Well, I listened to that and it sounded awful in the first half.
As I suggested in the preview, a lot revolved around how our midfield performed.
And when I saw that Mile Jedinak wasn’t going to start, I immediately worried that they wouldn’t be man enough.
I’m sure I wasn’t alone and surely now Steve Bruce knows that if we’re going to miss out on promotion, it’s going to be because of the midfield.
I know I might be being impatient, but I really expected players in already and am wondering why we haven’t done any business in this area yet?
I mean, surely we can negotiate before the window opens, like it seems we have done with Gestede and Johnstone?
Whatever, we need them in as soon as possible so they can integrate, before our promotion chances go totally down the pan.
And they’re already fading.
So what went wrong?
Well, Cardiff played just as we expected and roughed it up.
The treatment Jack Grealish got was an absolute disgrace, so bad that he was constantly being fouled off the ball.
There’s absolutely no room for that in the game and to my mind Warnock ought to be charged with bringing the game into disrepute.
The amazing thing is the officials either didn’t see it or simply weren’t interested.
Regardless, in the end it boiled down to the fact that Gardner and Westwood weren’t strong enough and Cardiff should have been 4-0 up at half time.
That’s disgraceful.
The pair were duly hauled off at half time to be replaced by Tshibola and Gabby.
You know you’re in trouble when you have to call on Gabby, but things actually improved in the second half.
McCormack hadn’t had a sniff in the first half as we couldn’t link to him.
For me, this problem isn’t going to change until we get at least another two midfielders in.
I know I keep going on about it, but we all know it and I refuse to believe Bruce doesn’t know it.
Tshibola didn’t sound brilliant but at least I heard his name mentioned a few times in the commentary.
How long can Bruce keep starting worse players over him?
The second half was much improved and we created several chances, but it just wasn’t enough.
There’s no other way in looking at this game as three points dropped.
Cardiff have been on a really poor run and we really should have been able to beat them.
I don’t think it quite means the end of our promotion hopes just yet, as there’s still a fair way to go.
But we need to improve, as our performances have been poor of late, even if we’ve scraped wins at times.
And that isn’t going to happen until we get some better players in.
Probably ruined my New year, that 🙁
Oh very true Badger, every person that’s a villa fan knows what’s the problems are, how is it that behind the locked doors they hide. Get your finger out Villa don’t waist the chance of having full house attendances by not going for promotion. Give us believe in aiming for top spot, stop playing midfield player’s that don’t know how to open up defender’s.
Bruce’s fault as soon as he took of Gardner and Westwood we improved. But he will still play them next game
Well, no “we go again” bollocks from Bruce;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villas-steve-bruce-stop-12396094
“Westwood and Gardner, had a combined nine touches of the ball.”
Disgraceful, This is midfielders we’re talking about!
How the hell can two mids have only 9 touches between them?
Yet still Bruce keeps playing them. I find it totally perplexing;
http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-transfers-incredible-stat-12395808#rlabs=3%20rt$sitewide%20p$4
Bruce is beginning to get headlines by ranting, it means nothing if you don’t listen to fans, you don’t see the obvious. how did we go to Cardiff with a weak midfield ?what does he see in training, is his coaches up his backside and don’t see player’s taking the piss. Wake up for God sake Villa.
To think we’ve just given Gardner a new contract.
Words fail me.
who gave it badger
who has control
14 for bruce
westood starts 7 we get 6 points
westwood benched 7 we get 19 points
we let rudi go today instead of tomorrow he would been ideal for warnock kick and tumble
Good question, JVillan.
I really don’t think it was Bruce who gave Gardner the contract and suspect it was Xia, because he’s “one of ours”.
Probably not the answer you want though, is it?
In fairness, there is a decent player in there somewhere, as he did really well at Forest.
We need to be asking where the problems are and it seems to me Westwood is consistently a weak link.
midfield should be priority last summer and needs at least 2in
bruce coming out and saying gabby was super scares me,no goals or assists in almost a year should be no where near first team
I agree.
But it seems he really was amongst the best today.
That scares me too.
But shows how badly we need better mids, who are willing to move forward and pass the bloody thing at pace.
I suspect RDM thought we were ok in the middle and I’m sure many would have agreed at the time.
I certainly thought Gardner would piss this league, for example, although i’ve always had my doubts about Westwood, as you might know.
I think the club as a whole, including us fans, didn’t realise how difficult this league is.
It’s worlds away from the Prem and the same sort of Prem players don’t necessarily work.
And why I think we’ve got a decent manager in Bruce.
I think we’re going to get some in, who we think are total crap, if not now, in the summer and it’s going to be eye opening in what we see as a lack of quality.
We’ve tried big signings in McCormack etc and mostly it isn’t working, imo.
But I’m convinced Bruce will bring the right sort in.
Put it this way.
If he doesn’t we’re in serious trouble. With a capital S.
It seems Tshibola had 47 touches.
Says a lot, that.
And if Bruce still picks Gardner and Westwood over him, that’ll be another notch down in my opinion of him.
Stop playing fannies or players who just aren’t doing it, Steve!
I want to see kids in against Spurs, but that’s for another day.
(Not that I think they’re any better).
bacuna is another should be dumped absolute useless
No, you’re wrong on that one, imo.
At least he tries and can be moved around to give us options.
if bruce had call to keep ayew and not play him,next time club want favour from some country another bad decision they are mounting up badger
Agreed again.
I still think there’s a deal in the offing.
But very poor decision to keep him and not play him, otherwise.
badger
ayew if moves should say,not let club take bad press for it
i had bit wrote for you read over xmas about bruce but laptop died and lost it hope can find it again
Make it half presentable and I’ll edit it and put it up mate, no worries.
Always welcome to views, even if I don’t agree 🙂
I remember a year or so ago that Gardner was being built up, along with Grealish as the young saviours of our club. Now whilst Grealish, in my opinion, has made a few strides forward and is justified with a place in the side, I simply cannot see what Gardner brings to the table. A squad player at best and wouldn’t be missed if he was sold. Going back to my comments about Grealish, I’ve said on other forums that he has to be the most overhyped player I’ve seen play in a Villa shirt in the last 25 years. Yes he is good and has potential but is nowhere near the standard that people have been raving about. All the talk a year or so ago about whether or not he would be eligible for England or Ireland. Well he’d better vastly improve or he wont be in the England first team for quite a few years yet.
Totally agreed, Steve.
But as I’ve just answered JVillan, why does Gardner suddenly look so poor?
Where are the driving runs and efforts that he made at Forest, when on loan?
The answer has to lie elsewhere and to me, without wanting to sound boring, it’s bloody Westwood!
(Switches to “pulling my hair out mode”)
He has to go, as he’s not even back-up, to my mind.
Bloody awful player, who drags the whole midfield down, imo.
gardner looks the same without westwood as for bacuna uneless he goes to fullback anywhere else is a waste of shirt
The definition of an Idiot is “somebody who keeps making the same errors hoping for a different result.” Sorry SB, but you meet that description over your midfield selections. You only had to read the fans opinions before you joined the club to know that Westwood is a flop and Gardner hasn’t shown anything more than merits a squad replacement place. Or are you one of the many managers who thinks fans are ‘know-nothing idiots’? Come to think of it we keep taking hundreds to away games hoping for different results, so maybe we are. However the collective wisdom of fans about players is always sound.
hooray common sense about bruce its not like media havent highlighted westwood gabby and co for 18 months now
It’s difficult to debate that one, OLL.
There’s no way on earth Bruce thinks Westwood is a better option than Tshibola, imo, for example.
So what’s going on?
I suspect the game is so opaque these days, with agents and players having so much power and agitating for moves, that we only know the half of it.
Maybe agents are playing behind the scenes but Westwood isn’t playing that game? (Who could get him a better deal?).
And Bruce likes that?
There’s been talk of commitment, after all.
Just a thought.
fox gave westwood 5year deal only 18 months gone badger
That was Fox!
Another good reason he’s gone.
It might have been him who promised Gardner a new deal too.
Who knows?
Bacuna , Grealish , Westwood & Gardner are not up to standard. There lies our problem . Personally I do not rate Grealish he is a big girls blouse should of been a ballydancer. It will take this and the next transfer window before Bruce gets a team to challenge for promotion .
maybe if grealish hadnt got 3 bigger girls blouse protecting him ,he could make things happen,the other3 wouldn tget games inmidfield at sundayleague football
Looking across all the posts it seems that we have now once again swung into doom and gloom mode.
For me I’m still looking for the 46 points or so that will more or less guarantee we stay in the Championship and we’re not that far off. Have we forgotten how low we were and how many of us here were predicting a straight drop into Div 1?
Well that’s not going to happen (I hope!) so once we get 46 points anything after that is a free hit. We won’t make top 2 but we might just make the top 6 but if we don’t and we’re not far off shouldn’t we still rate it as a successful season?
Still think that despite a few setbacks SB is doing okay in giving some belief to a team that had none at all.
A lot of us (me included) said it might take us two seasons but as long as we could see progress then that would be okay. Under SB we have undoubtedly seen progress so I’m relatively happy.
Still hoping we buy some mid-fielders though!
Pat57, I still believe in Bruce, but how have Newcastle marched on , we live in and around a big city, I thought we would at least have heard something from Villa on buying and moving players, think Badger hit the nail on the head about agents and contracts. I’m not fooled with Bruce having a rant after games what he’s going to do, bloody do it I say, stop ranting and move that negative player Westwood out the door. Take a look at gates how they have climbed, jobs back in the ground, away fans giving other clubs revenue they have never seen suddenly hitting them, don’t get us back to half empty grounds again Xia move us forward please.
Look – we all agree that the mid field is our major problem and as I recently posted RDM’s big error was not addressing it properly. Jedinak was a good acquisition for the defensive role but he didn’t buy any creative box to box players. Sorry, I don’t count Tshibola – 21 and only 12 games for Reading – one for the future or to play in a stronger mid field set up.
So if Bruce takes out all the mids slated on here – Westwood, Gardener, Bacuna and Grealish (who gets a lot of criticism) just who is he supposed to play? It’s not as if we have a string of players who are better – and please don’t say Andre Green. We need to get real – we have to get in two quality mids this window – Brady might be one.
Exactly what I’m saying, every game them same players are put into that midfield knowing that them same players are not good enough. Door is open now show us you aim to understand and get them out.stop annoying fans by playing them, change the game playing off the wings, stop sending backs up field and getting caught out, change the game.all our games are known to the opposition.
Bill – not defending Bruce because I think he’s made some mistakes but I suspect his rants are borne out of frustration. The team, as a whole, make too many mistakes and the decision making overall is poor.
We have to bring in two quality central mid field players and a GK – after that I’m not so fussed as overall as believe the team will perform better with these improvements.
Hope your missus is feeling better.
Agree we do need two midfielder and quickly, we’ve got to change our methods we are easy pickings to poor teams, hopefully some news will come soon, missus not so good Hitch be a few weeks I thinking. Fed up being on my own at night after 57 years.
Sorry to hear that Bill – hope she will soon be on the mend. Best wishes to you both
Its easy to say there’s still X amount of points available but Leeds, Huddersfield and Reading are already over 10 points clear and IMO all 3 will be too hard to catch as they are more consistent than us.
That leaves around 7 or 8 teams fighting for the last play off place. In order to get it we are going to have to put a run of at least 5 or 6 wins in a row at some point, possibly more. On the basis of our horrendously poor away form, id class that as very unrealistic.
Nevertheless, in Jan I think its essential we:
1) Sign an experienced GK
2) Replace Hutton at right back
3) Sign a new central midfielder
4) Bring in cover while Kodija and Ayew are away
@V1
As for consistency I note that every club in this league so far has has a good run and then blown up at some point. If we can put a run together then anything might be possible.
We’ve apparently enquired about Liverpool midfielder Kevin Stewart;
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/transfer-news/kevin-stewart-not-sale-liverpool-12398189
Article also says that Klopp wants to hang onto him.
Players I’d like to see come in are Brady and Snodgrass. They’ve both worked with SB before and are both positive mid-fielders who like to attack and are also good at set plays. Rumours (hopefully true) state that Brady is interested in a move to VP but not sure about Snodgrass.
Any news on Jenkinson? We need a RB whatever happens as well as someone else in attack, for me possibly either Rhodes or Hernandez might fit the bill.
If we could get these players in then I honestly think that we might be in with a chance of sixth place. Interesting to see who we get.
We’re still an option for Jenkinson, but it looks like he might be going to a Prem club.
West Ham again???
If so, you’d have to say they’d be favourites, being on his doorstep.
But it might come down to playing time, which would give us the edge;
http://www.footballinsider247.com/reliable-journalist-aston-villa-remain-option-england-international-face-pl-competition/
I’d think if Jenkinson joined us he’d be pretty well guaranteed to be playing every game.
Here’s hoping.
Oh, re Stewart.
It was more that it gives a clue what type we might be looking at, than anything.
Sky linking us to landsbury forest
That’d be a decent buy.
Out of contract in the summer, I think.
And talking about £2.5 mill iirc.
It certainly wouldn’t be much of a risk.
But he might prefer Derby, as I think they’re interested too.
Go get him – just the sort of attacking midfielder we desperately need.
Now which one of these stories is utter rubbish?
The link below, or Xia’s claim we turned down a £25 mill bid?
http://sportwitness.co.uk/first-offer-made-aston-villa-star-defender-said-studying-opportunity/
I’ve added a link at the top of the page that shows the league table.
Just as nothing’s as simple as it seems, you might not be able to see it though.
Feedback would be appreciated chaps 🙂
Can’t see it what table???
Giddy – there’s a link top right of page ‘Championship Table’ under ‘About the Author’ etc.
Nope still can’t see it
You won’t Giddy, unless you know how to change your settings and tbh, it probably isn’t worth the hassle.
You probably can’t see the list next to where it says “menu” (top of the page) either.
Shall I go to factory settings????
Hi Badger; link works OK as long as you agree to ‘show all content’ otherwise the page is not populated – something to do with security certificates which always leaves me completely nonplussed!
Yes, that’s the problem Hitch.
Basically the site it links too isn’t secure/encrypted, so many browsers automatically block it. Likewise, any other area of this site, even though the site itself IS encrypted.
Rest assured it’s only a problem if anything confidential is being passed.
Given that we’re posting on a public forum, it’s nothing to worry about.
I’ve mailed the site to see if they can secure it.
It’s handy because the only other option is to create my own table and update it after every game. I wouldn’t have the time to maintain it.
Cheers for the feedback chaps 🙂
I like the table Badger and being a bit of a dodo (why does predictive text want me to be a dildo 🙂 ) I routinely ignore all these ‘not secure content’ messages.
🙂
It’d only be a problem if you see the warning on a site that involves money or private info etc.
Sky sources say we’re preparing a bid of 3 mil for lansbury I hope this one materialises.