Well that was an awesome listen that reminded me of some of our finest hours, I have to say.
I didn’t see the game, but it had pretty much everything about it and can I just mention, was backed up by some superb Villa support.
A ninetieth minute penalty and even Reading could have got one in the dying seconds. What more could you want, as long as you haven’t got an iffy ticker?
I’m elated, as you might gather!
But onto the serious stuff and Steve Bruce set up with what seemed a 4-5-1 and a deliberately negative setup that was designed to stop the opposition.
This is exactly why I wanted Bruce in. It’s because he knows what’s required. Does anyone think RDM would have nicked this game today?
Ah man, what to say?
We started with Cissokho, who many berate. And indeed he did his best to ruin things by flying in and giving another penalty away. I suspect he might have signed his death warrant.
I talked about us winning at any cost and it seems that’s what we did today, in parking the bus.
But the strange thing is we stifled Reading so much, that we actually had more shots than them.
How does that work?
It doesn’t matter to me at the minute.
I’ll analyse things later. Or more likely tomorrow; because I’m now going to have a major celebratory sup.
We won!
Away!
Please McGrath, let this be the turning point!
Yes, Yes, Yes!
It’s better than sex!!!!
(at my age 🙂 )
We won away??
Well blow me down with a feather duster.
Arise Sir Bruce of the Holte End!!
http://sportyhighlights.com/reading-vs-aston-villa-highlights/
Am I dreaming?
We won!
Away!
Yes, it is all a dream…
Just like in the Young Ones? 🙂
Jeez, I’m buzzing.
They ain’t getting much out of me at work tomorrow 🙂
While I am not getting carried away at all, 4 points from a possible 6 for Bruce means he has hit the ground running.
He knows what needs to be done, and he knows how to do it. Thats why I say we must stick with him now, whatever the results because with time he will get us playing to a system, he will bring in the players required, and he will turn things around.
3 points off relegation places, 6 points off the playoffs. Tight league, with fine margins, we had some luck tonight, but we gotta start making our own luck and killing off teams – with the strikers we have, no excuse not to be doing this and I think Brucie will get us scoring freely. A win on Saturday will be massive, and I have decided to go to possibly see the first back to back win since…god knows.
Again, not getting carried away, but 3 points against Fulham saturday would be massive and could prove to be a turning point.
UTV!
Of course you’re right to not get carried away.
It’s why I added the “maybe” in the headline.
But how often do we win?
And AWAY?
I’m getting it down me, as we speak. Just to make the most of it, if nothing else.
I think I ought to maybe predict a loss more often 🙂
Brief highlights here, which show both were pens, imo.
Nice cool pen from Ayew;
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10623051/reading-1-2-aston-villa
I thought Cissokho got a touch on the ball. Keeper was unlucky after making a good save. Thought we made better use of the channels at times and certain players looked a bit more with it. Time to knuckle down now lads. Should be creating more chance than we are. Not an easy league at all though.
yyyyeeeeesssss i cant believe we won its like christmas aaaaaagggh.
Just checked and we still won!
Fulham next and then the noses. No easy games for a while it seems. A win against Fulham (who can be great and then crap so let’s hope it’s the latter) and a point away against the old enemy and I’d be more than happy.
At least that now looks a possibility at least.
UTV
Blues will incredibly tough for us a point will be a great result there. They will be all over us bullying our midfiekd it’s whether we can hold on for first hour or so. If we do we might pinch a point. Fulham very tough as well but I’m going for a 2.1 win for us but will he very tight.
Fortunes have really changed these past two games – lucky to get a point this weekend and finally we pulled a win out of no where. It is hard not to get carried away but Villa definitately seem to be getting a new manager bounce. Long may it continue.
Side note, unlike RDM, I think SB had a good plan going into this game and made the right subs at the right time. I may not have wanted him at Villa it is hard not to like him right now.
Actually it’s hard not to like Steve Bruce full stop but I like him even more now. At last a manager who knows how to organise a team and get more out of the players and one not frightened to leave out the ‘stars’ when appropriate.
The Mail made a good point (and I paraphrase) – in response to Staam’s somewhat ludicrous comments they observed – ‘yes, to some extent Villa sat back and parked the bus to control the game but Bruce put £32.5m of talent on in the last 10 minutes and went ‘gung ho’ for the win’.
Football is about winning not just about playing pretty football and playing the ball square and backwards (and we should know!). Leicester won the Prem averaging less than 40% possession – I rest my case.
It’s what IV been saying for ages it’s all about winning ugly. Performance isn’t imp. We played some decent football under RDM at times but couldn’t win. Bruce is more street wise for this division and knows how to win games. I said at the start of the season we would finish mid table at best but for once I feel we have the right manager and we will be there or there abouts for top 6 now.
I can’t agree cause to be honest even given all the success he’s had I’d rather eat me own s**te than watch a Mourinho side, no mate as the late great Danny Blanchflower put it
“The great fallacy is that the game is first and last about winning. It is nothing of the kind. The game is about glory, it is about doing things in style and with a flourish, about going out and beating the other lot, not waiting for them to die of boredom.”
I know what you mean – you want to support a team that plays with style and which neutral fans would admire.
But football, and a few other things in life, will throw you a number of less than perfect or incomplete tools and you have to assemble them well enough to beat an opponent who has a similarly flawed toolkit. The task is to cover your weaknesses and play to your strengths. Bruce set the team up to do that.
We have considerable weaknesses which count against the free-flowing or even gung-ho approach to a game. 1/ our defenders are not that quick, Baker in particular won’t win a sprint from half way against a player who is level. 2/ Our midfielders are few in number and not able to do one man’s work so setting them up so the opponents have an extra man in midfield will fail. Our strength is: we have four players capable of playing as twin strikers, so if we play two up front as an isolated pair and get them to run their socks off, we can replace both with fresh legs and break down defences worn out by tracking the first pair. Until better players are bought this seems to me to be the best way to assemble and play.
Bruce is not everyone’s cup of tea but he is definitely the right man at the right time for us.
Nice to wake up with a win under our belt an away one at that, well done lads & especially stevie babe Utv VTID SOTC stevie bruces purple & blue army
Birmingham@mail.trinitymirror-news.co.uk
Hopefully the start of a new Villa,
Prat i AM
Birminghammail@email.trinitymirror-news.co.uk.
Don’t bother to look at link its registered to me only, it was about Yorke saying he never got the job because of colour, and Grealish being told by Bruce he’s a target and to be on his best behaviour. and Fulham here we come can’t wait.
If that’s Yorke’s view then he needs to get a dose of reality: has he actually ‘managed’ ANY professional football team ?
Maybe if he’d bothered working his way up through the leagues he could realistically contemplate a job at a club like Villa; but like too many ex-players he just seems to assume that having played at a very high level, under legendary managers, means that he can just walk into a top-flight management job.
With Cardiff and Preston both winning tonight (at the moment) then we are a long way from being ‘out of the woods’ – just 2 points off the bottom 3. We need to do something even rarer than an away win and that is win two games in succession by beating Fulham.
Then we play Blues and three wins on the trot is something akin to winning the lottery for Villa so I’m hoping a win and a draw which would relieve a lot of pressure.
Amazing stat from the Times: Villla’s average away support 3294 is higher than any Premier League team this season.
Bruce’s comments;
“I have to say that I’m just picking balls out of a hat.
I’ve only had four training sessions so it’s early days.”
So it’s as i suggested, in that Bruce is trying all the available options and having a look at how players perform in actual games, as opposed to the training ground.
There’s nothing wrong with that at all.
But it seems he got lucky by his own admission, if you take that literally.
Not that I’m bothered.
A lucky manager will win more than an unlucky manager.
But how refreshing is it for us to have a manager who tells the truth and actually says “BRING IT ON”?
What a change in attitude.
I love it.
(rubs hands)
A bit like Sherwood then.
(Only with some real experience…)
He also praised Gary Gardner for a ‘stand out performance’. Has his time finally arrived under Bruce? Would be like a new signing in a struggling mid field.
I’ve always liked Gardner Hitch , he started out with injuries but seems to have got over it, he’s more of a go getting than some players, and yes it would look as if its a new signing to us, and I think we have one or two more in the youth team that he could bring on.