KenjiOgiwara

I'd agree, but it depends a bit on what the replacement would be. Which we obviously don't know. I simply have no faith in AVFC picking managers. The few times we've had the right idea we've had no patience. The times we picked the wrong man from the bat, like Bruce, we give them all the time in the world.

The reason this happens is because Jedinak either has the wrong positioning or he tries to intercept the ball without safety, thus Chester ends up being dragged out of position.

The big question is how much of our awful football is down to Bruce and how much is down to our coaching team.

Tactics ?

Very very good player. I think he would be even better if he chose the simple option at times. With his ability to be everywhere fighting for possession, you don't need to try and beat players and hit passes across the center that opens us up for counters. Still, by far the best purchase we've made in a while. Not sure how many players Bruce has signed, but this one is up there.

To be fair supporting Bruce's Villa is a bit like being in a library. Everything exciting happens in your mind.

Really don't wanna be negative after three points, but sweet jesus we are disjointed, poor and boring. I still don't get what Bruce's game plan is.

That was akward as feck

Only saw some highlights, but he reminds me of Carlton Cole.

I think he's superb. Unfortunately we play Bruceball with Bruce signings, thus we automatically don't utilize what Grealish is good at. It reminds me a bit when we signed JPA. You could basically see how he was on a totally different planet in regards to expecting offball movement, reading plays and having a general footballing intelligence. Then people starting criticising him pretty unfairly cause the rest of the squad were utterly inept and not on the same wavelength as JPA. The same stuff would probably have happened to Merson as well, but at the point in time we actually had a decent football team.

Haha exactly what I was thinking. Really feels like a waste of time.

I'm probably in the minority, but I'd keep Elmo at RB and Hutton on left back.

Spot on. Having Grealish under Steve Bruce is like having Max Planck as your local electrician, Picasso to paint fences, Nikolay Tolstoj to write horoscopes et cetera

You reckon it could get any worse?

Personally my biggest issue isn't the results. I can accept bad results if I get what we're trying to do. An example would be Houllier (and Garde to some extent). It was pretty clear to me what they tried to do here. It's the fact that we don't look like a group of players who play after a given philosophy. It's like they are told to go out there and win, and the tactical bit involves buying better players than other clubs in this league. If this is the case, then he really shouldn't be a manager, nevermind one at AVFC.

The rational thing would be to consider the fact that we are stuck with this squad until January either way, so we should let him stick with it and hope it clicks at some point soon. But I'm not so sure. While I didn't see the match yesterday I also think any manager we bring in will need 6-12 months to get his system right. So the sooner we can make a change, the more likely we are to be challenging for promotion next season. I think everyone can agree that we most likely won't get promoted under Bruce this season. And to be honest he looks like someone who isn't up to how the game is played right now. People make the dinosaur joke, but it's pretty accurate.

Think I'll give this a pass. When I do, we normally end up winning with cricket scores.

Don't agree. I think he literally is all over the place as a CB. If you actually watch his positioning, he knows he isn't quick enough, you can see him gambling on intercepting and winning the ball. He often does this with no regards to having safety, so Chester is dragged out of position all the time. So he definately is a liability at CB, and he often is all over the place.

Not entirely impossible I guess, but why would you allow him to buy players to the degree he has? Nyland for example. Why wouldn't we just keep Steer in goal?

Strictly speaking not entirely true. “The manager gave his blessing for me to go out on loan without many centre-halves in the building so that says all you need to know." “The last two league games I played for Steve, we beat Bristol City 5-1 and he took me out, then we beat Hull 3-1, I scored and he took me out again. The writing was on the wall after that.” https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/villa-hull-tommy-elphick-transfer-15120827 But then again he could have said much worse stuff I suspect.

I kinda question the competence of a "manager" (and I use that word very loosely here) who can't find a better alternative to our longterm progress than a 38 year old, with a knackered body and huge wages.

I've been thinking this has been the problem at our club for absolute eons. From our fairly good youth teams years ago, to the youth team that won the nextgen there's was always very decent off ball movement and technical players. Well at least from the matches I saw. Then you compare it to what's been going on at the senior level since MON took over. It's been very similar to the hoofball that's prevailent in Norway. All about kick and run, strength and pace. I actually looked at the European Cup win today, and while it's unfair to compare the best players in Europe to the dross we currently have, there are a few things that are so incredibly different. Firstly they were not afraid to run forwards with the ball in their feet. Secondly there was so much off ball movement. If one player nutmegged an opponent he always had a player to pass it to who where running forwards. Awful comparison I know, but this part of AVFC just frustrates the beejebus out of me.

Should almost have a sack or back poll going

I fully agree, but we are a lower league team at the moment, so why they aren't utilized more I will never know.

My issue with this is that youths often develop in quantum leaps when exposed to senior football. Even those who don't look good enough. Which is why having a culture of throwing kids in on the deep end is so important.