New_Jersey_Villa

3 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Well no that's different, telling a team to play like Peps Barcelona would require players of that standard to match it, however teams could still try and play the same way with it not getting the exact same results. That's down to talent. That would be players following managers instructions but not always successfully implementing it correctly or making errors due to them not being good enough. 

We're talking about the simple difference of passing on the floor and hoofing it forward. Or a midfield player sitting in his own half rather than playing in an advanced position. 

Like I said, it seems strange that these professionals can't do basic things that the manager wants from them. 

Now if we were attempting to pass the ball more, if we saw our midfield players make attacking runs and we saw a more progressive style being attempted but it wasn't always working, that would then indicate it's down to the players following instructions and not being good enough to implement it perfectly. But if we're honest we aren't seeing that. 

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