I’ve decided to try and keep this post a little bit calmer (it’s still early over here, so I haven’t drunk too much yet, lol).
The first obvious thing to think about is how we lined up from the off.
I think Bree being injured caused a problem, in that his loss would have left a proper 3-5-2 somewhat unbalanced.
Well, that’s my thinking anyway, as it’s the only reason I can think of us starting with five defenders.
Regardless, I called for a threatening, aggressive line-up and it’s quite simply not what we got.
Why we pay so much respect to the likes of Ipswich is beyond me and I’ve spoken before about going down trying as opposed to being canny and still losing.
But then, if you look at the stats, I believe Ipswich only had one shot on target and scored.
So maybe Steve Bruce is totally correct in not being able to trust the defence?
In Bruce’s defence, he did eventually realise that we needed to be more ambitious and he put Adomah and Green on, yet still retained the same setup.
While you can’t say that’s negative, maybe it would have been a better setup from the off?
But then, the commentator’s comments intrigued me.
We were comfortable in the first half and should have gone in a goal or two to the good.
Yet we began the second half poorly. Again.
What the hell gets said to the players at half time? I’d love to know, because it clearly isn’t working.
And what are the opposition managers saying?
I suspect it’s along the lines of “don’t worry lads, you’ve got these; they’re going to bottle it”. And it would seem correct.
Tony Morley said he can’t work it out and asked if it’s the pressure from the fans, the club or whatever. I suspect it’s all of them myself.
Either way, we came out rubbish, not being able to hold the ball or pass. The usual.
And when we did start to play, we couldn’t get telling balls into the box.
Ultimately, it’s only the result that matters and we didn’t get it.
To lose our unbeaten home record, especially with what Morley called a “whimper” to Ipswich is frankly not good enough.
And when you consider we haven’t won in eight games, it’s beginning to get very worrying.
Because the question is if you can’t get a result at home to Ipswich, who are you going to get one against?
Morley said he feels sorry for Bruce and I partly agree with it.
But he’s done himself no favours whatsoever lately and it would be totally understandable if the fans turn on him, which they’re going too.
Me, I side with Morley, in that the side needs to gel.
But I know many of you won’t see it like that and comments on Villa threads everywhere are going to be interesting this weekend.
I just don’t see how changing the manager again is going to achieve anything.
But Bruce needs to start getting results.
Fast.
I think the headline says it all.
Incredibly disappointed 🙁
Awful result Badger the club is at least as bad as it was before Bruce and I’d argue even worse
compare results like for like
ipsich 01 00
forest 22 12
brford 11 03
rdm 3 draws
bruce 3 loses great stuff from promotion king
I’ve give up blaming anybody now because no matter what we do, no matter what we try, nothing seems to work. After the dross of the last 5 years, I actually embraced relegation and looked forward to enjoying games again. How wrong I was. I will always love Aston Villa but I cannot remember being so apathetic about them. After the latest transfer window ended, I began to look forward to the games again even considered going again this month. Well all that has been blown out of the water over the last 11 days. All this talk about formations and managerial changes ( again ) means nothing. So why bother worrying about it anymore. Life’s just too short.
Spot on I just don’t care anymore now. The club is in serious decline and has been for years. I don’t no what the answer is but could be at least ten years before we go up even longer.
bruce couldnt find his own arse with both hands ,absolute garbage manager and been shown up now how bad he is
swansea fans could believe we wanted tatlor, we start with 5 defenders hutton 3 asissts in 108 matches never a wing back, amavi looks part as wing back but bruce prefers birr a right footer playing left wing back last week
spud out and his band of merry men calderwood how many wins since he was appointed,
JV…..Hutton was chosen to play WB. He seems to be a honest guy so if you asked him he would admit he is not good going forward…..you have a very unhealthy obsession where Hutton is concerned!
Are you related to oohah?
langford
just because he didnt cause havoc at the clubs,doesnt mean he is any good ,the stats where online all week about hutton,only one missing how many goals he was at fault for,but again it highlights bruce shortcomings which are every where you look,and he is like playing with 10 men, so you think bruce is doing a good job and deserves to stay
Who do you think we should have as manager JV?
Paul Lambert? 🙂
I recall both of us saying he’d be a decent manager given the right backing.
Where did I say Hutton was good going forward?
bruce played him wing back enough said about spud
Exactly…so your entitled to have a go at Bruce in this case but NOT Hutton who is simply playing where he has been told to play!
Most on here, at the beginning of the season, didn’t expect promotion at the first attempt and were happy enough for us to get some stability.
Tekkers mentioned on a previous thread that from now until the end of the season it’s a training exercise. In my opinion he is spot on.
If there was ever a time to be messing about and trying different formations, systems and tactics etc etc then this is it.
Getting rid of another manager would be stupid.
A lot of change was needed at the club and a lot of change has happened. To expect it all to click together within 6 months is laughable.
I never expected or even wanted us to get promoted this season because if we had of done, we’d no doubt of set a new lowest points record for the Premiership.
We will improve and we will challenge next season. Bruce WILL get it right.
IN BRUCE I TRUST
B6…. Your 100% correct. I said exactly the same yesterday. But 5-3-2 wont work with these players. I also trust Bruce. But he should abandon that system whilst we havent got the players to use it effectively!
Nath, in reponse to your comment on the previous thread.
You’re right. It isn’t the system.
But you need the right players for it.
And Hutton and Taylor are simply not WBs. They are defensively better than attacking.
That’s why you have to class it as a 5-3-2.
you are correct and i havent said otherwise. but the 532 ppl quoting is as wrong as 3 5 2 we are all arguing nothing. we lost and thats were the focus should be,
ooohahaha posted and b6 as well further up i totally again with their posts. we are in serious descent , tail spinning out of control. momentum is everything. losing to ipswich was predictable everyone knew deep down. ipswich would be tight for the hour and then pounce. shit its their game plan. but we cant score thats the problem not the system.##
full back or wingbacks we have what we have. adomah and green could play these roles. bree was injured shit happens. bruce is nobodies fool he wouldnt want a draw or lose at home. 5 defenders was not his game plan. ppl should get over the formation. worry about us getting another goal. alarming defeat but were will this end division 1 is where unless our new players gel sooner rather than laters
The solution is simple…..pick a system, any system except 5-3-2 that is. Stick with it, attack from the off and we will see off most teams in this division. I am convinced of that. Stick with Bruce and we will piss this league next season!
My only thought is we have purchased a number of merceneries, rather than players who will play for the badge and the team and that’s what you get when the only incentive the club offer is higher wages… The club is in a real mess and anyone who thinks we wont be in a relegation fight at the end of the season, is as mad as a box of frogs !!
Was hoping for a bit of a game today but I should have known better and looked at our recent form…. Its just so boring now !!
Now here’s a thing, Harry Rednap made a comment about player’s, Harry would you like to be in management again?, answered, No players are not talking to managers anymore, they only speak to their agents and agents talk to owner’s, what happened to our game now if a player has a problem with a game?. Could this be the reason if a player doesn’t agree with what a manager wants.the game gone mad.
There is something in that Bill. We can see it in other occupations, and attitudes of the generation in question. From nursery age onward, the current generation of 18-26 years old went to schools where competition among classmates was minimised. The ‘everyone gets a prize’ idea. Team games were also reduced or abandoned, no point if the previous sentence is true.
Fortunately about 10 years ago, outside the school environment, there was a growing of junior team sport participation. While I don’t agree with all the initiatives: for example, I think small sized football pitches are used far too long and we will end with players with great close control but unable to sprint up a full size pitch and back; the competitive element is present again. When the social media craze is binned by the next wave we can expect better sportsmen. Twitter has never made a profit in its history and may be the first big platform to go bust.
BTW….we havent lost at home this season when any of these much maligned players have been in the squad!
Bunn
Gollini
Richards
Gabby
Grealish
Amavi
Westwood
Just saying 🙂
It is the system and the manager. You cant go 5 at the back with 5 defenders! 2 have to be attacking. So 1. Yes it was the system as it didnt suit are players and 2. The manager decided on those players and that formation so its his fault too. I may have been too hasty saying bruce out but he is really getting on my nerves now. 5 defeats and 1 draw doesnt really tell me Bruce is learning from his errors
Absolutely shocking. You have to wonder whether the Dr has got the wrong man again. The tactics and team selection is so off its not even funny. This 5-3-2 nonsense needs to stop. We only have 3 proper centre backs in the squad and none of them are particularly great on the ball.
I am so sick of hearing that we need to lower our expectations! What the fuck should our expectations be? We’re 16th in the championship with a squad more costly than a lot of premier league teams and with better attendances both home and away.
I think the expectations this season of being at least in the hunt for a play off place are the very minimum for a club this size.
I predicted this when Bruce was appointed…. a dinosaur of a manager whose non existant tactical ability will soon be extinct in the game.
Problem is Bruce has a lot of pals in the media that make him seem like a good manager…. he’s not, simple as. He can’t deal with expectation and pressure and his time at Sunderland is a perfect reflection of that.
We know we’ve signed good quality players at this level but we have neglected the most important factor…. a good quality manager to go with them. The club should have moved earth to get David Wagner in when Di Matteo was sacked. But the club took the wrong option again and the results since reflect it.
Hopefully Tony and the board don’t string this out too long and get a proper manager in for the start of next season. Otherwise its more of the same dire garbage to come
villain 1
don t write sensibles posts on here, this is bruces[spud ] love site badger moans abuot bruce in one line then its back him in next what a joke
I don’t think our pro-Bruce, anyone who wants him out is an idiot, fan base quite understands where we are right now. We just lost to one of the worst attacking sides at home, with the most pathetic defensive team I’ve seen at Villa. This is even more pathetic than McLeish’s. But we’re 7 points above Blackburn who sit 22nd. 5 of our 8 losses in this pathetic run were all below us before they beat us. Brentford, Cardiff, and Ipswich are now ahead of us and Forest and Wolves could be ahead of us soon. We’re in fire straights losing to god awful teams below us. We have the 3rd worst attack, scoring 1 more than the bottom two teams in probably the most expensive attack in 2nd division history. Yet we’re the stupid ones that want Bruce out? Really…
Andrew, it’s not necessarily stupid wanting Bruce out. But it is stupid wanting him out so soon.
Let’s say we go with one of your foreign young bucks and he fails to make an immediate impact.
What then?
Sack him after a few months too?
Madness, imo.
It’s been said before. It seems you could hire Jose and it still wouldn’t work.
But then we can say we at least tried, no? Tell me, what is different about Bruce to Lambert, McLeish and RDM? He’s defensive, he bashes the players and takes no responsibility in any of his post match comments. We consistently have the worst attacking team and despite being so defensive we are more than likely to not keep a clean sheet, ever, we just usually never concede more than 1-2 a game which is why we have one of the better defenses. So what could it actually hurt going for someone with a different idea to the defensive, out of date British game? Someone like Marco Silva of Hull? It’s not like Bruce has at all shown he knows how to turn this around. Because he clearly doesn’t. He’s proving it every game he has no idea what to do. And we’re 7 points above Blackburn, 7. This is the time to get rid of him. Only if to get someone who has a honeymoon period for 8 games in which we get results and stay up. Because under Bruce, that doesn’t even look likely now, does it? Seeing we can’t even beat teams below us, how do we expect to get results against the better sides?
You can’t tell me, Ive said exactly the same myself in the post.
“At least we’ll have tried”.
Well maybe the young foreign buck is the route we’ll try next.
After we’ve tried with Bruce.
Certainly I don’t think Xia will be in any rush to sack him.
I’m not saying they have to be young either. I don’t care if we go for another Houllier type signing, but someone, anyone, with an idea that’s not park the bus and hope counter attacking will work, while we get over run in midfield somehow and end up losing again.
The sad thing is if you put the 11 that played for us yesterday in the Ipswich team we would all say on paper they’ve got a good team. I think Jedinek is a huge loss at the moment and we need to add a similar type player for next season fir squad depth.
Agreed Oohah – it’s no coincidence that this bad run coincides with Jedinak being missing and you’re right we don’t have any identifiable replacement. He’s 32 so along with a GK a defensive mid must be a priority in the summer.
The problem is, I don’t think sacking Bruce now is a good idea, a manager that even though, has failed at premier league level, has a great record of promotion from the championship and on paper, should be doing the business, the problem for me is that we have to give him a chance, but by doing so could end up in relegation yet again, stick or twist, it’s a complete risk.
The honeymoon period is over and losing 7 out of 8 games is dangerous and most managers would be expecting either the boot or a vote of confidence, and it’s hard to pin point the problem, is it tactics or a losing mentality, as on paper, we have a title winning team, I’m lost for words as I really didn’t expect to lose today, we are royally fucked which ever way you look at it.
A good record in the Championship of taking two teams up and then relegating them again. He doesn’t create stable teams. Because that’s not stability. What Dyche has done is created stability. Isn’t it funny that every player that’s been made a scapegoat at Villa is playing in the top flight of one of the top 5 leagues? Veretout at Saint Etienne, Sanchez at Fiorentina, Gil at Deportivo, Tonev at Crotone, Westwood at Burnley, Lowton at Burnley, Gestede at Boro. Clearly managers think they’re talented, or they would be playing in the Championship. But yet we don’t have a manager who knew how to use any of them.
When I saw us playing 5 at the back again, at home, to a Mick McCarthy side, I knew we were going to lose. It’s an embarrassment to even think of that side, let alone putting it out there. The tactics are a huge reason we’re failing. I know Bruce thinks he’s smart because Conte can do it and Pep has done it as well, and no one else in the Championship does. But they also don’t tell them to act like scared, petulant children against adults and just kick the ball up and hope one of the strikers can do something.
andrew
never wanted bruce, and not surprised how its went, 5 defenders at home to ipswich that haddent won in 5, since leeds match we lost 2 0 its has been getting worse by the match,a few 1goal wins over qpr burton and wigan gave spud lovers ammo, but leeds 2 matches norwich and since 2017 came in a total shambles cardif wolves [the shame losing to lambert] brentford forest spurs in cup[631 new formation that wycombe scored 3 v spurs]
bruce habit slagging players in public gollina too young inexperienced yet replaced him with johnson who is giving enklemen a run for worst ever villa keeper, gollina contract allowed him an italian speaking coach, grealish gets kicked all over pitch by cardiff and yet bruce comment is stop waving his arms in the air[dont ever mind fergie defend his players like that] then ross and gate storm ,if gabby was getting picked ahead of any player its a joke ross has more goals for forest in first appearance that gabby for a yearyet bruce is defended on here for playing gabby
we have the players just need a decent manager not a nearly extinct breed, one like wagner ,silva of hull shows what a good manager can achieve with some bruce players
I’ve just read that we’ve kept one clean sheet in the last 17 games
That’s horrendous.
Havent posted on here much of late cos all i seem to do is moan and i thought i would get that reputation from you all ,but how can i not moan when i have seen nothing but tripe for years
I love villa so much but we are so shit ,players come to our club but like a curse end up being shit .
Ross mcormac scores goals galore for years comes to villa and ends up shit Ronaldo could come here and end up the same way,
By the way Brian Bainbridge is former Little8
Welcome back mate 🙂
Welcome back 😄👍
sacking another manager will achieve nothing in my opinion, just will seal our fate quicker. their are many tactics / formations. all need work to perfect. its not like championship manager cherry pick top performers from other teams. get them to gel in switch of a light switch. that would be too easy. iam sure things like this take time ~ players will need time to adjust. big fishes in small ponds might not be big fishes in larger ponds might get stage fright.
i believe the problem at villa is mental. players are mostly new so shouldnt have our baggage but the losing aura must stink the dressing rooms or training pitches.
ipwich came to villa knowing, they will get a chance maybe one clear chance. all they had to do was frustrate the fans and villa team for a hour. then belief will drain out of the villa players. they played a classic hit and run game plan, hardly attacking display but nevertheless good three points against a superior team and players. before anybody points out his tactics worked, they also have settled team and formation tactics etc
Pre season Ian Holloway said that the biggest challenge at Villa was turning round a losing mentality following the horrendous relegation season and predicted that we would finish 16th. He got a lot of criticism – seems he knew more about the realities of football than we gave him credit.
Make no mistake we are now in a relegation fight and now is not the time to start making even more management changes as the reality is the type of manager that posters on here want are just not available at this point in the season. What we need to do as fans is get behind the club as a whole otherwise we are just adding to the problem. Time to reflect and make changes is in the summer.
i was one who gave him shit for that comment and i aint afraid to admit this. see i care loads about villa and i make decisions with my heart concerning villa, thats why i mostly don’t back them with money on coupon. hollyways is more qualified to voice his opinions than me, also his opinions on villa were not made with his heart.. i still think hes a nob, but thats my personal view on anybody against us.
Nath, like you I was openly critical of Holloway and I don’t like the guy. My point is that there are still major problems within the club and he was right in identifying that the solution would take more time than any of us was willing to admit. Like you, I suspect, I get over the last match and look forward to the next being the start of our revival ….
thats the only thing we can do. no point panicking as fans and influencing the club to sacking of another manager. where will that lead us ?? theres no guarantee a new manager will be able to gel these players quicker.
i believe we have enough quality in this squad, to not be in any trouble of another relegation. but the players really need to start scoring goals. that’s the only way we are going to be safe.
we had enough chances to beat ipswich, for some good defending good goalkeeping and thickness of the bar we might have. we have to keep believing . runs are easier to keep going its far harder to break the bad runs.
I’ll be glad when this seasons over hopefully unscathed, instead of looking up now I’m looking the other way. Barnsley Tuesday not a prayer I’m well fucked off
We looked great against Brighton and we had something to build on. Calderwood came in and since then we have been shit.
Can’t just be a coincidence – can it?
The Brighton game is literally the only game of the Bruce era that we put in a decent performance and even that was only for one half.
We need to stop deflecting the blame away from Bruce…. it lies solely at his door. As I said previously, a dinosaur in todays game, tactically inept, inflexible and the club once again has bottled making a young progressive appointment. Some things never change