wilko154

He hasn't aged well

These are all must's for me this summer GK - Potentially Johnstone (he has ended the season well) but a more experienced head could well be required. Also a reserve keeper is needed unless we continue with Bunn. DM - Desperately needed, we look weaker when Jedinak is not available and it will allow CH & HL to push on and do their job further forward. Has Barry still got the legs for it? LW & RW - One of each, our creative outlets are almost non existent which is easily seen from the lack of goals. Brighton & Newcastle were both well stocked with wingers and look how they got on this season... Quality wingers are a must with Adomah & Green then pushing for starting places against them.

Crazy statistic of the day... With all of the comparisons between Benteke & Kodjia This season Kodjia has played 36 games and scored 19 goals After Benteke's first 36 games at Villa he had also scored 19 goals Spooky

Only reason I keep dipping into this thread

It's going to be nice to see a bit of silverware at Villa Park this season...

For me Bruce is the type of stable manager that our club currently needs. He know's the league inside out and has proven he can get clubs promoted... However the football we are playing is dire. Earlier in the season he mentioned that training is taken by his coaches and he just oversees it. I think in the summer it may be that a backroom staff overhaul is required rather than a managerial change. For me we don't look to have improved since Calderwood has come in, possibly we look better defensively? But we need someone to come in and get the team playing passing, attacking football as Brighton and Newcastle are currently doing.

This sums up the first half...

Good points well presented Sod it lets send them down!

Is it just me who would prefer Blues to stay up for another season? The derby is something to look forward to in a long slog of a season and atmospheres like we had on Sunday don't happen often enough at Villa Park these days. Don't get me wrong I would love to see them get relegated, but those games are something special.

Bruce should have known this was going to happen 7th was always going to get us up Bruce Out Something like that?

No one is going to buy him and pay the wages he is currently earning at Villa... therefore he won't be moving until his contract expires. If we are going to be paying his wages for another season then we might as well use him when required. As an impact player in the last 20/30 minutes of games in the Championship he has proved he can make a difference. As a first team starter we should be looking at the players we already have or bring others in... Take nothing away from him though he completely changed the game on Sunday.

Just from that video he seem's like a bit of a nob. Great left boot though and not scared to shoot. Grealish could perform this role better than him if he was more direct.

It's almost like Angel's first season for us, he makes some brilliant run's but no one see's them. Occasionally they do, but the ball to him is way to late and he is in an offside position, this is something he was getting frustrated with on Monday. As the team starts playing with more cohesion we will see some of his run's rewarded. The service from midfield has let us down all season unfortunately. Just look at the amount of goals we have scored compared to the rest of the teams in the top half of this league.

Scored in both games against Birmingham for Brentford this season. He was also Man of the Match in the last game against them.

Unfortunately both Taylor and Green are doubts...

I think Gabby was dining out on a lot more than just his goals judging from the size of him in pre season...

Controversial team choice for this one... Johnstone Hutton Chester Jedinak Amavi (Taylor if fit) Lansbury Hourihane Adomah Grealish Gabby Hogan Jedinak has to be on the pitch... the problem is in the middle we need legs and someone who can pick a pass. He has looked solid at the back previously and he can command the midfield from there. Gabby... in any other game I wouldn't even think about putting him in. But in a game like this you need local lads in there. We are currently missing an out and out winger but Gabby's pace could be used here as we did years ago. Blues also fear him (for some strange reason)

His position need's to be number 10. If we are going with 4-4-2 for the remainder of the season then he needs to be playing up top but just behind Hogan, more of a 4-4-1-1. Out wide he isn't quick enough and takes too long on the ball. Hogan is making all the right run's, Jack is one of the few players we have who will be able to feed him the ball when he wants it.

Awful again, although Kodjia hardly helped matters... harsh sending off but if you react like that you run the risk of walking. Bruce's substitutions were again baffling, he seems to make changes without thinking about how the formation will work and then has to make another sub to resurrect it. Gardner one of the only players to come out with any credit, worked hard and kept going till the end. Grealish mostly absent bar his goal, Jedinak's passing is abysmal, Hogan makes all the right runs but no one see's them. Sort it out Steve!

I'm not a fan of the team or formation but you can understand why Bruce has done it. Its the second game in two days... had we played Friday as the rest of the league did we could potentially have played the same team. It will be interesting to see what Grealish, Kodjia and Hogan look like together.

Will Hughes for me. Derby have yet again failed in their quest for Premiership football, it's about time he progressed his career and made a step up... which could potentially rule us out. Exactly the type of player we need giving us options in the middle of the pitch. We are then able to drop Jedinak into CB if this is Bruce's plan and rotate between Hourihane, Lansbury & Hughes. For me this summer is all about getting some wingers in. Back in the day's of Young & Downing they were our creative outlets and something that has been missing since they departed. Adomah has gone missing in too many games for my liking and the LW position hasn't had a proper left midfielder there all season (bar Green for a couple of games)

Thor last chance... he's only featured in 8 games and completed only 2...

Without Kodjia and his goals we would have most probably spent the money on another striker during the summer who would have chipped in with some goals... You make the point that without Kodjia's goals we would be facing relegation... but it's an if... If we had signed Lionel Messi we would be looking at automatic promotion. It's a pointless argument against Bruce as per usual.

Obviously we would have another striker up front who you would hope would have been scoring goals... 15 million would have been spent on a different player who would then have played the same amount of minutes as Kodjia

Give me a manager that 100% guarantees us promotion... Clearly if we could find a manger that would have guaranteed us promotion this season we would have taken him on. But the world doesn't work in that way and so we hired a manager who has previously been there, done it and has the experience to do it again.