Stratvillan

We need to keep and play him. We can't have international players who don't start.

Think bree is quality. Think he could play anywhere in defence. Let's face it he may have to. 

Not fussed if he stays or goes to be honest.

The thing that'll annoy me is that every shortcoming of the new manager for the next 18 months will be blamed on Bruce. If we don't play football, it'll be because Bruce wasted money etc. 

I want a coach, not a manager we won't be signing loads of players, we need to get the best of those we have. 

49 minutes ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

I see what you mean but I think he's that good, he can come in and play centrally 

I just worry that when he doesn't control our long punts, he'll lose his confidence. What should have come out of last season should have been more starts andmore sub appearances ( not so much RHM as he was injured) but for ohare etc. We would be a lot clearer about their potential. 

10 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

RHM isn't a winger, not by any stretch of the imagination, he's an out and out centre forward, For me, he's better than Davis, although Davis has played for our first team a lot more but RHM has been injured a lot. 

I agree re RHM , think it'll fine it easier to play wide, until he's used to the league. 

Fit and fast beat us at Wembley.  Like the idea of 

                              Davis / Adomah

green.                     Grealish.                RHM                

We need an immediate statement re the manager, the position we are in re having to sell players, and plans for next season. Otherwise we will have everyone touting our players, and it'll be impossible to sign anyone. 

We fell between Cardiff and Fulham in terms of playing style, we can play quick passing football, but not on a regular basis. We do grind out results but not on a regular basis ( we beat wolves, then lose a couple). 

We need a manager who specialises in a style of play, be it passing or hoofball, and sets the team up to play that way. Being half and half will only get you the playoffs at best. 

Bruce is half and half. 

How long is it taking people to get their tickets through the post? Bought mine Thursday morning, still no sign of them.

Terrible game, but what a defensive performance. Plaudits to both Bruce and the team.  An effective 2 leg victory. Interesting how well set up against a more mobile team!

Had to do mine by phone. Wouldn't let me link my season tickets with my sons. 

All excited now!

Thought he was good today. Very difficult against a team with 10 defensive players. 

2 hours ago, TRO said:

Maybe, when he was given a chance.

He was permanently injured, then decided he wanted a move. Actually think he's useful, but we can't view him as a massive regret. 

7 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

Well, that is exactly what I do with contractors. They are on a three month contract, meet their targets, get renewed. Don't meet them, don't get renewed. Simple. Nothing bonkers about it at all.

What would be bonkers would be just accepting failure because we did alright and almost met the targets.

Now permanent staff would get help to improve their performance, but if they failed continually, they would be let go or reassigned to a less demanding role (all following due legal process of course).

Why did I mention contractors - that's the closest analogy to Steve Bruce. So yes, I would get rid of him. Nothing bonkers about that at all.

You needn't  worry about me being your boss. I would never employ you, based on your views of what is bonkers, or your apparent view that failure is acceptable. :-)

Fair point, but I'm sure you'd have a contractor lined up who could meet your deadlines. I'm not sure there is anyone who would be a guaranteed improvement on a manager who will achieve probably 85 points. We can pull names out of the hat, but who realistically is coming here with little money to spend. Bruce is our permanent manager, we should support him to improve performance. 

18 hours ago, Czechlad said:

Without a fullback that is able to overlap and attack, he is useless. We need a player like Elmo playing with him or else he will look poor. 

Think the full backs are holding the whole team back. 

1 hour ago, macandally said:

We are now a Steve Bruce team, a Wigan, a Hull, functional, uninspiring, hardworking but not paricularly flattering.

As suspected he has turned a team that should have run through this league into a bunch of nearly men.  If we go up, this lot will come back down.

Be interesting if we did a best 11 from the top 4 how many would be villa players. Really don't get the we should have walked the league. Wolves manager did a really good interview on how this is the hardest league. 

5 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

If we don't go up this year, Bruce's failure will hang around like a bad smell for some time.

On 10/04/2018 at 11:45, Adbo9 said:

I put this in another thread................. if we stay in this league then id say its foregone conclusion that there will be no Johnstone, Hutton, Terry, Gabby, Onomah, Tuanzebe, Grabban, Agbonlahor - and a good chance no Grealish or Chester if the Prem comes knocking !!

 

 

 

Fair point. Johnstone and Terry would be a loss. ( and Snoddy)

The others not so much, the inclusion of losing gabby (twice) , Tuanzebe, Hutton, And Onamah as a doomsday scenario doesn't hold much water. 

Grealish is irreplaceable imo, Chester might pay for Flint. 

In terms of the playoffs it's ridiculously close - down to Preston. 

Brentford really have something to play for against Fulham.  

He may want to be a cm. he doesn't work hard enough to play there at the moment. 

Reckon blues will lose to Fulham to deny us promotion even if it gets them relegated? They hate us that much!

Really poor, if he wasn't on loan from spuds wouldn't get near the team. Only stood out in second half because he actually made 2 tackles. He wants to play number 10. We have jack for that. Number of times jack snoddy etc ran past him tracking back. 

Djemba, salifou etc 

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

I think one of the big problems for this whole discussion is that much of the criticism of Bruce is made by means of comparing him with an imaginary/mythical/notional manager who would have done better with the squad and resources available.

Thus: "Steve Bruce has done well but he hasn't done as well as that imaginary/mythical/notional manager would have done with the same squad and resources."

Who is this imaginary/mythical/notional manager? I have no idea but when suggestions are sometimes made, they are either horrific, for example, Neil Warnock (if he became our manager I would happily give up supporting Aston Villa in favour of the more enjoyable activity of collecting raw sewage with my bare hands) or impractical (e.g. Wagner, who as I understand it, actually had the chance but turned us down - maybe because he knew he may well founder on the challenge of the complete mess that Villa was a couple of years ago)

Steve Bruce would not have been my first choice for the job but, in his favour, he (a) took on the job; (b ) through squad changes and coaching challenged and began to turn around the alarming lack of focus intensity and will to win that our first teams had been showing for 2 or 3 seasons (remember 2015/6 and the start of 2016/7 when we more or less stopped winning matches?); and (c) achieved a creditable number of wins and a lot of goals this season and got us into a playoff position which at the end of the 2015/6 season looked the remotest of remote possibilities.

It's not perfect. We should have done better this season and in particular the failures in four recent very winnable matches have been extremely disappointing and show there is still work to do, but unless something goes disastrously wrong we are in with a shout of promotion.

Will this be enough for his critics? No, because he is still being compared with that imaginary/mythical/notional manager who would have done better.

It's the last line for me. If we don't go up Bruce will go. But in all likelihood we'll finish 4th. If the new manager is judged that 3rd or 4th is a failure, we could be in for a lot of managers over the next few years. Im not a Bruce fan, but believe that he's done a competent job. 

Generally surprised at a lot of the above comments. Was unfit when he joined, but since then has been one of our pots. Does he deliver in every game, no, but does anyone. Always wants the ball, and always gets involved. Most of the good play involved him last night. Is quality at this level can't understand not signing him - this will be price dependant. 

17 minutes ago, El-Reacho said:

I actually thought he was good. Sure he ran into trouble a couple of times but I think looks like a really good prospect particularly at centre back. He's big, strong, and quick. If he's going to play at full back he should be playing on the right and he can attack down the line - he lost the ball last night whenever he had to cut inside.

Have to agree, I think he is really promising, comfortable on the ball, positive and quite big and strong. He is making mistakes and is playing out of position - he'll learn. He reminds me a lot of Barry when he came through. 

22 hours ago, maqroll said:

Terry as player/manager?

Think it will be be Terry or Bruce.

Just want us to think long term. Would love us to actually define how Villa play, and appoint a series of managers who play this way. We are not Barcelona, but that's what they did from Cruyff onwards. We have youth teams who are all footballers, who then leave us because we don't play football, and go on to have better careers elsewhere. If we don't want to play football, get rid of ohare etc and appoint  Allardyce etc. If we have these players we need to appoint a footballing manager, and actually sign 2 full backs with pace.