striker

Reminds me of Isaiah Osborne that used to play for the Villa. Slightly awkward running style but potentially much better than Osborne.

Just now, Heretic said:

More than likely. Just PM one. Good to have you aboard!

Thanks mate. Will do.

5 hours ago, AshVilla said:

You need to change from Everton on your profile i'm not convinced till then

Can't seem to change it mate. Maybe it's something the mods can only do?

1 hour ago, Barney_avfc said:

 

Hope he's still with the Villa by next Christmas so we can call him our Christmas Bree. 

Looks like he needs to cheddar a few pounds.

34 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said:

Villa in talks to sign Chuba Akpom on loan from Arsenal (twitter)

Late try to get Boro to lower their expectations on Rhodes??

19 minutes ago, thunderball said:

In fairness to Bruce he has not once made any excuses, he has said on more than one occasion that the performance was not good enough. He has dropped players from the match day squad when the standard was not good enough, he is no shrinking violet. 

His problem has been he can only push it so far with a squad like ours, before he bites off his nose to spite his face - we just can't afford to drop points. He is between a rock and a hard place. Hopefully a few more faces this window will improve this aspect. Undoubtedly, with Kodjia and Ayew returning will help matters again, hopefully Ayew will want to play himself out of the club.

Great post.

Bringing his signings in will strengthen his hand further in the dressing room allowing Bruce to tell those free riders on the back of AVFC to do one. But he will need more than one window to do this.

Giving Bruce to this time next year the Villa squad will be unrecognisable and much the better for it probably finishing first in the Championship if Villa don't gain promotion this season.

At least he has been turning up for training.

To me this is the way forward introducing players from the youth setup who haven't been corrupted by past seasons at Villa.

7 minutes ago, terrytini said:

That result is down to Bruce, not the players.

Every player put a good shift in, Baker, Chester, and Hutton defended well. There was even passing and movement on occasions !

First off credit to him, after a pretty insipid twenty five minutes we suddenly started playing proper football. I don't see how he can be criticised for playing Lansbury, who played well first half.

Even Gabby - I was annoyed he started but he played well.

BUT ..... for yet another game he then tells them to sit back and try and counter once we were ahead.

He HAS to abandon this overly cautious approach. It's been my view for two months that he CAN get performances out these  players, but he is too cautious. We should have gone for the jugular second half instead he handed them the momentum.

 

Spot on.

Not good enough.

1 minute ago, Delphinho123 said:

What we need is a striker who can drop back and play in midfield. 

For the entire match.

Ayew has been doing that and so has McCormack. Villa need better midfielders around them.

1 minute ago, Eastie said:

We need a striker to put away chances - we've missed many sitters this season that should have been buried - not worried about pace , more worried about his movement and finishing.

Agree 100% with this and anyway Kodjia has pace in abundance when he comes back again.

1 hour ago, cyrusr said:

Will he though? He's strike rate at Middlesbrough hasn't been wonderful and obviously not playing at the moment. Also weren't Gestede, Ayew, Mcccormack all thought to be able to score lots of goals at this level? Hell, even Gabby was thought to benefit from the step down! Whilst Rhodes may be good for us and it might work out, I don't think he is the answer to the problems and I can see him struggling without the supply and I think the money could be better spent elsewhere rather than on ANOTHER striker. This is one that potentially is costing us double what we sold Gestede for - why would we do that?! 

Only Kodjia has shown he can more or less create on his own and that's the reason why he can score. Sort out the midfield and give the strikers we do have a chance to show what they can do. 

I agree buying another striker on its own won't improve things. However Bruce has already confirmed one link to a midfielder (Lansbury) and Villa have also been linked to another. With both those midfielders signed and a mooted RB on the way service to the forwards should dramatically improve.

Bruce also stated that if he can improve the forward line he will do it. So I guess listening to the manager there is a plan in place to bring both in. If you consider the Gestede money 4m on top of that doesn't sound a lot in today's market for Rhodes who has previously been clinical in front of goal in the Championship.

2 hours ago, KHV said:

I think he is well past being able to play at any level.

Fixed that for you.

4 minutes ago, cyrusr said:

 what will Rhodes offer over and above what we have already got?

A second striker who can score goals.

51 minutes ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

 

I just hope we don't panic buy because of our lackluster performances.

Bruce won't do that. Think we'll see at least another three new signings ( two CMs and a RB) before the window shuts and all of those will go straight into the first team and improve it.

I also feel Villa need another striker and a central defender (to cover for Baker as Elphick is a mistake waiting to happen) but that may be asking too much for a January window?

He needs to be replaced this window if the Villa are to progress. Awful player.

8 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

When you look at the players he has to work with, how many are really good enough to consistently perform at a promotion winning level?

I can think of Baker, Chester and Kodjia. 

This squad is still too full of players not up to the task. 

Looking at Bruce yesterday towards the end of the game and afterwards he knows what a gigantism task he has ahead of him to get the Villa back where they belong. It's going to take time and probably more time than even Bruce realised.

Its therefore up to the fans to give him that time and it may mean at least one more season in the Championship before we see a squad and team good enough not only to get promoted but to be able to stay in the Premiership.

Bruce isn't stupid and in fact he has been very honest in his interviews about recent performances which haven't been acceptable to him nor the fans. Throughout his career he has been a winner and knows what it takes to get out of this league so don't turn against him before he has a chance to get his own players in and let's all have the patience to let him get on with it.

4 minutes ago, jon_c said:

Well he is said to have walked at Hull for that exact reason. 

Which was my point. Villa would be looking for a new manager by the end of this week.

Bruce needs to be given the tools to start rebuilding now and not in the summer which has been suggested. Signing those linked midfielders for the fees mentioned would certainly not imo be short termism. It would signify the start of a rebuild and give plenty of time for those new players to bed in If Villa don't gain promotion this season.

How did Fulham and Leeds get the best out of McCormack?

If I was Bruce I'd be looking at a few videos or contacting the managers of those clubs at the time McCormack was there to get advice as clearly Bruce doesn't know what to do with him.

I would like to be a fly on the wall if Xia informed Bruce on Monday morning that he will not finance anymore signings until the summer.