tomav84

38 minutes ago, TRO said:

Well......Its true.

such is the magnitude of the drop in form.

it is, and the players need to realise that...

3 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I would fancy our chances more against Cardiff than Fulham. 

i dont fancy our chances against anyone right now. teams will be looking at us and saying "they're catchable" and if millwall need a win last game of the season to take our playoff place i know where i would put my money

3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

You get a wonderful opportunity yet again after last night yet again you **** it up.

do they care?. Nope doesn’t seem so at all, why should we pay their wages with our hard earned cash when they don’t care. 

unfortunately we cannot use that line anymore sir....the stadiums could be empty every week and they would still be paid handsomely

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Not going up. These bottlers can’t handle it. Do they even **** care?? 

Adomah looks like he is alread6 on the beach. Snodgrass looks like he is more interested in a career in social media as he seems to be utter shit too.

thanks losers thanks so much 

right now i dont feel much better about this lot than the garbage that took us down. agree with you on albert and snod. irrespective on how folks feel about bruce, surely everyone must agree this lot aren't giving 100%, and if they somehow get through a 2 leg playoff semi final i'll be amazed

call me a sentimental old sod but i can't get on board with the dislike for him. i agree, the way he let himself go during our relegation season does take away his rights to any kind of testimonial, grand farewell etc, but some of my happiest memories as a villa fan have come from watching him and young tearing oppositions apart. it wasn't just vs blues, he was unplayable on his day

i know i'm in the minority, but i'll have more good memories than bad of him...good luck to him wherever he ends up

20 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

True. But we did.

RDM's other problem was that there was a much better, more experienced and more proven (at this level) manager available at the time of his bad run.

Had there been an absolutely head and shoulders, stand out replacement for Bruce easily available during his worst runs, he may well have got the chop too.

that's an interesting theory - i was always keen on keeping bruce during the bad run partly because i simply couldn't think of a better alternative...i'm not convinced by dean smith and i dont recall hearing many other names mentioned by the folks calling for bruce's head, but had wagner for example found himself unemployed at xmas you may well have been right

I actually had money on Bruce being our manager last summer at decent odds as i heard he would have walked if hull hadn't been promoted and we were waiting in the wings to pounce...apparently was the reason for the delay in announcing RDM which (if i could be bothered to look back through news articles) i believe came shortly after the playoff final

Bruce has said non-internationals have had today, tomorrow and sunday off but have trained as normal all week however he appears as though he's been in dubai since the bolton game...special treatment?

1 hour ago, Eastie said:

To play them over 2 legs one of us would need to finish 6th or someone else would have to finish above us both in 3rd .

we will likely play derby or boro .

i can see fulham beating us to 3rd which means we avoid them...i cannot see us finishing as low as 6th

8 hours ago, Skills said:

watched the Fulham game vs QPR and despite the fact they gave up a 2 goal lead, they played some fantastic football that I don't think we can match over two legs but may be able to pip them in a one off match if we get there

 

i agree, i dont fancy them over 2 legs as apparently we can no longer win at craven cottage but i would definitely fancy us at wembley...35k noisy villa vs 25k (30k max) quiet fulham fans. dont ask me why, but i can just see us rising to the occasion

1 hour ago, omariqy said:

This is the only way I can see us finishing ahead of Cardiff and Fulham.

 

Cardiff	Result	Points		Villa	Result	Points		Fulham	Result	Points
Derby (A)	L	76
Burton (H)	W	79		Hull (A)	W	72		Norwich (A)	D	70
Sheff Utd (A)	D	80		Reading (H)	W	75		Leeds (H)	W	73
Wolves (H)	L	80		Norwich (A)	D	76		Sheff Wed (A)	D	74
Villa (A)	L	80		Cardiff (H)	W	79		Reading (H)	W	77
Norwich (A)	D	81		Leeds (H)	W	82		Brentford (H)	W	80
Forest (H)	W	84		Ipswich (A)	W	85		Millwall (A)	D	81
Hull (A)	D	85		Derby (H)	W	88		Sunderland (H)	W	84
Reading (H)	W	88		Millwall (A)	D	89		Birmingham City (A)	W	87
Total Points		88				89				87

not going to happen is it

bruce has admitted he should have freshened it up a bit but hindsight is a wonderful thing. had we still dropped points of course questions would have been asked as to why the team was changed

big weekend this one before 2 weeks off...cardiff have another tough game and i expect bruce to get a reaction from the players

23 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

Glad we won but it was uncomfortable watching, Sunderland look like the relegation haunted Villa side that took us down. RDM may have been a huge mis step but you have to give credit to Bruce and co for turning things around.

yeah - it's almost on par with what klopp said about us when they dicked us after we had given up...you do have to feel for them. under RDM i feared that would be us too and sunderland prove how easily it can happen

assuming no injuries and an extra day's recovery (not that it's needed after tonight) that'll do just nicely going into saturday

1 hour ago, fightoffyour said:

Depends if you hold Saturday 3pm kick offs dear, as this would be our last of the season at home.

derby is...for now

1 hour ago, Rob182 said:

MON revolutionized the transfer market, by showing how you can immediately increase a players value.

 

Coach: "We need an £8m midfielder and a £4m striker"

MON: "No problem, I've spotted two great players. Nigel Reo Coker and Marlon Harewood. The only problem is that they're worth £4m and £2m respectively, so just offer their clubs double what they're worth."

Coach: "Erm, Marti-"

MON (on his way out the door): "Bish, bash, bosh, £8m and £4m players in the bag. I'll be home in time for a spot of contretemps"

in MON's defense, real life isnt football manager - managers don't make the bids, it's the DOF/MD/Chief exec/owner

going back to Bruce vs RMc i would be amazed if any manager doesn't do due diligence on any player that the club is about to shell out multi-millions on. RDM probably just thought he could handle him. or maybe RDM isn't as well connected as bruce, and bruce might have been told when he arrived by one of his chums elsewhere "get rid, the lad's poison"

4 minutes ago, Dave J said:

It's really nothing at all to do with the standard of competition- like you I don't regard the A league. But you cannot deny that McCormack did what was expected of him and of course why would he not want to stay if all he feared was coming back to the development squad? Tell me a player who would relish this over first team football whenever this might be.

we can discuss him all day in terms of attitude and so forth - but I would only be speculating tbh,

my view is only this - I think we would be an even stronger attacking force by including him to the matchday 18

including him in the matchday 18 would be at the expense of someone like o'hare or RHM. could you imagine the slating bruce would get if he did that? the aforementioned youngsters are much more deserving of a place than RMc

10 minutes ago, Dave J said:

TRO - you are one of the most well measured and balanced posters that I am aware of - and I am a little surprised at your stance on McCormack - something I fully respect I should hasten to add - but having flown across the world and being bothered it would appear to put in a shift regardless of how you view the A league - does this not seem like McCormacks attempt at saying ok I messed up - can we not start over ? SB does have form with this - however I don't want to be labelled obsessed once more - so I'll leave this point here.

It might well be that you are privy to information you feel you cannot share on here? And if this is the case - I'd be inclined to run with this - but purely on the surface I still find it just a little bit odd to leave him kicking his heels at BH 

I dont see how scoring a few penalties and free kicks in a league with the standard of 3rd or 4th tier over here says "ok I messed up - can we not start over". In fact from interviews i heard he's come across as "i like it here, can i stay?" rather than "i really hope brucie is watching as i'm desperate to get back in the villa side". i'm with TRO on this and i'm quite surprised that so many are willing to give a chap who could have given less **** about the club a chance yet gabby who in his few sporadic appearances for us over the last year or so has at least looked like he cared and still says the right things on his social media regarding the villa is slated and no one wants to see him in a villa shirt again (not saying i want gabby in the team FYI, just using as a comparison)

with the weather coming in, any chance of the game being postponed?

20 minutes ago, Xela said:

I think its the view that when we win its despite Bruce and when we lose its 100% his fault which people find criticism/fault with. 

He's not immune from a tactical balls up (no manager is) but to claim he has no part in the wins is doing hm a disservice.

for some unfortunately that will always be the case

8 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Listen, we know all of this. It has been campaigned to Mars and back.

But seriously now, we need to put our thoughts of all of this negative stuff against Steve Bruce aside for now and just shelve it, store it, lock it in the cupboard, whatever! Just forget about it. Nothing will change by rocking the boat in this ocean any further.

We are sticking by Bruce and this team with the last 13 games remaining and that is all there is too that.

We need to remain focused. Yes I agree Bruce needs to have a word and seriously look at another setup starting XI and shuffle it around a little. We cannot now start to self implode and start another wave of hysteria when we need to stay on track in our goal.

The reality of it is that we are still sitting in 3rd place. We are still one point behind 2nd place. -We have to pray momentarily to the football gods in tonights games that the results fall nicely for our benefit in some ways or another, all is not lost.

Yes we have lost 2 games now and it is 6 valuble points slipped away, equally if those results with teams around us keeps everything in the table unaltered then there is no real problem as such and all is not lost. 13 games still remaining. 

Let's just keep our minds set to how we where feeling only 10 days ago. It is how we pick ourselves up again and get it together. Bruce has a full backroom of staff and we know it all clicks through 7 games unbeaten.  He now has to do something to turn this around again and quickly.

Let's stick behind the manager and the players and focus, anything else right now is just absolute guffaw. 

spot on apart for the slightly inaccurate bit highlighted

7 hours ago, HolteExile said:

 

Which is all well and good, save that Bruce was apparently told going into the Barnsley away game in September lose that, and it's curtains. 

And a similar conversation took place in the lead up to Boro away. So as recently as 6/7 weeks ago, his job was on the line. 

In truth, that probably makes our progress since even more remarkable. And credit to Bruce himself for fighting back in the manner he has. 

But I'm not convinced that Xia is (or ever really was ) totally sold on Bruce, or sees him as the chief architect for the club's long-term revival. 

Di Matteo was his choice, Bruce was Wyness's (and Round's) recommendation. 

He got burned by the former, so bowed to the football knowledge of the latter. 

was he? i have plugged into google "bruce 1 game from sack" and similar and the only thing i can find is an article quoting redknapp saying that bruce thought he would be sacked if we lost to barnsley and another article (from the star...enough said) saying following reading away he was 3 games off the sack. hardly reliable sources, and certainly nowhere i can see that indicates a loss to boro and he would have been gone.

regarding your point on Xia not being totally sold on him, the fact that he has kept him in through the 2 quite sticky patches you indicated shows that he believes he is the right man to take us forward for me

1 hour ago, AJ said:

That is fair, and in that situation, a lot of people would feel that way, and I would be among the minority who would not count himself among them.

Consider this. If a drastic capitulation does happen and we don't make the play offs, or even if we lose in the playoffs, with the progress we have made with the team so far, are we truly better off with a brand new manager who feels he needs to start from scratch, or to stick with Steve Bruce, who knows the team well?

Bearing in mind also, new managers tend to be a bit of a lottery. We might get one who hits the ground running, or we could have one that is a Redknapp in disguise that leaves a path of destruction from the inside out.

this all along has been my reasoning for keeping him...i'm less keen on entering that lottery personally. for us to drop out of playoffs now would mean something has gone seriously wrong and the dressing room has been lost (or a 3 month long flu bug has hit B6 and ruled out most of our first team, which i could forgive)

10 hours ago, AJ said:

Regardless of what happens at the end of this season, is Steve Bruce the man to take us forward?

interesting point...i can see you being in the minority if we don't go up. for me it would depend on the circumstances, if we just drop to playoffs, and lose playoff final unluckily i would say keep him. a total capitulation where we don't make playoffs would be somewhat unforgivable however

My mrs is going in sept for a few days and looking for good food ideas and things to do. already been and done the more touristy things so looking for other things to do...any input appreciated, thanks!

On 11/15/2017 at 09:46, Stevo985 said:

Cheers for the recommendations. We had a great time. Didn't get to do everything. 

I had Montmatre penned in but the Eiffel tower took way longer than expected so it had to be sacrificed. Did all the big stuff: Eiffel tower, Arc de Triumph, Champs Elysses, Louvre and gardens, Notre Dame, few other churches and palaces.

We missed out on the catacombs. We both really wanted to do that but it's closed on a Monday which we didn't realise until it was too late. Considered doing it on Tuesday before our flight but couldn't really squeeze it in. Save it for next time.

I echo the sentiments about how expensive it is. Some places were insanely priced. The only bar we went to near a main attraction was a bar by the Louvre, and that was just because it was raining and we were soaked, freezing and knackered so we just wanted to be in the warm. 
But a beer and a gin and tonic set us back 28 euro in there  

Found a cafe fairly close to the Eiffel tower that was actually very reasonable though.

We stayed in Opera which is a decent area for bars and restaurants if anyone's going in future. Grand Boulevard is the main street there but generally the bars and restaurant on the backstreets around that area are better and more reasonably priced.

you really didnt miss much...one of the bigger disappointments of paris IMO

Absolutely loving shadow of war at the moment...quality game