Steve Bruce

[philgetaway]

Were clearly not a team yet, but as mentioned above, what was RDM thinking with some of his summer signings?

An experienced, reliable GK is a must. Plus a new midfield. 

[villan-scott]

9 hours ago, Farlz said:

Didn't agree with his team tonight. Dropping McCormack and Adomah was an odd one.

I was also bemused, but felt he may have been trying to keep them fresher over the Christmas period. 

[Spoony]

He has had 13 games now so can we stop saying it is "luck" or fretting so much about performances and give him some credit for the miracle that he has worked? He has won 7 drawn 4 lost 2. We have gone from relegation contenders to play off hopefuls. Considering all that has gone before him, that really is excellent, A+, Distinction, First with Honours. These aren't even his players so it's no wonder at times he has to sort of cram them into his system.

I don't think we will go up this year but give the guy a summer and I think he'll take us up. 

[vreitti]

6 hours ago, MikeMcKenna said:

 Clearly SB has improved us. But we do not have a 'team', whereas Leeds, Burton and others before them do. Too many of our players are 'fancy dans' acting as individuals when a simple ball to a team mate would be more effective. Our lack of teamwork allowed Burton to outplay us at times even though we got a result.

In the first half tonight I thought our passing improved significantly compared to the Burton game. But in the 2nd half we reverted to type again as 'individuals' either tried to dribble their way out or made stupid wayward passes.  At times it looked like Leeds had 1/2 extra players. They knew we were rattled, their confidence increased and so did their team play. 

We are not an affective 'team' but given the nature of some of our players I don't know whether SB can do anything about it. 

100 % spot on. We have a lot of quality in the team. Some dross as well. If Bruce can't do anything about our nonexistent teamwork, he isn't a very good football manager. 

[dukes]

Made the right subs, although I'd have preferred he swapped Grealish for Adomah when he went off injured. Should have made the changes at least 10 minutes earlier, but give him credit he's getting results and his subs are having the right affect week after week.

Also, it's nice to have a manager that sees the game the same as we do and reacts to it (been a long time since I can remember anyone doing that).

Unsure of his reasons for not starting with McCormack, can only think he doesn't believe he is fit enough, but it can't have done his confidence much good being dropped after scoring the winner a few days before.

My biggest criticism of the team is that we sit back too much, don't chase the ball down. For me that was the big difference between Leeds and us, they gave us no time on the ball, whereas we sat back and let them attack us. Looking at Bruce's teams from the past they have all worked hard for 90 minutes, so I am sure he is working on fitness and energy.

From where we were to where we are I give Bruce 9/10, and i'm looking forward to seeing what he can do in the transfer window.

 

 

 

[hippo]

50 minutes ago, Spoony said:

He has had 13 games now so can we stop saying it is "luck" or fretting so much about performances and give him some credit for the miracle that he has worked? He has won 7 drawn 4 lost 2. We have gone from relegation contenders to play off hopefuls. Considering all that has gone before him, that really is excellent, A+, Distinction, First with Honours. These aren't even his players so it's no wonder at times he has to sort of cram them into his system.

I don't think we will go up this year but give the guy a summer and I think he'll take us up. 

Agree - But we should move heaven and earth to try and get up this season. Anything can happen in 12 months so don't think we should put our eggs in next seasons basket - just yet.

I also think Reading and huddersfield will slip from that top 6 

Edited December 30, 2016 by hippo

[Keyblade]

11 hours ago, darrenm said:

I think we should actually try to be a bit less direct and keep possession more.

We have the better players but they get a bit panicky and don't get enough of a feel for the ball.

We used to probe and pass around the opposition when Lambert was here. When we were doing well we were happy in possession.

Now we need to not be afraid to slow it down, turn around and go backwards if it means keeping the ball. If you keep shifting it around, probing, you can gradually push them back and keep pressure on. We now have players who are very dangerous in the box but because we bypass midfield and then fight for knockdowns we never compress the opposition.

 

Who's going to keep possession, Jedinak? Gardner? Bacuna? It's just not going to happen with this midfield.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

I think you lot are all bonkers. The performance was much better last night. 

We dominated the first 30 minutes and should have taken the lead, don't let Gary Monk tell you otherwise. We had a poor 20 minutes at the start of the second half, which is always going to be a likelihood when you don't have a central midfield. We fell behind to a defensive error. 

In fact, every chance they had was handed to them on a plate, which is very uncharacteristic of our defence under Bruce. A rousing fightback in the last 20, either side could have won it. It was a proper ding dong battle, we went toe to toe with a very good side. 

I don't know what people are expecting him to do. He is having to muddle by without a heart to the team. Jedinak has dive-bombed and you could make the argument that Westwood is our best centre mid! He's performing **** miracles if you ask me. 

Delighted to see competitive football down Villa Park again. Now bring on Cardiff. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by dont_do_it_doug.

[hippo]

34 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I think you lot are all bonkers. The performance was much better last night. 

We dominated the first 30 minutes and should have taken the lead, don't let Gary Monk tell you otherwise. We had a poor 20 minutes at the start of the second half, which is always going to be a likelihood when you don't have a central midfield. We fell behind to a defensive error. 

In fact, every chance they had was handed to them on a plate, which is very uncharacteristic of our defence under Bruce. A rousing fightback in the last 20, either side could have won it. It was a proper ding dong battle, we went toe to toe with a very good side. 

I don't know what people are expecting him to do. He is having to muddle by without a heart to the team. Jedinak has dive-bombed and you could make the argument that Westwood is our best centre mid! He's performing **** miracles if you ask me. 

Delighted to see competitive football down Villa Park again. Now bring on Cardiff. 

Actually if we don't make the play offs the consolation for me will be more games as exciting as last night. I don't miss the robotic premiership TBH.

[darrenm]

46 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Who's going to keep possession, Jedinak? Gardner? Bacuna? It's just not going to happen with this midfield.

All of these players are better than they're showing. Westwood for example is excellent when we keep possession. Bacuna and to a lesser extent Gardner are fine passers of the ball. Jedinak I wouldn't have anywhere near the team personally.

[sne]

I hate every second in the Championship.

Nothing in the world would possess me to watch a ordinary Championship game that Villa wasn't part of.

Nor would I go watch a school recital if my kid wasn't in.

Edited December 30, 2016 by sne

[hippo]

2 hours ago, philgetaway said:

Were clearly not a team yet, but as mentioned above, what was RDM thinking with some of his summer signings?

An experienced, reliable GK is a must. Plus a new midfield. 

What were we thinking appointing him ? - you reap what you sow !

[Keyblade]

25 minutes ago, darrenm said:

All of these players are better than they're showing. Westwood for example is excellent when we keep possession. Bacuna and to a lesser extent Gardner are fine passers of the ball. Jedinak I wouldn't have anywhere near the team personally.

Yeah we're gonna have to disagree here. Bacuna and Gardner are 2 of the worst passers of the ball I've seen at Villa. Bacuna especially seems like he doesn't even aim his passes and leave it up to nature to decide their course. That match against QPR when all 3 of them played together was the worst passing display I've seen in recent memory. They must have had 50% completion between them. Westwood is the only midfielder we have that can confidently pass the ball more than 5 yards, and that's a problem. Until we fix it I doubt we can get any sort of passing game going 

[HanoiVillan]

35 minutes ago, hippo said:

Actually if we don't make the play offs the consolation for me will be more games as exciting as last night. I don't miss the robotic premiership TBH.

Me **** neither. I hated going along to watch us lose every other week. Gave up in the end. Right now I'm reinvigorated, loving life at VP. 

[Grasshopper]

1 hour ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I think you lot are all bonkers. The performance was much better last night. 

We dominated the first 30 minutes and should have taken the lead, don't let Gary Monk tell you otherwise. We had a poor 20 minutes at the start of the second half, which is always going to be a likelihood when you don't have a central midfield. We fell behind to a defensive error. 

In fact, every chance they had was handed to them on a plate, which is very uncharacteristic of our defence under Bruce. A rousing fightback in the last 20, either side could have won it. It was a proper ding dong battle, we went toe to toe with a very good side. 

I don't know what people are expecting him to do. He is having to muddle by without a heart to the team. Jedinak has dive-bombed and you could make the argument that Westwood is our best centre mid! He's performing **** miracles if you ask me. 

Delighted to see competitive football down Villa Park again. Now bring on Cardiff. 

The most sensible, non-blinkered post of all the reaction posts to last nights game

I've run out of likes

We gave as good as we got

They had a balanced midfield - we didnt

their GK made better saves than ours

Their only defensive mistake was a handball and a misplaced pass

Ours were plenty, Hutton/Bunn goal (Kodjia should have either done a Shearer - head clear a possible low corner - or guarded the post till the ball was cleared. Amavi a number of times. all across our line infront of the back 4 were guilty of not closing down enough and I'll include Hutton & Amavi in that

NB there was one occasion when Hutton pointed to the space behind him and their winger ran behind him to it -Chester could have no way left his man to cover. a shot deflected out and was only about a yard away from their winger running onside onto the 6yrd line with Bunn still on the deck

Unbelievable Jeff

I'd have taken a pt

The fact that it was a raised heartbeat last 20mins or so was entertaining

AND

We could have won it

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

we could have lost it too

[BigAl]

Last nights game was a game we would have lost earlier in the season ,Bruce has picked up 25 pts from 39 we are a couple of midfielders short who can pass the ball ,sort this and we will make playoffs comfortably delighted with the impact Bruce has made.

[Dr_Pangloss]

He's a decent manager and has done well so far, I do think some of his selections and in-game substitutions have left a bit to be desired and perhaps he is starting to show his limitations/flaws as a manager. 

Bottom line is that he needs to be backed this window. We used the money poorly in the summer so hopefully Bruce has some astute signings up his sleeve, I don't really want to see us slash 8 figure sums on Championship level players again. 

[darrenm]

2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Yeah we're gonna have to disagree here. Bacuna and Gardner are 2 of the worst passers of the ball I've seen at Villa. Bacuna especially seems like he doesn't even aim his passes and leave it up to nature to decide their course. That match against QPR when all 3 of them played together was the worst passing display I've seen in recent memory. They must have had 50% completion between them. Westwood is the only midfielder we have that can confidently pass the ball more than 5 yards, and that's a problem. Until we fix it I doubt we can get any sort of passing game going 

Fair enough. Seems to be a recurring theme :-)

Cheers for the polite debate though

[TRO]

5 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

I think you lot are all bonkers. The performance was much better last night. 

We dominated the first 30 minutes and should have taken the lead, don't let Gary Monk tell you otherwise. We had a poor 20 minutes at the start of the second half, which is always going to be a likelihood when you don't have a central midfield. We fell behind to a defensive error. 

In fact, every chance they had was handed to them on a plate, which is very uncharacteristic of our defence under Bruce. A rousing fightback in the last 20, either side could have won it. It was a proper ding dong battle, we went toe to toe with a very good side. 

I don't know what people are expecting him to do. He is having to muddle by without a heart to the team. Jedinak has dive-bombed and you could make the argument that Westwood is our best centre mid! He's performing **** miracles if you ask me. 

Delighted to see competitive football down Villa Park again. Now bring on Cardiff. 

I saw the game very similar to you but not the same.

• Westwood surprised me last night.....in terms of ball work, by far our best midfield player, never thought i would say that.
• I think you have to give a bit of credit to Leeds.....they fought like "staffordshire bulls" and they worked for the errors in us.
• The performance was better than against Burton....but Burton did much the same to us and did the Blues......without an adequate midfield we are creating miracles.
• I don't see this current configuration dominating games , we literally have to rely on the skill of the counter attack, score and gain the upper hand through the adage goals change games.
• We took too many "body punches" that changed our game and they grew in confidence, plus their goal, helped.
• The fact we don't play as a team must be a concern and something we need to fix fast.

Having said all of that......How he continues to pick up points like he does .....i don't know......He is definitely doing something right.

Edited December 30, 2016 by TRO

[dont_do_it_doug.]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

I saw the game very similar to you but not the same.

• Westwood surprised me last night.....in terms of ball work, by far our best midfield player, never thought i would say that.
• I think you have to give a bit of credit to Leeds.....they fought like "staffordshire bulls" and they worked for the errors in us.
• The performance was better than against Burton....but Burton did much the same to us and did the Blues......without an adequate midfield we are creating miracles.
• I don't see this current configuration dominating games , we literally have to rely on the skill of the counter attack, score and gain the upper hand through the adage goals change games.
• We took too many "body punches" that changed our game and they grew in confidence, plus their goal, helped.
• The fact we don't play as a team must be a concern and something we need to fix fast.

Having said all of that......How he continues to pick up points like he does .....i don't know......He is definitely doing something right.

Yet we started and finished the stronger team. 

It's just football man. 

I absolutely give credit to Leeds.