Steve Bruce

[VillanousOne]

yesterday in a meaningless friendly against west ham he still managed to set up with a baffling defensive formation with an attacker completely isolated and Grealish with no clue as to what he was doing.

i mean a friendly and he's setting us up with no chance of winning, surely that says it all.

 

[VILLAMARV]

5 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

yesterday in a meaningless friendly against west ham he still managed to set up with a baffling defensive formation with an attacker completely isolated and Grealish with no clue as to what he was doing.

i mean a friendly and he's setting us up with no chance of winning, surely that says it all.

When would you rather see him experiment both with players in different positions and different formations?

Bruce may well have us playing appalling football in the main but I find this an odd thing to knock him for personally.

[bobzy]

2 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said:

When would you rather see him experiment both with players in different positions and different formations?

Bruce may well have us playing appalling football in the main but I find this an odd thing to knock him for personally.

I also blame him for the lack of rain recently. His football has been so anti-Football that we’ve needed permanent-good weather to cheer everyone up. 

**** Bruce. He almost put Villa under and has now ensured no rain for the UK. He’s probably doing Brexit negotiations too. Just get him out. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, bobzy said:

I also blame him for the lack of rain recently. His football has been so anti-Football that we’ve needed permanent-good weather to cheer everyone up. 

**** Bruce. He almost put Villa under and has now ensured no rain for the UK. He’s probably doing Brexit negotiations too. Just get him out. 

To be honest mate the vast majority of Bruce criticism is justified. The only problem is it’s the same criticism over and over again. 

Bruce ain’t going to change and the same criticism isn’t going to stop. 

[jacketspuds]

24 minutes ago, weedman said:

Surely you don't consider the first 3 things on that list invalid? We've had a terrible summer, up until a week ago we couldn't even pay the bills let alone consider transfers, and up until yesterday no one even knew who would be managing the team for the first game, including the manager. We've lost key players and haven't replaced them with anyone, with a manager spending most of the summer being told there was absolutely no money to replace them. 

There is an awful lot of work to do in the next week to get us as ready as possible, work that, in any other circumstances would have been done months ago. It is completely irrelevant who the manager is, these issues are present no matter what and it's as close to a certainty as you can get in football that we won't be fully up to speed when the season starts 

My expectation is that, by now, the squad that Bruce has had available to him all summer is as ready as possible. There's no excuse for that. The fact that Bruce didn't know if he'd have a job should have no bearing on his performance this summer, regardless of the financial position. The work you refer to, which I assume is more around recruitment, is fine to do late in the window, as many clubs prove each season. They will just need a bit more time to be integrated in to the team. However, my expectation is that we are still in the Top 8 given the teams we play at the start of the season and the squad available to Bruce.

[sne]

4 minutes ago, bobzy said:

I also blame him for the lack of rain recently. His football has been so anti-Football that we’ve needed permanent-good weather to cheer everyone up. 

**** Bruce. He almost put Villa under and has now ensured no rain for the UK. He’s probably doing Brexit negotiations too. Just get him out. 

[bobzy]

3 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

To be honest mate the vast majority of Bruce criticism is justified. The only problem is it’s the same criticism over and over again. 

Bruce ain’t going to change and the same criticism isn’t going to stop. 

Unfortunately true!

[LakotaDakota]

1 hour ago, Donniewyer said:

I think Bruce's tactics haven't evolved with the way most teams try to play in the Championship.

Even Bolton and Burton try to play attacking football.

What good did it do them? 20 wins between them -78 goal difference, We got as many points as both of them together.

Burton Relegated & Bolton survived by the skin of their teeth.

I know which one i would prefer.

[villabromsgrove]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

To be honest mate the vast majority of Bruce criticism is justified. The only problem is it’s the same criticism over and over again. 

Bruce ain’t going to change and the same criticism isn’t going to stop. 

I agree.

Bruce has some plus points.

He's a genuinely decent man.

He's well liked by the players and staff.

He has friends within football that allow him to secure decent loan players (some of the time).

 

However .... As V-L-V has just said "Bruce ain't going to change and the same criticism isn't going to stop".

 

After almost two years under SB we are no nearer to being a settled positive team.

We are still scratching our heads trying to figure out exactly what happens at Body Moor Heath on the training pitch.

Have we got round to sitting players down in front of a white board and working through the basics?

Do we sit in a video room and talk players through the plus's and minus's of the match we've just played?

Will we ever analyse the best positive system given the squad at our disposal, and then agree to stick to it and coach it day after day after day until it becomes second nature to the whole squad?

 

I guess I've just proved that V-L-V's observation is right. Certainly in my case, because I've said all this many times.

 

[sheepyvillian]

20 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said:

What good did it do them? 20 wins between them -78 goal difference, We got as many points as both of them together.

Burton Relegated & Bolton survived by the skin of their teeth.

I know which one i would prefer.

Let me guess ?

[bobzy]

11 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said:

After almost two years under SB we are no nearer to being a settled positive team.

We are still scratching our heads trying to figure out exactly what happens at Body Moor Heath on the training pitch.

Have we got round to sitting players down in front of a white board and working through the basics?

Do we sit in a video room and talk players through the plus's and minus's of the match we've just played?

Will we ever analyse the best positive system given the squad at our disposal, and then agree to stick to it and coach it day after day after day until it becomes second nature to the whole squad?

 

I guess I've just proved that V-L-V's observation is right. Certainly in my case, because I've said all this many times.

 

I think we are way more settled as a team now, personally. We don’t play the prettiest football at times, but I think we all know how we’re going to play so this criticism of “what do we even do at training?” seems (naturally) entirely OTT.

Last season we had the 3rd best attack and 3rd best defence in the league - and that was during a season which had arguably the best side the Championship has seen in it. Plenty of people don’t like it, but it works to an extent. Whether or not we can get over the line this season (particularly with transfer issues, more clubs strengthening etc) who knows - but we should be challenging for playoffs again IMO. 

[briny_ear]

33 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

To be honest mate the vast majority of Bruce criticism is justified. The only problem is it’s the same criticism over and over again. 

Bruce ain’t going to change and the same criticism isn’t going to stop. 

So dare I ask what is the point of repeating the same old criticism if it has no effect?

[briny_ear]

It was the fans wot done it!!!

Quote

Aston Villa fans save Steve Bruce's job with massive backlash against Thierry Henry taking over

New owners shelve idea of appointing Arsenal hero with no managerial experience after 70% of punters back current boss

ByJames Nursey

19:33, 25 JUL 2018Updated00:26, 26 JUL 2018

Steve Bruce has dodged the axe from Aston Villa’s new owners who have put plans to bring in Thierry Henry on hold.

Villa’s billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens considered replacing their manager with Arsenal legend Henry. But the plan was met by a huge backlash as 70 per cent of supporters polled in the Birmingham Mail newspaper backed keeping Bruce ahead of the Frenchman.

Sawiris said: “We are appreciative of the fanbase that has made Aston Villa a club that people look out for. That was our No.1 attraction. We are here to bring the club back to its original glory.”

Bruce held crunch talks with Sawiris and Edens for an hour on Wednesday afternoon at the Championship club’s training ground.

He remained in charge afterwards, with the club playing a friendly against top flight West Ham later in the day.

A statement said: “Aston Villa can confirm manager Steve Bruce has met majority owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens and will continue as manager with their full support.”

It is a relief for Bruce, who refused to walk away when Villa were in financial turmoil earlier this summer under Dr Tony Xia. But his reprieve is awkward for Henry, 40, who quit as a Sky pundit for the new season last week.

The Frenchman, who was on Belgium's coaching staff as they came third in this summer's World Cup, left citing his desire to “fulfil my long-term ambition to become a football manager”.

Sawiris is known to be an Arsenal fan and admirer of Henry, and Bruce admitted at the weekend he feared he could be replaced.

The 57-year-old, who has taken four teams to promotion from the Championship in his career, only got a chance to meet the new owners face-to-face on Wednesday when they travelled up from London.

He guided the club to a 13th place finish after joining partway through their first season after relegation and then last term delivered fourth before that costly play-off final loss against Fulham.

mirrorfootball

 

 

[kiltorken]

12 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

It was the fans wot done it!!!

I initially thought that was just a bollox article but I see it's from The Mirror so its as reliable as the encyclopedia britannica. 

[tonyh29]

15 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

It was the fans wot done it!!!

 

Just shows that sometimes acting under the will of the people can be a bad idea

[robby b]

1,955 pages on Steve Bruce, blimey. That's not just a book, that's a trilogy. If he gets us to the playoff final again then I just hope he manages to get the team to attack in the first half this time! I still feel gutted about how few attempts on goal we had in that first half. Steve Claridge said he couldn't believe how negative we were (in the first half). Sigh.

[DaveAV1]

I think that the number one problem with Steve Bruce is that he’s too gung-ho. I also believe that he over coaches the players and his acute tactical awareness is often to advanced for our players to understand. 

[TOTTI-THE-GOD]

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

I think that the number one problem with Steve Bruce is that he’s too gung-ho. I also believe that he over coaches the players and his acute tactical awareness is often to advanced for our players to understand. 

Comedy Gold right there

[Vive_La_Villa]

I think the owners probably did consider the fans when not sacking Bruce. I also think it’s true most would not want him gone and replaced by Henry. The gamble is just too big. 

But I think the main reason they didn’t sack him is because they haven’t recruited people to make these decisions yet. 

[terrytini]

15 minutes ago, kiltorken said:

I initially thought that was just a bollox article but I see it's from The Mirror so its as reliable as the encyclopedia britannica. 

Thankfully there are no quotes in there that back that up.

Had it been true I’m afraid it’d have been an enormous black mark for the new owners. What fans say in polls on here, in the Evening Mail, on Twitter, or anywhere else, shouldn’t be within a million miles of the decision process.