LakotaDakota Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Bruce seems to have got their defence sorted out, 7 clean sheets in 11 games & ony 6 goals conceded in total. Will not be easy and our record against them is pretty even since we have been in this league (they have 3 wins to our 2 from the 5 games). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 I would normally take a point on Saturday given our opponents current decent run of form. This is not however, a normal situation. We are on a magnificent winning run ourselves and we need to keep on winning to secure a place in the play offs. That would earn us a ticket to the end of season winner takes all promotion lottery and you have to be in it to win it! If we did manage to win each of our remaining 7 games, then only Derby, Bristol City and Boro could deny us a place in the top 6 by winning all of there own remaining games (or all but 1 in the case of Bristol City as they are our next visitors to Villa Park). On Tuesday night Boro play Bristol City, so only the winner or that game would be able to overtake us after that, or neither could if that game ends as a draw. Derby also still have to visit Bristol City, so that should see us end up in the top 6. Simples then? No, it will be very, very difficult to extend our winning run from 5 to 12 games and to end the season on 81 points. I think 75 or 76 points would be enough but there are 81 to go for, so why not aim higher? We won 4-2 at Hillsborough last season and have won on 4 of our last 5 visits there. Overall we have won 65 and have drawn 17 of the 133 league games that there have been between the two clubs. Wednesday have been outside of the top flight since 2000 and are currently 4 points behind us in 11th place. Both Big Ron and now Steve Bruce have managed both clubs. I'm sure Steve won't begrudge us a win on Saturday. It will be a tough game and a defeat would end the home team's slender play off hopes. Just win it for us Villa! 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) 3-0 villa, I think we'll have a great game to be honest. Edited April 1, 2019 by Rodders 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don_Simon Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 Same team again? Just don't see who you can drop given the current form of the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obanken Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 3 hours ago, LakotaDakota said: Bruce seems to have got their defence sorted out, 7 clean sheets in 11 games & ony 6 goals conceded in total. Will not be easy and our record against them is pretty even since we have been in this league (they have 3 wins to our 2 from the 5 games). Nottingham and Boro had a good defensive record before they met us as well, hopefully we will do some damage to Sheffield Wednesday as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TheStagMan Posted April 1, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) On 31/03/2019 at 18:34, alreadyexists said: I can see this being a frustrating one, Bruce knows exactly how to set up to nullify and break up our play, but I can’t seem them scoring so maybe we’ll nick it with a cheeky McGinn goal. Yes, but he is no longer our manager so he won't be allowed to do that any more. Edited April 1, 2019 by TheStagMan 2 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 (edited) Ordinarily you would think that a former manager would have a bit of an advantage over his former team as he knows the players, knows their strengths and weaknesses....... BUT We are such a different proposition in both personnel and playing style since Bruce's time here that none of that counts. Yes I'm sure he would love to win (as he still cannot accept he did anything wrong), but I don't think he has the tools to do so. It will be a tough game as he will set up his usual anti-football, which we will have to break down. The thing is, when we could not break down teams earlier in the season we were playing a totally different style. If a team tries to sit back against us now, we will batter them. Can you imagine the smugness if we did not win? The Bruce family/fan club/media will say what a terrible decision it was to get rid and how he has shown us that Smith is no better. Come on Deano... Six on the bounce please Edited April 1, 2019 by TheStagMan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Brumstopdogs Posted April 1, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted April 1, 2019 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted April 1, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted April 1, 2019 IF there is a football god we should hammer them. If history has taught us anything though, it's that there isn't a football god and ugly anti football quite often brings home all 3 points. I'd expect us to have nearly all of the ball and make them look like the away side at their place, if we don't score early though it'll get increasingly frustrating and we'll have to keep our wits about us not to concede on the counter. If we DO score early though we just might give them a pasting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 2 minutes ago, romavillan said: IF there is a football god we should hammer them. If history has taught us anything though, it's that there isn't a football god and ugly anti football quite often brings home all 3 points. I'd expect us to have nearly all of the ball and make them look like the away side at their place, if we don't score early though it'll get increasingly frustrating and we'll have to keep our wits about us not to concede on the counter. If we DO score early though we just might give them a pasting. When a teams manages 37% possession and 1 shot on goal away to Stoke. We should hopefully be way too good for them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted April 1, 2019 Share Posted April 1, 2019 8 hours ago, John said: Big Ron and now Steve Bruce have managed both clubs. Can't help but think we got the better deal out of that 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Love to be a fly on the wall when Bruce finds out Jedinak isn't in the starting XI despite spending all week devising a plan on how to breach the man mountain. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Interesting listening to WM phone in, apparently Steve Bruce tried to stop the extra allocation of away tickets for this game. It was Franks who said this not some random caller by the way. He must be dreading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BOF Posted April 2, 2019 Moderator Share Posted April 2, 2019 I'm calm about this one now. I was worried, but not any more. Firstly, if we're serious about going up then we need to be handling these types of game, and Steve Bruce couldn't handle Smith when he was here, so it'd be a surprise if he has learned how while he was lying on a beach. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 8 hours ago, Junxs said: Interesting listening to WM phone in, apparently Steve Bruce tried to stop the extra allocation of away tickets for this game. It was Franks who said this not some random caller by the way. He must be dreading it. I guess he is well aware of the boost that our away fans provide to the team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 It's set up for us to lose isn't it? It's a 'nicer' story for the media, ol' Brucie getting one over his former employer, that it would be against a Manager he's never been able to beat before whilst here too would make it ironic. All set up for a media feeding frenzy, of sorts, I fear. Hopefully it galvanises us to perform but expect a lot of their attacks to come down our left hand side I'd suggest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Fully expect my boy Bruce to receive a great ovation by our traveling fans. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robtaylor200 Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 Although nervous I can only see us winning this. Start on the front foot, have the game won by half time and then push for more. Send out a message to the other play off contenders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted April 2, 2019 Share Posted April 2, 2019 1 hour ago, villalad21 said: Fully expect my boy Bruce to receive a great ovation by our traveling fans. Prepare to be disappointed. Actually 2 years of practice.. you will be fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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