Grasshopper

6 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Ings would be great but i think he would get premier league interest. people calling for bruce out, but they dont realise how many links bruce has this could be vital in getting a big striker in on loan 

An interesting point.

I would have nothing against Bruce being „General Manager“ or DoF if it meant using his experience and advantages for the footballing side of the club.

As long as we had a „Coach“ Head Coach or whatever the title is who designated a playing style, picked the tactics and team, Choose player targets and took training (picking his assistants & coaching staff)

Bruce is finished as a manager, as an experienced figure at a club no. But dictating the football, well and truly bust.

7 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

As shown by most defeats have been followed up a win this year...

great stuff

let‘s lose so we can win the next game

3 from a possible 6pts gets us where?

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Ok tell me how you would play him any different to how bruce is? As i think bruce is having to use him this way due to the lack of options up top?

play football not Bruce-Ball

get players supporting him

lessen his workload

(surprised that I needed to explain that to you as I think you are a consistantly good poster even if I dont agree with you sometimes)

5 minutes ago, bobzy said:

r.e: Bruce, sure - but the rest just isn't true, is it?

Many teams have success with a counter attacking, defensive setup.  Mourinho pretty much lives off that approach.  Leicester won the league with that approach.

Wolves couldn't get past a 10 man Sunderland.  Sometimes you don't win all the games.

Your defence of Bruce fails subsequently by the simple fact that Wolves are top of the league and can allow themselves such results occasionally.

We were a slave to our every defeat

we are becoming slaves to our every draw

We will become slaves to winning EVERY game at a certain point

1 minute ago, vreitti said:

What's really baffling is how we have to keep hoping to "bounce back" every other week. One would've thought we'd be a tad more consistent (performance wise) this far into Bruce's tenure.

@vreitti

it‘s not baffling at all

it‘s Brucian ( @Lerner's Driver ) 

50 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It is a shock result but it sounds like it was a hard fought point for Sunderland. I could handle our point it Millwall had parked the bus and really fought for it. What's hard to take is the fact our keeper was MotM! 

It really was a shockingly worrying performance that we were very lucky to scrape a point from.  

100%

50 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think we will bounce back though because can't really play much worse than that. 

^ let yourself down with this bit

if anyone can get us to perform any worse, Bruce IS that man.

3 minutes ago, bobzy said:

So I don't

understand

the point of your

"say no more".

you will come saturday

11 minutes ago, BOF said:

Samba's injury could mean fit-again Jedinak in. 

I hope so

11 minutes ago, BOF said:

Hourihane was rested for Millwall. 

we‘ll see if it wasnt too late a rest

11 minutes ago, BOF said:

Adomah has 5 goals in his last 5 games. 

Pedantic (I know)

v Millwall no goal

v Leeds no goal

2 bad team performances in which he didnt do a „Kodjia“

Which is the whole point. We simply cant rely on somebody doing a „Kodjia“ EVERY game

11 minutes ago, BOF said:

I agree about Davis and I think we need to look at that.  The rest of your post I'd say 'the same as every other week' and Rowett v Bruce just means it could be an ugly one.

From Rowetts perspective, I dont think ugly will come into it. They‘ll sit back when we have the ball, a hoof or pass will go astray, they‘ll go at us, we‘ll panic the ball away dropping deeper and deeper till they score.

Will someone „Kodjia“ us a point or 3? or will they score 2 or more?

thats the question

9 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Derby are a whopping 1 point ahead of us in the table.

 

WHAT A GULF IN ABILITIES.

Rowett got the Scum pushing for 6th with a shit squad

within a season he‘s got Derby to look like they mean business.

Bruce is underachieving consistantly since January.

So when you wake up from your dream you can tell me that we either finished in 2nd above Derby or beat them in the playoffs

You mention 1 pt above us.

please give me your opinion on Saturday anytime after 5pm when we‘ll be 4pts behind them

Thanks in advance

2 minutes ago, bobzy said:

Incredibly similar managers in terms of style of play.

 

Not really too sure what your point is here.

one is a more effective version of the other

have a wild guess

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Tell me who has Bruce suppose to play up top? Hogan has just come back everyone else is injured so you can't really blame him for that 

I‘m NOT talking about playing him or not

I‘m talking about HOW he is played

4 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Bruce showing his faith in  a young lad is putting him out to dry???

talk to me in a few games time when he either breaks down injured or is dropped because he‘s no longer effective in his play

3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Bruce showing his faith in  a young lad is putting him out to dry???

Yes

the way he plays him

exposed - isolated - set up so he has no help

20 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

He is getting no help. We need to be on the front foot or Davis is just hung out to dry.

Davis is not the first being hung out to dry by Bruce.

Bad man management of him will mean loss of confidence and burn-out leading to injury while being continually played isolated.

Sorry but we have no chance in this game.

Samba‘s injury means Elphick in

we have a tired MF of Hourihane & Whelan

an off form Snod & Adomah

and

a shattered Davis

Question 1

How are we going to stop them scoring?

Question 2

How are we going to score?

Derby are getting their momentum going

Rowett v Bruce

say no more

18 hours ago, tomav84 said:

my issue is that bruce's decisions are dissected in the finest of detail when points are dropped but games like qpr away he doesnt get the credit he deserves and the more vocal bruce out folks were relatively quiet after games such as that

DrT gave a motivational speech before that game

Result = 3pts (and a good performance)

Bruce-asaurous gave motivation speeches, training, coaching, tactics for a whole week before v Leeds & v Millwall

Result = 1pt (each game) (usual shyte performances

NO credit for Bruce, thank you

Not having a dig as I agree with almost everything

3 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

And I don't disagree.  I do worry that we may not have enough nous to beat the higher placed/performing teams.  

correct

3 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

That said, we're largely beating whatever is put in front of us at the moment.  And at the very least we're hardly ever losing. 

yes BUT! our problem is

We are playing catchup so „largely“ is not enough. We need to beat nearly everybody and not draw to teams below us i.e. Leeds and Millwall

2/6 pts means we have to up the ppg by 2 more pts over the rest of the season adding the 2pts to the already lost pts AND the lost pts we will have once we‘ve played the top 6/8 the second time around

3 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

Playing stylish football is great, but it's also no guarantee of beating everyone.

Wolves have been playing the best football in the division, with the best players, and are rightfully top.  They scraped past 10-man Small Heath the other night, and then drew 0-0 at home to a Sunderland side who haven't won a match since 1912. 

^^^^^^^**This is the point of all points.

Beating the likes of AV 3-0 at home and most of the others - which rightly place them top - ALLOWS them a „bad day at the office“ now and again.

We have „40+ bad days at the office“ and that is supposed to be a concept to gain promotion?

3 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

True, I am not qualified to identify a new manager - It's not my job to do so - for example, I knew nothing about Martin O'Neil before he joined the club (!!)- I would hope that there are people at the club who are qualified and have a list of potential managerial targets as you suggest.

However, as a fan - someone who has watched Villa all my life, and also watched other teams for comparison I am qualified to say that what we are seeing on the pitch is just not good enough. Some people blame the players, I don't buy that - some of these players were the best performers at the their championship clubs, others are tried and tested premier league players. Most managers and fans in this league would love to have our players. All are more capable than the dross we are seeing served up on the pitch and that is down to the manager. 

Unfortunately it appears on here that it is not permitted to want Bruce gone unless you have a full list of replacement managers who are better and are guaranteed to get us automatic promotion.

Newsflash - it is perfectly acceptable to ask the question without knowing the answer. Sometimes you have to roll the dice and take a chance, unfortunately the opportunity to do that has gone, and now were are really in trouble.   

We have had a run of decent results - but these results are not reflective of the (majority of) poor performances, and this is not sustainable. We STILL cannot hold onto the ball, we cannot retain possession and take pressure off ourselves, which always results in backs to the wall defending. This will bite us and I do fear a massive kicking coming up over the next couple of months. 

We keep saying "the next x games are massive", and we sort of scrape through them just doing enough for it to be "acceptable" but not great, we also seem to be lowering our expectations each time. At the start of the season we were aiming for promotion as champions, then automatic promotion - and given the resources and players available, the money spent and the supposed pedigree of our manager (four promotions, FOUR) automatic promotion should be the minimum target. 

Now we are accepting of a play off place. Anything down to 6th seems to be acceptable. And yet people seem to think that we will make it through the playoffs. I don't know what about our performances to sate, and especially against the teams we would be likely to meet in the playoffs makes people think that we would have any chance of going up via the playoffs. 

I worry that "gaining a play off place" but ultimately losing out on promotion will be seen as a result at the end of the season. Maybe it will be because I can guarantee one thing - if we continue the way we are, lady luck smiles on us and we continue to scrape results and do somehow get up via the playoffs, we will come straight back down, with possibly a more embarrassing set of results than last time. 

We should have been using our time down here to  develop a playing style, getting momentum behind us, confidence flowing and getting Villa park buzzing - not coming out with **** like "a point is a great result because we would have lost that game last season". Being better than the utter crap we have been is not good enough. Unfortunately we have wasted a season and a half - messing around with a manager who is not capable of getting us playing how we need to be.

Well at the risk of repeating the mantra: the next 6 really are massive as we now start to play the decent teams - teams whom we have not yet managed to get a result against. Will be interesting to see where we are by the end of the year - I honestly think we will be out of the top six.

 

Absolutely spot on.

The real problem we will face is not our opponents, whoever they are, where they are, what form they are in home or away.

Our problem is now ourselves.

1 As Bruce has deployed Hutton or Elmo at RB, Bree nor RDL have not had enough game time to be relied on.

2 Playing an injured Samba „until he finally gets crocked“ now denies us of a CB giving us the honour of playing Elphick. Who‘s next? Richards? Samba as „joker up top“ to relieve Davis is now no longer an option.

3 over playing Whelan, Hourihane Onomah, Snod (also whilst injured), Davis & Adomah has effected ALL of their form

We had a backup team of

                          Steer

Bree RDL Samba (nobody for Taylor)

       Elmo Lyden O‘Hare Grealish

                    McC Hogan

That XI (with Taylor or even Thor at LB) could hold its own in this league - Not expected to beat Wolves, But Millwall and the majority of the rest. (Not playing Bruce-Ball may I point out). Used correctly (as sub or start) we could be comfortable in using them.

Now we have

Bree RDL Grealish Lyden & O‘Hare lacking game time

Terry Jedi Kodjia Hogan Green & Samba injured

Snod Hourihane Whelan Adomah and Onomah out of form

and McC down under

What an ulmighty F**** up.

Whoever Bruce plays now, will not reflect their full potential.

SJ

Bree Chester RDL Taylor

Lansbury Hourihane

Elmo Grealish Adomah

Davis

However, half of them wont be able to deliver

43 minutes ago, dounavilla said:

Are Derby the new Real Madrid or something ? we certainly can beat them at pride park. I' not saying we will but it is not a certainty we wont. 

If this division has shown us anything, it that anyone can beat anyone.

Aston Villa 0-1 Anyone Utd

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I see where you are coming from.  Both the club have a massive 6 games coming up against better teams in the league. 

Playing devils advocate imagine we failed to win any of the 6 games and ended up adrift of top 6. (Similar to January last season).

Would he be sacked?

the reality of it all is, He should have been sacked after the Cardiff defeat last January, The theory behind that statement is that he has not done enough to prove a credible decision to keep him.

We are not where we should be because of him, and are exactly where we are despite him.

This „nearly catching up, then losing“ falling short of the intended target

is now so far down the line that the margin for error is a continuum of „nearly catching up, then drawing“

We will be at a point where

“nearly catching up, winning, winning and winning till we cant play anymore“ Yet it still wont be enough.

Get rid - the sooner the better - before all options for promotion are gone.

BRUCE OUT

7 hours ago, TRO said:

so we bring someone in to replace him who is better at some things and worse at others?

Its an option I guess.

but will it get us anywhere?

or is it a scatter gun approach to fixing a problem?

So how would you describe the approach of keeping someone to „fix a problem“ which is not only of his own doing but also falling short for correcting „the problem“?

1 hour ago, AntrimBlack said:

Too late now. unfortunately.

It‘s never to late to switch horses from one who‘ll never get you over the line.

48 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

Yawn...here we go again

Your right to opinion of course.

The problem is though. Looking at the facts, he is more right than the „Bruce in“ will ever be.

Bruce Out

20 minutes ago, TRO said:

I do not know what orders they are playing to, but if you play on the last players shoulder and you beat him....you are through.

thats what Grabban was doing when we played Sunderland, its not rocket science.

 

I know

But Bruce knows nothing about Rockets nor Science. Unless of course a Rocket is some kind of spicy Kebab that curdles flames out of your @r$e