markavfc40 Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 (edited) Pissed off being out of the running for automatic places but it is now all about ensuring we go into the play offs in good form. If we don't we will have no chance. The last three games have been dire but all is not lost. There is time to turn it around, go into the play offs in good form and then produce the level of performance we saw against Wolves. Whilst we are very Jekyl and Hyde I think we have shown we are capable of applying ourselves in the big games and producing and we certainly on paper at least have big game players. I am certainly not throwing the towel in and being all doom and gloom. There is too much still to play for. For what it is worth I am still confident we'll be promoted although we have made harder work of it than I thought we would. Edited April 1, 2018 by markavfc40 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poitier Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Bruce isn't a tactics genius, he admits that himself, which is why he needs good coaches. His strengths are supposedly man management and motivation. Terry is supposedly a great motivator and inspirational leader. How any of that squares with the lack of determination our team so often shows is baffling, but suggests that neither has as big a positive influence in this area as claimed. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 I agree the focus needs to be getting some good form back going in to playoffs. If we're not careful we might have to start looking over our shoulders. Luckily for us Derby and Bristol are in worse form than us so Playoffs should be secured. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted April 1, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted April 1, 2018 (edited) If I’m honest, I don’t know how crucial it is for this team having good form going into the play offs. It’s obviously preferable, but I’m not sure it would make much difference when it comes to the crunch. I thought we were in good form after Wolves, then these three games happened. Similarly, things seemed rather bleak after the Brentford game, we were in equally poor form. Then suddenly we win the next 7 games, or if you prefer, we picked up 31 points from the next possible 36. What I’m trying to get at is like @markavfc40 says, we’re a Jekyll and Hyde team, there seems to be no rhyme nor reason when or why we play well and why it changes in an instant without warning. So we could go into the play offs playing poorly, then suddenly we turn it on again. Or vice versa. What troubles me is it comes across that Bruce, the coaching staff and the players don’t have an understanding why this happens either. Edited April 1, 2018 by Shropshire Lad 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KSV Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 45 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: I agree the focus needs to be getting some good form back going in to playoffs. If we're not careful we might have to start looking over our shoulders. Luckily for us Derby and Bristol are in worse form than us so Playoffs should be secured. Millwall are flying though. I think they will make the 6. Wouldnt want to vs them in the play offs either. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrytini Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 (edited) We remind me of Nick Faldo and his golf swing. In his earlier years he showed good natural ability and had some success. But he decided his swing couldn’t stand certain pressure moments because it was all to do with feel and ability. So he rebuilt it, lost some flair, but added repeatability. And was a massively better player. I think the way Bruce manages is similar, if you look at his management career he has good long winning runs but a lot of losing ones to. Feast or famine. The lack of a cohesive style ( replaced by a pretty basic ‘defend well, take your chances when attacking’ concept,) means it has to click. When it doesn’t, there is nothing there. Edited April 1, 2018 by terrytini 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
terrytini Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Which of course also means we could just as easily sail through the play offs or mess them up completely !! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeAVFC Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 (edited) 6 hours ago, mykeyb said: Sorry but I have to disagree with the subs part. If you are struggling to get a grip on the game you do not take off a midfielder for a striker....he could have done a lot better in the last 2 games on that front. If he outwitted Nuno then he certainly didn't outwit the opposition in the last 3 did he. I said after the Wolves game I was wrong about him because I had seen a proper team performance but the last 3 games just show that it was the exception to the rule. How many really good performances have we seen this season? probably 2 I'd argue that he didn't outwit Nuno really. We scored 2 scrambled set piece goals, and caught them on the counter twice. We played well don't get me wrong but Wolves giftwrapped us that win by defending terribly on the day, and fooled everyone into thinking we'd battered them and were going to stroll into the automatic places. As you say though, generally the performances have been piss poor all season despite scrambling results. Edited April 1, 2018 by MikeAVFC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 (edited) 24 minutes ago, terrytini said: Which of course also means we could just as easily sail through the play offs or mess them up completely !! This is the problem, depends on which Villa turn up. If the Villa we saw against Wolves turn up for 3 games, we turn everybody over. However we already know what happens if the Villa of the past 3 games, and in other patches throughout the season do. Edited April 1, 2018 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Farlz Posted April 1, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted April 1, 2018 This club just has to make everything so difficult 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 1 goal in 3 games at this crucial stage of the season is shocking. Throwing all the strikers on when it isn't working is just lazy and poor management. It's not something you hope to see from someone with this long in the game. Hopefully this is down to the players having trained hard to be in shape for the play off's rather than an elderly squad running out of steam and a manager without a clue. We should still have enough about us to make the play off, then it's just hope we have enough moments of individual brilliance in us to make it happen. Not feeling at all confident atm. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 6 hours ago, Demitri_C said: If we play like we have in last three games they will. But if we play like we did at wolves we are capable of tearin* them apart. i have no idea which villa would turn up that’s the problem The problem of course, Dem, is that the Wolves performance was something of a rarity. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntrimBlack Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 2 hours ago, sne said: 1 goal in 3 games at this crucial stage of the season is shocking. Throwing all the strikers on when it isn't working is just lazy and poor management. It's not something you hope to see from someone with this long in the game. Hopefully this is down to the players having trained hard to be in shape for the play off's rather than an elderly squad running out of steam and a manager without a clue. We should still have enough about us to make the play off, then it's just hope we have enough moments of individual brilliance in us to make it happen. Not feeling at all confident atm. It really looks like that on the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 6 hours ago, TRO said: I actually agree with that.....and i think that same mentality is affecting everything we do. Its hard to dismiss the manager in all of this, but whether his personal life has affected his work is just speculation on my behalf. As a sideshow its interesting how Pepe explained his 4-0 defeat at Everton last season...He said " He didn't have a clue"....I just kept working on what I believe. Its a bitter pill to swallow for us right now, and I don't see too many options, I don't see changing players as necessarily the answer, its a collective problem imo. A crunching tackle or an aggressive bit of play in the early minutes of the Hull game might have changed the whole mood.....where as from where i was watching it was all melancholy and broodiness. For me, it's the pain of maybe another season in the Championship. Inexplicable and unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 4 hours ago, sne said: 1 goal in 3 games at this crucial stage of the season is shocking. Throwing all the strikers on when it isn't working is just lazy and poor management. It's not something you hope to see from someone with this long in the game. Hopefully this is down to the players having trained hard to be in shape for the play off's rather than an elderly squad running out of steam and a manager without a clue. We should still have enough about us to make the play off, then it's just hope we have enough moments of individual brilliance in us to make it happen. Not feeling at all confident atm. What else do you do, throw defenders on ? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 4 hours ago, Farlz said: This club just has to make everything so difficult No one does self - pity like the Villa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 8 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said: What else do you do, throw defenders on ? Well we tried using Samba as a striker but that really didn't pan out now did it. Having a bunch of striker on the pitch but not having a supply line or creativity behind them is just leaving it to chance IMO I Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 3 minutes ago, sne said: Well we tried using Samba as a striker but that really didn't pan out now did it. Having a bunch of striker on the pitch but not having a supply line or creativity behind them is just leaving it to chance IMO I Didn’t samba score when he came on for us ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Just now, Eastie said: Didn’t samba score when he came on for us ? Perhaps he did. I know he scored, but I don't remember if it was the time he was deployed as striker? Might be the answer then... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted April 1, 2018 Share Posted April 1, 2018 Just now, sne said: Perhaps he did. I know he scored, but I don't remember if it was the time he was deployed as striker? Might be the answer then... Sheffield weds game when Bruce threw him forward towards the end 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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