Steve Bruce

[markavfc40]

Having had time to sleep on it I think there is a balance to be struck here.

We were diabolical yesterday and given how many players were poor I'd put that on the manager. I think he was right to go with a 4-4-2 and the only call he had to make was at left back and he went with who I would have gone with and in the end he was our best player. I was hoping, and in the first half it appeared, the plan was to allow Wolves to have the ball in none dangerous areas and then close them down in the final third looking to gain possession and break quickly. In fairness in the first half the defensive side worked quite well as Johnstone had one save to make and that was a 25 yard effort. Where we failed was when we had the ball and we were sloppy and offered no attacking threat.

I am not sure what Bruce said at half time but second half we got lazy, our closing down was poor and attacking wise we continued to offer nothing.

The game has gone now though and it is all about the next game against a very decent Fulham side. That game will go some way to telling us if this one was simply a blip, and I accept any team can have the odd game where they don't show up, or whether we still have some serious issues with putting in consistent performances.

I think it has been a decent start still. We have lost 3 games, two of which were against the top 2 away from home. We are a point away from the top 6 and 5 from second with 34 games still to go. It is though vitally important that we get back on track straight away and I am looking for 8-10 points over the next 4 games. Anything less than 7 and a couple of performances approaching yesterdays I imagine the managers position could well be up for discussion come the next international break.

Edited October 15, 2017 by markavfc40

[TrentVilla]

It isn’t a blip when it’s happened before.

[Grasshopper]

 Brout

[AntrimBlack]

23 minutes ago, Eastie said:

We stood off far too much last night inviting wolves to take control , it was clearly not working and Bruce should have changed things at half time as we were being completely outplayed - we only started to play when 2 down and this has been the case too often ; wolves looked much better than I thought they were but we allowed them to play like that .

The good thing is that most of this league is pretty average and we do have the players in the squad to achieve things - Bruce needs to play to players strengths as I’m not sure what he was trying to do last night - he seemed to pick an offensive team and adopt a negative approach . 

This exactly.

[DCJonah]

12 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

It isn’t a blip when it’s happened before.

If anything the 4 wins was a blip. 

[AntrimBlack]

1 hour ago, Genie said:

We’re not as good as the teams that win every game... who are they exactly? Can’t be the mighty wolves as they also lost the same amount of games as us before the game.

You do realise they are top and we are 7th.

You may use the term `mighty' disparagingly, but they taught us a lesson yesterday.

[striker]

5 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

You do realise they are top and we are 7th.

You may use the term `mighty' disparagingly, but they taught us a lesson yesterday.

The point is they shouldn’t be, not with the money spent and their manager spending a lot less time with his players than Bruce with Villa’s squad.

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

All over the pitch they have players of far superior technical ability than our own. It was a total mismatch. They've got players like Jota and Neves whilst we've got Hourihane and Whelan.

There's a reason our two have only ever wafted around the lower leagues or played for Stoke whilst the Wolves pair have been/are the property of clubs like Porto and Atletico Madrid. The mismatch in quality is immense and I'm convinced if those two wore claret and blue yesterday, we'd have won the three points. And I know the lazy argument will be that Bruce would have still played negatively, but I don't think that's true - it's easier to play on the front foot when you've got players who can control & dictate the game. It was totally boys vs men.

This isn't necessarily a defence of Bruce before anyone starts, it's an observation of the bizarre lack of genuine quality that we find ourselves lacking. This isn't to say we haven't got some good players, but it's an obsveration of how we've seemingly misspent/wasted so much money, and how the transfer policies of a team like Wolves has been much more shrewd. 

They're Bruce's signings, and he's had money to spend, so he's got no excuse, and the blame for our bad transfer management and policy lies squarely with him and those who have overseen it. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

14 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

You do realise they are top and we are 7th.

You may use the term `mighty' disparagingly, but they taught us a lesson yesterday.

Perhaps Brucey didn't get the memo as we made the 'mighty' Wolves look like **** Barcelona.

[macandally]

2 hours ago, Genie said:

Last seasons chapions lost 10 games, 2nd place 9, 3rd and 4th 13 losses and Huddersfield now doing nicely in the premier league lost 15!! 

Did they call for the managers head after every loss (or win for that matter)?

Did they have a system and style of play?  Did they look like football teams?

We have not seen any of the above at Villa and the quality of certain individuals within our team are expected to overcome the poor coaching.  Next year we will be stuck in this division, cutting costs and we will lose those one or two quality players leaving us with nothing.  We will be back to square one because Steve Bruce’s “Villa Engine” is from a 1972 Vauxhall Viva whilst everyone else is in a fuel injected age.

Sorry, but your comparison simply does not stack up as they were progressing, we simply are not.  Not one step in 18 months.

[Dr_Pangloss]

7 minutes ago, Morley_crosses_to_Withe said:

All over the pitch they have players of far superior technical ability than our own. It was a total mismatch. They've got players like Jota and Neves whilst we've got Hourihane and Whelan.

There's a reason our two have only ever wafted around the lower leagues or played for Stoke whilst the Wolves pair have been/are the property of clubs like Porto and Atletico Madrid. The mismatch in quality is immense and I'm convinced if those two wore claret and blue yesterday, we'd have won the three points. And I know the lazy argument will be that Bruce would have still played negatively, but I don't think that's true - it's easier to play on the front foot when you've got players who can control & dictate the game. It was totally boys vs men.

This isn't necessarily a defence of Bruce before anyone starts, it's an observation of the bizarre lack of genuine quality that we find ourselves lacking. This isn't to say we haven't got some good players, but it's an obsveration of how we've seemingly misspent/wasted so much money, and how the transfer policies of a team like Wolves has been much more shrewd. 

They're Bruce's signings, and he's had money to spend, so he's got no excuse, and the blame for our bad transfer management and policy lies squarely with him and those who have overseen it. 

You say that but then only list two players, who are the obvious ones. It's not clear that the rest are that much better than what we have, rather it's down to coaching, tactics and management of individuals.  

Edited October 15, 2017 by Dr_Pangloss

[Vive_La_Villa]

8 minutes ago, striker said:

The point is they shouldn’t be, not with the money spent and their manager spending a lot less time with his players than Bruce with Villa’s squad.

Money spent very poorly it has to be said.

[Dr_Pangloss]

2 hours ago, Genie said:

They had a good day, they have had bad days too hence the losses. That was my point about the promoted teams last year, lost nearly 35 games between the 3 of them. Should they have sacked their managers because they lost to someone their fans decided they should have beaten? Madness.

You appear to only be looking at one side of the coin and neglect the fact that you have to win a lot of football matches to get promoted from this division. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

You say that but then only list two players, who are the obvious ones. It's not clear that the rest are that much better than what we have, rather it's down to coaching, tactics and management of individuals.  

I think you can list more. The player I feared the most got substituted at half time and his replacement came on and scored! 

Also the 2 mentioned have no right playing in this league. They are head and shoulders above anything the Championship has ever seen and probably ever will. It's ridiculous that Wolves have these 2 players.

This is not a dig at Villa. It's more a envious acknowledgment of what Wolves have pulled off. They are the Man City / PSG of this league. No 2 ways about it.

[Dr_Pangloss]

Just now, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think you can list more. The player I feared the most got substituted at half time and his replacement came on and scored! 

Also the 2 mentioned have no right playing in this league. They are head and shoulders above anything the Championship has ever seen and probably ever will. It's ridiculous that Wolves have these 2 players.

This is not a dig at Villa. It's more a envious acknowledgment of what Wolves have pulled off. They are the Man City / PSG of this league. No 2 ways about it.

I'm not so sure, no one is doing that for starters. Like I say, outside of Neves and Jota the players they have aren't that much better than ours if better at all. One things for certain though is that Nuno is a lot better than Bruce, and therein lies the crucial difference. 

[Woody1000]

I've calmed down somewhat from last night, but my thoughts are still the same. We are not getting promotion with Bruce in charge, and it's not like he's some young progressive manager/coach who has a long-term plan, or is trying to introduce a new style of play - I'm pretty sure that we will be in the exact same position as we are in 2 years time if Bruce is still in charge, buying or getting free transfers for players too old for the PL on over-inflated wages for the EFL, hovering around mid-table/playoff places, getting turned over whenever we play away at a 'good' side. 

I could understand us holding on if we had some sort of long-term plan, or even the rough outline of a plan, but it seems to be going nowhere. 

My other concern with Bruce is that if by some way he does get us up, I don't believe he's got a chance of actually keeping us there.

[Eastie]

One things for sure he needs to get the team playing with far more passion and desire against blues or they will turn us over too - wolves had the hunger and desire last night whilst we looked lethargic 

[AntrimBlack]

7 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

I've calmed down somewhat from last night, but my thoughts are still the same. We are not getting promotion with Bruce in charge, and it's not like he's some young progressive manager/coach who has a long-term plan, or is trying to introduce a new style of play - I'm pretty sure that we will be in the exact same position as we are in 2 years time if Bruce is still in charge, buying or getting free transfers for players too old for the PL on over-inflated wages for the EFL, hovering around mid-table/playoff places, getting turned over whenever we play away at a 'good' side. 

I could understand us holding on if we had some sort of long-term plan, or even the rough outline of a plan, but it seems to be going nowhere. 

My other concern with Bruce is that if by some way he does get us up, I don't believe he's got a chance of actually keeping us there.

You are being very optimistic there. If we are down in this division in 2 years time we will not be able to afford to do that. We will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for players, and hoping that Xia does not get fed up with pissing money away on over paid layers and incompetent managers. It is unbelievably important to get up this season, and I think that is why many of us are a bit twitchy.  

[Eastie]

32 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think you can list more. The player I feared the most got substituted at half time and his replacement came on and scored! 

Also the 2 mentioned have no right playing in this league. They are head and shoulders above anything the Championship has ever seen and probably ever will. It's ridiculous that Wolves have these 2 players.

This is not a dig at Villa. It's more a envious acknowledgment of what Wolves have pulled off. They are the Man City / PSG of this league. No 2 ways about it.

Will the money they are spending impact of ffp as they don’t have the parachute payments we have ; and seem be spending a lot of cash .

Not doubting they have the cash but how much of it are they allowed to spend before they get into trouble on ffp ?

Edited October 15, 2017 by Eastie

[AntrimBlack]

5 minutes ago, Eastie said:

One things for sure he needs to get the team playing with far more passion and desire against blues or they will turn us over too - wolves had the hunger and desire last night whilst we looked lethargic 

They need more than that. They need to know their roles, and they need to be playing as a team, and on the offensive for the entire game.