Steve Bruce

[Genie]

15 minutes ago, Dick said:

If only the manager chose positivity first.

Maybe he's found the balance of defence / attack hence the upturn in results? I just don't understand the incredibly simplistic view that being offensive = winning games.

[honest_bertie]

He will stay for now, can't sack him now as he's won 2 on the trot and is 6 in the league unbeaten. BUT I look forward to the day he leaves and hope that will be as soon as possible. The football is not going to get much better, have you seen a Steve Bruce team ever play free flowing organised football? I haven't and can't remember ever saying "I wished we could play like Hull, Sunderland, etc." He will always represent mediocre and the cringeworthy self protection in recent weeks blaming players and fans 'hysteria' gives me zero reason to give him any credit. As soon as things get tough out comes self preservation Steve, downplaying the size of our club and the fans expectation. Sick of hearing "hopefully this" and "maybe with a bit of luck that", we are Villa, we've the best players in the league, spent the most and should be acting like it.

[Dodgyknees]

11 minutes ago, Genie said:

Maybe he's found the balance of defence / attack hence the upturn in results? I just don't understand the incredibly simplistic view that being offensive = winning games.

We will struggle against Leeds and others with performances like yesterday. And we need to beat teams above us.

[Genie]

9 minutes ago, Dick said:

We will struggle against Leeds and others with performances like yesterday. And we need to beat teams above us.

Everybody in this league is going to struggle against Leeds as they've got a very good well organised side together. 

[DCJonah]

9 minutes ago, Genie said:

Everybody in this league is going to struggle against Leeds as they've got a very good well organised side together. 

Which we really should have as well. 

[TrentVilla]

48 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Thats where i am at. Reading a lot if these comments you would think we lost the game and were miles from the play off positions.

The real test come after the Bolton game but i think we will be prepared and hopefully the team will have a better understanding. Barring Whelan i did notice the passing and understanding of the players bad improved to previous games.

Then I’m not sure what you are reading Dem because what I see is people that are pleased we won but that aren’t convinced anything has really changed or improved. That there is little reason to think the next few months will be any different to the last 11 months of his time here.

Being a few places off the play off’s isn’t a positive, it’s not a sign Bruce is doing well, quite the opposite in fact. I’m not sure anyone came into this season with the expectation of being close to the play offs.

There is a huge amount of football to be played but currently, despite the recent upturn in form, Bruce is under performing in the role, I’m not sure anyone could argue otherwise.

 

[Dr_Pangloss]

We look no where near a side worthy of top 2 and that is the goal, not playoffs.

Edited September 24, 2017 by Dr_Pangloss

[Grasshopper]

9 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

League form last 6. I'm not exactly a big fan but sacking him after this would be really embarrassing. Think we need to just get behind Bruce and the team and hope this form continues

Do you have a table of the last 46 games?

[Jareth]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

Maybe he's found the balance of defence / attack hence the upturn in results? I just don't understand the incredibly simplistic view that being offensive = winning games.

Yes I think balance is the word to describe it - we have a formation that allows Bruce to stay in his defensive comfort zone but then we players with enough quality to grab a goal or two and give us the win. Johnstone played his part too yesterday with that late save - it was an honest whole team performance that got us the win. If folks want to keep looking back to 40 odd games ago then take a look at the team who played Forest last season - compared to the team who faced them this time. It's not the manager that has improved or deteriorated, it is the squad. 

[Demitri_C]

24 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

Then I’m not sure what you are reading Dem because what I see is people that are pleased we won but that aren’t convinced anything has really changed or improved. That there is little reason to think the next few months will be any different to the last 11 months of his time here.

Being a few places off the play off’s isn’t a positive, it’s not a sign Bruce is doing well, quite the opposite in fact. I’m not sure anyone came into this season with the expectation of being close to the play offs.

There is a huge amount of football to be played but currently, despite the recent upturn in form, Bruce is under performing in the role, I’m not sure anyone could argue otherwise.

 

Are you missing all the Bruce out comments then despite the win?

i have myself highlighted that we won't win game as playing like that but as long as we keep making it difficult to play against. Let's not forget the "last 11 months" we had a different team and struggle do to win games. He has despite his faults managed to get clean sheets and Moreno importantly win us games. I would argue that we would have lost that game 11 months ago so to say there has been no progress in 11 months is very harsh on Bruce. 

Its certainly a positive in comparison to what where we were before Bruce came. We were 18th at the time and had teams like blose and Brentford miles ahead of us. Now we are within touching distance of top 6 after what less than 13 games. I'll take that. 

I would argue he started poorly which has lead to the underachievement but there has been signs just signs that we are improving. My argument is that it would be ridiculous for xia to sack him when we are the 2nd most inform team in the league.

bruce needs to be doing better with the performances on the pitch that I agree with but points wise he is doing ok at present. Like I said next 5 games will tell us if we are in with a shout for promotion. 

[Demitri_C]

10 minutes ago, Grasshopper said:

Do you have a table of the last 46 games?

Why do we care about last seasons games when that won't make any difference to whether we go up or down? I am more interested in the present and as stated we are the second most in form team at the moment

[Demitri_C]

48 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Which we really should have as well. 

I think we have a very good team as well to be fair. We can match anyone in this league I feel we play to our potential 

[Villarocker]

12 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

To be honest we played pretty shit but defended well most the game. We would have lost or drawn that game last season. I would say thwre has bern some progress. 

One of the key things for me this season is is other members of the team other than kodj are scoring.

If.we keep growing in confidence i see no reason why we cant go up under him. Im not a fan of bruce but he has turned it around fact last few games. Can he keep it up? Next two games will tell us as after that the toughies come in

I thought the defence was ropey last night. How many times did the slightest bit of movement from Daryl Murphy give him a chance at goal? There were two occasions when he was surrounded by 4 Villa shirts yet he still got a header in at goal. I'm pretty sure that he didn't even move on the one occasion and just found that the ball came straight to him and he just had to head it goalwards. 

[Villarocker]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

Maybe he's found the balance of defence / attack hence the upturn in results? I just don't understand the incredibly simplistic view that being offensive = winning games.

I understand what you say that simply being offensive doesn't mean that winning is a given. However, it's pretty difficult to concede a goal when the ball is at the other end of the pitch! 

[TrentVilla]

13 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Are you missing all the Bruce out comments then despite the win?

i have myself highlighted that we won't win game as playing like that but as long as we keep making it difficult to play against. Let's not forget the "last 11 months" we had a different team and struggle do to win games. He has despite his faults managed to get clean sheets and Moreno importantly win us games. I would argue that we would have lost that game 11 months ago so to say there has been no progress in 11 months is very harsh on Bruce. 

Its certainly a positive in comparison to what where we were before Bruce came. We were 18th at the time and had teams like blose and Brentford miles ahead of us. Now we are within touching distance of top 6 after what less than 13 games. I'll take that. 

I would argue he started poorly which has lead to the underachievement but there has been signs just signs that we are improving. My argument is that it would be ridiculous for xia to sack him when we are the 2nd most inform team in the league.

bruce needs to be doing better with the performances on the pitch that I agree with but points wise he is doing ok at present. Like I said next 5 games will tell us if we are in with a shout for promotion. 

I give up. If people think this guy can take us up so be it.

[Villarocker]

I said to my brother last night, about 40 minutes into the game, "we are in danger here of that classic case where we should have taken our chances, go in a goal up, the opposition come out refreshed from a bollocking, and we concede an early goal second half". When it happened my brother said "just as you predicted". 

How many other fans would have had that exact same thought? It was so predictable. 

Those players cannot be playing so defensively by accident, they must be following orders from Bruce and, if so, that is just not good enough. It's nothing to do with who he is, who he managed previously, what he looks like etc - it just isn't good enough! A better team than Forest would have gotten something out of that game last night and, like others have said, playing this way, you can only see us gaining unconvincing wins against lower opposition and then struggling against any other team with a bit of quality about them. Why? Because we are just so predictable!

[Genie]

34 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

We look no where near a side worthy of top 2 and that is the goal, not playoffs.

Promotion is the goal isn't it, whichever way it may come.

[VillaCas]

10 hours ago, TRO said:

It seems you are conveniently ignoring my point......IF he was not doing well, would you have mentioned him.....did you mention him when he finished 19th.....if you did ,then fair dinkums.

Not quite sure what I'm ignoring???? 

He is doing extremely well, with minimal resources, so your question about would I mention him if he was doing poorly is hypothetical and moot

I wanted him before RDM, I wanted him before Bruce - too late now, he will go on to manage at the very highest level. Incredible opportunity missed. 

Bruce will flatter to deceive - good enough for 6th-10th, not good enough for promotion (and only automatic promotion is really acceptable) 

[Villarocker]

19 minutes ago, Jareth said:

Yes I think balance is the word to describe it - we have a formation that allows Bruce to stay in his defensive comfort zone but then we players with enough quality to grab a goal or two and give us the win. Johnstone played his part too yesterday with that late save - it was an honest whole team performance that got us the win. If folks want to keep looking back to 40 odd games ago then take a look at the team who played Forest last season - compared to the team who faced them this time. It's not the manager that has improved or deteriorated, it is the squad. 

Nothing to do with the past 40 odd games for me. Yes, he has a better squad. No, the football isn't better. However, the results are improving simply because of the quality of the squad. I think a better manager could run away with this league with this squad. 

For the record, our squad has improved since the same fixture last season. To counter that, Forest's squad has gone the other way. Yet, they still outplayed us for the majority of that second half and could (should?) have gotten something out of the game. 

[Demitri_C]

10 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I give up. If people think this guy can take us up so be it.

Why do you have a problem with people trying to stay positive? He isn't going anywhere at present and for me hasn't done enough to warrant the sack yet. 

Did you even read my post?