Steve Bruce

[Eastie]

10 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here we are on January the 7th with what almost feels like a new start. There are no more distractions, there's nothing confusing, nothing that isn't clear.

Steve Bruce has taken on a job with a clear aim and he has made sacrifices in his plan to achieve that aim. I may not like being knocked out of the cup in the fashion we were yesterday, and I might hanker for a more progressive style of football, but what I really want, and what Steve Bruce really wants and what the owner really wants and what I reckon all of us really want is now as clear as day.

Promotion is the job.

Not style, not cup runs, not making me smile every day of the season, not the beautiful game; just making all of us incredibly happy in May.

Now, given all of that, and given that I thought we'd struggle to make the playoffs this season, I think it's more than possible to suggest the manager is doing okay - don't get me wrong, the floor around my pram is littered with the toys of this season - I've been a critic and I've been more than that at times. I've also given credit to a manager who is soldiering on through a season that's at times been painful and ugly. Maybe I should have been watching the table, not the pitch. We're 5th, and 5th is okay.

We're in a position where we're 2 points clear of dropping out of the playoffs, and we're 5 points from second place - for me Wolves have one of the automatic places sewn up and with twenty games left I think there are still a dozen teams involved in the chase for the other spots that give you promotion or a shot at it.

Twenty games will tell us whether Steve Bruce is right.

Twenty games will tell us if the pragmatism and experience of the manager wins out over the occasional terrace dreamer carrying the lost ambitions of a very wounded Lion - whether results trump enjoyment.

We have a foundation, we're in the conversation. So for me, I'm giving Steve Bruce a fresh start, a clean sheet, shelving my reservations and starting today. I'm sure a number of you will find that impossible, that's your right, it hasn't been an easy tenure to enjoy and sometimes it's been difficult to endure - but it may still be one that ends where we want it to.

Twenty to Twenty=two games to play gaffer. 

Be right.

 

Great summing up of things in my view .

[Eastie]

13 minutes ago, TRO said:

Its was a question, not a claim.

Ok not arguing, but.

why did the revered Dean Smith fail against lowly Northampton.....does he not know what he's doing, because he can beat aston villa anytime he likes, but not Northampton?

Think you mean Notts county ?

[villa82]

15 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

 

Sack bruce on the back of a 5-0 league win would be utterly embarassing.

Yes it would, after two wins against promotion rivals. Not a big Bruce fan, but we are five points of automatic promotion, after half a season without our best (and only proper) striker, our best offensive midfielder just back in the side, our best defensive midfielder just back, injuries for Albert A and Terry (and Green/Landsbury/Gabby/Samba). 

If Bruce goes, there are not a lot of candidates for the job (better than SB). A new manager want his own players, we can't afforrd that.

Keep SB for the rest of the season, and get a new manager in the summer, specialy if we are in the PL.

[AvfcRigo82]

10 minutes ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

The enduring theme seems to be that this doesn't matter. Well, whilst I'm not as upset over this as I would be a league defeat, given the priorities, it was nevertheless an abysmal display and not something I'm prepared to just shrug my shoulders at. We had enough quality on the pitch to at least not lose that game. We were outplayed, they ripped us apart multiple times, and without Steer making several saves could well have turned us over by more goals. 

There was a lack of passion and drive, which was inkeeping with Bruce's approach to the match. Very poor stuff.

Spot on post and sums it up.

[foreveryoung]

22 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here we are on January the 7th with what almost feels like a new start. There are no more distractions, there's nothing confusing, nothing that isn't clear.

Steve Bruce has taken on a job with a clear aim and he has made sacrifices in his plan to achieve that aim. I may not like being knocked out of the cup in the fashion we were yesterday, and I might hanker for a more progressive style of football, but what I really want, and what Steve Bruce really wants and what the owner really wants and what I reckon all of us really want is now as clear as day.

Promotion is the job.

Not style, not cup runs, not making me smile every day of the season, not the beautiful game; just making all of us incredibly happy in May.

Now, given all of that, and given that I thought we'd struggle to make the playoffs this season, I think it's more than possible to suggest the manager is doing okay - don't get me wrong, the floor around my pram is littered with the toys of this season - I've been a critic and I've been more than that at times. I've also given credit to a manager who is soldiering on through a season that's at times been painful and ugly. Maybe I should have been watching the table, not the pitch. We're 5th, and 5th is okay.

We're in a position where we're 2 points clear of dropping out of the playoffs, and we're 5 points from second place - for me Wolves have one of the automatic places sewn up and with twenty games left I think there are still a dozen teams involved in the chase for the other spots that give you promotion or a shot at it.

Twenty games will tell us whether Steve Bruce is right.

Twenty games will tell us if the pragmatism and experience of the manager wins out over the occasional terrace dreamer carrying the lost ambitions of a very wounded Lion - whether results trump enjoyment.

We have a foundation, we're in the conversation. So for me, I'm giving Steve Bruce a fresh start, a clean sheet, shelving my reservations and starting today. I'm sure a number of you will find that impossible, that's your right, it hasn't been an easy tenure to enjoy and sometimes it's been difficult to endure - but it may still be one that ends where we want it to.

Twenty to Twenty=two games to play gaffer. 

Be right.

 

I understand where your coming from OBE, but in the end, does this not show the culture still within the team. Why did 'that' team not show the passion to win. They shouldn't just turn it on an off dependent on what team we are playing. I mean, I doubt Bruce told them not to be bothered about winning. Most of that team should have been grafting for a first team place, like Davis, (sorry to keep picking on you lad) but I saw nothing in the second half to really trust any of those players to help win us promotion.

Would Bruce have give them a bollocking for the way they played against Peterborough, or just said "don't worry lads i'm not bothered about the cup anyway"??

 

[Demitri_C]

12 hours ago, vreitti said:

I honestly despair at reactions like this. Really shows how deluded some fans are. I guess we all see what we want to see.

It was without any doubt whatsoever "a total fluke". Utterly pointless to argue otherwise. Have we seen any other similar display thus far, these last 15 months under Bruce? NO. Have we seen any other display that's come even close? Again NO. I'm not even going to bother getting into how Bristol where not really up for it. But please do tell, how was that game anything else than a fluke? If in a few weeks we've matched that performance several times, then you might have a point, and then I'll gladly admit I was wrong. 

4-0vs burton  AND Barnsley.  Guess those were flukes eh?

[TRO]

1 hour ago, TheStagMan said:

I get exactly the point of your post. You object to the use of a particular word and you are clearly ignoring the point the poster was trying to make in your eagerness to criticise the use of a particular word to mean something that the poster did not intend. 

 

I get what you are saying. You are objecting to a particular word being used. Accepted. FLUKE is the wrong word, the performance was excellent and a deserved win. Can I make it any clearer that the point you are trying to make (in order to argue against something that was not actually meant by the poster) is accepted. 

 

Now, perhaps you would like to comment on the original intent of the post that was the concern that that type of performance seen in the Bristol game is unusual, against the norm, an outlying result in a season where such results are not commonplace, and certainly both the result and the performance were unexpected, and therefore despite the delight and happiness about said result, there is a concern that we are unlikely to repeat said result, as the game against Peterborough (which would have been a great opportunity to solidify the confidence and positive vibe) has demonstrated.

Thats all well and good, but the speed that some folk use to crticise Bruce can easily happen in choosing an inaccurate word like Fluke......I think Matt Latissier used it to describe the game and when praise for villa is concerned, he wouldn't give us a flea to breed off.

We have mustered a 3 & a 4 so its not the shock some allude to, but I confess not enough and not expected.

The performance was disappointing and I am sure he had reasons for doing what he did, even though it never worked.

I understand your concern of picking up on one word and possibly missing your point, but can you not see the other side of the coin, too.....possibly discrediting a 5-0 win is unthoughtful too.

Edited January 7, 2018 by TRO

[Grasshopper]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

4-0vs burton  AND Barnsley.  Guess those were flukes eh?

1-3 at home v P‘boro, defeats v Cardiff, Reading & Brentford certainly make it look that way

[foreveryoung]

2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

4-0vs burton  AND Barnsley.  Guess those were flukes eh?

No, but they were just shit teams, Bristol city are up there for a reason.

Anyway, I'm sure against Forest, we will continue the quality shown against Bristol...........................................maybe?

[Demitri_C]

2 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

West Ham, 1980. Although in 2008 Championship Cardiff made the finals. Its unlikely but not impossible. Look at the likelihood of Leicester winning the prem! 

That said, it is better for us that we don't have the added games particularly as Steve Bruce is making a hash of promotion. Those extra games could be the difference between scraping promotion by our fingernails and falling short. So overall I am not too fussed about falling over the first hurdle - BUT

What I and many other Villa fans would like to see is us COMPETE in these games, not capitulate to a league 1 side, and be completely outplayed. THAT is unacceptable. 

 

What a way to remove all the positivity from a stunning 5-0 win.

Ah so over 30 years ago ! Therefore its better we went out than a replay away that we may have lost.

I am still positive as in the league we are on form with our first team. Thia team was string enough to win but nowhere near our full strength team. Does anyone actually think our full strength team would have lost yesterday?

People are entitled to feel negative if they choose to but i feel positive and have already moved on and focused on forest

[Fairy In Boots]

2 hours ago, bobzy said:

Aren’t you contradicting yourself here?

You’re saying a 5-0 win was a fluke (lol) because we changed things tactically...

....but that you can’t see us playing any other than “hoof ball” between now and May?

Whut?

Yes I am, I genuinely think that little of Bruce. P’boro he was tactically out thought again 

[Demitri_C]

2 minutes ago, Grasshopper said:

1-3 at home v P‘boro, defeats v Cardiff, Reading & Brentford certainly make it look that way

Why are you still going on about the first two games of the season? That was a completely different team.

[TRO]

20 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Think you mean Notts county ?

Yeah, thanks mate

good job i didn't get them confused with Man City......the point then, would be really lost.

[Demitri_C]

2 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

No, but they were just shit teams, Bristol city are up there for a reason.

Anyway, I'm sure against Forest, we will continue the quality shown against Bristol...........................................maybe?

So they are "shit teams" does it really hurt you to compliment bruce on two well won victories? I dont get some fans they complain we are nit battering teams, then when he does its a fluke or the teams are shit.

Burton had only been beaten once aT home before we played them and obliterated them. We got battered at oakwood last year so to go there and win so comprehensively is impressive in my view. 

Lets not forget we dominated away at preston as well who are a bery good side.  But let me guess bruce was lucky as preston had injuries?

[AvfcRigo82]

8 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Why are you still going on about the first two games of the season? That was a completely different team.

I think it is more than the first few games of the season.

How we have got where we are in the league has not been very comely to say the least.

[poitier]

This isn't trying to prove anything (and indeed, it probably doesn't show much), but everyone loves a graph. Since nobody else has done it, here is our goal difference per league game this season.

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

28 minutes ago, Fairy In Boots said:

Yes I am, I genuinely think that little of Bruce. P’boro he was tactically out thought again 

I know we lost but what was it specifically that they did tactically to outthink Bruce’s tactics? Just wondering as I wasn’t at the game yesterday. 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

They had the passion and wanted to win, we didn't have either, period. If I was any of the players pals out of the team, I would be asking the likes of Davis what went wrong and expect him to be embarrassed.

Outplayed, yes definately, it was 3-1 they could have scored more. 

Did we have a better team, god yes, that's why they are a bunch of mugs who couldn't beat a league 1 team, who have lost 9 in the league and are by no means a great team in League 1.

Ohh, an before I forget, Bruce is a mug for letting them play that way for 70 minutes. There's not many teams where the second tier squad do not at least try and win the game. usually they are just not good enough, but its obvious the team played yesterday was better than Peterborough's, they just couldn't be arsed.

These are the players trying to get in the team and force the managers hand.

That bit is concerning.

[blandy]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

These are the players trying to get in the team and force the managers hand.

11 changes from the previous game - not really a surprise when they've basically never played together before.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

I understand where your coming from OBE, but in the end, does this not show the culture still within the team. Why did 'that' team not show the passion to win. They shouldn't just turn it on an off dependent on what team we are playing. I mean, I doubt Bruce told them not to be bothered about winning. Most of that team should have been grafting for a first team place, like Davis, (sorry to keep picking on you lad) but I saw nothing in the second half to really trust any of those players to help win us promotion.

Would Bruce have give them a bollocking for the way they played against Peterborough, or just said "don't worry lads i'm not bothered about the cup anyway"??

 

I wonder if the new contract has affected Davis.....hope not.