Dave J Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 5 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: Could the same not be said as an appraisal of our result last week? No - there was an absolute chasm between us and Wolves - nothing to do with us playing poorly - simply outclassed on the pitch and out thought on the touch line i’m Afraid 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave J Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 2 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: Possibly, I think we need a little more time to see if we are a good side though. There are some positive signs though. Are we a good side in the making? I still see a disjointed and less than cohesive unit - yes we have some good individual performers - who will of course be capable of winning games - but this is down to them and their natural ability and despite Bruce being in charge, not because of him being in charge imo 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 1 hour ago, Dave J said: Are we a good side in the making? I still see a disjointed and less than cohesive unit - yes we have some good individual performers - who will of course be capable of winning games - but this is down to them and their natural ability and despite Bruce being in charge, not because of him being in charge imo So when they lose or draw it’s down to the failings of the players rather than any failings by Steve Bruce? Or does the logic not work in reverse? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 (edited) 14 hours ago, Dave J said: Are we a good side in the making? I still see a disjointed and less than cohesive unit - yes we have some good individual performers - who will of course be capable of winning games - but this is down to them and their natural ability and despite Bruce being in charge, not because of him being in charge imo Dave, I'm sorry there is no consistency in that argument. you want your cake and eat it. I too see the flaws you see.....but they are in the opposition sides too. managers can only do so much.....even the lauded Jokanovic could not save Fulham. so when we play poorly it must be down to the players, because you say when we win its down to them. Edited October 23, 2017 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 22, 2017 Share Posted October 22, 2017 Jokanovic said in the Daily express.....villa are fast and physical. and we all know we are not......(we would surely like to be) all managers have moments when they talk rubbish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Steve Bruce has deserved a lot of the criticism that has come his way, but he seems to be getting a grip on things now. Even the loss to Wolves seems quite reasonable. Just me getting jiggy on the fence here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan_of_oz Posted October 23, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 23, 2017 2 hours ago, AJ said: Steve Bruce has deserved a lot of the criticism that has come his way, but he seems to be getting a grip on things now. Even the loss to Wolves seems quite reasonable. Just me getting jiggy on the fence here. Move over, you're hogging all of the fence and lots of us want to join you. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 I didn't get carried away with the 4 wins in a row as it was all against poor sides, Fulham is only the 2nd win against a team in the top half this season. The fixture list has been more than kind to us of late. It's why the Wolves game was so disappointing, as we looked so far away from the leaders just as we did against Cardiff. the top 2 sides have given us a right thrashing. Having said that you can only beat whats in front of you, I was happy with the performance and result against Fulham, more so than the thrashings of Barnsley and Burton. If we are aiming for play offs rather than automatic promotion we need to do better against teams in the top half of the table as they are the ones who we will be playing in the play offs, beating Fulham gives me hope. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerner's Driver Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 1 hour ago, Villan_of_oz said: Move over, you're hogging all of the fence and lots of us want to join you. Just imagine being certain... you never have to do this irritating, petty little open minded thing. The only frustration comes in time not hurrying along quicker to the inevitable outcome you knew it would well before the drooling hordes catch on. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 1 hour ago, Junxs said: I didn't get carried away with the 4 wins in a row as it was all against poor sides, Fulham is only the 2nd win against a team in the top half this season. The fixture list has been more than kind to us of late. It's why the Wolves game was so disappointing, as we looked so far away from the leaders just as we did against Cardiff. the top 2 sides have given us a right thrashing. Having said that you can only beat whats in front of you, I was happy with the performance and result against Fulham, more so than the thrashings of Barnsley and Burton. If we are aiming for play offs rather than automatic promotion we need to do better against teams in the top half of the table as they are the ones who we will be playing in the play offs, beating Fulham gives me hope. Pretty much agree with what you say. Last month was expected to be a kind month for us, but if we dropped a lot of points, I would have reignited the torch, grabbed the pitchfork, and marched on to Steve Bruce's castle. I read somewhere that Wolves played their best game this season so far against us. If that is true, they deserve to be top of the table. Of course it would have been nice to beat them on their home ground. If we manage a win against the bin botherers at their home sty on Sunday, then that is two wins out of three this month, which is OK. The win on Sunday would at least give us a more slightly solid foothold in the top 6. If we lose however, I expect the pressure to be right back on Bruce. I wont get carried away or even hysterical yet, but a win next game would at least give some of us some hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 (edited) 2 hours ago, Junxs said: I didn't get carried away with the 4 wins in a row as it was all against poor sides, Fulham is only the 2nd win against a team in the top half this season. The fixture list has been more than kind to us of late. It's why the Wolves game was so disappointing, as we looked so far away from the leaders just as we did against Cardiff. the top 2 sides have given us a right thrashing. Having said that you can only beat whats in front of you, I was happy with the performance and result against Fulham, more so than the thrashings of Barnsley and Burton. If we are aiming for play offs rather than automatic promotion we need to do better against teams in the top half of the table as they are the ones who we will be playing in the play offs, beating Fulham gives me hope. We should be aiming for a top 2 finish - we were poor at wolves and they were on top form ; there’s a long way to go and I see us getting better from here with the likes of Jedi and grealish close to return too - I’m very hopeful for automatic promotion , we have the players now to grind out wins and a lot of strength in depth compared to the other squads . No doubt there was every reason Bruce could have been sacked earlier on in the season but one defeat in 10 and 21 points from those games is automatic promotion form without playing close to our best yet . Bruce has earned himself more time Edited October 23, 2017 by Eastie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stevo985 Posted October 23, 2017 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted October 23, 2017 I was very pleased with the game on Saturday. We were by far the better team and made a good Fulham side look pretty average. My only complaint is that we didn't make them pay earlier and make it a more comfortable win. That being said, apart from Johnstone's excellent save in the second half I don't think they really caused us any problems. Surprised at the negative reaction to us shutting the game down late in the second half. Well, I would be surprised, but then this is VillaTalk. It worked perfectly. Fulham didn't create much after that and in fact we still looked more likely to score than them. I have no problem with the manager going defensive at the end of a game against a good side to ensure a victory. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 Bruce gets a big well done from me this week. Yes we lost and played badly against Wolves, but he recognised what was wrong, changed it and it paid off. I've questioned Onomah in that high position before, but on Saturday he was perfect for it. We played a high energy, pressing game from the off to stifle their passing and it worked a treat. Having Onomah that high up, bullying their defenders and midfielders in their own half was instrumental I thought. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 4 hours ago, Stevo985 said: I was very pleased with the game on Saturday. We were by far the better team and made a good Fulham side look pretty average. My only complaint is that we didn't make them pay earlier and make it a more comfortable win. That being said, apart from Johnstone's excellent save in the second half I don't think they really caused us any problems. Surprised at the negative reaction to us shutting the game down late in the second half. Well, I would be surprised, but then this is VillaTalk. It worked perfectly. Fulham didn't create much after that and in fact we still looked more likely to score than them. I have no problem with the manager going defensive at the end of a game against a good side to ensure a victory. Spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
srsmithusa Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 4 hours ago, Stevo985 said: (I edited some of this quote - srs) Surprised at the negative reaction to us shutting the game down late in the second half. Well, I would be surprised, but then this is VillaTalk. It worked perfectly. Fulham didn't create much after that and in fact we still looked more likely to score than them. I have no problem with the manager going defensive at the end of a game against a good side to ensure a victory. I agree in this particular incidence. However, one of the very reasonable concerns about our cute and cuddly manager is that he very consistently errs on the side of a cautious approach. There are multiple negative outcomes due to this (the teams confidence in its own ability to take the match to the opponent is undermined, is a major intangible result). Conservative on occasion is fine and this sounds like it may have been a reasonable time for a conservative approach. But conservative as a default becomes a major flaw over time. If cute and cuddly had not made multiple errors that could be seen as driven by a too conservative approach (make changes too late, not giving academy kids a chance unless forced, defensive setups, etc) he wouldn't be given much flak for doing it once in a while. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 5 hours ago, Stevo985 said: Surprised at the negative reaction to us shutting the game down late in the second half. Well, I would be surprised, but then this is VillaTalk. It worked perfectly. Fulham didn't create much after that and in fact we still looked more likely to score than them. I have no problem with the manager going defensive at the end of a game against a good side to ensure a victory. Its because we've seen way too many times when Villa are leading, then go defensive and end up conceding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raver50032 Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 4 hours ago, GREAT_BEARD_OF_ZEUS said: Bruce gets a big well done from me this week. Yes we lost and played badly against Wolves, but he recognised what was wrong, changed it and it paid off. I've questioned Onomah in that high position before, but on Saturday he was perfect for it. We played a high energy, pressing game from the off to stifle their passing and it worked a treat. Having Onomah that high up, bullying their defenders and midfielders in their own half was instrumental I thought. I thought we played quite well overall, but the bit in bold is a little bit jingoistic for me. Before we really got going, Fulham had two clear cut chances to score in the first 19 minutes. ~Very happy with the win, and overall showing on this occasion. Wasn't impressed with Bjarnasson, but enjoyed De Laat's cameo (and nearly scored) and I thought Davis did well - big unit, but he played quite mobile at times. I can't grumble, so won't. But we should have been 2 goals down after 20 minutes considering our start. Another day, that would have been a 5-3 game and DVD worthy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 21 minutes ago, ender4 said: Its because we've seen way too many times when Villa are leading, then go defensive and end up conceding. The point is that we didn't concede though. That justifies the initial reaction but to carry on with it after the fact is frankly bizarre. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted October 23, 2017 Share Posted October 23, 2017 5 hours ago, Stevo985 said: I was very pleased with the game on Saturday. We were by far the better team and made a good Fulham side look pretty average. My only complaint is that we didn't make them pay earlier and make it a more comfortable win. That being said, apart from Johnstone's excellent save in the second half I don't think they really caused us any problems. Surprised at the negative reaction to us shutting the game down late in the second half. Well, I would be surprised, but then this is VillaTalk. It worked perfectly. Fulham didn't create much after that and in fact we still looked more likely to score than them. I have no problem with the manager going defensive at the end of a game against a good side to ensure a victory. It wouldn't have been quite so edgey had RDL's header went in, or the countless times we overhit a pass when Fulham over commited in the last 10, rushed a clearanceor just booted the ball when a touch and a bit of calmness would have sufficed. You cannot blame Bruce for that. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted October 23, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted October 23, 2017 51 minutes ago, ender4 said: Its because we've seen way too many times when Villa are leading, then go defensive and end up conceding. I think people are confusing "going defensive" with "Being forced to sitback" Over the last few years we've seen way too much when we're leading 1-0 the team regress and be forced to camp deep in our half and invite pressure on. Saturday wasn't that. Saturday was a conscious decision to switch to a more defensive formation to contain a good side who are known to score late goals. We weren't forced too deep and we still allowed ourselves outlets, which actually ended up with us looking more likely to score than Fulham. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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