Steve Bruce

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, dudevillaisnice said:

We have the players and have had results with these players to suggest they are good enough. I think Bruce needs to adjust to accommodate the better players in the team in their natural positions and to get the best out of them. Hourihane isn't a wide player, nor is Lansbury for example. I would like to see him try something different over the next games, why not push players higher up and try getting on the ball in dangerous areas and see what the players can do. Why not try and get the best out of Hogan, get him more involved with the ball. Certainly improvements need to made. It may seem like we are setup with a front two but it's pointless if we can't get the ball to them really.

Dudevillaisnice for manager! To be honest it's so plainly obvious that these suggestions make perfect sense, at least to us simple fans, why can't our highly paid manager and his highly paid team of coaches see it. I hope the man paying the wages can see it. 

[Eastie]

Get mike phelan in as coach - he has worked well with Bruce and with United and is a more attack minded coach - calderwood had never worked with Bruce and takes the coaching - it hasn't worked - both too negative as defenders - if Bruce stays then his coaching staff needs  to be changed with more attack minded coaching coming in ..

Edited April 30, 2017 by Eastie

[Jimzk5]

Personally I think the complacency and lack of effort  that has dogged us for 6 years is still here, there's no incentive here, the players are already very well payed, 50/60k a week in the championship, we reward under achievers with new contracts.

 

[Villan_of_oz]

2 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Get mike phelan in as coach - he has worked well with Bruce and with United and is a more attack minded coach - calderwood had never worked with Bruce and takes the coaching - it hasn't worked - both too negative as defenders - if Bruce stays then his coaching staff need to be changed .

That's makes sense. Bruce is doing a good job of managing us overall. Maybe its easier and less disruptive to look at who's coaching them. 

[Eastie]

5 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

That's makes sense. Bruce is doing a good job of managing us overall. Maybe its easier and less disruptive to look at who's coaching them. 

Phelan was a big part in hulls success under Bruce - calderwood said himself he came here as the job offered him the chance to take  coaching rather than assist like he did at Brighton .

we have looked poorer under calderwood than we did before he arrived - whether we sack him or move him aside to coach the defenders is up for debate but phelan is now available , he's worked well with Bruce, clemence and Walsh and he has got teams he's coached playing a far better style and much more attractive way with goals and results .

He also worked for several years at United coaching the first team so he has the credentials for coaching at a big club .

[Spoony]

I will be besides myself with anger if Bruce is chopped. We will get nowhere if we keep constantly changing manager. It has actually become ridiculous. Of course he's he right man for the job. He has been promoted so many times. He hasn't just suddenly become terrible. He has inherited a shit show. It will take time to repair. 

[GENTLEMAN]

19 minutes ago, Spoony said:

I will be besides myself with anger if Bruce is chopped. We will get nowhere if we keep constantly changing manager. It has actually become ridiculous. Of course he's he right man for the job. He has been promoted so many times. He hasn't just suddenly become terrible. He has inherited a shit show. It will take time to repair. 

The players need to take some responsibility too - the club is paying them very well. Make no make mistake - this has been a very poor season (which could have been a lot worse). Bruce knows what is needed in the summer, he will build on the core of team (Chester, Taylor, Jedinak, Kodjia), and hopefully remove those who do not want to put the effort in (regardless of ability).

Time to be ruthless Brucie.

 

[Eastie]

40 minutes ago, Spoony said:

I will be besides myself with anger if Bruce is chopped. We will get nowhere if we keep constantly changing manager. It has actually become ridiculous. Of course he's he right man for the job. He has been promoted so many times. He hasn't just suddenly become terrible. He has inherited a shit show. It will take time to repair. 

He has been promoted but how much credit goes to phelan for that - we have a manager who was a centre half and a head coach who was centre half - in his previous promotions the coaches were more attacking minded in phelan and bertschin . 

This is the first time calderwood and Bruce have worked together - it's too negative and not working .

[GENTLEMAN]

10 minutes ago, Eastie said:

He has been promoted but how much credit goes to phelan for that - we have a manager who was a centre half and a head coach who was centre half - in his previous promotions the coaches were more attacking minded in phelan and bertschin . 

This is the first time calderwood and Bruce have worked together - it's too negative and not working .

He was promoted three times before working with Phelan though, but I do agree that adding him to the backroom team could possibly improve our play going forward. It shows Bruce can construct a decent backroom team for this level.

Edited April 30, 2017 by GENTLEMAN

[VillaChris]

14 hours ago, mykeyb said:

I have posted this a few months ago.  Alarm bells ringing anyone!!!!!

I honestly didn't know he once employed the satan Eric Black as his assistant.....

Bruce is certainly old school and certainly is one of these who rather than actually attempting to improve a player by coaching would rather go and get a ready made replacement (and we've seen there's no guarantee that will work either so you end up with bloated squads).

I take the example of someone like Tishbola. In his first few games I thought he showed some decent ability and looked like a player we could develop. SB has hardly used him. Can he not be improved tactically or mentally or has he been simply given up on?

To counter the argument to the article though, he did learn some tactics at Hull as he got them playing 3-5-2 when they got promoted and he also played it many times in the prem and also got them to a cup final.

However given his repeated failed attempts with that formation here I suspect it was just a group of players who were ideally suited to that system rather than him drilling it into them.

[pacbuddies]

11 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I see Huddersfield lost to the scum but its OK, cos their manager isn't Steve Bruce. Their manager is the progressive type who is guaranteed to be better than Bruce. 

Huddersfield lost to SHA who were outside the relegation zone on 47 points. We lost to Blackburn who were in the relegation zone on 45 points. Huddersfield have already qualified for the play offs so made a number of changes to their strongest possible team. We are languishing half way down the division and put out arguably our best team. If you are using your post to mock those that criticise Steve Bruce then I'll use mine to give support to those critics.

[Mantis]

2 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Ah this must be the fallacy of expecting someone to deliver because of their record. The record buys you a 'hello' at an interview stage, it's simply not a reason to keep someone on. Bruce has given us a perfectly good sample size to judge and things have just not been good enough. 12th place is absolutely shocking. 

That's why I said "this isn't an argument for or against keeping Bruce" at the beginning of the sentence. It was a genuine question, not an attempt at defending him.

[Eastie]

19 minutes ago, GENTLEMAN said:

He was promoted three times before working with Phelan though, but I do agree that adding him to the backroom team could possibly improve our play going forward. It shows Bruce can construct a decent backroom team for this level.

As my post said he was promoted with phelan or bertschin as coaches who are both far more attack minded .

The way we are set up is way too negative under Bruce and calderwood - we looked better before calderwood came .

Edited April 30, 2017 by Eastie

[a m ole]

I wonder if he's looking at his coaching staff and questioning their work - from his comments he's obviously not happy at all with how we've been playing, I wouldn't be surprised to see a shake up in the summer.

[Villanun]

12 minutes ago, pacbuddies said:

. We are languishing half way down the division and put out arguably our best team.

Not advocating for Bruce, but I have to ask: Gardner and Bacuna? That seems like a tough argument.

[GENTLEMAN]

31 minutes ago, Eastie said:

As my post said he was promoted with phelan or bertschin as coaches who are both far more attack minded .

The way we are set up is way too negative under Bruce and calderwood - we looked better before calderwood came .

I am sure Bruce will assess his backroom staff and make adjustments. I am more worried about the culture of the playing side, certain players disregarding what they are being told or coached. We must have one of worst squads in terms of professionalism (players not turning up for training, turning up late and being paid big amounts of money, not keeping fit). 

Edited April 30, 2017 by GENTLEMAN

[Villan_of_oz]

47 minutes ago, pacbuddies said:

Huddersfield lost to SHA who were outside the relegation zone on 47 points. We lost to Blackburn who were in the relegation zone on 45 points. Huddersfield have already qualified for the play offs so made a number of changes to their strongest possible team. We are languishing half way down the division and put out arguably our best team. If you are using your post to mock those that criticise Steve Bruce then I'll use mine to give support to those critics.

OK, it was a bit tongue in cheek as I've already mentioned. I didn't mock anyone..... It was simply meant to be some light humour. Sorry I offended you so much. 

[Reivax_Villa]

Despite liking Steve Bruce he is making far too many excuses now.  It's pretty evident that he is a manager not a coach. However you would think he would have had a coaching team to help us become more effective on the ball. 

He talks about lacking quality but I don't think we are. I'm currently watching a league one Bolton Wanderers pass rings around Peterborough yet they don't have the same quality as us.

This summer the backroom staff needs to be improved upon. Otherwise it won't matter who we sign, we will still be the same on the pitch.

Steve Round should surely be looking into this now. We need 2/3 long term coaches of the club's choice that can implement some style to our play. Last thing we want is our coaches leaving with the manager. 

[striker]

Its ok for Bruce to keep criticising the players but his team selections and tactics are a nightmare. Playing Bacuna and Gardner in midfield was the final straw for me. He is destroying the players confidence playing this way and not getting the best out of what he has at his disposal. He's simply not playing his best players in the best system to suit them and how often has that been said about recent managers?

I honestly believe Redknapp would get more out of Villa's squad that Bruce. Rodgers would be my current choice if he could be prised away from Celtic. His teams always play the right way and Villa fans would at the very least see a plan and system in place under him. With Rodgers in charge and Xia backing him in the summer Villa would imo walk the Championship next season. It's maybe a tad unrealistic but with the right financial package I do believe he would come to Villa as Rodgers is a glory hunter and he would get that here I'm sure of it.

If given the choice I'd still take Moyes over Bruce any day of the week. Moyes was dealt a very poor hand by the Sunderland chairman when promised financial backing was withdrawn. It was an awful career choice by Moyes turning Villa down for Sunderland. Could never understand that one. Do you think Moyes with the money that RDM and Bruce has spent wouldn't have got Villa playing better than they are now? I honestly think under him Villa would have been promoted this season or at the very least reached the playoffs.

Will say this again. Villa's current squad if used correctly was plenty good enough to challenge for promotion this season. Compare the squad to those that have either been promoted or are in the playoffs. No-one is going to convince me otherwise. Its just that they haven't been organised properly into an effective unit to suit what Villa have and that is down to the current and recent past managers and dreadful coaching. I mean how **** often have you seen three Villa players forming a triangle on the pitch to make passing to a team mate much easier. Fulham did that all day long when Villa played them recently. How often have you seen Villa midfielders run beyond Kodjia into the box? Not very often under Bruce!

Villa's predicament is nothing to do with the players who aren't being allowed to express themselves going forward but it's everything to do with the current manager who has already admitted while at Sunderland that he didn't know much about tactics.

On current performances how he has gotten teams promoted four times is quite beyond me at the moment and if he sticks with the same principles next season it won't matter even if Villa sign Ronaldo and Messi. 

 

Edited April 30, 2017 by striker

[terrytini]

Striker if there was even the slimmest of hopes Rodgers would take it ( and I think there is a very slim hope) they should do everything they could to get him, as IMO all the arguments for keeping Bruce - and there are still some valid ones - would disappear in smoke .

Bruce could go gracefully having been the guy who stopped the rot. Rodgers - whilst flawed ( who would we get that's not flawed?) would be the ideal choice for what's to come.