SuffolkVillan

17 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

 

I'm never ceased to be amazed by this thread. We have just moved up to 4th in the league, sit 5 points from automatic promotion with 19 games left to overhaul that gap having just won three very tough games on the spin. You'd think we'd all be buzzing with optimism, chomping at the bit and well up for backing the manager and players and doing all we can to help push them to promotion. Instead the discussion is around what was a realistic aim last season and what the manager said 12-15 months ago.

I'd be careful those of you are wallowing in the past and looking backwards as a means to criticize the manager/club as you are in danger of missing out on the here and now. If this club is to achieve what we all want it to this season then it needs us all pulling in the same direction. We all have a part to play be that by getting our arses to the games and when we get there offering positive, vociferous support or by those of us who can't get to the games focusing on the positives and looking to the future. We have had too many years of crap and now for the first time in years finally have something to be positive about and a positive cause to get behind. Let's not waste it. 

Well said that man

1 hour ago, skarroki said:

 

This I like, but isn't Snodgrass a right sided mid? I might be wrong.

                                                Johnstone

Bree                       Chester                      Terry                   Taylor

                              Whelan                 Onomah

Elmo                                 Hourihane                            Green

                                             Kodjia

subs: Steer, Jedinak, Lansbury,Hogan, O'Hare, Davis,Adomah

That still leaves Grealish, De Laet, Samba, Doyle-Hayes, Gabby

How the hell do we manage to lose so often????

39 minutes ago, USA_Villa said:

Dr Xia, please do not give Steve Bruce any more money to spend. I read in the papers that he is looking at Jack Wilshire and now a striker. It doesn't make any difference who he buys as I'm afraid he is not the manager to get Aston Villa promoted.

I have spent many glorious years watching the Villa, and was lucky enough to play at Villa Park twice myself, and in all this time I have never been more disappointed in a manager than I have in Steve Bruce. I was never in favor of his appointment, as I never enjoyed watching any of his teams. However, he has taken the Villa to a place I never believed we would go. We are fast becoming an embarrassment and a joke of a club. We don't score goals,and have just paid a fortune to one of the best center halves in the country, and we've shipped 5 goals in 3 games.

You don't have a bad team, you have a bad manager. Do the right thing and get rid. You are a successful businessman, and in business the golden rule is never be afraid to make a decision. You know it's the right one. Get rid of the man that is dragging your club down.

This

15 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Thanks for posting, I'd not seen that.

I'm aware I've already been quite critical of recent comments/interviews with Bruce so I'm aware some will see it as me just jumping on anything he says but once again I take issue with this.

The comments re spending millions frankly annoy me, I'd be interested to know how much Warnock has spent in the job at Cardiff.

But leaving that aside, the main point of the article is the culture thing.

Now I actually agree with him, there is an issue with this and its been there for far too long but I think he is on dangerous ground trying to use it as an excuse, which I think he is doing, for a number of reasons.

First, despite his claims re 6 months he has been here for 10 months, that might not be enough to change a clubs culture but it should be enough to make some sort of impact upon it. He has been afforded the opportunity, despite his recent bleating about financial restrictions, to bring in what 12 or 13 new players. Given that number of new arrivals, isn't it justified to think that we should be seeing some evidence of an improvement in this cultural issue?

Yet here we have Bruce saying that the basics still aren't there. Well hang on a moment Bruce, I'm looking at you here fella.

Here he is saying to paraphrase 'the players aren't bothered enough when we lose', well hang on a moment if this is such an issue how does his stance with Gabby make sense? Now I've not got a massive issue with what he has done with Gabby but if one player really hasn't been bothered enough over the last couple of years its Gabby. So what message is Bruce giving out to the dressing room by bring Gabby back? It is a bit contradictory to this notion of a cultural problem is it not.

Bruce is a manager who by his own admission doesn't place a great deal of store in tactics, so given that and his admission that he can't get the culture / attitude right (despite bringing in 12 / 13 players) then what exactly does he have left to offer?

He is right the team are fragile, there is no confidence at all in them as individuals or as units or a team. That in part is because the results are poor, its in part because we never retain the bloody ball which is in part a reason for the poor results. To quote Bruce out of context, the basics simply aren't there. It doesn't help that 10 months in the players like the fans probably haven't a clue what formation Bruce wants to play.

How we are playing has been picked apart many times so I won't do so again but Bruce needs to look at himself a little more.

Part of the reason we don't come back in games is that so frequently we aren't in them in the first place. We have little possession, we don't retain the ball, we don't put sides under sustained pressure, we don't create chances because we've no attacking threat unless Kodjia is on one. We try to pinch games 1-0 but we are pretty poor at doing it.

When we go behind we don't have enough in our game to fight back, that to me is more to do with tactics and management than it is heart, even if I concede heart is at times an issue. Last season he told us the players weren't fit enough, this season its heart.

The players aren't above blame, far from it but I once again come back to Bruce. He says it doesn't mean enough when we lose, well I'm sorry he is the manager and that is on him.

If this is an issue, he needs to set expectations yet instead he down plays them. He offers excuses about Grealish, about FFP and talks about hoping to be in the mix. If you give players a whiff of an excuse, some will take it especially those with poor motivation which he seems to be saying he has, so what the hell are you playing at Bruce with the saying this stuff.

Think back to O'Neill, we had issues when he arrived not dissimilar to those Bruce is alluding to, well O'Neill set the tone. He set the standards and people met them or they bloody knew it, he didn't offer excuses to anyone. It didn't take him 10 months before seeing 'gimpses' of improvement. Martin O'Neill had tactics, limited though they were, he had a way he wanted to play and it was effective (to a point) because everyone knew what it was and were signed to fit it. But Bruce isn't really into tactics.

I see what he is trying to do with these comments, he is trying to buy more time or defend his performance should more time not be forthcoming. What I suspect he is actually doing is alienating some of the players in the dressing room or may in some cases have questionable attitudes but are also I'd imagine seriously questioning Bruce's own contribution.

Personally when I start seeing this sort of stuff I always think a parting of the ways is both inevitable and imminent, right now sadly, I really hope this is the case.

 

 

I wish I'd posted this bang on!

14 minutes ago, Ingram85 said:

I'm not a massive fan but he has to be given at least 5 more games to turn this, sacking someone after 2 league games is absolutely ludicrous and incredibly small time. I happen to think he won't turn it around and said as much in the promotion thread, I said people targeting automatic promotion or play offs as a definite under Bruce were going to be sorely disappointed.

Even with that though, we would somehow be even more of a laughing stock than we currently are if we got rid after 2 league games. He has no more than another 5-8 league games for me. If nothing improves then no more than 5, if style of play improves but some results go against us then I'll be more patient and if he turns it around completely then he deserves to stay on a bit longer.

I don't know, I'm so conflicted about Bruce, have been since day one, he is a likeable bloke and has bought in some great players for us but his ability has always been in question. I'm just fed up of Villa being **** and no matter what we do, what decisions we make, they all seem to **** go against us. 

I understand your point of view but we are already a laughing stock

As others have said, we are regressing under Bruce and after his comments today he should walk. If he fails to walk I hope the good doctor shows him and all his "coaches"?? the door.

Newcastle lost the first 2 games last year and easily gained promotion but they had Benitez. As many have already said a younger, modern manager/coach would have a talented squad and plenty of time to get us promoted.

As Theresa May said recently....enough is enough. Pull the trigger Dr X

just had a quick look. Seems to be 15/1 is to be top at 31/8/17

I went for Hutton as he wouldn't need to cross the ball and I thought Bree whilst promising tends to give the ball away too easily...but then don't they all

Given available options and assuming Grealish will be fit. I would like to see the following with Grealish and Hourihane having free reign to interchange.

Sad to say I visited this thread first tonight..says it all really!

In a quiet moment, missus out shopping, waiting for the match my mind wandered to think what our team could of looked like using current premier league players who have left Villa in recent years. Not bad!!

                                        Benteke

Albrighton                                                     Downing

      Delph                  Barry               Gana

Milner          C Davies          G Cahill              Lowton

                                     Guzan

subs:

Given, A Young, w rout ledge, James collins, Cleverly, craig gardner, Boaz Myhill, S Ireland, P Crouch, S Maloney

Particularly for away games maybe we could look to set up mre for counter account and I also think something left field might help; certainly cannot get any worse. what do you guys think of dropping Jedi into a back 3 with Baker and Chester as someone who can play the ball out rather than hoofing it. Have amavi and Bacuna as wing backs which both have done before. In midfield get more energy with Lyden alongside tish with Mccormack as the attacking mid. Upfront a mobile 2 of Ayew and Kodjia.

Bring on Grealish for Mccormack when he tires.

Also have Greeen on bench to strech opposition if we get in front.

7 hours ago, villarocker said:

He's the most skillful centre forward we've had in years. Should be playing up front with McCormack behind him. Ayew wide left and Adomah wide right. Tshibola and Jedinak as the middle two. Back four of Cissokho/Amavi, Chester, Elphick, Bacuna/Hutton. Gollini between the sticks. That'll be a good side at this level. 

Absolutely agree with this!

Thought he was crap today! whats with the stamping up and down like a small child? 

We can't defend very well and we can't score as often as we need but both of these issues would I believe improve if we had a proper midfield. We are soft in the tackle let players run by and can't mount any serious pressure on the opposition. As much as I like Jack I think he is too lightweight in this league, westwood ineffective and Bacuna too erratic.

When all fit (obviously not RDL) I would go:

                             Gollini

Hutton      Elphick      Chester     Cissokho

                Jedinak        Tshibola

Adomah             Mccormack           Ayew

                          Kodjia

Then invest in January in the best 2 warrior/passers we can get that put Jed and Tish on the bench. We then might have something strong enough.

We have suffered for so long a bit longer wont hurt anymore than we are hurting now. RDM has to be given the whole season in my view.

Looking at those upcoming fixtures and Tony's reaction so far RDM must be feeling a tad uncomfortable right now!

7 hours ago, sne said:

So the squad will be:

GK: Gollini (potential), Bunn (weak), Steer (potential)

RB: De Laet (solid), Bacuna (passable), Hutton (passable) 

LB: Amavi (potential+), Cissokho (passable)

CB: Chester (solid+) , Elphick (solid+), Baker (passable), Richards (weak)

CM: Jedinak (solid+), Tshibola (potential), Westwood (passable) , Gardner (weak+), Lyden (potential)

RW: Adomah (solid), Green (potential+)

LW: Grealish (potential+)

FW: McCormack (good), Kodija (solid+), Ayew (good-), Gestede (passable), Kozak (weak+), Hepburn-Murpy (potential), Gabby (weak)

At a glance it looks very top heavy, lacking in width and weak in midfield, but as McCormack and Ayew have been used as midfielders rather than strikers it evens out a bit.

When all fit I expect the formation to be something like:

   Gollini

  De Laet      Chester       Elphick       Amavi

                                                            Jedinak        Tshibola       <---------------->   (Westwood)

                                               Adomah      McCormack      Ayew  <---------------->   (Grealish)

                                                             Kodija    <-------------------------->   (Ayew)

 

Doubt any team in the league is even close to us when it comes to attacking options, we are spoiled for choice, however we probably can't fit them all in if we are to have a functioning formation. ATM Ayew has been played as a winger where he is not very effective (or happy?). Nice that we have options thou.

Defense looks strong to me, but would have been nice with another CB.

Midfield is a big worry for me,

Jedinak will need time to get up to speed and his passing is limited (from what I've read). 

Tshibola is an unknown quantity who seem to have back luck with injuries, hopefully he'll be a revelation

Westwood is an OK squad option at this level, but will struggle in a 2 man midfield IMO, especially when put under pressure

Gardner, I just don't know. It hasn't looked good has it? Probably not suited to a 2 man midfield either. 

Lyden I've not seen enough of.

Hopefully we can score enough goals to be in reach of the play off spots come January when we can bring in another CM and then push on from there.

(sorry in advance to anyone with OCD who should probably not spend too much time staring at that slightly lopsided formation )

Pretty much my thoughts, with maybe Cissosko ahead of Amavi until team settles into a pattern and wins some gains, improving confidence

With the sudden rush of realism at B6 what does everyone think of the potential line up based on current players and linked players in a 4-4-1-1

Bacuna can tuck in allowing De Laet on overlap and Tish can drop behind Grealish when Amavi up the pitch.

Still upgrades to be found but a start!

                           Gollini

  De Laet     Elphick  Chester  Amavi

Bacuna   Jedinak   Thisbola   Grealish

               McCormack

                        Ayew

I have been a Villa fan for 40 years and despite being marooned in Suffolk for work I get to see the boys as often as I can home and away. I've been reading the Villa Talk for a while now and would love to be able to contribute to the discussions.