Steve Bruce

[Eastie]

28 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I don’t find any “ much more” positive to be honest.

They tend to be less negative though,  and more of the “ we can’t keep changing” variety.

All around me found Sunday pretty uninspiring, but enjoyed last night..... even more than at Burton, although his tactics for the last twenty minutes caused some consternation ( although not as much as previously and I was certainly ok with them).

Most have naturally been happier as we’ve got some results, but the Steve Bruce part of “SB C&B Army” is still quieter than his first 6 months.

Then again a fair few have stopped going because they didn’t enjoy it with him last year and couldn’t see him getting us up. Whereas people don’t stop posting if they are anti . 

On the whole though yes he has a higher percentage of critics here.

I think most of the criticism Bruce received was totally justified earlier this season . However credit to him , we are looking a far better team in recent weeks and getting results and he also deserves the praise he’s getting for the turnaround in fortunes - long may it continue.

[sexbelowsound]

1 hour ago, bobzy said:

Interestingly, I find Villa fans I know “in the real world” are much more positive than posters on here - not true of the stands?

Generally speaking i’d say the away game atmosphere is very positive but you do get the odd idiot that calls someone  a useless clearing in the woods for a missplaced pass etc.

Can’t always have 100% positively  though can you?

[VillaChris]

Last night was the first time we had the look of a potential top 2 side imo.

Last season Newcastle and Brighton were winning this sort of game regularly. Score a couple of early goals and then soak up the pressure for rest of the game.

We're in a good place atm. 7 points since the Wolves game, regularly keeping clean sheets and have goalscorers throughout the team.

We'll finish top 6. I want top 2 though and we need to replicate last night on a regular basis to achieve that.

[Eastie]

2 minutes ago, sexbelowsound said:

Generally speaking i’d say the away game atmosphere is very positive but you do get the odd idiot that calls someone  a useless clearing in the woods for a missplaced pass etc.

Can’t always have 100% positively  though can you?

Even happened in the 80s when we were winning the league - one guy in the trinity road in the row in front of me once shouted in anger at peter withe so hard that his false teeth flew out . 

Edited November 2, 2017 by Eastie

[Eastie]

2 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Last night was the first time we had the look of a potential top 2 side imo.

Last season Newcastle and Brighton were winning this sort of game regularly. Score a couple of early goals and then soak up the pressure for rest of the game.

We're in a good place atm. 7 points since the Wolves game, regularly keeping clean sheets and have goalscorers throughout the team.

We'll finish top 6. I want top 2 though and we need to replicate last night on a regular basis to achieve that.

We will get better too

[VillaChris]

6 minutes ago, Eastie said:

We will get better too

It's exciting we have Green and Grealish to come back into the 18 next few weeks and give us more creativity off the bench.

Our squad is miles better than this time last year.

[Eastie]

22 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

It's exciting we have Green and Grealish to come back into the 18 next few weeks and give us more creativity off the bench.

Our squad is miles better than this time last year.

Don’t forget O Hare 

Edited November 2, 2017 by Eastie

[TrentVilla]

Just now, VillaChris said:

It's exciting we have Green and Grealish to come back into the 18 next few weeks and give us more creativity off the bench.

Our squad is miles better than this time last year.

That I agree with, despite my criticism of Bruce that is something I’ve always given him credit for. He has with the exception of Hogan done a very good job in this aspect of the job, I guess though some of my frustration with him has been a result of that and the results achieved or otherwise early on.

 

[srsmithusa]

13 hours ago, tismyk said:

Cant blame Bruce for that though.

You doubt my creativity?

how ‘bout this.   “Alright lads too many poor passes giving up possession.   So 5 on 5.  Whenever a side gives up possession, that side runs.   Oh, and the whole side runs rather than just whoever hits a bad pass, because the rest of you didn’t give him a better option. Go”.   

OR.  “Alright lads,, we’ve talked posession all week, today’s match is big.  We wanna see the work pay off. So, the coaches will watch and keep track of every turnover, and whose error or failure caused it.  Whoever is most guilty buys me and all the coaching staff a round.  Oh, and they get extra conditioning work, oh, and they don’t start next week.  Period.   Second time the same player is the turnover tart, he’ll pay the highest fine the PFA will permit.  Oh, and you get a turnover erased for every goal, assist, or incisive pass,”

ypu may think I’m being creative to find a way to blame Bruce.  I prefer to think that you and Bruce aren’t creative enough.  I’m tired of this poor victimized manager that can’t be blamed for stuff.   Why were these players capable of keeping possession at other clubs before the got here?   

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think that giving up possession is our only, or even our greatest problem.  But somehow Bruce would be seen as the innocent victim in that failure too.   

[dn1982]

33 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Don’t forget O Hare 

It seems Bruce has! We need to have better attacking options off the bench. Thor is just wasting a place and there's no need for 3 defenders. Last year we seemed to play every team in form this yeaR we've gone to a weakened Preston who are in a bad run. Who needs a good manager if you can get a lucky one. 

[Lerner's Driver]

7 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

You doubt my creativity?

how ‘bout this.   “Alright lads too many poor passes giving up possession.   So 5 on 5.  Whenever a side gives up possession, that side runs.   Oh, and the whole side runs rather than just whoever hits a bad pass, because the rest of you didn’t give him a better option. Go”.   

OR.  “Alright lads,, we’ve talked posession all week, today’s match is big.  We wanna see the work pay off. So, the coaches will watch and keep track of every turnover, and whose error or failure caused it.  Whoever is most guilty buys me and all the coaching staff a round.  Oh, and they get extra conditioning work, oh, and they don’t start next week.  Period.   Second time the same player is the turnover tart, he’ll pay the highest fine the PFA will permit.  Oh, and you get a turnover erased for every goal, assist, or incisive pass,”

ypu may think I’m being creative to find a way to blame Bruce.  I prefer to think that you and Bruce aren’t creative enough.  I’m tired of this poor victimized manager that can’t be blamed for stuff.   Why were these players capable of keeping possession at other clubs before the got here?   

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think that giving up possession is our only, or even our greatest problem.  But somehow Bruce would be seen as the innocent victim in that failure too.   

I agree, the lack of ball retention is frustrating, disappointing, etc because with that we'd be properly mullering teams. I also agree the players we've got are capable of it, if not yet showing it. 

Not sure aggressive threats and blame culture fines will achieve the aim though. Growing confidence and team spirit from good results might. Who knows what hopeless, innocent victim, Steve Bruce will plump for.

 

[Eastie]

10 minutes ago, dn1982 said:

It seems Bruce has! We need to have better attacking options off the bench. Thor is just wasting a place and there's no need for 3 defenders. Last year we seemed to play every team in form this yeaR we've gone to a weakened Preston who are in a bad run. Who needs a good manager if you can get a lucky one. 

Surely will give o hare a spot on the bench this weekend 

[vreitti]

1 hour ago, Eastie said:

We will get better too

I don't think we will. Last night was as good as it'll ever get with Bruce imo. Professional, hardworking and solid defensively. No question about that. Will it be enough though? We are still 6p off promotion, and there just isn't any room for a prolonged loss of form anymore.

[sne]

The big difference this season compared to when we had that great run last season is that our squad is so much better.

Even if we get a blip in form it should not be anywhere near as bad as it was then.

Last season it was easy to see that the way we played would eventually not be sustainable.

This season I can't see any scenario where we would collapse in a way that the pay off spots should become out of our reach. 

[TrentVilla]

10 minutes ago, sne said:

The big difference this season compared to when we had that great run last season is that our squad is so much better.

Even if we get a blip in form it should not be anywhere near as bad as it was then.

Last season it was easy to see that the way we played would eventually not be sustainable.

This season I can't see any scenario where we would collapse in a way that the pay off spots should become out of our reach. 

I think that is true but I also think the big difference is Kodjia.

Last season we were almost entirely dependent upon him, this season his contribution hasn’t been that significant.

It seems almost unthinkable to say but I’m now wondering if we are actually a better side without him? He poses such a goal threat but in terms of the way the side plays I think we play better without him. Tough call that one.

[sne]

7 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I think that is true but I also think the big difference is Kodjia.

Last season we were almost entirely dependent upon him, this season his contribution hasn’t been that significant.

It seems almost unthinkable to say but I’m now wondering if we are actually a better side without him? He poses such a goal threat but in terms of the way the side plays I think we play better without him. Tough call that one.

Midfield, and especially goals from midfield.

Our forwards (other than Kodija) didn't score many goals last season and it's the same this season. Sadly as you say Kodija isn't scoring either.

Last season we score about once per game and outside Grealish shipping in with a few we had very little threat from midfield.

This season most of our 21 goals have come from midfield I would imagine? 

Might even be that our defense has scored more than our attackers?

Edited November 2, 2017 by sne

[omariqy]

8 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I think that is true but I also think the big difference is Kodjia.

Last season we were almost entirely dependent upon him, this season his contribution hasn’t been that significant.

It seems almost unthinkable to say but I’m now wondering if we are actually a better side without him? He poses such a goal threat but in terms of the way the side plays I think we play better without him. Tough call that one.

I think he will find it hard to break into the side so we may have a chance to see.  Not a bad player to bring on from the bench tho if you need to win a game!

[tomav84]

1 hour ago, srsmithusa said:

You doubt my creativity?

how ‘bout this.   “Alright lads too many poor passes giving up possession.   So 5 on 5.  Whenever a side gives up possession, that side runs.   Oh, and the whole side runs rather than just whoever hits a bad pass, because the rest of you didn’t give him a better option. Go”.   

OR.  “Alright lads,, we’ve talked posession all week, today’s match is big.  We wanna see the work pay off. So, the coaches will watch and keep track of every turnover, and whose error or failure caused it.  Whoever is most guilty buys me and all the coaching staff a round.  Oh, and they get extra conditioning work, oh, and they don’t start next week.  Period.   Second time the same player is the turnover tart, he’ll pay the highest fine the PFA will permit.  Oh, and you get a turnover erased for every goal, assist, or incisive pass,”

ypu may think I’m being creative to find a way to blame Bruce.  I prefer to think that you and Bruce aren’t creative enough.  I’m tired of this poor victimized manager that can’t be blamed for stuff.   Why were these players capable of keeping possession at other clubs before the got here?   

Oh, and for what it’s worth, I don’t think that giving up possession is our only, or even our greatest problem.  But somehow Bruce would be seen as the innocent victim in that failure too.   

Will be all good until the dressing room is lost becuase they dont see what they did as an error. Or when they try and pass the ball from the back 4 becuase they were too scared of clearing their lines and regrouping for fear of being labelled a 'turnover tart' and consequently lose the ball in a much more dangerous area. All the while, the game is being lost because the coaches are too busy counting turnovers to analyse the game/team fitness and condition/opposition tactics etc

But i'm fine with point 1, although it's moot because we dont get to watch training sessions so how are we to know that the coaches are not doing this or similar. whether we agree with what we see on the pitch or not, we must respect the fact that these guys are far, far more qualified to coach these players than you or I. If it were that easy, trust me i would be out getting my coaching badges rather than stuck in this office

[Demitri_C]

19 minutes ago, TrentVilla said:

I think that is true but I also think the big difference is Kodjia.

Last season we were almost entirely dependent upon him, this season his contribution hasn’t been that significant.

It seems almost unthinkable to say but I’m now wondering if we are actually a better side without him? He poses such a goal threat but in terms of the way the side plays I think we play better without him. Tough call that one.

I was wondering this myself too yesterday. We seem more of a team without him. Whatever happens next season if we went up, I would sell him as I dont believe he will do well in the premier league 

[vreitti]

2 minutes ago, omariqy said:

I think he will find it hard to break into the side so we may have a chance to see.  Not a bad player to bring on from the bench tho if you need to win a game!

Do you seriously think Bruce has the balls to bench Kodjia?