I didn’t watch the game for the usual reasons.
I did listen to a small part of the commentary before half-time, where I had to listen to Norwich scoring the first goal via a wonder-strike, though.
It sounded dire, with us being slow all round.
And just after that goal, there I had to leave it.
I was hesitant to say we played well against Reading, purely for this similar reason. Reading made us look good, but I don’t particularly think we were.
We’ve been poor for the last few games; it’s as simple as that.
And then I’ve read some of the debate on here, with both sides putting very good points of view.
And I can see both sides of the argument.
For what it’s worth, I totally agree that Steve Bruce has had a very torrid time of it lately, on a personal level.
I’m very much minded, although not totally convinced, to say that even if we don’t get promoted, he should remain as our manager next season.
I 100% subscribe to the fact that he has at least stabilised us as a club.
That’s something that’s not to be taken lightly.
But at the same time, I can understand the criticism of the manager.
He’s admitted himself that he’s made mistakes and that’s a trait I very much admire. I like to think I’m good at my job, but I know full well that I’m nowhere near perfect.
Yet I don’t get paid the sort of money top footy managers do. And that’s where we have to be a lot more critical.
Hence we have to ask questions.
At the end of the day, we were performing at least as expected just after Christmas, but now things have gone totally boobs up and we’re blowing it, just when it’s most important.
That’s not the sign of a manager performing at his best, whichever way you look at things.
We simply ain’t performing as a team, at the moment.
And that quite simply comes down to the manager, regardless of how much sympathy I have for him.
That said, I think we have the play-offs pretty much in the bag.
We’re not going to lose all of our remaining games, are we?
Or are we?
Have a look at this lot and tell me which ones you’re confident of winning, given that we can’t beat middling teams, with nothing to play for.
Damm.
I’m suddenly a bit worried.
Comments
28 responses to “Norwich 3 -1 Villa; Where does that leave us?”
Bloody hell, There’s only the Ipswich and Derby games, where I’d be half confident of getting a point, as it stands 🙁
We really need to get back in gear.
Although I have forecast Cardiff to win 2-0 on Tuesday, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we go out and beat them like we did against Wolves, simply because i’m finding the championship almost impossible to predict. In a way that’s what makes this league exciting, in that unlike the premier league, it doesn’t have a superior top 6. Wolves have been the stand out team, whilst Cardiff and Fulham have been excellent during the second half of the season. As for ourselves we have proved on our day we can beat anyone, but have lacked the consistency needed for automatic promotion.
By the same token, while we can beat anyone, so we can also lose to anyone, imo.
It’s certainly more exciting than the PL, but scary too.
And you would expect us to be big game players, in fairness.
At least it seems that way????
Weather we go up through the play-offs or are still in the championship next season, this should be Bruces last season as manager of Aston Villa.
He has made far too many mistakes during the season, tactics, in game management, team selection, subs bench, failure to bring the youth through, not to mention his 1980s style of football which fellow managers see right through.
Now this is championship managers…how do you think he would fair against premier managers? with less talented players. the fact their are rumours jake livermore has been linked to villa if we go up…SCARES the life out of me…as it suggests Bruce will be there if we do get promoted
Thank you for stabilising the club Mr Bruce but your time as Aston Villa manger is up
Think your article is excellent Badger with fair comment about Steve Bruce. I recently asked the question whether a manager can ‘lose form’ as well as players. It’s easy for us to overlook the personal challenges he’s had to deal with recently and it’s not surprising if it’s had an effect on his state of mind.
I realise that Bruce is not everyone’s choice but still believe that he’s the right option for us at present and whether promoted or not I wouldn’t advocate changing the manager unless there was someone else avaialable that had the right experience and pedigree to improve us as a club and a team bearing in mind that they will have to operate with very limited cash resources. Now is not the time to go back to the manager merry-go-round that contributed to so many of our problems
bloody hell if i posted that what hitch posted. i would be hung drawn and quartered. has nobody told hitch thats worse than mutiny. backing a manager whether its bruce or klopp (i randomly plucked these two managers from my head,in no way do i love any of them)
like players managers won’t come to villa under current affairs. also if they looked how the past managers where treated. only a mad man would take the job or a desperate soul who couldnt get a more easy cushy role elsewhere.
i am really upset jv never shared his footballing knowledge with the site. i really wanted to know the answer to why we lost in his warped world. perhaps sb forgot to tell johnstone to stop the pigskin sphere from crossing the goal line at all costs. so cause jonstone wasnt instructed he allowed them goals in
We need more pace out wide..why is Green not getting a game he was class before injury and finding his feet. and id try O’hare again for something different and maybe a bit of creativity. Also id bring Davis back on to the starting lineup hes on form for England and is better at holiding the ball.
i think green is injured. he returned from injury and suffered another not same as before. i could be wrong but he is injured.
the problem was out wide against norwich steve bruce told them to have a bad game. to not go past the defenders and keep losing the ball or just past it back and slowly pass it to the other side.
norwich where themselves poor up to their first goal. the game was poor to be fair. but after goal it allowed them to be even more conservative. they allowed villa space in front of them, gave them space to try to pass wide, but then slammed the door shut. and both wide boys had a mare. they couldnt beat the full backs who always had help.
they had pace to burn out wide themselves norwich, our full backs also had a mare. norwich allowed villa to play side to side and always in front of them. but once we tried to get behind, they got aggressive meaning they then broke on us.
starting the game slow we were always in neutral. their goal woke them up and we remained in neutral. once we subbed the wide boys we started to get behind them, but we were too open to the counter. the end
Nath, thanks for the support – well I think that’s what it was LOL (forgotten how to do a smiley face)
I don’t profess to be knowledgeable about football, I just enjoy watching it – well some of the time! It did seem to me that over the last two or three games (Reading excluded) teams have realised that you limit our creative play by quickly closing down Adomah and Snodgrass. Could we not utilise Grabben and Hogan’s ability to run the channels more effectively?
i agree teams have worked us out and have worked how to stop us, also how to get at us defensively. i know i come across as know it all. its only my views and i don’t pretend to know it all, i have some experience of the game as we all have. my mates see games differently to me and they also know the game.
adam was right we lacked pace in the wide areas, which but norwich knew how to stop them. they enticed villa to play the ball wide giving them space to do so. they they shut that door like a trap. thats why we kept on playing slow in front of norwich and why they allowed us too. in the ran out of ideas how to get in behind them
Hes not injured though anymore. Played 45 minutes in reserve game like Kodjia did and then avfc have tweeted him in full training on the 28th March. Maybe he just lacks match fitness but we really need his ability to up our overall attacking intent. Get the win tonight, if things go our way results wise..we have a bit of room to experiment in personnel for Leeds.
but my biggest worry is our players have fallen into giving not 100% to me i see laziness creeping into their game. movement or lack of it fall out of taking the next game to lightly. i think villa might beat cardiff because they will give their all.
games we are losing are too teams that are not worthy of our 100% attention. that is my opinions, i based this on watching them play and they can press and move at a good tempo against the better teams. but when they play within themselves the movement drops as does the pressing and we come a cropper.
we are not a bad team if they can keep their focus just my opinions
Said that months ago, managers have worked our team out, If you ask me, we don’t know about them, we haven’t the footballers that understand tactics in football, I have to be honest ,I don’t think we will win tonight , might scrap a draw, I’m so angry in side over how we let the fans and club down being so close to getting second spot .I have 70+ years following Villa and want so bad to see them back in the premier league giving us something to shout about. I have now resigned to the fact I never will .
I may sound defeatist but the reality (IMO) is that we currently don’t look like a promotion winning side. The win against Wolves was proof that we could compete at the top of the division, but there are so many other examples where we look pretty average or worse.
Me and Nath have different views on why this is the case. I lay the blame at the manager, and he blames the players. The managers job is a really tough one. You take loads of abuse when things go wrong, and you are trying to get a group of overpaid, pampered (often) idiots to perform week in week out. Sooner or later you get sacked, unless you resign at a high point.
It takes a particular combination of talents to be successful, even for a period of a few seasons. Players will chat to each other, and discuss what they don’t like (or in some cases do like) about the manager or coaches. Players left out of the team may be disruptive, and friendships can cause cliques within the dressing room. How do you get all these egos pulling in the same direction?
I’ve nothing against Bruce, who I think is a genuinely nice bloke. I couldn’t care less that he he managed Blues – in fact it would make it all the more pleasurable if he got us promoted because of that connection. He has improved us a lot in terms of stability and our standing. Like I’ve said time and again on here, it’s not enough.
Don’t laugh but suppose Jurgen Klopp was managing this side. Would we be in this position? I watch Liverpool, and they play with passion and attacking intent. OK they have real quality players, but they press and work their socks off, and look to attack with intent at all times, even against top quality opposition. The thing is, I can imagine how great it must feel to work under such a manager. I don’t see Bruce giving us this. Before anybody points it out, no I don’t think Klopp is or ever was a possibility as manager of Villa.
It’s a high bar, granted, but even someone less known like Wagner would have been a big step up.
Bruce could still prove me wrong, but when I stop letting my heart rule my head I just can’t see it. If we fail to get promoted I won’t be in the least surprised. Bruce might go, or keep his job and get us promoted next season. I wouldn’t put money on it though, and his job is going to be a lot tougher next season, whether we go up or stay in the Championship.
Funny what you say about looking like a promotion winning side. How many teams have stormed their way up to the Premiership over the last 20 years, only to struggle when they’re there. Conversely, sides that have just scraped promotion have done well. Funny old game innit!
Looking forward to tonight’s fireworks though!!!
Fair point BB. I don’t care if we fumble our way through to the play off final and score courtesy of a Keystone Cops comedy goal to get promoted.
Just read your earlier comment Nath where you mentioned Klopp. That isn’t why I mentioned him. His name just popped into my head as a perfect example of what I think we are missing.
Regardless of what happens it would be ludicrous for the board to keep Bruce on… its a lose-lose situation.
If we fail in the play offs as I expect – he has to go, having not achieved his goal for the season. You don’t get the budget Bruce got at this level and get away with anything less than promotion.
If we go up however there isn’t a prayer that Bruce is anywhere near good enough for the PL anymore. We’d be looking at 20th place and a relegation again.
My concern has always been we lose in the play offs and board say, go on we’ll give you another season Steve, because we’ll be in the same shit situation next year, probably worse as we’ll have to sell and reduce the wage bill because of the FFP gamble we’ve taken.
Nobody IMO should be under more pressure in the play offs than Bruce, he and the board gambled the future of the club on this season. Now they need to deliver and not bottle it. If they do, the manager and the board have to go
Fair enough V1 but I do take issue with your statement ‘the budget Bruce got at this level etc.’ The fact is Bruce inherited a load of duff overpaid players who Dr T (and his predecessors) paid far too much money for (Tshibola, McCormack, Golini anyone?) I think you will find his net spend in three transfer windows is £2.5m which is probably lower than most other Championship clubs. At the same time he’s reduced the wage bill and operated shrewdly in the loan market.
IF we get promoted then there will clearly be more cash available and there is no doubt a debate to be had about whether Bruce is the right manager or not. If we don’t get promoted and there is no cash I’m not clear where our options lie.
This is not meant to be a general defence of Bruce but your arguement that he should be sacked because of inter alia money spent in the transfer market just doesn’t stack up (IMHO).
You make a good point Hitch that Bruce has had to tighten the FFP belt over the last couple of windows. We Villa fans are not known for our patience, but from last season to this season there has been progression. Promotion this season looks like a lottery now, but I think with the likes of Green, Hepburn Murphy and O’Hare we have promise that next season the team can improve. We might need to replace the likes of Hutton, Terry, Snodgrass and Johnstone. Even Grealish and Chester might want to move to premier league, but I don’t think we need to sell them unless someone offered huge money for them. I think we are lacking speed and movement in our team, which players like Green etc can bring. If we fail to get promoted I would still want Bruce to stay, in the hope he can maintain the progress made, which would surely mean automatic promotion. Having said that, he cannot start next season the same way as this season. As for tonight I haven’t a clue what to predict. I will guess 2-0 to Cardiff and hope to be wrong.
lots of good views posted and finally we are being tolerant of other views whether we agree or not. i have to agree with hitch bruce has brought harmony to our squad under great restraints. whilst i do place more blame to the players for recent lack of form. i also agree steve bruce will struggle in premiership.
i also find the klopp hypothetically managing villa point very enticing. i followed his career from afar. at Borussia Dortmund he brought through lots of young hungry players and they played like pool now. high pressing well organised with and without the ball. he has done the same to pool now and they play even better. but could we get a KLOPP not a chance. i understand you mean a new klopp. that will take some searching and identifying from round. then we have to beat the rest to him.
i want us to get promoted that will mean we attract better players and better managers. nobody who is top of his game manager or player wants to play championship. except neves lol yes we are going to struggle but going up means more choices.
finally i believe we will stand a good chance in playoffs. no doubt we have good players, not good enough to win the league. they lacked the consistency over a long season. but over three games against anybody in championship i would put my money on us. they must start to play soon thou form is not easy to find when you are out of it
anybody like to hazard a guess on the formation. ?? tonight. no terry he received a knock against norwich played through it but looks like it might have been wrong decision too.
Jedinak will replace Terry and Tuanzebe will replace Taylor I’m guessing?
Jedi, in for Terry Grabban leading the line no Tayor, Axel Tenzenby… happy days.
it does look like straight swap of personnel. but it could be 3 at back with thor left wing back elmo right wing back axel chester jedi the three at the back
right time to put my bollocks on the line. we are gonna win tonight. 3 nil
thor has pulled up in warming up
fulham fans will be all supporting villa tonight. don’t worry we won’t let you down NOT we always let ourselves down so letting fulham down won’t bother us
New post Nath 😉