After the Bristol City game I said that things weren’t good enough and got crucified by some for it.
I didn’t see or even hear any of today’s game, so can’t comment.
All I do know is that Johnstone made at least two world-class saves, we had one shot on target and Brentford (who apparently hadn’t kept a clean sheet in 14 away games) were the better side. We never fail to end other teams’ poor runs, it would seem.
I wonder what Tony Xia thinks of today’s result?
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— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) September 9, 2017
He doesn’t seem too happy does he?
And who can blame him?
Quite simply, that result isn’t good enough, as it means we’re falling further behind the leaders.
Of course, it’s still early days, but you have to wonder how long Xia is going to let the lack of results continue.
So that’s six points from six games, which is nothing like promotion form and it’s all very disappointing.
The big question is, do we think Bruce can turn things around?
I have to say I’m beginning to have serious doubts and the pressure is going to be piled on him again.
And to cap it all, Green has done his hamstring.
A bad day all round.
Oh dear đ
Spud is yesterday’s man, I can’t see any prospect of improvement
A few weeks ago Bruce stayed he had only been at the club 6 months shortly after he said 6 to 7 months today its 9 months.
Correct me if I’m wrong but I think it’s longer.
Excuse after excuse with awful football.
How many times has he say that was the worse performance?
He is too defensive. Has no tactic awareness and encourages opponents to attack by his negative sit behind the ball tactics.
He said he has sold and not spent. BUT he had the money in January he bought Hogamn and the others he selected those players.
Not good enough.
He appears motionless on the side lines lacks passion and encouragement.
Agree another dead man walking imo. My worry is if we get rid of Bruce we end with Terry which would be a massive disaster for us and could relegate us. Would hate him as manager never liked him tbh though a good player in his day.
I think people need to look at the mess Bruce walked into before harping on about getting yet another manager.
The whole structure of the club has changed from top to bottom and all this in less than 18 months.
Xia has been here for 54 league games and already fans are asking for the 3rd manager in that time. It’s ludicrous.
I’m not expecting anyone to agree with me and quite frankly I’ll not lose any sleep but Bruce needs and has to be given until the end of the season. Then he’d of had 18 months, 3 transfer windows and a fair amount of time to put the shambles he walked into onto the right path.
I’m not Brucies biggest fan but what I will do is support whoever our manager is and believe they deserve a reasonable amount of time.
For anyone to expect the mess that Lerner and co left to be tidied up in 8-9 months needs a massive reality check.
IN BRUCE I TRUST.
UTV.
I think if Bruce loses two league games this month he’s a gonner.
Have you looked at Dr Xia’s tweet. Ominous red face – Middlesbrough if lost will be his last game.
Hate seeing us lose but getting Bruce out is more important right now…..but Wyness needs to follow him out the door. Otherwise we’ll end up with another dinosaur, we need fresh thinking not yesterdays men.
The only thing I would say in defence of Bruce today is that Brentford are in a false position, they finished above us last season, and once all their injuries clear up Dean Smith will have them climbing the table.
I said we’d draw and I said we’d give a poor team confidence, and we did both. We were a disaster and fortunate to get away with a draw… At home even. Are we not tired of the old dinosaur’s football yet? It’s almost as boring as fans continuing to make excuses for him. “Oh he came into a mess, oh he needs time”. 11 months is more than enough time for the supposed greatest Championship manager ever to get it right.
You’ve certainly been consistent Andrew.
What worries me, is if we sack Bruce and get some young, maybe foreign manager in and he also fails.
Which I seriously expect whoever comes in to do; what happens then?
We’ve had how many managers in how many years?
And they’ve all failed.
Bruce, regardless of what we think of him has been there and done it, more than any other Championship manager.
He also knows all about the pressure and admits he struggles with it, in not sleeping well.
So I’m not seeing how an unknown type is going to cope in the slightest.
I’ve consistently said that there’s something rotten at the Villa, but I now suspect that our expectation is also part of the problem.
I really don’t profess to know what the answer is, but I’m not convinced it’s changing the manager yet again, is the point.
I don’t know what happens, I honestly don’t. But we’ve gone the way our fans have wanted. Experienced and homegrown managers. And they’ve all failed. What do we honestly have to lose? And it’s not really that I hate British managers, it’s that they don’t have a system and they don’t buy for that system. The only one that does is Dyche. Can Burnley sign better players than they have? Of course, they could have gone the Stoke way and signed players like Jese, Shaqiri and Afellay but they wouldn’t fit his style. He instead went for the likes of Walters because they fit the system. That’s what we need. Hell, I’ll even praise Mark Hughes as those players fit his system. Bruce hasn’t got a system and if he does, the players he signed clearly don’t fit it. He decided to sign the best or supposed best Championship midfielders and then went for aging Premier League players and they still have all failed.
It’s not that I want some first year manager. Hell half the managers I’ve named are in their late 40’s, early-mid 50’s. But they’re managers who have a system. We haven’t had a system since Houllier and O’Neill. And we don’t buy for the system, we buy for who ever seems to be the flavor of the month in the Championship or crap aging players like Whelan.
not even mad anymore,much more of this and i ll give up completely ,chasing a win and bruce puts on gabby for the love of god,gabby score 2 in a season,how come when we need to get it right we fuck up warnock top table now was available at the time,sherwood pullis we go for sherwood ,mcleish hughes we take mcleish
If the correct result had happened…..4 nil to them then Bruce would be gone….so why is he still here.
Bruce wouldn’t have been sacked if we lost 4-0. Despite this being his team and his tactics, Wyness is too old school to have him sacked. ffs he kept Moyes forever at Everton despite them clearly needing an upgrade to take them to the next level. He and Xia won’t get rid of him until it’s mathematically impossible for us to go up. And with Bruce, that could be by Christmas.
Xia calls the shots. Bruce is a dead man walking. A poor September and he is gone, whatever Wyness thinks. Xia will be working on his replacement right now as he above all knows what it will cost if we fail to get promoted this season.
While I completely hope you’re right. I don’t think Xia has it in him to sack him. Di Matteo was easy to sack, but we still have part of our fan base that likes Bruce. And for some reason have their head so far up his butt because of what he did in the past, that I don’t think Xia will sack Bruce if we lose the next couple still. If he’s working on his replacement, then great.
Obviously some big named managers who aren’t currently in management. Moyes, Mazzarri, Guidolin, Pardew, Allardyce, Karanka and Sousa being the main ones with English experience if we decide to go that way. Mazzarri and Guidolin were failures at Watford and Swansea respectively. Pardew’s a big nope, Allardyce is Bruce’s twin. Moyes failed miserably at Sunderland. I’d take either of the last two. There is also the ever sackable manager Juande Ramos who can’t keep a job.
Then there’s the others like the ever German managers I keep mentioning. Veh,Schaaf, Schubert and a new one in Buskens. Then there’s the amazing Tuchel but we wouldn’t have a chance at getting him or likely any of them, but especially him. Pako AyestarÃĄn is still available.
Eh I can keep naming available managers but it likely doesn’t matter. We’ll get some Championship manager off some lower-end club. Fans will jump for joy because they’ve heard of him and that means everything and if they haven’t heard of him because they don’t watch football it means they’re an unknown and we’ll not progress at all.
@ Andrew.
It’s not a case of anyone having their head up Brucies arse it’s more a case of giving the manager, whoever that may be, enough time to sort out the mess that your fellow countrymen created. It’s not the first time the English have had to clean up after the yanks have messed something up so to constantly call for Brucies head is pathetic.
Any manager, no matter who they are would need a long time to sort out what has gone on and, to an extent, is still going on at Villa Park wether they’re English, European or Asian. To change manager would be stupid.
Maybe you, like most, should lower your expectations and look at the bigger picture.
The one thing Villa have failed to do since O’neil left is give a manager a decent amount of time. He should be given this season then judge the bloke but not forgetting what he walked into thanks mainly to your fellow countrymen.
UTV
Thanks for the reply Langford. Glad you’re still here posting and your little gang of wannabes are there to like it up. Although you’re wrong as per usual. Bruce hasn’t done anything to clean up the mess Lerner left, that’s Xias job and last time I knew, dude wasn’t english.
Second, I know you have your head firmly up Bruce’s butt, but tell me how 11 months isn’t long enough for the supposed best Championship manager to ever exist not to show any remote sign of progress? Until you can answer that, I wouldn’t be so quick calling people out on wanting someone who’s only spent millions and the teams regressed.
lionel
how long has warnock had at cardif without spending 30m or signing terry snodgrass on massive wages, lambert had plenty time houillier was sick,garde stitched up,rdm wrong man for managers seat mcleish should never been considered
Are you really that daft?
All the managers that you have named managed the club when Lerner was owner. You know the bloke who ran the club into the ground and created the mess that will take a lot longer than 18 months to clean up. A new owner came in and has completely changed everything from top to bottom. CEO, Board, Manager, Playing Staff, Coaches, EVERYTHING yet most expect everything to gel together at the click of a finger.
Yes you’re right Warnock has been at Cardiff 5 minutes and has them top of the league but you’re forgetting one thing. I don’t think for a second Cardiff or any other club for that matter have been in decline over the last 5 or so years like we have so to compare other managers and what they have achieved in such a short space of time is a non starter.
Lets not forget lots of people stated after Lerner left and facts started to come to light what was going on at the club that the new owner and staff were going to need time to sort it out. Clearly most Villa fans are fickle as well as impatient.
Oh by the way I am not Langford, I am a previous user but by no means Langford.
lerner gone ,cardiff had a mad owner dont see that holding warnock back,like same with players johnson bree taylor terry whelan houirane ooamh elmo snodgrass hogan all signed by bruce chester 3months earlier so to say players are affected by lerners reign what a load of crap langford
Are you really that daft?
All the managers that you have named managed the club when Lerner was owner. You know the bloke who ran the club into the ground and created the mess that will take a lot longer than 18 months to clean up. A new owner came in and has completely changed everything from top to bottom. CEO, Board, Manager, Playing Staff, Coaches, EVERYTHING yet most expect everything to gel together at the click of a finger.
Yes youâre right Warnock has been at Cardiff 5 minutes and has them top of the league but youâre forgetting one thing. I donât think for a second Cardiff or any other club for that matter have been in decline over the last 5 or so years like we have so to compare other managers and what they have achieved in such a short space of time is a non starter.
Lets not forget lots of people stated after Lerner left and facts started to come to light what was going on at the club that the new owner and staff were going to need time to sort it out. Clearly most Villa fans are fickle as well as impatient.
Oh by the way I am not Langford, I am a previous user but by no means Langford
lerner was bad but he is gone,god the cardiff chairman changed the colour of their shirts,bruce has had nearly 11 months same as warnock,spent about 30m on players warnock got a about a tenth,signed john terry on 60/70 thousand a week snodgrass on 42 th a week yet 1 win in 6 ,7 goals in 6 matches should been sacked last season after all defaets in a row,when he kept playing hutton gaby ,bruce out
Oh and by the way. I recall a few on here suggesting Warnock after RDM got fired and were shot down for it. Now he’s got Cardiff to the top of the league he’s being praised by yourself, one of those who criticized the idea 12 months ago.
Your comments are laughable because you clearly don’t think outside the box.
i dont recall you posting here much early last season langford had to change your name
where are all your buddies langford hiding because they backed bruce,and just because warnock is a better manager than bruce[not hard] doesnt mean i want him at villa
just read earlier comments so lionel is langford?
No. He’s Lionel Blair.
Before saying anything else, I don’t like seeing Tony tweeting things like that. Whatever about giving us a little tease on transfers, he needs to keep his emotions and certain things behind closed doors. A lot of fans were already panicking and calling for Bruce’s head, so to see our chairman share something like that after the game was not needed. Though his intentions are good, seems he still has a lot to learn.
Now then, I’m still willing to give Bruce this month, as it’s still just as massive to our season as it was before yesterday’s game. I believe many people thought we’d beat Brentford and hoped for a draw against Middlesbrough.. but what if we win Tuesday, are we back on track? Things are frustrating, but a lot of us need to calm down. If you’re gonna boo the team off at halftime and full time, then why go to the games? Our expectations, and reactions at the games like yesterday are part of the problem.
I see for some that’s it’s as simple as Bruce being the problem, yet they offer no solution. To sack Bruce now and throw another manager in during this crucial month would be suicidal, I fear.
Not for me. Bruce has had plenty of time. His team, his squad, his coaching staff, his tactics and motivation/man management. He had a full pre-season which so many argued was key. The team is clueless and the buck stops at Bruce. this season is practically over, and will certainly be (ok my opinion) come the end of September.
Why is September crucial? because Bruce failed to deliver in matches before and we are already well adrift.
Suicide is to continue with something that is so obviously failing. Realistically, what is going to change?
To cap it all, you are willing to give Bruce September(3 weeks). If he fails to deliver presumably you are OK to see him go? You’re thinking the same way as most of us then, just a little slower to get there đ
Just as you ask what if he fails to deliver, what if he does deliver? Writing off our season in September is crazy. Not the start any of us would have liked but we’re just 2 wins from getting in the top 6, a win at home Tuesday night against one of our direct rivals and we’ll be really applying the pressure.
And again you don’t answer. Sack Bruce and then what? Someone will just come in, click their fingers and we’ll jump up the league? It’s easy to call for the manager to be sacked, but once again the people who say our problems are so clear don’t even mention a solution.
I have said on here I don’t know the answer to who our manager should be. I wanted Wagner when the rumours were that he was in frame. I’m just voicing my opinion that’s all. It’s down to Xia to decide whether he sticks with Bruce. I have better things to do than play football manager. And just as you say I haven’t answered your question you haven’t answered mine. If you think we should stick with Bruce why would you feel different if we get little out of September? What real signs are there that he can change things? I just don’t see it but I will happily call you right if it turns out that way.
If Bruce stays til the end of September, the season will be over. We’ve already blown automatic promotion, another month of home draws and losses away will leave us too far off the play offs. It would be suicidal to let him stay. I’ll keep saying it… every game and week with Bruce is time and points wasted and every week I’m proved 100% correct.
For those that say there is no solution, of course there is. Football is a global game and there would be multiple young coaches out there willing to join us, implement an attacking philosophy to suit both the squad and mentality we have. It’s about having that drive, ambition but also international football knowledge on the board. Just like Leeds found Thomas Christiansen, Huddersfield found Wagner and so on. We don’t have any, just a tired old dinosaur in Wyness, who sticks to his old pal Bruce.
I feel for Tony, he’s wasted so much money already due to poor advice and poor decision making. He could well lose interest if we don’t go up by the end of next season when the parachute payments run out, which is why we need to act now unless we want to condemn ourselves to the next decade in the lower leagues.
Half time and full time booing…….of course it should be allowed…..how else do the players and the rest of AV know it’s not on.They will think they can keep getting away with it.How else can the fans show dissapointment.Maybe invent a chant saying “We think you were not quite on the ball old chap”.
I agree, fans should be allowed to voice their discontent. We of course have no divine right in this division, plenty of big names have failed but given the investment we have made we should not find ourselves 18th in the table struggling to have a shot on target and playing with a defensive, ultra cautious mindset. Bruce always knew he would be under pressure from the word go this season so he has not right to attack or criticise the fans.
The VP crowd has never given uncritical support. VP isn’t quite in the Glasgow Empire class – No turn unstoned – but he crowd expects to be entertained, and will reward both success and bravery with plaudits. If it sees funk and failure it gives the finger – or the verbal equivalent.
De Boer sacked……what if we loose tomorrow?
Maybe SB will be sweating a bit.
On the plus side it takes Hodgson off the market for when Bruce is sacked….. bullet dodged there
Not surprised to see people caling for Bruce’s head: he doesn’t seem to have made any progress at all in the last 6 months.
Personally I think that making another management change [& all that goes with it] just yet is probably too soon, but if Xia is really tweeting what he feels then my guess is that barring a completely unexpected turnaround [that means 3-4 wins out of the next 4-5 games] we’ll be back to square one, looking for yet another ‘saviour’ – and then ‘making allowances’ for the new man to have an effect.
However, the biggest problem I see with firing Bruce is that there won’t be a queue of capable candidates forming outside the doors of VP: it’d take a fortune to tempt most of the ‘want-to-haves’ away from their present clubs, even assuming that they weren’t put-off by Villa’s recent managerial-merry-go-round history.
We’d most likely end-up trawling the ranks of the currently-unemployed again and hire Fat Sam…