Ratings & Reactions: Millwall v Villa

[DaveAV1]

It’s times like this I’m really going to miss the Steve Bruce thread. 

[westholmevillan]

Absolutely dire!  The new manager has  a hell of alot to do.......clueless!  Grealish needs benching!  Can't see us winning or even drawing when Chester's out!

[KJT123]

Today just underlined the mess that Bruce has left us in. The style of football, the players' desire, and a truly horrific defence.

I think we're deluded to think that a new manager is going to come in and have us playing good football in the space of a couple of weeks.

This season is already looking like a write-off. 

[Troglodyte]

[AVFCforever1991]

BruceIn 

[Junxs]

Must be the first match I've watched in my life where there were no ball boys, in an age where there's more money in football than ever Millwall cant afford to get some kids to collect the ball when it goes out of play.

That was the most interesting thing about this match.

[wilko154]

[pacbuddies]

Let's face it guys, we ain't going up this season are we. Our new owners should have sacked Bruce immediately and their dithering has cost us. Now we have wasted a quarter of a season and given other clubs a massive head start.

[ferguson1]

Another weekend ruined by utter shite. Second half was a disgrace.  Can’t remember a shot on target second half? Grealish needs to start finding some kind of form again, because we create very little for our strikers.  Bolasie needs to start games.   New manager has got a massive job to do in firstly installing some confidence back into the players. Then sorting the car crash of a back four out.  The squad is so disjointed.   Thanks Kmac for stepping in, but these players now need a big kick up the arse,starting next week.   

[MackHaakon]

Clueless going forward. Created nothing. Defence shaky as expected.

No leaders on the pitch. No emotion.

Bjarnason is not what we need as a holding midfielder. He does not do the defensive part well enough for me. Just occupies a position. 

 

And I blame MON for it all.

 

 

 

[Ponky]

Strange effort from the team. Very few players played with the attitude that the new manager might be watching and forming a view on who should be in the team.

Hourihane and Bree did themselves no harm and you could tell Jack was up for it but very little went right for us and in the end he resorted to trying to do it all himself.

Really looking forward to a new manager coming in and imprinting a game plan on this lot. Defence is rubbish - that's a given. But if we can get the midfield flowing and moving as a unit rather than just randomly doing things and hoping a teammate anticipates them - we could have a better than average chance of scoring more than we concede.

At the moment though it's just randomly flung turds up front and bloody groundhog day down the back.

[PompeyVillan]

Also golden boy Grealish is getting on my tits. He sulks and moans all game, every game.

He tries to do too much, he either makes pointless safe passes backwards or slows the play down so much that defenders have time to get back into position. He's actively stiffling our attacks.

I'd drop him. 

[jjaacckk91]

I know it wasn't great, but let's remember we just sacked almost the entire coaching team, and we don't have a senior centre back available.

I doubt they've done much of anything on the training pitch since. Just been sent out there and hope for the best.

No suprise we still look disjointed.

[OutByEaster?]

I genuinely think it might be worth waiting until late in December before bringing in the new bloke. The imbalance intros squad means it's currently unmanageable, that's Bruce's fault, but it can't be fixed on the pitch now. Unless we can get a couple of useful free agents in, we're not going to be able to win a lot of games or develop a pattern of play until January - we only have half a team.

Within that, it's clear that we have some very good attacking players, Abraham is a very good striker at this level, Grealish was a different class to most of the others on the park and Bolassie brings some real excitement. We know we have a couple of other forward thinking midfielders that are capable in those areas too - but until we get to build that on a solid foundation there's very little that can be done in terms of coaching to change what we are right now.

 

[foreveryoung]

Didn't expect much from this game and I got it right. No one on full form, don't agree with you #outbyeaster, no one was interested in playing for Kmac, yes we started well but no one tried there best to win the game. Admittedly defence is shite but with a good manager and coaching we can tighten it up, we have the fire power just need to get everyone fighting for the win again, an on the same page, which should happen with a big name manager an some positive vibes.

A good manager will know what to do up till the Jan window, an then maybe we can loan someone to cover the defensive problems then fight onto promotion. As long as we are not to far off by Christmas, we can still be in for a shout, but only because this season Championship quality is pretty poor.

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

“One of the best, if not, the best squads in the division” Villa fans. 

LOL

With players like Nyland, Bree, Taylor, Hutton, Jedinak, Elmo, Whelan, Hourihane, Adomah, Bjarnason, Lansbury, Grealish, Kodja and Hogan! They’re all either outright plain shite or far too inconsistent. 

 

 

[Ouchmefoot]

[OutByEaster?]

Bruce's sin - not putting together a squad fit for purpose, the most basic of basics - has not just resulted in his own perfectly justified demise, but left a mess that will doom his replacement to at least two months of failure. 

 

[Ouchmefoot]

It's gonna be a long and depressing international break...

[Vive_La_Villa]

The worst thing is our problems are far deeper than any manager. We ain’t getting promoted this year with this squad. I don’t care who’s in charge.