions we have not pressed home the advantage that such a strong squad has given us.The tactics and team choice have let us down often and at the play off final can anybody say they went there confident our experienced but one paced side would prevail?

Will he stay? He could well be replaced by new owners as the fact is Aston Villa are underachieving with every game we play in this division. Its a very difficult job to get Villa back up. What we are and what we should be are two different things,i think Steve Bruce can  get us back BUT HIS GAME NEEDS TO BE UPPED THIS SEASON as Villa had too many bad periods which cost us last year.