Steve Bruce

[darrenm]

3 hours ago, VillaCas said:

I don't think anyone (at all) is saying that it is entirely or even mainly down to luck (insomuch as 'luck' is even a thing), but I think so far Bruce has had the rub of the green, whereas RDM seemed to experience the opposite - the fact that Bruce seems to have a structure and a plan whereas RDM had neither must be the largest factor

With the examples you quote - 99 times out of a 100 the striker would score instead of hitting the bar on other example it was a very minor deflection and Gollini didnt look like getting to it in any case. It's not an insult to Bruce who has made a decent start, but so far he has had a little bit of fortune that eluded RDM

 

 

The deflection off Jedinak to take it past Gollini was a big deflection. It changed the path of the ball a lot. Otherwise it was straight at him.

Why 99 times out of 100 does that header go in? It hit the bar and bounced down. There's nothing to say that situation is 99 times out of 100 going to result in a goal.

Not disagreeing with your point, but it seems we're just getting our fair share now rather than everything going against us.

[mikeyp102]

3 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

We are Aston Villa ,bathed in history and tradition . That drivel is unacceptable .

What has that got to do with anything? We got relegated last season as one of the worst teams in premier league history. We started this season with a new manager and pretty much new squad. That said manager didn't have us organised and had to leave. So here we are now with another new manager. He is unbeaten in 4 games. Yes it wasn't a pretty performance, but that was to be expected, especially when our game plan with a quick counter went out the window eay doors with Adomah going off.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

10 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

We got relegated last season as one of the worst teams in premier league history.

Off topic but i'm glad to see Sunderland trying their hardest to beat us for the honour!

[TRO]

8 hours ago, VillaCas said:

 

The fitness issue is a complete red herring - there are lots of problems for Bruce to sort out and lots of reasons we have struggled but fitness is way way down the list

Nearly every manager says that - it gives them a bit of breathing space. Sherwood said it, Garde said it. Our facilities and application of sports science is second to none - ask any of the new signings. I visit SHA 'facilities' at Wast Hills a dozen times a season and I can tell you that they are shite - do you really think that after 7 years of Carson Yeung they have that right and we have it wrong?

We have ten new players - did they all arrive lacking fitness? suffering from changes in management? poor investment in sport science? and poor coaching? Take say Hutton for example - he's not played regularly and so should have more excuse than most but didn't look unfit to me. Baker and Chester competed for 100 mins - did you think they were unfit? Gardner and Westwood covered more ground than anyone else on the pitch - did you think they looked unfit? Do you think Ayew, Adomah and Kodija look unfit? Who exactly looked unfit? MOTM Jedinak?

If we have to wait for Bruce to get all our players looking like Davis then we are in for a long long wait. You don't need to look like that to be a good player. Does Hazard look like that? Mata?, Silva? Messi? Rowett can't afford quality so has chosen to fill SHA with big lumps and pump the ball long every chance they get. There is no way that they are fitter than us

We have four big problems for me - lack of shape/structure (Bruce is already sorting this), not knowing our best XI (early days but Bruce making progress I think), lack of midifled creativity (will have to be sorted in January) and all these leading combined with 5 years of decline leading to a lack of confidence.  IF we can sort the first three out the fourth will sort itself out and then we will be able to play with a little more swagger and let the better quality that we have show through

There are many aspects of that post I agree with....but some I don,t

In respect of the fitness, I still don't think we look as fit as them. Thats my opinion, if you think it is a red herring fine, I don't.

As for Steve Bruce saying it, i believe him.....and i think he his creating his own breathing space, without resorting to cop outs.

Saying they looked fitter is not the same as saying we are unfit.

I too know someone who has seen both training camps and in their opinion, Blues train harder....that is prior to SB and that is their opinion.

I accept we have all the equipment and far better facilities, maybe we never had the drive.?.....since the improved facilities we have hardly pulled up any trees, so Im not sure what that proves.

Its no big deal for me, just one aspect of many to work on.

like you say, there are many things to fix.....but So far so good.

[StewieGriffin]

Averaging 2 points a game so far. If he carries that ratio into our last 31 games we'll finish on 80 points...

[TheStagMan]

I still cannot understand how our players cannot be at least as fit as other championship teams. How can this be allowed to happen? What the hell do they do at Bodymore Heath? Sit around and play call of duty?

[TRO]

1 minute ago, TheStagMan said:

I still cannot understand how our players cannot be at least as fit as other championship teams. How can this be allowed to happen? What the hell do they do at Bodymore Heath? Sit around and play call of duty?

Perhaps they are, they just didn't look as fit as the Blues to me....thats just my take on it.

I think we have improved .....but we seemed to allow them to clatter us on Sunday.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, StewieGriffin said:

Averaging 2 points a game so far. If he carries that ratio into our last 31 games we'll finish on 80 points...

Where do teams around that mark usually finish in the table?

EDIT: Did myself the favour.

 

Last years table;

			HOME					AWAY
Pos	Team	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Burnley	46	15	6	2	38	14	11	9	3	34	21	37	93
2	Middlesbrough	46	16	5	2	34	8	10	6	7	29	23	32	89
3	Brighton	46	15	5	3	40	18	9	12	2	32	24	30	89
4	Hull	46	15	7	1	47	12	9	4	10	22	23	34	83
5	Derby	46	12	7	4	37	16	9	8	6	29	27	23	78
6	Sheff Wed	46	13	8	2	42	17	6	9	8	24	28	21	74
7	Ipswich	46	9	8	6	28	24	9	7	7	25	27	2	69
8	Cardiff	46	12	9	2	33	20	5	8	10	23	31	5	68
9	Brentford	46	10	4	9	33	30	9	4	10	39	37	5	65
10	Birmingham	46	9	5	9	27	27	7	10	6	26	22	4	63
11	Preston	46	7	10	6	21	21	8	7	8	24	24	0	62
12	QPR	46	10	9	4	37	25	4	9	10	17	29	0	60
13	Leeds	46	7	8	8	23	28	7	9	7	27	30	-8	59
14	Wolves	46	7	10	6	26	26	7	6	10	27	32	-5	58
15	Blackburn	46	8	8	7	29	23	5	8	10	17	23	0	55
16	Nottm Forest	46	7	8	8	25	26	6	8	9	18	21	-4	55
17	Reading	46	8	9	6	25	20	5	4	14	27	39	-7	52
18	Bristol City	46	7	7	9	34	34	6	6	11	20	37	-17	52
19	Huddersfield	46	7	6	10	33	33	6	6	11	26	37	-11	51
20	Fulham	46	8	5	10	36	36	4	10	9	30	43	-13	51
21	Rotherham	46	8	6	9	31	34	5	4	14	22	37	-18	49
22	Charlton	46	5	8	10	23	35	4	5	14	17	45	-40	40
23	MK Dons	46	7	3	13	21	37	2	9	12	18	32	-30	39
24	Bolton	46	5	11	7	24	26	0	4	19	17	55	-40	30

Edited October 31, 2016 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[sne]

The way we've played under Di Matteo (2 man midfield, little possession, vague tactics overall...) will always mean our players will tire before the opposition.

Same kinda goes for yesterday against blues, as we gave ourselves very little time to rest with the ball, but rather choose to hoof it in panic most of the time.

Understand why Bruce would choose to bypass the midfield as it is our weakest area, but this will also result in us being knackered halfway into the second half more often than not.

[Villan_of_oz]

10 hours ago, PaulC said:

Under RDM I thought the football was better to start with but he had no luck, with balls hitting bars and late goals against, it seems that Bruce has brought some luck. Yes we may be better organised but the difference in results is purely luck really.

So the only difference between RDM and SB is Bruce is luckier.....

[Villan_of_oz]

9 minutes ago, sne said:

The way we've played under Di Matteo (2 man midfield, little possession, vague tactics overall...) will always mean our players will tire before the opposition.

Same kinda goes for yesterday against blues, as we gave ourselves very little time to rest with the ball, but rather choose to hoof it in panic most of the time.

Understand why Bruce would choose to bypass the midfield as it is our weakest area, but this will also result in us being knackered halfway into the second half more often than not.

I willing to believe that Bruce is just getting us through to January. We are collecting points, I assume that confidence will have risen slightly.

I dont like the style of football either but for the next 2 months Im giving him a free pass. As long as we aren't getting thumped, ill accept some dire uninspiring football for a while. 

You would think if SB identifies 1,2 or even 3 players that he wants, the good Doctor would roll up his long sleeves and sign a cheque. 

If thats the case and Bruce is a competent manager (which I think he is) he will have at his disposal a more balanced team and I would definitely be raising my expectations. 

I do still believe we are going to get promoted, and I dont mean in a dreamy way. Im still backing a few $ here and there on it. 

[Villarocker]

47 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

I still cannot understand how our players cannot be at least as fit as other championship teams. How can this be allowed to happen? What the hell do they do at Bodymore Heath? Sit around and play call of duty?

Ahem, Call Of Duty pays my wages so can we please use another metaphor. Twiddle their thumbs? 

[alreadyexists]

54 minutes ago, villarocker said:

Ahem, Call Of Duty pays my wages so can we please use another metaphor. Twiddle their thumbs? 

Twiddling thumbs pays my wages; I'm a thumb doctor. 

[Woodytom]

7 hours ago, praisedmambo said:

But we won't be playing away in local derbies against teams who are performing well every week. We did win our previous two games btw. 

Over Bruce's 4 games in charge (a bit too few games for the stat, admittedly) only Newcastle and Brighton have better form. We've had a few difficult games too—Reading and Sha away particularly, judging on the table. 

You make some fair points and your right the Derby is unique game. However, even at this early stage (where it was important for Bruce to make us more solid), it is very difficult to watch us look so toothless in attack having spent so much. In the grand scheme of things Birmingham are a solid championship team but we should be at the very least imposing ourselves on the game.

 

[VillaCas]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

I too know someone who has seen both training camps and in their opinion, Blues train harder.

That's really something that couldn't be assessed by eye alone.

There are all sorts of training sessions for all sorts of reasons - stamina, strength, speed, flexibility etc etc. Without knowing what is going on and having access to the data it would be impossible for a layman to look at two training sessions and give a conclusion to which squad is fitter.

You've convinced yourself that fitness is an issue and I doubt that you will change your mind - it feeds into the zeitgiest of the Lerner era - but Villa's facitiliies are among the top half dozen in British football and I doubt that any side in the Championship is fitter

[TRO]

1 hour ago, VillaCas said:

That's really something that couldn't be assessed by eye alone.

There are all sorts of training sessions for all sorts of reasons - stamina, strength, speed, flexibility etc etc. Without knowing what is going on and having access to the data it would be impossible for a layman to look at two training sessions and give a conclusion to which squad is fitter.

You've convinced yourself that fitness is an issue and I doubt that you will change your mind - it feeds into the zeitgiest of the Lerner era - but Villa's facitiliies are among the top half dozen in British football and I doubt that any side in the Championship is fitter

I think you are taking it far too literal.

its an opinion and no nothing you have suggested will change my mind.I seen the game and saw enough to suggest to me, he could be right.....you may feel different, thats Your opinion.

I'm sure someone can draw a conclusion as to whether one group is training harder than another.....one lot could be lazing / larking around, the other could be visibly knackered....you don't need scientific data to distinguish that.

Its not a series on scientific measurements that determines whether my informant was right or wrong....its irrelevant.

It was his opinion, nothing more nothing less......not a beyond all doubts fact.

Vc this is in danger of getting far too deep mate.....its an opinion, you either agree or you don't.

[MikeMcKenna]

Fitness does seem to be an issue. However IMO confidence is a bigger one. That comes with results and players always find plenty of energy when their heads are up. 

[Michael118]

On 10/30/2016 at 09:12, HanoiVillan said:

I'm not sure that's how you're supposed to do opinions. 

 

When forming an opinion I base it on a player or manager's potential. How far I can see that player going if everything fell into place ideally for them.

I am always open to changing my opinion of a player or manager. It usually doesn't change much because I don't see a player or manager's potential as something that usually changes significantly in a short period of time.

[Michael118]

On 10/30/2016 at 18:33, blandy said:

I think Bruce's history of promotions suggests that "small chance" is wrong, unless you mean this season, when I'd agree completely.  As for the premier league if we ever get back, then his history also suggests you're right. 

I'm not sure what his chances of promotion are exactly.

I do know is he isn't close to a top manager by Premier League standards and that doesn't fill me with confidence even if we are a league below and he has a history of getting promoted.

Edited November 1, 2016 by Michael118

[Michael118]

On 10/30/2016 at 19:45, Nicho said:

Do you use a magic 8 ball?

I use my intuition.