Our performances so far this season have been poor, there’s no getting away from it.
Yes, we’ve mostly got the right results and I could happily live with that.
I haven’t looked at the table yet, but I think we’re 5th with a game in hand on at least a couple of the teams above us.
You quite simply can’t knock that.
But I think I’m in the majority when I say that it isn’t good enough.
Even though it’s very early in the season, I find it at least a little concerning that we can’t dominate what on paper ought to be inferior teams.
And I’ve seen nothing to convince me that we’ll be able to dominate teams more akin to our level either.
My big fear is that even if we were to get to a play-off final again this season (I really don’t believe we’re going to get automatic promotion as it stands) , we’d bottle it because of Bruce’s tactics, a la Fulham.
Which is where Brentford come in.
They play very good football and with our defence, I suspect they will be well capable of playing through us if they’re on their game.
There is the fact that we often tend to up our game against the better sides (and I’ve often wondered if a subdued atmosphere against lesser clubs mostly works against us) but Brentford are a bit of an exception and we have a very poor record against them.
There aren’t any major injury problems on either side, the usual apart.
So it mostly revolves around how Bruce is going to play this.
We all know that Bruce has criticised himself for not changing it up enough last season.
Yet it’s blindingly obvious that he also has massive favourites and he’s loathe to change them up.
I’d suggest Adomah is a good example.
Yes, he’s been great for us and you should stick with players who have done the business and give them every chance.
But there comes a time when a player needs taking out of the spotlight for a while.
Will Bruce do that with Adomah?
I very much doubt it.
So I don’t expect any changes really.
Which means I don’t see much change in how we approach the game either.
We’ll have a defence with players playing out of position in front of a dodgy goalie (when we let Steer go out on loan????).
With McGinn, we might well have the midfield sorted in the middle, with Grealish and Hourihane involved.
There’s still the nagging doubt about Kodjia, but scoring doesn’t seem the major issue.
It’s creating the chances in OPEN play, or rather, not, that concerns me.
I see Brentford definitely getting a goal.
Which puts us at a one goal disadvantage, because I worry that Bruce will try to contain Brentford and we might struggle to score.
Winning this would be a great result, even though it really shouldn’t be anything special, given that we’re at home.
And I’d go so far as to say that a draw will be a better result than that against Ipswich.
We really don’t want to see our home record go this early into the season.
I’m going for an optimistic 2-1, but more realistically predict a 1-1.
Which probably says a lot in itself.
The resources available to both clubs are incomparable, as much as we’ve been in trouble lately.
Game 4 of my predicted 10 or so.
We either keep scratching the results or Bruce changes his game.
Which only leaves him one option, I’d say.
Because I don’t see him changing anything much.
He doesn’t know any different.
Some justice served and the wife is relieved she won’t have to suffer LOL! If no action is taken against Maupay what is the point of trying to clean up football as, even with cameras watching, it encourages players to cheat!
The loan signings can’t come quick enough. We really should have won that game. But getting the late equaliser makes it feel like a win. Adomah going off was the turning point I think. Still unbeaten and they have set the bar for performance. First time I’ve seen them give their all both sides of half time in a long time. All in all a great game against two good sides. Tuanzebe looked the business I though.
Brilliant entertainment and a deserved point for resilence!
Oh dear though, there is no point in being a great reaction-saver if you can make a fundamental error in basic handling like Nyland did. If the ball is well above your head you punch it up and over and if just above you paw it down and drop on it – if it is too fast to catch. Flat handing it is a blunder.
Brentford certainly work on their training ground routines, even their throw-ins were clever.
Villa were unable to penetrate an in-position defence. Because eventually in the move – somebody has to take on and beat his man. Whereas we always tried to find a pass to a runner who had lost his marker, but the markers had tracked them. Let’s hope these two wingers we have just acquired can both go round one defender. That is all they need do – not beat the whole team.
I drive up for on the south coast to watch my first match of the season with my son. Best news of the night was my young son saying “daddy I want to support Villa not spurs”. Must admit I had an inner glow after that!
My gripe of the night. There must be a blue nose in charge of Birmingham road repaired. Underpssses we closed and Bristol Road down to one lane – xxxxer!
I actually thought Brentford would win 2-1 and with 5 seconds left I had the smug satisfaction of knowing I was right. Well done Kodjia!
All I can say Steve Bruce is get the defence set up correctly. Do not get play Jedinak at centre back, he lacks pace and the skills for this role. He is a very good defensive midfielder. Tuanzebe is not a right back but should be a centre back. And boy Oh boy has he got pace. He would add to the combination with Chester, who is not the quickest. On three occasions tonight Tuanzebe played the balloon just around a player and then ran around the Brentford player. Please get a left back on loan or play Hutton atvleft back. This means either Elmohamady or De Late can play right back. This creates space for either 1 or 2 new loan signing wingers, Green or Adomah to play wide.
I was impressed with McGinn, fierce tackling, excellent left foot delivery and vision.
Finally, Kodjia infuriates me, but when he clicks he is impressive.
UTV
Much better performance tonight. We were actually good to watch, unlike the last 3 games! With Kodjia back on form and Grealish and McGinn in behind him, we look very strong down the middle of the park.
For me, our main problems are out wide. Bruce obviously realizes this with the new signing and Bolasie (hopefully) coming in. Adomah just isnt cutting it any more, and Elmo is pretty average. IMO Green should be on the teamsheet ahead of both of them.
We also need to sort out the full back situation. Tuanzabe is an excellent player but needs to be in the middle, either at CB or as a DM. Hutton needs to be playing right back, he just has no left foot. I cant understand if Bruce was prepared to pay 6m for Bryan, why hasn’t getting a left back been our priority?! He doesnt seem to like Taylor at all, and lets be honest he hasnt been great, but at least he is left footed. We just look so imbalanced down that side.
Roll on Saturday though, 3 points this time around!
Benno, if Bruce also gets Bolassie will he move Elmo to RB and Tuanzebe to central back. I know that leaves Hutton at LB but clearly SB has massive faith in him.
Very impressed with Tuanzebe last night – looks a real player. Also a word for Wheelan who I thought was excellent in his defensive midfield role and was not afraid of pushing forward with the ball.
Nice to hear that we played well. I was in an internet dead zone for most of the game and only found out we equalised half an hour after the game.
The team does appear to be resilient which is nice. I will be glad to get back to the UK this weekend and actually watch some of it
The word de jour is that beauty, ‘RESILIENCE’. It must be back in MONs last season when we were able to actually roll our metaphorical sleeves up, dig deep and pull a result out of a hat when we were under the cosh. How many years ago was that? Eight? Nine? The best part of a decade.
Now, Bruce has his detractors, he does appear to prefer a defensive stance, but after all he was a defender by trade so maybe that explains it. How many times have we was over these difficult years, if you cant win a game, don’t lose it?
I’ll never forgive that c— Lerner for dismantling our club, and saddling us with a ton of debt, but, because of the money in football now, any Arthur Daley from all over the planet can can involved, sink a club, and piss off, simply because they have no idea what they’re doing. It happened at Liverpool. Look at poor Sunderland, or Blackburn, Leeds, the list goes on. Until it changes, clubs will be lucky to survive.
But back to Bruce and our current owners, you’ve gotta give them credit. Rome wasn’t rebuilt in a day, and it takes a helluvalot longer to build than destroy, so credit where it’s due. We want to get back to the top tier, but at what cost? I’m still enjoying the Championship to focus on ending up 11th every year. We’re getting there. Like British Rail in the 70’s!!!!
Roll on Bruce’s Claret and Blue army!!!!!
Morning all, I’m as happy as pig in shite, what a game , I hope the FA take note on that incident of foot stamping, that was a leg break tackle and should be punished, that ref needs to drop down in league for poor refereeing a lot of things was missed and ignored. Yes it wasn’t Huttons best game and should have met that ball with his body and not lashing his foot out and hitting air. I do think he has a roll to play and its on the right, apart from that I’m pleased with our footballing skills, well done the lads, roll on Saturday.
I just hope we can carry most of the energy. …movement and skill.onto the rest of the games….one good one out of four.Its just like last term.We all moan and they show up for a few games then go back to the old slow ways.Just hope it dawns on all of them that they need to raise the standard for the majority of the rest if the season. If we are up there in their faces they can’t do anything to hurt us….like the majority of last night.Some of the stuff last night was a joy to watch….a proper match.
Just to clarify was it Bruce’s dinosaurs in the claret and blue and Dean Smith’s beautiful game pass masters in the rather appropriate brown kit?
Rather disappointed in Dean Smith’s attempted defence of Maupay’s stamp. Villa should appeal the decision despite Smith’s rather deperate ‘threat’ against Jedinak.
Massive lack of class in his comment. Should have been honest enough to call it for what it was. It should have been a yellow for McLeod’s foul on McGinn, then the whistle went, then the stamp. It could have ended his season. Ref, lino, 4th official all within 15 yards – how wasn’t it seen?
To claim Jedi’s push was a forearm smash is frankly ridiculous.
The players have shown that they are capable of high tempo and high pressing, so now they need to continue this standard going forward. I was actually disappointed in Brentford yesterday. Whether it was an off day for them or perhaps we didn’t allow them to play, who knows. I think most of us agree that Jedinak is not a good CB. Tuanzebe needs to be given a chance there or get someone on loan. I would also prefer De Laet at RB with Hutton or someone on loan at LB. Jedinak should be a defensive midfielder or back up CB. Maybe new wingers will offer more speed to support Kodja. I was hoping Green would make the step up this season but he hasn’t set the world alight when he has come on for Adomah. Saturday we have a must win game. Anything less than 3 points against a poor Reading team will not be acceptable if we are serious about promotion.
Has anyone heard that Maupay got a 3 match ban? It would be justified if true.
Yep, its true here it is,
Neal Maupay will miss Brentford’s next three matches after accepting a charge of violent conduct for his clash with Aston Villa’s John McGinn on Wednesday.
The 22-year-old striker, who scored twice in the 2-2 draw at Villa Park live on Sky Sports, appeared to stamp on the midfielder in the 42nd minute – but it went unnoticed by the referee.
The EFL has subsequently taken retrospective action after the incident was caught on camera and the Frenchman accepted he had broken the rules.
last nights game was a massive step up by villa, first half we pressed the shit out of the side, most fans were worried about before the game, brentford are a good side like wigan, millwall last season, they all have great teamwork, as i said before good teams beat a good team of individuals. the thing i was impressed with villa, was how we managed to stop them from playing their game for most of the game, until our legs went at least near the end of game.
i was impressed with wigan, we only just managed to beat them. but some fans saw that as not acceptable, but look how they ripped stoke a new arsehole. this was because stoke have players who are playing for themselves and not for the club. they lack the teamwork. we are heading in the right direction. we just need time to allow the new players to settle and we will come good. so i hope we managed to cling onto the leaders coattails until we reach our peak.
Yannick Bolasie i have liked him loads from afar, wishing we had such a talented player, have we signed him now ?? he has been off form for a while i hear but he should be miles to hot for championship defenders. the other guy we signed looks a tidy little player also. we are going to be big player in this league, i think it would be harder to fuck up this season, if we can speed up the bedding in period or not be too far away
on the players side, kodjia was back from his hibernation, with a vengeance. its not just hes scored 3 in 2 but his hold up play is back also. goal keeper is showing good signs, he made some decent saves at important times of games, mcginn is going to be the signing of our year. i feel grealish is playing within himself but its only a ,matter of time before hes back as well. last season grealish carried us, so if we can have these players keep this form up and grealish can rediscover his. promotion here we come
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Can’t understand the negative comments from some on this forum. We are only 4 games in and already some are moaning. Just think what situation we would have been in had it not been for the takeover. Whilst I am not a massive fan of Bruce, I still can’t think of any other manager, that is available, that can make us progress. He is, however, so frustrating in failing to address what is blatantly obvious to all. In that, I mean there are at least three players he continually plays out of position. Hutton, whilst doing okay at left back, should be on the other side. Jedinak is absolutely hopeless as a Centre Back and Tuanzebe is surely better in that position than he is at right back. I find it confusing that one or two say that Tuanzebe was the best player against Brentford. Just look at both of their goals and you can clearly see he was ball watching for their first and should have done better for, what was nearly the winner. Also, whilst Nyland had a better game, he is still extremely dodgy, in my opinion. Surely the addition of the loan signings is going to improve our performances. Let’s see where we are at Christmas before the ‘Bruce Out’ banners are displayed.
Fair points, Mark.
But is signing wingers going to ease our worries at the back?
See my latest post 🙂