MarkLillis

To be fair to Hull in the second half I think their midfield was far more fluent than ours. The passing was neat and tidy and to each other.... Whilst our players were at pains to get a simple triangle going at times! Henri was one of the better ones when it came to effort and closing down but passes seem to go astray regularly, why? because he can pick a pass and execute it too we have all seen this. Also saw Glen Whelan misplace a number of passes too... I would suggest that Lansbury and Whelan were passing to where players were SUPPOSED to be and those players let them down by not being there.

I guess its plan "b"? Fair enough, its not very imaginative but does it have to be if it works? He did cause a fair bit of concern to the Hull defence whilst he was on......

I've had this conversation.... Its getting a bit wearing now watching the same type of performance from Villa.I think that we should be in a position to control games,I also think we have the players to do this.Maybe we were let down by poor finishing yesterday but certainly the slow rise of Hull from Under the cosh to unlucky not to be in front was nothing new and in my opinion avoidable. Just because I don't like watching this style of play does not mean I want Bruce sacked (as was suggested to me yesterday on our now frequent after match moans on the way back to the car) I think he will get us promoted but it is painful to watch and unconvincing hence the atmosphere in the stadium

I look at squad and think that's strong we can do this,but it's difficult to have faith after the abject failures of the last 5/6 years. This also has an affect in the media I've just listened to a Talk Sport conversation with Tony Cascarino saying "I don't fancy my old club Villa this year" went on to say he wasn't sure about John Terry and that he thinks we have more "work" to do.... I am hopeful of at least top six though UTV

45 goals in 75 games says that he know where the net is! http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=52994 21 goals in 27 games for Brentford last year says that he can do it in the championship! We are missing something here......not all strikers are like Kodjia and capable of existing on little or no service. Its a big season for Scott he's got a lot to prove.

I think Hogan is a great striker. His movement across the opposition back four is constant. This makes him a headache for opposing defenders who are never quite sure where he is. What must be very frustrating for him is that his teammates cant seem to get him "in" on goal....... We have not seen the best of this guy!

Life for a Villa fan....this players shit that players crap the other players too old.... We all have opinions but really none of these players who are supposed to be crap would have had careers in the premier league if they were actually as bad as some on this site make out. i have an idea let's first see if they sign for Villa,then (even more radical this one) watch how the play for us and then form a more informed opinion

I cannot seehow we will possibly be "sloppy" at the back this year as long as JT is fit. However the other two things may well raise their ugly heads, so pre-season will be a good marker for whether Brucie has got to grips with it or not.

For Aston Villa to sign Joe Hart and John Terry after a season when we just finished 13th in the Championship shows the pulling power we as a club (and our owner) still have. Sure I understand the negativity both are not at their peaks and in fact Joe Hart may never actually reach the heights he was expected too. But guys we are a mid-table championship club, pulling off deals like the this.....FFS lighten up They will NOT make us worse, in fact there is a very good chance they will make us significantly better UTV

Im not sure I don't give a toss........but last season was enjoyable yes. I guess it depends on how you see things but there are a lot of distinguished football clubs in the Championship and to be honest I don't look at Bournemouth or Watford in the same way that I look at Say Leeds or Sheffield Wednesday!

I am not going to quote stats (basically because I don't really know them that well tbh),but the Hendrie I remember had a great work rate and stamina and used it to great effect in the 90's sides he was in. in comparison to Jack who has tremendous talent, but appears to lack Lees will and desire....... Both are Villa youth products and so have longer rope as far as I am concerned, so maybe I have looked back on Lees earlier Villa career with rose tinted glasses? Jack on the other hand could really be something at Villa and I hope he can be!

Fulham were very impressive during our defeat there last season. Derby have been there or thereabouts for years no reason to think that wont continue. Sheff Wed (see Derby) Blues will no doubt be good under Candle wax face Brentford I like but the may lose Jota, which would hurt them Villa of course....Steve Bruce will have the failings that caused us to go on the two bad runs last year under control Honourable mention to Sunderland Hull and Middlesboro who will all have good spells...it just depends how long they can keep it up after dropping out of the premier. And finally Barnsley not sure how strong they will be after they have finished being raided during the transfer market, but I think they must have some pretty impressive scouting system up there........

I think Adama Traore takes some beating for me.... The fact that he was at Barcelona but still managed to have no idea what to do with the ball when he had it or where to stand on the pitch, shows a high level of ineptitude... The man must have a good agent!

Tbf he does not look half the player Lee Hendrie was

On the transport bit... Witton station is very near to the ground. Wouldn't it be great if we could somehow purchase enough land leading up from the station to the ground to create a concourse similar to Wembley. On match day it could be filled with bars and fast food joints, leading up to a Fan zone type area that other clubs already have. Our match day experience could be so much better!(both on the pitch and off it )

Doctor Tony thinks that we will surpass 20000 season tickets - http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-season-ticket-sales-12868811 If so 20000 x £500 (approx.) = £10,000,000 in revenue. Its not to be sniffed at but if we dropped the prices to £250 each Villa Park would be full to the rafters every week. That would cost (approx.). £5,000,000 Lets "buy" some supporters!! The atmosphere would be fantastic! All for the price of one Micah Richards

We are in a position to mount a challenge next year along with a few other sides.... The teams that come down from the PL will be dangerous of course, but last year it was reasonably easier to predict the top two. Newcastle had Rafa who had already started the recovery before they went down. Brighton were ready to go up after a few near misses... No sides like either of them in this division next year (assuming Reading go up that is...)

Well I would have given Garde more time (could he have coped in the Championship? we will never know).....or Sherwood even (with hindsight would also not have been pretty, again we wont know) and was always arguing for Lambert to get one more season too....but I think in the end he was given a fair crack at it although most fans would have had him out in season two. The only one that didn't really have my support was RDM he just didn't feel right for us. What I AM searching for is a manager I can trust running a club with an identity, which we have definitely not been for almost ten years. How can anyone create this in 9 months? In my opinion we have to keep giving managers time until one of them creates the club we are looking for.

We have got to stop hiring and firing..... We all know this that is why excuses/reason are made. Villa need to play the long game (not long ball!!) what I mean by this is when a big ship is off course, changing direction is a slow and laborious process. Can we please give at least ONE manager time to do it properly?

I liked the look of this lad...if we can keep him around getting gradual game time I think he could develop for us in the same way Delph did....

Old "Arry" has had a chat with Brucie and suggests that he knows he has a difficult job on his hands...... I could see during the derby game that Redknapp had a plan to score and it didn't take long to notice what it was, but he had obviously looked at what he had and said "right this is how we get a result today".as some have you have stated above Bruce doesn't seem to be trying to do that. The question has to be why? I mean Steve Bruce knows football and he knows players, he hasn't just forgotten this knowledge lifetime of being around football can give. He CAN see their strengths and weakness's so why has he decided to play this non progressive un attacking anti football when we have some (on paper anyway)good attacking players. Please don't tell me this man who has been in and around football success all his life is just crap.....

RIP Ugo.

Bruce will get it right. I agree with the comments about players taking responsibility. There is no way Bruce should be made accountable for a 20/30 grand a week player not being able to pass 5 yards to his team mate or in some cases not even notice that the pass is on. Unless he keeps on picking the culprits.....and I like to think (personally) that he knows who they are and he won't once he can replace them. Next year will be different!

I do agree. None of it sounds good. Recently, although performances were not pretty the team looked solid and like I said stable.Johnstone was showing good form..... Baker and Chester with Jedinak were looking strong, Taylor and Hutton were fine at full back. Lansbury and Hourihane were starting to show flashes of previous form and Kodjia was knocking them in.. Now three games after the winning run has come to an end this improvement will go away never to return? Virtually every team in this league goes through spells of good bad form the improvement cannot be linear. But rather it will be gradual and sporadic regardless of how much money we spend. How many people tell us that money is no guarantee for success, then when success doesn't arrive say it should have done because such and such a club has spent X amount? I have faith (I hope it is not in vain) UTV!

He is stabilising the club..... After the last 7 years of instability, I imagine that is a difficult job. The signs are there that we are getting better as a team. The goalkeeper has settled in,we generally have a settled back four/five (depending on what Bruce is trying out) and he obviously does not have the personal yet in midfield/upfront but I imagine he knows who and where to get them from in the summer. It is going to be a good season next year.