New_Jersey_Villa

Dominating performance \o/ Not sure when the hell Glenn Whelan turned into Andrés Iniesta, but what a rich vein of form for someone who's taken some stick MoTM for me although no one was below a 7. Sucks there is an international break now

Couldn't agree more. Kodjia was terrible, stopped tracking back and when he had the ball I don't think he beat a single man with it. (When he remembered to actually take the ball with him) Jedi your always going to fancy in aerial duels, but holy crap I'd love to see his passing percentage, it seemed like every attack broke down due to him.

Glenn Whelan totally changed the game for me. Jedi couldn't pass a fart and we looked so much better when Whelan came on. (Can't believe I just said that) Probably some of the worst officiating I've ever seen, not just their second goal, but the entire damn game! Ecstatic it was Greenie who got the equaliser, welcome home Andre!

Could be worse chaps, you could be Tommy Elphick looking at a slow ass defensive midfielder playing your primary position.

Josh Onamah

Hourihane rightly gets the MoTM for the hatrick, but honorable mention for Whelan who was also great.

"You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.

Nothing like playing to a guy's strengths......

Anyone care to make a prediction on how we are going to line up today?

Bacuna to get a hatrick and chin the ref in the 67th minute.....

Just saying, but by that logic shouldn't Remi Garde still be our manager?

Exactly!

This really is an excellent summation. Would anyone care to take a punt on examining the match against Blackburn, given the team selection and where the individuals were asked to play and enlightening me on how exactly we intended to score a goal, other than relying on Kodjia magic, which Bruce has said countless times we need to rectify? After reviewing the 11 minute highlights on the website (I'm only able to listen to the game via radio, so can't actually watch it live) we managed a total of 2 shots, one was typical Kodjia and the other was a Lansbury free kick, both in the first half. To be fair, if it wasn't for Baker's terrible pass the game would have probably ended 0-0, which still doesn't excuse the fact that it seems if our guys have the ball for more than 0.5 seconds they have to hoof it or when they try to pass it went right back to the opposition. While not an authority on the subject, by my logic when playing 4-4-2 you expect for the most part, your wingers to be running at people down the flanks and then trying to get crosses in from the byline, so who does Bruce select for this role? Lansbury on the left and Bacuna on the right???? 1 who's probably never played left wing in his entire professional career and has very little pace and the other who just isn't very good, or a winger either. Now I could at least see some sense in this if he'd selected Amavi (Pace) and Adomah (An actual winger) for the wings, but he didn't. I might be blind, but I'm just not seeing what our plan/style actually is, it's one thing to be able to see what's being attempted and us just not being successful at it, but in all honesty all I'm seeing us attempt is HOOF and hope Kodjia does something incredible, which I'll go out on a limb and say isn't working as intended. It's incredibly worrying that 4 months after he was able to make his own signings that there are zero signs of improvement in performances. In fact I'd even go as far to say we've regressed in some instances as there are basic mistakes creeping back into our game, just not all of them are being punished like they were in Jan/Feb.

Under Bruce, we've managed a decent away performance at Brighton and an excellent first half against Preston at Villa Park. For an "IMPROVING" side these should be the norm not the aberration. I'm sounding like a broken record, but he's been saying for months what's wrong and yet it still isn't getting any better. We are not getting promoted relying on Jedi playing 46 games and Kodjia scoring all the goals. Not being as shit as the other team is not a valid strategy, this is Aston Villa, we should be BETTER.

I've really started to change my opinion over the last 4 games about Bruce, I was originally of the assumption that the new lads would need some time to settle in, then we'd see a consistent formation, with some personnel changes here and there and while not winning every game at least see the beginnings of what we intend to look and play like next season. Well...... I'm not seeing anything that makes me believe we are going to be better next year. He's playing players out of position, he keeps saying we need to retain the ball better and yet plays Bacuna and Gardner over Lansbury and Hourihane and also chops and changes the formation every bloody week, so there is nothing for the players to work on consistently and actually get better at. This hoof ball stuff is utterly diabolical considering the talent he has at his disposal. I'm at a loss to explain the fact we signed a goal scorer, assist making midfielder and an attacking scoring midfielder proven at other clubs, who come here and are showing nothing like what they are capable of is mind blowing. You can see one guy having trouble, but all 3 of them after being at the club for 4 months???????? One worried Villain

Seriously, what the hell was that formation with the players selected to play in it? I'm pretty sure anyone on this board knows that you don't play 4-4-2 with no wingers. Defies logic and belief that one.

I care because I want my team to win and show a bit of fight and effort. Today was just terrible.

Poor team selection for the formation, lack of quality, lack of ability, lack of anything good to say about today really. Utter shite.

Post match interview premonition, Steve Bruce: "We need to keep the ball better"

Sunderland relegated

Yep mind blowing, guy can't even do a job in the championship and giving him a 5 year deal implies he can do it in the Prem. Not a Fing chance mate.

I'm starting to agree with you m8. Even when we had our good run the football wasn't at all good. I believed we'd be seeing some improvement after the new signings had a chance to settle, but it's actually getting worse. Very disappointed.....

Grealish 30 yard screamer is about all we can hope for right now....

Surely no matter the formation it should be expected that a professional footballer should be able to pass a ball 10 yards to a dude wearing the same shirt?

Substitutions, Steve!!!!!