Steve Bruce

[VillaChris]

25 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

For those that saw the game yesterday. How many clear cut chances did we create? Only reason I ask is because we had a lot of the ball in the Brentford game, attacked with purpose, and then had no variation to our tactics outside of Kodjia's bit of individual brilliance for the first goal. I fear that we are too predictable and just wanted to know if this was the case yesterday?

Not really as many as Brentford game tbh. El Ghazi nearly scored but Mannone made a very good save then Chester hit the bar. Second half I can hardly remember any chance apart from the goal.

Most were just weak shots from edge of the box into Mannone's arms.

[TRO]

4 minutes ago, striker said:

Really good post.

I’m of the opinion that to get the consistency needed to get this squad of players automatically promoted Bruce must start to play his squad in their correct positions such as Tuanzebe at centreback and Jedinak only called upon in the DM position if Bjarnson or Whelan are injured.

In fact if Ryan woods was still available I’d get him in now so that Jedinak will never have to be called upon again. Jedinak is too slow and cumbersome.

Thats where the inconsistency is coming from players being continually played out of position and systems being played which struggle to get the best out of what’s available.

Or when injuries hit, rather than playing the next best available player for that position Bruce shoe horns someone else into it.

 

Lets be bloody honest with ourselves here....we are very questionable in the air .....as a team.

Jed is only in there for his aerial ability and teams lower down do tend to use the long ball, which we seem to dread.

Its like a cannon ball coming over .......in a medieval film.

[sne]

According to SKY we had 8 shots on target while Reading had 7.

We had 9 off target thou.

Doesn't really tell me anything since I didn't see the game...

[TRO]

Another thing that tickles me.....Why, do we have to be woken up by John McGinn, attacking the ball and going after players.....as well as he does.

Is he the only one in the team , bothered to do it.

We should have far more players doing that instead of just waiting for the perfect ball to land in their lap...We do play like bloody primma donna's at times.

Where's our nasty streak?....the times we lose out in one on ones, its a joke.

Edited August 26, 2018 by TRO

[VillaCas]

12 minutes ago, TRO said:

Well, If thats the case....They will do it....lets see if they do.....I favour the theory they will wait until we go on a losing run and make the decision more acceptable.

back to the team

I think we are lacking a No9 a target man and a dominant Centre back.

whether, they should be there or not, with the summer shenanigans.....they are not.

You cannot expect to get promotion with flaws in crucial Positions......The spine of the side is not convincing......It has to be to have any chance of promotion.

Also I don't agree with your point at all - we have plently of quality to get promotion

Most teams, even lower- PL, would bite your hand off for Kodija and Chester - if Bruce can't find a way to play to make the most of a top class forward thats his fault. If Bruce can't find a suitable partner for Chester either within VP or elsewhere thats his fault. Find someone suitable from Tuanzabe or Elphick or even Hutton or Whelan or god-forbid the Academy

Too many excuses for Bruce - he's had three seasons to get it all together and he's now got a very big, very expensive squad - he needs to get on with it.....or preferably get out

[Keyblade]

35 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

For those that saw the game yesterday. How many clear cut chances did we create? Only reason I ask is because we had a lot of the ball in the Brentford game, attacked with purpose, and then had no variation to our tactics outside of Kodjia's bit of individual brilliance for the first goal. I fear that we are too predictable and just wanted to know if this was the case yesterday?

I only caught the second half, but in that time and apart from the goal...I can't even remember one.

It was the same against Brentford. I watched the game again with my dad who's a neutral and told him before the match that "we absolutely dominated them". They ended up having 4 or 5 gilt-edged chances in the second half alone, and every time my dad would mockingly say "you're really dominating them".

The best we could do is work the ball out wide and cross it in, whereas they were cutting through our back line a few times. We were the same yesterday. Very laboured and predictable. Sure we were dominating possession and playing in their half, but we did nothing with it.

[VillaCas]

14 minutes ago, TRO said:

Another thing that tickles me.....Why, do we have to be woken up by John McGinn, attacking the ball and going after players.....as well as he does.

Is he the only one in the team , bothered to do it.

We should have far more players doing that instead of just waiting for the perfect ball to land in their lap...We do play like bloody primma donna's at times.

Where's our nasty streak?....the times we lose out in one on ones, its a joke.

All symptoms, perhaps you need to identify the root cause

Edited August 26, 2018 by VillaCas

[Stratvillan]

2 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

Also I don't agree with your point at all - we have plently of quality to get promotion

Most teams, even lower- PL, would bite your hand off for Kodija and Chester - if Bruce can't find a way to play to make the most of a top class forward thats his fault. If Bruce can't find a suitable partner for Chester either within VP or elsewhere thats his fault. Find someone suitable from Tuanzabe or Elphick or even Hutton or Whelan or god-forbid the Academy

Too many excuses for Bruce - he's had three seasons to get it all together and he's now got a very big, very expensive squad - he needs to get on with it.....or preferably get out

Who would bite your hand off for Chester and kodjia? I think Bruce needs to go, but let's not pretend we have a raft of premier league players. Chester is too slow for the prem. kodjia is either premier league or league 1 depending on his mood. There's a reason why they're in the championship. 

What I do blame the management for is the ridiculous decision Not to target a centre forward or centre half.  

[DaveAV1]

10 hours ago, jacketspuds said:

Pretty much. But that sounds less dramatic. 

How about bang average?

[Davkaus]

16 minutes ago, sne said:

According to SKY we had 8 shots on target while Reading had 7.

We had 9 off target thou.

At least 5 of those on target were nothing shots from 25 yards. We ran out of ideas, and the player on the ball got frustrated and had a crack from distance. Their keeper struggled with none of them. 

Our game 'plan' seemed to be: Pass it down the left channel. Shit, they haven't given us an open goal. Pass it back to the middle. Down the right side. Shit, still not open goal. Back to the keeper. Down to the left side....**** sake, may as well have a shot.

Rinse and repeat. We had loads of the ball, had lots of shots, but we created absolutely **** all. 

Apart from the goal, while it would have very much been against the run of play for us to lose, I think Reading had the better chances to win it.

[DaveAV1]

24 minutes ago, TRO said:

Lets be bloody honest with ourselves here....we are very questionable in the air .....as a team.

Jed is only in there for his aerial ability and teams lower down do tend to use the long ball, which we seem to dread.

Its like a cannon ball coming over .......in a medieval film.

Where are the archers!?

[sne]

[jacketspuds]

16 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

How about bang average?

Perfect.

[Keyblade]

14 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

At least 5 of those on target were nothing shots from 25 yards. We ran out of ideas, and the player on the ball got frustrated and had a crack from distance. Their keeper struggled with none of them. 

Our game 'plan' seemed to be: Pass it down the left channel. Shit, they haven't given us an open goal. Pass it back to the middle. Down the right side. Shit, still not open goal. Back to the keeper. Down to the left side....**** sake, may as well have a shot.

Rinse and repeat. We had loads of the ball, had lots of shots, but we created absolutely **** all. 

Apart from the goal, while it would have very much been against the run of play for us to lose, I think Reading had the better chances to win it.

Smacks of a team playing "attacking football" for the sake of it but not knowing how to do it.

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, jacketspuds said:

For those that saw the game yesterday. How many clear cut chances did we create? Only reason I ask is because we had a lot of the ball in the Brentford game, attacked with purpose, and then had no variation to our tactics outside of Kodjia's bit of individual brilliance for the first goal. I fear that we are too predictable and just wanted to know if this was the case yesterday?

Off the top of my head in the first half, McGinn in the first minute of the game. Anwar had a chance in the first half, forcing a save.Think their keeper made a good save from a header, I forget who from.

In the second half, aside from the goal, I can only think of a couple of Adomah efforts that went low to the keeper’s right and I think Kodjia may have had an effort go across the goal.

Overall, I’d say that Reading had the best opportunities to score.

I think when we’re on top early on, teams like Reading struggle with us and it’s our fault for not being clinical. But that tempo subsides (which happens with most teams) and the opposition wise up to what we’re about and we seem to struggle to break them down.

[TRO]

21 hours ago, VillaCas said:

Also I don't agree with your point at all - we have plently of quality to get promotion

Most teams, even lower- PL, would bite your hand off for Kodija and Chester - if Bruce can't find a way to play to make the most of a top class forward thats his fault. If Bruce can't find a suitable partner for Chester either within VP or elsewhere thats his fault. Find someone suitable from Tuanzabe or Elphick or even Hutton or Whelan or god-forbid the Academy

Too many excuses for Bruce - he's had three seasons to get it all together and he's now got a very big, very expensive squad - he needs to get on with it.....or preferably get out

It could well come to that.

• Kodjia is not a centre forward IMO.....the argument that other teams would snap your hand off, is a different one.....I don't want him to leave and I think some of his work is excellent......but 46 games leading the line, no, not for me, he is not durable enough for that.
• Chester is a very good player......but he lacks height for that position and he lacks pace too.....He needs a Dominant center Half next to him, who has pace and competency on the floor.He is more of a sweeper.

I am ****** off with him right now after those 3 draws, but Hey I will try and retain a bit of balance.....He has had 3 seasons.....BUT.

1. 3/4 of a season where He managed to stop the rot of conceding late goals and where his best player went off to the African nations for a month at a crucial time and the Jan window was not helped by our league position, He thens signs an expensive Dud.....who most of us was happy with.

2. We just miss out on Promotion with 24 wins in the season despite a putrid start....that bit of consistency to get us over the line was missing.....we lose our best player for 1/2 the season and our Talisman for 6 weeks in a crucial period.....He loses his mother and father in a few weeks of each other.....hardly a normal setting.

3 The summer brings a doubt whether we have a club at all, The fact that we had owners to rescue us, was in itself a major coupe.....The problem then is, as expectation shifts back to normal load, we are left late despite FFP to get players in....but we do.....We make a much better start in terms of points compared with last season , but some displays are far from convincing.....but like last season players have to settle in.

and here we are.....so my point is to throw 3 seasons in to the pot ( the argument) to ease the pain or prove the point, is a bit harsh, without a bit of consideration for the amount of disruption of the squad.

For sure, There are many legitimate claims of questioning of the man.....I have said so myself.

I have highlighted things I am unhappy with..... but I also think some are a knock on effect, cure one issue and a dozen problems get solved.

I accept the view that he come to stop the rot, but we might want to remind ourselves that he has a better win ratio than Dean Smith who is fancied by many.

I genuinely have doubts that he is long term, but I have equal doubts that the next man will create the stability Steve has done.....His win ratio is c 47% with gates like 33,000 against Reading, it does suggest to me something is right....despite me feeling like I want to strangle him right now.

We are all desperate to get out of this division and 3 draws tests our resolve......We do need to turn this approach around and I think we will, but right now its so,so frustrating.

There is no doubt, what we are capable of and what we are ,............are 2 different things and the manager must take responsibility for that.

Edited August 27, 2018 by TRO

[Zatman]

42 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

Not really as many as Brentford game tbh. El Ghazi nearly scored but Mannone made a very good save then Chester hit the bar. Second half I can hardly remember any chance apart from the goal.

Most were just weak shots from edge of the box into Mannone's arms.

from highlights McGinn had a tame shot he could have squared. Kodjia blasted one miles over in a similar spot

Hourihane had one he scuffed that would have went in last season in 2nd half

[VillaCas]

6 minutes ago, TRO said:

I accept the view that he come to stop the rot, but we might want to remind ourselves that he has a better win ratio that Dean Smith who is fancied by many.

I think we could do better than Dean Smith (although I would prefer him to SB as things stand) but lets not kid ourselves that Smith v Bruce is a level playing field, resource-wise when comparing win rates.

One thing I would suspect is that if Smith was our manager, your complaints about running, effort and one-on-one challenges would be answered

Times up for Bruce for me!

[TRO]

34 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

All symptoms, perhaps you need to identify the root cause

VC you could be right, like sheepy and the 2 Daves, remind me.

No one has had time to coach that in to McGinn, its intrinsic.....Our players could just as easily do that without being told.

But just remember.....To get a better manager or Coach, is not as easy as it seems .....we should know that more than anybody......There is not a Ron Saunders or Graham Taylor around every corner.

[terrytini]

In my view, we are doing fine, and will average the necessary 2 points per game we need.

Performances, from players and Manager, are up and down, and mostly below what we are capable of, but thars football, it’s the Championship.

I watched every game in the World Cup and didn’t see any team play consistently to their level.

For many, many games now Bruce has got all but 2 points per game on average out of this side, and, in my view, we will get better and better.

I ain’t debating it, as it’s all been said, but thats my thoughts.