wilko154

Petrov - No Henry - Maybe Henry/Terry - Yes Rodgers - Big Yes No room for sentiment here with Petrov I'm afraid.

I believe it would take a month for Terry to have the correct badges to be able to manage a professional team, that therefore rules him out of the managers position. Rumours are that he is coming in as Henry's assistant, I don't know how I feel about that. It would then leave us with both a manager and an assistant manager who have never managed a football team before. Henry with an experienced assistant would probably be preferable. Saying that Calderwood was experienced and he didn't seem to do a lot. As a defensive coach he would be spot on. The way I would be most comfortable with an Henry/Terry combination is if the Director of Football role is taken by an ex-manager. Wenger would obviously be perfect but even an ex-manager without the big status would do the job.

In fairness to Garde he inherited possibly the worst Villa side there has ever been. Guardiola wouldn't have kept us in the Premier League that season. Sherwood... fair he was doing so well until we gave him a summer transfer window, although I don't think it's ever been proven which players he brought in and which one's were chosen by the board.

Shut this thread down, we aren't going anywhere near promotion this season with this squad.

I'll say what we are all thinking, he's crap. He's no longer interested in playing football in the Championship, he thinks he's too big for the league and the club. He sulked for most of the game today after the crowd got on his back and Millwall doubled up on him. Spends more time moaning to the ref than playing football. I'd rather see O'Hare given a chance in the first team this season or Scott Hogan given a chance alongside Abraham. Needs to sort himself out over the international break. At this rate I would be happy to sell him for £25 come January.

I would much prefer Arteta and Wenger than Henry and Wenger. However the only one out of the three I see wanting to come to Villa is Henry.

Interestingly Lambert was sacked after a 2-0 loss to Hull where Steve Bruce was in charge. Elmo also played against us in a team made up entirely of right backs. Pointless fact of the day

I think the new manager will be announced today or tomorrow prior to kick off. They can then watch the game from the stands prior to starting on Monday. It sound's like a done deal to me.

Yep totally agree. We have been playing long ball football in most games this season which has seen us entirely bypass the midfield, or have set the team up in such a way that the players are more intent on hitting the wings rather than the middle of the pitch. Back on topic this is where we can now sort this problem out by bringing in a manager who has had teams playing a possesion based game, attacking with intent. Managers like Allardyce, Moyes, McCarthy don't do this often enough to change our game enough. I'm unsure about Dean Smith but when you look at the Brentford team he has assembled this is exactly the style he has them playing.

What are you classing as a realistic manager? Allardyce, Pardew, McCarthy? Henry, Smith, Terry? I have a feeling that the new owners want to make a statement which is why we are seeing reports of Rodgers, Benitez, Fonseca... if we can attempt it then lets attempt it. In the summer would you have said we realistically had a chance of bringing in Bolasie & Abraham? I wouldn't Granted I have seen some ridiculous names in Wenger, Guardiola etc.

You could argue that we have been scoring goals with out of sorts team, with a manager who sets his team up to be defensive. You could argue that we have been shipping goals with a back four with 2-3 players out of position each game. If we can sort both of the above out we should be able to continue scoring goals at a more impressive rate whilst tightening up at the back. It's a simplistic view but it's what any manager coming in should be looking to do from the off. We have the best attacking players in the league in Abraham, Hogan, Kodjia, Grealish, Bolasie, McGinn and Hourihane; we now need a manager who can use them in the correct way, get the best out of them and get them playing possesion based, attacking, free flowing football. This squad should be able to do this comfortably in the way we have seen Newcastle, Brighton, Wolves and Fulham do it over the last two seasons.

Thats a strange assesment of Southgate Mount gets in because he has been one of the standout players in the Championship this season, and against Man United in the cup was outstanding. I don't think the fact he is temporarily on loan has anything to do with it. Abraham hasn't been selected so that is just guesswork. I would like to think he will be selected over Welbeck at some point if he starts firing goals in for us, but so far we haven't created enough for him to begin doing that. Grealish isn't being selected yet because he hasn't been good enough this seasons, he hasn't hit the form he did last season. He wasn't selected for the World Cup because a) he had only been on form for 6-8 months since his injury b) he had never proven himself as an England player before. Grealish now needs to look at Southgate's selections, realise he has the chance to push himself into the England squad ahead of the Euro's and kick on this season, hopefully a new manager setting the team out in an attacking way built around Grealish will help him prove himself.

Disagree There is no way we are bringing in Pardew or McCarthy, if we do the fans will be against it before their first game. I think the appointment of the new manager will be more to do with Sawiris, Edens and the new DOF rather than Purslow. They have a vision for the club and based on the links with Mendes they have seen what Wolves have done and are trying to create something similar. Fonseca is a very unlikely target but if we have approached him fair play to the board, if you don't ask you don't get at the end of the day. There are plenty of young, european coaches about at the moment who would get us playing attacking football with a vision we can employ going forward over the next 10 years. Employing one of the old guard managers goes totally against what the board are trying to acheive at Aston Villa. In my opinion a gamble on an untested manager such as Henry or Terry is not worth it.

Implement it with Chester and Tuanzebe, Bedeau and Bree acting as cover for them until January and then begin signing players that accomodate the formation and style we are looking at. Unfortunately for any manager coming in we won't have the players to play in the way they want, this is a result of the past 3 seasons buying players with absolutely no plan in place of where to play them. We are top heavy with players, strikers, wingers, midfielders.

This man is everything we need. The formation he plays is the exact formation that would get the best out of our squad if implemented in the correct way, it would get the best out of the midfield in Grealish, Hourihane, McGinn and the best out of wingers in Bolasie, El Ghazi and Kodjia. Full backs would be a sticking point but I'm sure for one season it could be worked on. Very interesting video, the depth of tactics he has implemented at Shaktar are something we have missed at Villa Park for years.

Pretty sure the loan rules were changed last year so you can only recall players when the loan window is open (basically have to wait until January)

Rogers is being linked with Manchester United today, there's no way he's coming to Villa Park. I would offer it to Rafa Benitez, he's done it in this league before and is currently unhappy with the lack of funds since Newcastle were promoted to the Premier League. We could offer him unlimited funds next year if we are promoted. However again I think it's unlikely he will come to Villa Park. I've seen managers such as Allardyce, McCarthy, Moyes being touted; however they aren't what we need. We need someone progressive, with attacking intent to utilise this unbalanced squad in the correct way. They need to get the fans back onside early. Dean Smith would be a decent option, but it would be a gamble in the sense of he's never managed or been at a big club like Villa. The pressure is a lot different as Bruce and those before him have found out. The other option is to go the young and upcoming route Nuno proved it last year and Howe has been doing so for a while in the Premier League. Again it's a gamble as you have to find the right man for the job. For me Henry is a gamble too far, he's never managed a club and it's an unknown quantity we can't afford this season. Paulo Fonseca is a man I would take from Shaktar Donetsk, again unlikely but is a very good up and coming manager. Ivan Leko from Club Brugge is another who is being touted as an excellent upcoming manager. Brugge are playing some brilliant stuff in Belgium. Andre Villas-Boas is another who has something to prove and plays attacking football which we need at Villa Park. A lot of these names are unlikely to want to move to the Championship but it's worth a go, there's a lot to offer at Villa Park especially if they can get us back to the Premier League.

Eirik Bakke was really good

Surely they have now made the decision on the DOF and can sit down with him today and discuss the new manager to come in. Realistically they don't need to announce the DOF before they sack Bruce. If we go into the Millwall game with a caretaker manager (Delaney for me) we won't perform any worse than we would with Bruce in charge, we then have the international break as well to get a new manager on board. This is the best time to do it, 3 full weeks before our next game (minus Millwall which with the current regime we will lose anyway)

Great assist for the goal, but he lumped a lot of balls into the box before that to no avail. At one point he lumped one in when no one was even near the penalty area. I'll give him his due, when he has a bit of space and time he can deliver a good ball in as we have seen this season. Defensively he is pants.

Watched the first episode of The Cry last night, BBC 4-parter. Very good so far, reccomended.

No such thing. If we win and play well great, hopefully it's the turning point for both the team and Bruce (I very much doubt this will happen). If we win and play poorly not so great but it's 3 points on the board. You would then hope that the board are acnowledging the poor performances. We are supporting Aston Villa, not Steve Bruce. Come the end of the season 3 points could be the difference between promotion and another season in this division.

Back to basics is what we now need, players in their correct positions all over the pitch. Nyland Hutton Tuanzebe Chester Taylor McGinn Hourihane Bolasie Grealish El Ghazi Kodjia Either stick with Nyland or bring in Moreira and let him have a chance at number one. Hutton needs to move back to right back, alternatively give Bree a chance. Taylor needs to play and get some form behind him. Midfield of McGinn, Hourihane and Grealish, although it will be slightly harsh on Bjarnasson. Bolasie and El Ghazi right and left, with Kodjia up front. Kodjia had just hit goalscoring form before Abraham arrived, give him another chance up front and switch it in the second half if it isn't working. I have a feeling Bruce will play 4-4-2 in this one though, with Jedinak and Elmo both staring at the back.