Steve Bruce

[TheStagMan]

3 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I refer you to my comments in the post match thread.

I recognise it is now open season for crowing and triumphalism for people who have been obsessively briefing against the team and manager all season.

Hope they are all very pleased and enjoy their moment of triumph.

None of which are even remotely relevant to the point I was making. None of which apply to what my post said, but no, you just wanted to have one of your usual digs, and as usual you are showing that you have nothing to back it up. 

 

Crowing and triumphalish???? Grow up. 

NO ONE IS HAPPY.

NO ONE IS TRIUMPHANT.

I'M AS DISSAPOINTED AS **** HELL RIGHT NOW, I would put money on 99.99% of Villa fans feeling the same. 

No we are not pleased. As for your season long reign of failing to understand what people are on about, THIS! THIS is what we were concerned about. No one wanted Villa to fail. No one. We are now spending another season in the championship. So please, stop with this crap, it really is wearing very very thin.

 

[Dr_Pangloss]

1 minute ago, Dick said:

Maybe he will sign up all the Bruce defenders to play behind the ball. Sensational, would save money too.

I'm sure they would "brief" him correctly.

[TheStagMan]

8 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Not sure I can quite cope with people who have been briefing against the manager and team all season now suddenly finding they are “gutted”.

I'm not sure I can cope with continued s*it like this. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by TheStagMan

[TheStagMan]

4 minutes ago, Dick said:

Briefing against the manager. This is incredible, here, catch this hyperbole ball I made for you.

Its actually amusing how pathetic comments like the one you were replying to are.

[pacbuddies]

18 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I refer you to my comments in the post match thread.

I recognise it is now open season for crowing and triumphalism for people who have been obsessively briefing against the team and manager all season.

Hope they are all very pleased and enjoy their moment of triumph.

I take no pleasure in being right as it has resulted in my team failing. Perhaps your snidy comments should be directed at those fans that sung Bruce's praises all season (he's been promoted from this league 4 times!) and derided those that could see the wood for the trees.

Edited May 26, 2018 by pacbuddies

[ROTTERDAM1982]

What worries me about SB is that we seemed not to know how to get back into the game when they had a player sent off. Grealish was obviously the match winner, but the substitutions limited his space, and he had less of the ball. Grabban didn't seem to know where he was playing, nor did Kodja, and where was Onohua supposed to be playing?

 

Should have spread the game, gone three at the back and pushed Kodja alongside Grabban with Jack behind .I'm not saying I know more than SB but its not the 1st time his plan seems to be hit and hope.

[Ingram85]

14 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

I refer you to my comments in the post match thread.

I recognise it is now open season for crowing and triumphalism for people who have been obsessively briefing against the team and manager all season.

Hope they are all very pleased and enjoy their moment of triumph.

How childish and no better than the posts you refer to on the opposite end of the spectrum. No one wanted this, everyone wanted Bruce to get us up even if they didn’t like him, absolutely no one willingly wanted  him to fail just to say they were right. You need to grow up. I’ve always respected you as a poster but your reaction to those who have a different viewpoint on Bruce is crap and you have a very hollow argument based on the post above. 

[Troglodyte]

I don't want to wade into this debate too much, as to be honest I find it tiresome.  I've also been on both sides over the season: there have been times where I've really backed him and felt like I would continue to do so even in bad times, and there have been other periods when I've wanted him out immediately.

But all told, although he's not met his expectations, I'm very glad we finally found someone to turn around the dressing room and get rid of as much of the toxicity that has infected the club for so long as possible.  His tactics might be limited (although effective for the most part at this level) but at least it seemed like we were playing with some kind of determination and pride for most of this season.  I was not a fan of bringing in Terry, and he was quite poor today imo and is starting to play like the 37-year-old that he is, but that decision had a massive impact on our club in terms of attitude and mentality, and I applaud Bruce for it.

As I said in the match thread today, if he goes I won't be too bothered and will be excited at the prospect of change and someone more forward-thinking.  But at the same time, I would be nervous about the instability that it could bring, especially at a time where there's probably going to be quite a lot of wider change at the club.

[TRO]

18 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

None of which are even remotely relevant to the point I was making. None of which apply to what my post said, but no, you just wanted to have one of your usual digs, and as usual you are showing that you have nothing to back it up. 

 

Crowing and triumphalish???? Grow up. 

NO ONE IS HAPPY.

NO ONE IS TRIUMPHANT.

I'M AS DISSAPOINTED AS **** HELL RIGHT NOW, I would put money on 99.99% of Villa fans feeling the same. 

No we are not pleased. As for your season long reign of failing to understand what people are on about, THIS! THIS is what we were concerned about. No one wanted Villa to fail. No one. We are now spending another season in the championship. So please, stop with this crap, it really is wearing very very thin.

 

I am disappointed too.....but not surprised.

i was just not prepared to run our team down after every match and blame the manager....The players are simply not good enough.....decision making, energy, etc is just not there.....we only started playing when it was too late.

There are many, many aspects to a game of football and we have got so many right over a season.....but their goal was symptomatic of many we have conceded.....ball watching as opposed to player watching.....its basic stuff.

movement has always been our undoing and it still is.

 

Edited May 26, 2018 by TRO

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, Troglodyte said:

I don't want to wade into this debate too much, as to be honest I find it tiresome.  I've also been on both sides over the season: there have been times where I've really backed him and felt like I would continue to do so even in bad times, and there have been other periods when I've wanted him out immediately.

But all told, although he's not met his expectations, I'm very glad we finally found someone to turn around the dressing room and get rid of as much of the toxicity that has infected the club for so long as possible.  His tactics might be limited (although effective for the most part at this level) but at least it seemed like we were playing with some kind of determination and pride for most of this season.  I was not a fan of bringing in Terry, and he was quite poor today imo and is starting to play like the 37-year-old that he is, but that decision had a massive impact on our club in terms of attitude and mentality, and I applaud Bruce for it.

As I said in the match thread today, if he goes I won't be too bothered and will be excited at the prospect of change and someone more forward-thinking.  But at the same time, I would be nervous about the instability that it could bring, especially at a time where there's probably going to be quite a lot of wider change at the club.

I agree totally.

[VillanousOne]

i've had a lot of anti Bruce moments, but i grew to like and accept him, because I bought into the stability and solidity arguments, i still think those arguments are fair, we played fantastically at times, but whatever side of the fence you are on, the bottom line is we didn't get promotion, we staked so much on promotion this season that our entire team will have to be rebuilt AGAIN. I personally would rather another manager had that opportunity.

Those who supported Bruce should not be criticised, those who saw this coming also had a point.

I bare Bruce no malice, but the 'safety first' style of football should have ended during the second half of this season as we had a strong, experienced and stable team (Theresa May should be proud). But it never changed, despite our army of coaches and assistants.

[Dodgyknees]

12 minutes ago, TRO said:

I am disappointed too.....but not surprised.

i was just not prepared to run our team down after every match and blame the manager....The players are simply not good enough.....decision making, energy, etc is just not there.....we only started playing when it was too late.

There are many, many aspects to a game of football and we have not so many right over a season.....but their goal was symptomatic of many we have conceded.....ball watching as opposed to player watching.....its basic stuff.

movement has always been our undoing and it still is.

 

If the players have poor concentration, decision making, energy and ball watching, the manager is even more of an idiot for putting them in defensive mode where they have to use those skills.

Johnstone, Hourihane, Terry, Elmo, Grabban, Snodgrass - the heart of the team, were Bruce buys.

Grealish is full of energy.

Adomah has been off the boil for 2 months and not dropped.

Chester our best player this season and Hutton doesn't stop working.

The issue is Bruce putting the players into a team which causes them issues.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Dick

[TRO]

18 minutes ago, pacbuddies said:

I take no pleasure in being right as it has resulted in my team failing. Perhaps your snidy comments should be directed at those fans that sung Bruce's praises all season (he's been promoted from this league 4 times!) and derided those that could see the wood for the trees.

Don't get ahead of yourself......who said you are right.

He has turned around a toxic situation.

We are just not good enoughas a team for promotion.

[TheStagMan]

4 minutes ago, TRO said:

I am disappointed too.....but not surprised.

i was just not prepared to run our team down after every match and blame the manager....The players are simply not good enough.....decision making, energy, etc is just not there.....we only started playing when it was too late.

There are many, many aspects to a game of football and we have not so many right over a season.....but their goal was symptomatic of many we have conceded.....ball watching as opposed to player watching.....its basic stuff.

movement has always been our undoing and it still is.

 

We clearly have a difference in our opinions of our players, and that's fine, I think that you are doing them an injustice and I do think we have one of the best squads in the league, you don't agree - and that is your prerogative and probably explains the difference in viewpoints of what the manager has achieved.

Let me ask you some questions based on that though. Lets accept that our players are simply not good enough:

• Who signed those players? and for those that were already here, who decided to keep them and play them?
• Why is the energy not there? Why has that not been addressed?
• Why is the coaching not helping with the decision making?
• Why did we only start playing when it was too late? Who's job is it to make sure that this doesn't happen?

I agree about a lack of movement, that was painfully obvious again today - but again, where does that come from? for me its all down to coaching and the playing style placed onto the team. 

I simply cannot subscribe to the notion that our players are thicker than most others, or not as good footballers, or less fit.

I have not been a fan of Steve Bruce's brand of football - but I have nothing against the man personally, but he has failed to meet his objective. As you said yourself, promotion was all that mattered. I don't think another season will end any differently. You say the players are not good enough, well I certainly don't see us getting any better ones now. 

Steve Bruce has been through hell in his personal life, and he has soldiered on, he has my absolute respect for that, but I do think that his time here is up. I think he should be looking to take a year off from football to grieve properly and take stock of things. 

 

 

[Troglodyte]

And if he does leave, or if we get rid of him, we need to be very sure that we're bringing in the right replacement.  It would be much easier to slip back into trouble than it would be to push for automatic promotion.  Again, I would ideally like a forward thinking manager with fresh and progressive ideas who is nevertheless able to do a lot with what we have, but you simply can't tell if someone would actually be able to do that - it could end terribly and I'd then be wishing we'd stuck with the stability of Bruce, who I think would still be frustrating but just as likely as anyone to keep us top 6 next season.  I want fresh ideas but don't want to risk us dropping off.  However, sometimes it seems like most other fans are stubbornly tied to one view or the other - clearly this is just a case of the 'loudest' voices, though.

Edited May 26, 2018 by Troglodyte

[TRO]

7 minutes ago, Dick said:

If the players have poor concentration, decision making, energy and ball watching, the manager is even more of an idiot for putting them in defensive mode where they have to use those skills.

So lets get rid of him......but don't hold your breath.

 

[pacbuddies]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

Don't get ahead of yourself......who said you are right.

He has turned around a toxic situation.

We are just not good enoughas a team for promotion.

Your last sentence basically answered your question because we should be.

[villabromsgrove]

With respect TRO I think your basic premise is wrong. You regularly say that the players aren't good enough. My opinion is that these same players are good enough, but have been regularly shackled by their manager's almost total negativity. As a result they were collectively ineffective.

Unlike you, I lay the blame mainly on the manager and his coaching staff. I still enjoy your posts though TRO, even though we hold opposite views.

[Czechlad]

Wenger IN

[Dodgyknees]

Still not sure why Thor didn't come on for Hourihane, we ended up too topheavy after that and nothing in the middle. 

Edited May 26, 2018 by Dick