And I’ll bet I get this one right, one way or the other.
I’m being somewhat flippant, but the truth is I haven’t a clue as to how this one is going to go.
Bruce making a total bollocks of it against Peterborough leaves me wondering what the hell he thinks and the truth is I now have very little faith in him if he thought making 10 changes would see us through.
I still think the squad’s good enough, but you can’t make wholesale changes like that and expect much.
Yes, he’s probably concentrating on the league, but throwing games isn’t or shouldn’t be what the Villa are about.
At least, that’s not how I perceive us and us being in the second league has nothing to do with anything.
Even if we aren’t that good, we should be better than that.
Still, I’ll leave it there and you should by now, know my thoughts.
Tomorrow’s game then and we know it’ll be back to normal with the usual X1, because Bruce only changes it up if he has too, doesn’t he?
Which coincidentally are the only times he makes the right moves, it would seem.
The big question is will John Terry walk straight back in?
And my money says he definitely shouldn’t, given that he seemed nowhere near ready last week, by most accounts.
But I’d bet he will.
Because Bruce likes his favourites.
I could possibly rattle on about how Karanka is a more defensive-minded manager, who will try to tighten Forest up at the back.
But it doesn’t really matter, because as I’ve said previously, by Bruce’s own admission, he doesn’t “do” tactics and just relies on his players to find a way.
This is wearing thin with me, but I still trust that he somehow has the nous to get some kind of result.
I’m going for a 1-1.
But I suspect this won’t be enough in the fan’s eyes, after throwing the FA cup away so cheaply.
Every game is a must win when it comes to the Villa, but Bruce hasn’t helped himself in the slightest, in my opinion and will deserve everything he gets, should we lose this one.
I’m not at all convinced we’ll win this, but if we do, we’ll have passed a fair test, I reckon.
liverpool beats city
derby beats scum
bristrol city beats norwich
millwall beats preston
forest beats villa
this is my line, speculate to accumulate. wouldn’t rush down to the bookies. iam on a long losing streak this season lol.
the game against forest is a hard one to predict. we don’t know how forest will set up tactically. or if villa really have woken up from the coma. on paper we should win. but games in championship seem to be decided more on commitment and effort more than ability. them two qualities have been lacking from our games for many many years.
i really hope forest press us and go for our throats, in a blood and thunder game. where we need to show some real passion to compete. if we can come through a game like that, i will be happy and confident we will be in the promotion chase to the end.
Badger; pretty sure Terry’s injured and not available. In any case Elphick should keep his place – he’s earned it.
Hope Bruce starts with Hourihane and Grealish and only one of Jedinak / Whelan although I think I read that Jedinak is a doubt as well. My final thought on the team is that Onomah shouldn’t be anywhere near it.
The one thing Villa has shown real consistency with is injuries!
I think we all agree that the team that started against Bristol City should be starting today barring injuries of course. Hopefully Jedi will be fit. Is Hogan fit to play? Result wise I haven’t a clue although my gut feeling is a repeat of O’Neill when he rested his ‘winning’ team and it backfired so 2–1 to Forest. Hope i’m Wrong.
I think Hogan is fit but who knows; he’ll probably twist his ankle getting off the team bus knowing our luck with injuries!
The point I was making badly is I fear that Bruce will set us up not to lose rather to attack and win – and your point about games following cup farce sides is well made. Add to that how terrible we tend to be after International breaks (the first team not playing together in a competitive game for two weeks) and B6’s dream and I fear the worst!
Add to that it’s on Sky and the omens are against us ☹️
I dreamt it finished 2-2 with Adomah equalising via a penalty in the 88th minute and the daggers being firmly inserted into Bruce.
Prior to my dream I was going to predict 3-1 Villa and Bruce being the best manager we’ve ever had, bar none.
@ Nath, Portsmouth, Blackburn, Coventry and Port Vale.
UTV
cheers i will check ltrs. if you do good i will put yours on in future. lol 5 selections thou in future. yours look good. not odds on like i expected most ppl would say.
Don’t go hunting me down if you lose though! HA. 5 teams? Ok I don’t usually bet on other leagues other than the UK but for you Nath I’ll make an exception and go with Atletico Madrid @ evs to beat Eibar. 😉
Good Luck.
I don’t think even Bruce would be stupid enough to pull Chester out of today’s game, Chester to me is the only player that goes on the list every week, tough game today I’m on Badgers side a win, draw, or a loss, to be honest I don’t know,
Of cause I want a win its only common sense I love my club, but if its a draw I’d say oh well its a point and it still helps, B6 is correct some do like to moan and post when we don’t win, even Oohah stays stum lately.
Nailed on draw I think, Karanka is normally quite negative so i cant see it being a great game,
Having said that if Bruce dares to bring Whelan back, we’ll lose for sure as we aren’t good enough to carry a completely error ridden, useless and pointless player like him.
Hogan in, so is Hutton Terry And Whelan.
Here’s the team Johnstone, Elmohamady,Chester,Terry, Snodgrass,Hourihan, Adoma, Grealish, Hogan.
Got no chance today. Jedinek is a huge miss can’t believe he’s out again. That useless twat Onomah on bench Bruce bound to put him on. We will lose this can’t see anything but defeat
Oops Hutton.
Whelan. Forgot him.
Can’t believe Elphick has been dropped for Terry when he was struggling to get fit. Whelan is in so we are playing with 10 men and prone to the moment when he plays in a Forest striker. Feel slightly underwhelmed as usual. At least Terry has a recognised central defender along him which he didn’t against Posh.
Agree Terry is rusty. No Jedinek either to help defence. 2.0 to Forrest I’m afraid
I know that Dr Xia has called for unity. But SB surely tests our patience. Is the Jedi fit, or is the force against us? Whelan omg.
I need a glass of wine to get through this match.
Jedi is injured – come on guys bit of realism
Forest are poor. We should win this easily. I will be seriously pissed off if we screw this up.
If Forest have been watching Villa games they will know to press high and at a high tempo. Whelan can’t cope when this happens. Although Jedi isn’t a great passer and is equally slow he does offer a physical presence and wins majority of aerial balls. Onomah on the bench and Lansbury so Bruce can mix it up if we get overrun
Hogan has come if age at Villa- we’ll done. Great cross from Snodgrass.
Not Onomah ffs
Holte66, your right about Whelan struggling to keep up now, glad Bruce did the change.
Yes, Hogan from a great Snodgrass cross!
1-0
We’d offered absolutely nothing before that.
Jeez, hit the bar.
Forest do indeed seem poor at set pieces.
Effective, but tedious.
I feel a headline coming on.
Well organised and solid would be a fitting title!!
Spot on B6
Couldn’t put it better By.👍
A decent start but why do they persist with hoofball to Hogan. Saw him having a rant about it. Get it down and build it round Grealish
Started off well but could of done with the second. Forest have a goal in them. Since Terry hit Bar we have sat back and reverted to type giving the ball away. I think it will be 1.1 as can’t get going now going forward
You predicted 2-0 before the game and claim you’re never wrong!! 😉
Oohah what’s up with you, you keep looking for negative actions, think positive for once.
Not particularly impressive but effective – well organised typical Bruce I suppose. Would like to see more aggressive instinct second half.
Nice goal from Hogan – hope he now starts to ‘hit his straps’ because he really is an effective goal taker when his confidence is up.
Bjarnason = Forest victory
Hogan is quality. Give him service and he will score, he’s a very very intelligent player.
His movement for the goal was class.
Agreed Adam. The ball in from Snodgrass weren’t to bad either. 🙂
Nice speculative effort from Hogan there.
We’re looking the better side.
Adomah nets, but he’s off.
Nice work though.
Credit where credit is due. Bjarnason looked very comfortable in the role he played. I thought he looked very comfortable in a defensive midfield role. However, if he dies leave and it generates income for new purchases, so be it.
Well done Villa. A professional job tonight.
What a result I said we would win 1.0. 😄😄. Agnew making the difference on the front foot more now
That’ll do.
A Villa win 🙂
Bjarnason looked a lot more effective than Whelan when he came on and was it just coincidence that we looked a better side second half.
Very good professional win which is what thisague is about – well done the lads – now we have to keep this run of wins going.
UTV
Duh * this league
Impressive second half performance and Thor did well when he came on and Snodgrass deserved MOM award, best i’ve seen him play. Grealish has got us moving in the final third and defensively solid.
Well done lads. Good result in the end. We won away on Sky. Signs are good……. For now.
Top 4 now we can get in champions league 😄