Steve Bruce

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9 minutes ago, TRO said:

Well it seems that the spot on tactics of Nuno espirito did not work at QPR like they did against us.....if parallels are to be believed.

little ole Ian Holloway out thought him, if that theory is to be believed.

Look, tactics is one aspect of football, there are many factors involved in a game of top class football....like players winning their battle.

There are no easy games either, as some like to cling to.....lowly teams can beat higher placed teams.....There are no preconceived ideas to be had.

The "we did alright against the weak teams" cobblers....Tell Fulham Bolton are bottom.

We are all reading to much in to this business of getting out of this league....and I myself are not always happy with the spectacle......but we have played Wolves, Blues, Cardiff, Reading,Bristol City away already and are still in the play off positions.

I am not asking for you to get carried away, i am asking for the manager to get a fair criticism on occasions i don't think he is.......whether you like him or not.

I'm failing to see the point you're making here. Some teams beat other teams...umm okay? Wolves lost to QPR...okay? Did they not outclass us last week? Are they still not 6 points and 4 places ahead of us in the table? Managers can get tactics wrong, nothing wrong with that...it happens to the best. My point was (and it was backed with ample evidence), that Bruce gets it wrong more often than not. Whereas I imagine the opposite to be true for Nuno

The bolded is a bizarre thing to say and kind of shows why you're so nonplussed by all of this. It is absolutely imperative we get up this season. If we don't, we'll likely be here for a very long time. And simply scraping the playoffs will be unacceptable given how we play against anybody in the top half. We'd be going into the playoff games as if we were playing against 2010 Barcelona and inevitably get blown out like we were.

[sheepyvillian]

That first half on Sunday was woeful to say the least , and let's be honest , it's not something ,under this manager ,we haven't seen time and time again . And for me ,the buck stops with him .

 

[sheepyvillian]

3 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Yep okay.

 

It's Bruce's fault when a supposed professional footballer cannot pass 10 yards to a team mate.

If he was behind bringing any of these players to the club ,then he his going to be held accountable if and when they don't perform .

That is just the nature of the beast .

[srsmithusa]

Of course a manager is not responsible for a bad pass or even a few bad passes   But there is a whole lot more wrong with our performances than a few bad passes.   

[Villan_of_oz]

4 hours ago, bannedfromHandV said:

Give this man a medal.

For agreeing with you?

[VillaCas]

The problem with this discussion is that the difference between success and failure is extremely small. For me top two is the only acceptable outcome and I don’t believe SB can deliver this - top six leaves us in a lottery which I have no confidence that we have the mentality and approach to win. For some in or around the playoffs is acceptable

The constant unpicking of each result is somewhat pointless - no one doubts that we can grind out a few results, put on a plucky away performance or win the odd game here and there comfortably - what counts is how many such performances we can string together and where that takes us in the table. Top six is not a good enough return for me for the resources available

I also have a further concern that Bruce has put a team together that would need major major work to function in the PL however that is now a problem for the (distant) future

We should have moved heaven and earth to bring Wagner in but that ship has now sailed - I think barring an alarming drop down the table we are now wedded to Bruce for the rest of the season - I hope he can prove me wrong

[sheepyvillian]

1 hour ago, USA_Villa said:

So Brentford went to Preston the weekend and beat them 3-2. Therefore, I'm expecting nothing less than the same on Wednesday. 

I read the report on the game and then came across the tactical adjustments that Dean Smith made before the game. I'm hoping our illustrious manager is analyzing and adjusting in a similar fashion. 

Dean Smith admitted that Brentford had to adapt their style of play to come away with all three points from Preston.

The Bees are normally a side who prefer to play it out from the back but Alex Neil's side press so high up that they felt it would be better to take fewer risks in their defensive third.

The tactics paid off as Smith's side came away from Deepdale with a 3-2 win.

The head coach said: “I think Preston are a good team and we knew it would be difficult. We had to play a bit differently to how we would normally and we felt we had to play beyond the press which we did.

“We didn't take as many risks through Daniel Bentley as we would normally and picked up the second ball higher in their half.I thought they started the game better than we did. We grew into the game and then started finding spaces once we played past the press a few times.

“We got on the ball and moved and scored some well-worked goals.”

That's exactly what we need ,a manager who thinks on his feet . Dean Smith wouldn't probably be my first choice ,but I'd take him over Bruce without hesitation .

[sheepyvillian]

2 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

The problem with this discussion is that the difference between success and failure is extremely small. For me top two is the only acceptable outcome and I don’t believe SB can deliver this - top six leaves us in a lottery which I have no confidence that we have the mentality and approach to win. For some in or around the playoffs is acceptable

The constant unpicking of each result is somewhat pointless - no one doubts that we can grind out a few results, put on a plucky away performance or win the odd game here and there comfortably - what counts is how many such performances we can string together and where that takes us in the table. Top six is not a good enough return for me for the resources available

I also have a further concern that Bruce has put a team together that would need major major work to function in the PL however that is now a problem for the (distant) future

We should have moved heaven and earth to bring Wagner in but that ship has now sailed - I think barring an alarming drop down the table we are now wedded to Bruce for the rest of the season - I hope he can prove me wrong

Couldn't of put it better , great post .

[Dave J]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

I don't think they are a poor side......they maybe struggling, but they are capable of beating decent sides, so we had to take them seriously.

I agree I think they have some decent players as well- I believe they will finish mid - table at least 

[striker]

3 hours ago, Eastie said:

Think Bruce has missed a trick by not giving o hare more game time - he’s scored twice tonight and the reserves are 4 up in the first half v Newcastle - surely Bruce should at least have o hare as an option  from the bench as he has that drive and creativity we’ve lacked at times - rather him than onomah 

Pretty much this all day long. OHare has been excellent every time I’ve seen him play for Villa.

[briny_ear]

17 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I do not want a manager that sets us up all to often to not lose. I want a manager that pays the due respect to the defensive side but sets us up, however defensive he (or she) likes but with a plan to win. 

He has no plan. Period. 

So I don't want him managing Villa anymore. Where we end up to me is irrelevant, if he gets us promoted I will be overjoyed and celebrate the occasion.

Then the following morning I'm going to come on this thread and say I still want him gone. 

That's the first interesting thing I've read on this thread for weeks*.

Do share who you have in mind for our (and the Championship's) first ever female manager.

 

(* The highlighted bit, that is. The rest of the post was a bit more predictable.)

Edited October 30, 2017 by briny_ear

[DaveAV1]

15 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

As I’ve suggested previously, I don’t think we’ve a choice or much of one financially. Sticking with him may also represent our best chance of promotion rather than making another change.

But I’m far from impressed with his performance as manager or his dire, dire football.

I think the best we can hope for is that up under him and sack him as soon as it’s achieved.

What? We’re not going to sack him until 2025? 

[briny_ear]

On 10/29/2017 at 20:40, peterms said:

Oh dear, that was poor.  Saw about two thirds of it on a tablet in a car, arrived at the relatives and was too embarrassed to find an excuse to watch the rest.

Caught the results at the end and was pleasantly surprised.   I really thought we were going to lose, even against that bunch of muppets.

We're not going foward, are we?

You'd have been pleasantly surprised if you had watched the whole match and the chances we created in the bit you missed, although probably as disappointed as the rest of us when Keinan's rasping shot hit the bar. I really thought we had won it for a split second.

Next time maybe create a bit more of a scene with the rellatives and demand TV/device access whatever?

[briny_ear]

On 10/29/2017 at 14:23, markavfc40 said:

He got it wrong today. Davis should have come on at half time for Onomah who had been anonymous in the first half. How he stayed on or the whole game I don't know.

He wasn't brave enough with his substitutions and it has possibly cost us 2 points. Having said that I guess he would point to the fact that we had four very good efforts/chances in the second half.

Overall we are on an excellent run still and can hopefully keep it going with three points at Preston. I'd just like to see Bruce be a bit braver.

I thought his subs were spot on tbh.

There were predictable howls of VT-style outrage when Snodgrass went off for Jedinak but the difference was palpable from the minute he came on. We immediately regained the momentum. If you mean he could/should have made the subs earlier in the 2nd half, there is a case to answer but that's a judgement call always easier to make from the stands/armchair than from the dugout I guess.

[DaveAV1]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

our bloke gets blamed if there is no head on the Lager

You’re missing the point TRO, he shouldn’t be drinking girly Euro Fizz in the first place!

[DaveAV1]

3 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I thought his subs were spot on tbh.

There were predictable howls of VT-style outrage when Snodgrass went off for Jedinak but the difference was palpable from the minute he came on. We immediately regained the momentum. If you mean he could/should have made the subs earlier in the 2nd half, there is a case to answer but that's a judgement call always easier to make from the stands/armchair than from the dugout I guess.

I think the players he brought on definitely made a positive difference. I’m not quite so sure he brought the right players off, certainly I think most would agree Onomah was having a very poor game. 

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, DaveAV1 said:

I think the players he brought on definitely made a positive difference. I’m not quite so sure he brought the right players off, certainly I think most would agree Onomah was having a very poor game. 

Yeh, I would have taken Onomah off at half time. But I think Bruce’s subs were more about changing the shape of how we played rather than dealing with individual poor performance. Maybe he thought Josh would have more chance to flourish in a more offensive set up.

[sheepyvillian]

An offensive set up  ,haven't seen one of them in a long time. 

[Villan_of_oz]

5 hours ago, briny_ear said:

That's the first interesting thing I've read on this thread for weeks*.

Do share who you have in mind for our (and the Championship's) first ever female manager.

 

(* The highlighted bit, that is. The rest of the post was a bit more predictable.)

No mate sorry I don't, but as a bloke who coaches netball I'm open to women bringing their ideas to football. 

PS. You're last bit in brackets was very predictable as well, I was pleasantly surprised until then 

[markavfc40]

8 hours ago, briny_ear said:

I thought his subs were spot on tbh.

There were predictable howls of VT-style outrage when Snodgrass went off for Jedinak but the difference was palpable from the minute he came on. We immediately regained the momentum. If you mean he could/should have made the subs earlier in the 2nd half, there is a case to answer but that's a judgement call always easier to make from the stands/armchair than from the dugout I guess.

The issue I have is that the last 15 minutes of the first half we were doing nothing going forward and Onomah was totally anonymous. The brave thing to do, or at the least the attacking thing to do, would have been to bring Davis on for Onomah and go with a 4-4-2 and really take the game to Sha.

Instead we waited until over an hour before making a change and that was hardly a positive one despite Jedinak making a decent impact.

I'd have loved to have seen how Sha would handle Davis and Kodjia through the middle as personally I don't hink they woudl have coped.

That game was there to be won and with more positive substitutions we'd have given ourselves a much better chance of wining it.

Be interesting to see what he does tomorrow now. If Kodjia is out does he simply replace him with Davis and keep the rest of the front 6 the same or does he drop Onomah and go with Davis and Hogan up top and really try to exploit Prestons problems at centre back. 

We are on a very good run at the moment but due to a poor start we are still playing catch up on the top 2 which is where we have to be. The only way we are going to catch them is to win games and when that chance presents itself, as it did on Sunday, we have to be positive and really go for it.