sne Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 24 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said: There's some awfully short memories on this thread. We should be thanking Bruce for saving us from becoming Sunderland not tearing him apart. He may or may not be the answer next season, but at least next season we have a chance! That was Xia, who bankrolled the replacing of almost every player and staff at the club and replaced them with sadly another group of underachievers. granted Bruce was one of them. Bruce has gotten a bit of team spirit back to the senior squad. But it is Xia who saved us. For a short time at least... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, sne said: That was Xia, who bankrolled the replacing of almost every player and staff at the club and replaced them with sadly another group of underachievers. granted Bruce was one of them. Bruce has gotten a bit of team spirit back to the senior squad. But it is Xia who saved us. For a short time at least... Yes agreed Xia certainly saved us initially, but don't forget Di Matteo and where that was taking us!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 minute ago, pintpotvilla said: Yes agreed Xia certainly saved us initially, but don't forget Di Matteo and where that was taking us!! We'll never know where he was taking us as thankfully he was sacked when he wasn't providing results. Hopefully the same will happen now with Bruce. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StefanAVFC Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 I want him gone for the damage he's done with his short-termism in his plans for this year. No plan for the entirety of the season other than 'buy experienced players and let them play'. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 1, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted June 1, 2018 8 minutes ago, hippo said: 1.He Brought in John Terry for an outlay of £3.6m - and sold Nathan Baker to finance this. Baker and Chester was ok season before. Whilst the defence improved under Terry the whole game plan became we won't concede lets nick one at the other end - and that approach became more prominent as the season went on I don't think there's any physical way I could disagree with this more. Terry was one of our best signings since we've been in the Championship. Not only is he a better defender than Baker, he's a better leader, he had huge influence in the dressing room especially on our best player Grealish. But even more than that, his style of play was immeasurably better than Baker. Baker was by far the worst culprit of hoofing the ball in the team, and getting rid of him and replaciing him with someone as cultured (at this level) as Terry helped our style of play immensely. I know the go to VT narrative is that our football is terrible and we just hoof it aimlessly every time, but if you can see past that fallacy to see that oru football was often pretty good (for this level!) it's obvious that Terry's presence was a big factor in that. He was so much more than simply a defender in this team. On top of all of that I also think it's a bit of a myth that Baker was sold to finance Terry. It didn't happen like that. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, sne said: We'll never know where he was taking us as thankfully he was sacked when he wasn't providing results. Hopefully the same will happen now with Bruce. The real reason we didn't go up this year is that there were 2 better sides than us plus Cardiff who somehow kicked and fouled their way up.I don't think sacking Bruce is the right thing to do. Stability and team ethic is needed. We can't keep chopping and changing. He needs to adapt- he knows that, but we need to stick with him 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post StefanAVFC Posted June 1, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2018 Terry was fantastic for us but totally endemic of why we didn't go up IMO. He was a stop gap, much like your Snodgrass's (again fantastic), Elmo's, Jedinak's, Whelan's etc etc. Maybe I'm being irrational because I'm still pissed off that we lost 1-0 at Wembley in the biggest game in our recent history pretty much because of Bruce, but as undeniably great a lot of the above players have been for us, they were very much a boom or bust strategy that have totally come and bitten us in the arse now. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post sne Posted June 1, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 minute ago, pintpotvilla said: .I don't think sacking Bruce is the right thing to do. Stability and team ethic is needed. We can't keep chopping and changing. He needs to adapt- he knows that, but we need to stick with him Needless to say I disagree. Banking our hopes on that a 58 y.o manager with 40 years in the game will suddenly change his entire approach over one glorious summer is beyond naive. If we stick with him it will be the same old but with less resources, worse results and ready made excuses about not having money to spend and fans demanding too much. As for stability there will be a totally different squad compared to this season thanks to the short term build of this one. Bruce has to go, partly because he failed at his set goal to get promotion, and also because he is not the man for the new challenges coming up with the rebuild. The only reason to keep him is that he's already here, and that is a terrible reason. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 (edited) 16 minutes ago, sne said: Needless to say I disagree. Banking our hopes on that a 58 y.o manager with 40 years in the game will suddenly change his entire approach over one glorious summer is beyond naive. If we stick with him it will be the same old but with less resources, worse results and ready made excuses about not having money to spend and fans demanding too much. As for stability there will be a totally different squad compared to this season thanks to the short term build of this one. Bruce has to go, partly because he failed at his set goal to get promotion, and also because he is not the man for the new challenges coming up with the rebuild. The only reason to keep him is that he's already here, and that is a terrible reason. Needless to say I disagree ( but that's what being a Villa fan is all about), We only just missed out on promotion, in fact had we had a decent start to the campaign we would have been promoted automatically, I am not suggesting he will " suddenly change his entire approach" just that at certain times, ie QPR home, he would have learned from his mistakes, We don't know yet what the squad will look like come August, it may well not be as different as you fear. If he stays and we go up he wouldn't be the first manager to have failed first before getting it right. I know it's a frustrating time for all Villa fans at the moment but give Dr Tony a chance to sort it. We're Villa and we WILL be back Edited June 1, 2018 by pintpotvilla 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 31 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said: The real reason we didn't go up this year is that there were 2 better sides than us plus Cardiff who somehow kicked and fouled their way up.I don't think sacking Bruce is the right thing to do. Stability and team ethic is needed. We can't keep chopping and changing. He needs to adapt- he knows that, but we need to stick with him He cannot adapt. He has proven that many times. Sticking with him would only be wasting another season. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 6 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said: Needless to say I disagree ( but that's what being a Villa fan is all about), We only just missed out on promotion, in fact had we had a decent start to the campaign we would have been promoted automatically, I am not suggesting he will " suddenly change his entire approach" just that at certain times, ie QPR home, he would have learned from his mistakes, We don't know yet what the squad will look like come August, it may well not be as different as you fear. If he stays and we go up he wouldn't be the first manager to have failed first before getting it right. I know it's a frustrating time for all Villa fans at the moment but give Dr Tony a chance to sort it. We're Villa and we WILL be back Yeah I wouldn't be at all surprised if Xia let's Bruce have another go at reversing the giant lorry that is Villa up the hill while being passed on the road by Fiat Punto's and Trabant's 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 hour ago, tomav84 said: well davis did well when he came in...o'hare and green too in their limited games. as for the others the jury's out cause we havent seen them at this level It’s funny you say that because I actually think we looked most effective with a big man up front to bring in other players and rough up centre halves. It’s a winning strategy in this league. We missed a trick not getting a similar type of player in January. Maybe we tried. Green missed most the season with injury. Will he be another Gardner? Would like to see more of O’hare but hasn’t he sustained a serious injury. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delboy54 Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Simple reason why we didn't go up....we are not good enough! 1. Debacle on Saturday - especially that first half. Tactically out thought by Fulhams plan to run JT ragged with quick passing - it worked, and keep kicking our play maker Grealish - it worked 2. We don't deserve to go up losing the way we did to QPR at home Bolton and Norwich away. 3 Just because we are Aston Villa does not give us the entitlement to walk our way back the the Premier League - we have to work hard for it 5 I cannot decide if Bruce is the right man TBH. Most of us in here seem to be 50:50..... 4. I hope there is a "plan B!" Regards Del 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screwdriver Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 The Bruce out brigade should be carefull what they wish for. Bruce has improved us in the short time he has been here. We were in danger of going down again under RDM. We have two improvements in where we finished under Steve despite the heartbreak of losing the play off. It's frustrating that it looks like we might have to build another spine, but it is what it is. **** it thats football. and even if theres no money Bruce has the connections to wheel and deal and get us some big names like he got Snod and Terry. Keeping grealish is the most important thing. And all the long ball stuff, well if i was a centre half and had conner hourihane in front of me with his give it to me face on...I'd hoof it as hard as I could upfield! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Whether we sack Bruce now or next season we will still be in the shit. Bruce has constructed an unbalanced squad of experienced players, much like he did at Hull, and when he leaves any new manager is going to struggle. This will only serve to make Bruce look better than he actually is and typifies the problem of not actually having a club vision. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pintpotvilla Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 2 minutes ago, sne said: Yeah I wouldn't be at all surprised if Xia let's Bruce have another go at reversing the giant lorry that is Villa up the hill while being passed on the road by Fiat Punto's and Trabant's Well at least Villa ARE a giant lorry still. We all have our different idea's how this great club should go forward and they are all subjective.Only the good Doctor and his cohorts know how they will go about things. As fans we just have to trust either way they get it right 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 Just now, pintpotvilla said: Well at least Villa ARE a giant lorry still. We all have our different idea's how this great club should go forward and they are all subjective.Only the good Doctor and his cohorts know how they will go about things. As fans we just have to trust either way they get it right Agreed, it's just a shame the wheel's come off 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 1 hour ago, pintpotvilla said: There's some awfully short memories on this thread. We should be thanking Bruce for saving us from becoming Sunderland not tearing him apart. He may or may not be the answer next season, but at least next season we have a chance! This is just nonsense. We would have had something to thank him for if he had got us promoted. But Bruce, with Wyness and Xia, has left us in the shit, and that will possibly take seasons to overcome. I think, as time passes, we will look back on Bruce's tenure here and realise he did a worse job than we thought, even at the time. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted June 1, 2018 Share Posted June 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, pintpotvilla said: Well at least Villa ARE a giant lorry still. We all have our different idea's how this great club should go forward and they are all subjective.Only the good Doctor and his cohorts know how they will go about things. As fans we just have to trust either way they get it right That at least we can agree on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted June 1, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted June 1, 2018 39 minutes ago, StefanAVFC said: Terry was fantastic for us but totally endemic of why we didn't go up IMO. He was a stop gap, much like your Snodgrass's (again fantastic), Elmo's, Jedinak's, Whelan's etc etc. Maybe I'm being irrational because I'm still pissed off that we lost 1-0 at Wembley in the biggest game in our recent history pretty much because of Bruce, but as undeniably great a lot of the above players have been for us, they were very much a boom or bust strategy that have totally come and bitten us in the arse now. Yep agree with this. I think it would have been a great strategy had we gone up, because you easily offload players who may not be good enough for the next level. But staying down we're left with a big problem. Obviously that's not the players' fault in that regard. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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