I know we’re talking about the Villa and we should never count our chickens, but surely if you can’t feel confident for this match, you’re not going to at all, are you?
I know Reading were supposed to have been quite unlucky after going two down last week, but the fact is they are not getting points and only have 1 from four games.
Contrast that to us, where Brentford apart, we’ve played poorly, yet still sit on eight points.
The only news really is that Anwar El Ghazi will definitely get on the pitch, as long as we get International clearance.
I’d expect him to go straight into the team, myself.
So who drops out for him?
You have to suspect it’ll be either Whelan or Jedinak, which makes sense. They’ll both need a bit of looking after over the season.
For me, I’d go for Elmohamady at RB, Tuanzebe at CB, Adomah on the right and either Whelan or Jedinak in front of the back four.
That should be sturdy enough.
And if El Ghazi’s not quite on it, Green subs for a few more minutes that he definitely needs, as frankly I think he’s been poor.
The only doubt is Alan Hutton who has broken his nose.
I really don’t see that being enough to put such a good pro off though and even if he has to wear a mask, I’d expect him to start too.
It’s really fingers crossed, knowing how we messed up against the likes of Bolton (who are off to blinding start this season! it’s a funny old game indeed) last season, but I have to go for a home win, hopefully combined with just a little bit of arrogance and flair, just like Wednesday.
And of course assisted by lots of hard work.
Villa 3-1
And I suspect Kodjia might get another.
Here’s hoping!
It’s not far out in what I see Badger, and we all see different things in football, I’m glad you are reserving your view till you see the game again, I watched parts of the game today, but I’ve noticed him many times doing what that chap at the game seen.we will see in time.
4 games in and already playing catchup to Leeds and Middlesbrough despite having the easiest possible start.
When will the Bruce fanclub realise its the manager thats holding this team back. Same old shit over and over again until the new owners replace the dinosaur in charge with a manager fit for football in 2018.
Give me a lucky general.
Bruce is not lucky and does not learn from repeated mistakes.
6 points dropped- Ipswich, Brentford and Reading.
I could accept 2 dropped but not 4. Bruce is burning through my goodwill. He has so many mates in the media to peddle his narrative. I think our new owners will see through it sooner than later.
The thing that gets me is that we were at home against a Reading team sitting in the bottom 3 and we started with 7 defensive players inc GK. At home against Reading!!!!!! Come on Bruce surely these games we can try 2 upfront and 4 midfielders without a DM. I.e. Murphy and Kodjia up top and Say maybe…el ghazi, grealish, mcginn, hourihane in midfield. At least then we can say well hes tried to be positive from the off.. ive been one for stability and Bruce has brought that however i am now unsure if he can take us any further. So dissapointed today.
Adam
You are so right. To coin a phrase “attack, attack, attack”, when at home.
Win at home and at least draw away and we will be promoted. Bruce plays away set up for home. He is not the right man. However, I do not know who should lead us.
when we are angry or disappointed we always blame the manager. i watched the game and i saw a player make the mistake, when the game was won and we had 3 points snatched away from us. for the record i voted to get rid of manager preseason when above 70 percent voted to keep. its this poll which convinced the new owners to keep bruce. maybe they should hold a poll after each game in case we have a few mind changers.
of the game i thought we played decent stuff at times, but we are making too many individual errors, which will end up costing. we had enough chances to finish of reading. this has nothing to do with manager, players missed the chances and they make decisions on the field. players shooting when they have better placed player as option they turn down. diving in when player is inside the box going nowhere. giving a crazy referee the chance to affect the result which they love to do.
we have dropped points and thats down to individual errors and we are not playing to full capabilities as yet. our pre season was not ideal, players recruited late need time to settle and signs in last two games, they are settling, looking at this squad and last seasons squad, i think this squad has much more potential and will get stronger.we need to calm down look at bigger picture. other teams will drop points and we have the makings of a fine side which will be promoted.
i really wanted to post about the new winger, who i thought was very decent and will score and provide loads,
Nath I’m with Sid, and Adam, on this we just cannot keep making excuse on Bruce, he isn’t the man for the job of taking us up, yes he’s stable the ship and that is his Mr nice guy in him, you in your posts in the past have seen how wrong he’s been and rightly pointed them out, every time we except his reasons as to why he’s done things we let it go, I’m afraid Reading game told me he’s at peak in managing, he has to go, Reading had 1 point and at the bottom of the league and away from home, and we lost 2 valuable points looking at a stiker walking around and only wakes up on certain games. CB thats out of his depth,
sorry Nath no excuse again for me.
i offer no excuses you misunderstand me. i say it how i see it. bruce is no different to how bruce has been all his career. a chimpanzee could managed this group of players to promotion. we dropped points yesterday, because we failed to score the second. plus a crazy decision by chester to dive in on a player who was not advancing on goal.
if i believed it was bruces fault we dropped points yesterday, i would say so, but i don’t believe that was the case. as for him being the wrong manager this season. i said pre season to get rid and he is still here. i don’t agree with changing my mind, after every set back which might happen.
i also disagree with bruce on lots of things, one being jedi at centre back. but i also disagree with fans, that say players like jedi cant play centre back, he is well capable of doing a good job there. yesterday he had a good solid game. some players are well capable of playing numerous positions, but soe fans moan when they see a player not playing in what some fans reguard as their only position they should play
yes we dropped points yesterday and two previous games. but yesterday was our own fault and not the manager.
when the players gel and the season heat up, we will be there in the thick of it. even with bruce as manager.
I’m not so sure it should have been called a pen to be honest Nath, no I understand your thoughts on the game but it don’t hide the fact Bruce has put players in position that don’t suite them, i.e. CB left and right backs, I’m at a loss as to why we gone for wingers knowing we are weak in defence, that tackle yesterday came about through players laying off the will to win. Keep that attitude up we are back to square one.I hate to lose Nath that’s another 2 points thrown away all in all 6 points in draws alone, that Nath is going backwards to me.
it probably wasnt a pen bill, but chester dived in and that gives the referee a decision to make. they cant make a right or honest decision. some don’t even know the rules. he just wanted to be pantomime villan. sending the home fans home pissed off. but we should have finished the game off while we were on top. that is why i was annoyed. players need to make better on field decisions passing when a player is in a better scoring position, instead of seeing the glory and shooting over or wide.
also we fans can get away with pointing the finger at players. but managers cant i just heard bruce saying chester was too blame and thats dodgy he might lose the dressing room saying shit like that
i am glad we went for wingers bill. Bolasie is a player i have loved watching over the years but not seen him since we were relegated, he can certainly be a match winning for us. the other winger had a good debut and seems to have the skills, having these two on both wings will stretch teams. also having grealish and mcginn i middle we just need to find the balance, because we are weak in defence especially for speed. but we can sort that out its teething problems, we have the tools just need to sort shit out
I have sat on the fence with regard to Bruce, but now feel he has to go…. We’ve not improved since last season. Dropping silly points because of negative tactics….. Taylor for Kodjia ffs, Jedi at centre back, the whole of the Holte can see it, why can’t Bruce.
If we stick with Bruce we will be sat in the play offs come spring moaning about points dropped the same as last season.
Spot on. Brentford are a good side so a draw there wasnt a disaster but 2 points from bottom 5 certain sides in Ipswich and Reading is disgraceful and a sackable offence
Saddened summed up Bruce in his post by mentioning Taylor on for Kodja to obviously try to hold on to lead which totally backfired. Negative tactics will undoubtedly bring mostly negative results. I agree with Adam that if we can’t go a bit more positive at home to Reading then Bruce never will. 4 defenders plus Elmo and Thor equals 6 defensively minded players and just one striker who is hit and miss. Like I mentioned previously Bruce’s undoing will be his negative approach.
Its the Bruce way – caution at all costs is not the way to challenge for the top 2. I just hope Sawiris and Edens are already identifying the next manager because nothing will ever change with the dinosaur in charge.
A top class manager is the best investment you can make – Benitez proved it in this league, then Nuno and now Bielsa. Steve Bruce is the past – we need to look to the future.
First two managers – agree Villain1 but say that about Bielsa after 30 odd games not 5 or are you going to add Pulis to the list as well? We’ve seen Leeds sides have this sort of start in the past.
I’m not supporting Bruce but I don’t see the need to refer to him as a dinosaur – Warnock did OK last season – not that many Villa fans would have voted for him and Pullis is doing pretty well so far.
I acknowledge that fans feel SB is too defensive minded and that is his style of play but, then again, so is Mourinho. I would like to see more attacking football – I’m no different to others – but that doesn’t define him as a dinasour,
thor is not defensive player. unless a winger is defensive. elmo has played midfield many many times. wished we would stop pigeon hole players. players are capable of playing different positions.
i am sure bruce would have swapped kodjia with a striker, if we had one fit to play. also its not like taylor went on as a straight swap. as adomah went up front when kodjia went off. adomah came on before as swap for the new winger, who was not match fit to play the full 90. all other teams do this pool play players in different positions thats different to whats on their birth certificate.
just been listening to motd shearer. say wingers are no more they are caled forwards now. this is why the fullbacks have the licence to get forward. one of pool fullback was a midfielder turned fullback and if my memory serves me well milner was playing ther last year. also their manager is supposedly one of the better managers
We had Hepburn Murphy on the bench to bring on for Kodja which would have offered an outlet, plus if he isn’t capable why have him on the bench in the first place? Anyway my point was by swapping a striker for a defender was inviting pressure from Reading, which is embarrassing frankly considering we were at home. Comparisons to Villa and Liverpool are like comparing a F1 Mercedes to a McLaren. Both have the same number of parts but are miles away in terms of performance.
pool were at home and brighton,who almost stole a point there. pool were dominate and they never got the second,teams that fail to kill off the game, will get nervous and the losing team, will always grow and they will throw their caution to the wind.
villa never went defensive yesterday, watch the game again. in the last two games they created almost 40 good shooting chances. kodjia and co had put one or two away early chances away its a totally different game.
pool are decent club and villa are shite your right. totally silly comparison. was the manager i was stating he plays players pout of their positions. if milner was a right mid and he played him at left back. plus this season he has another young kid playing left back who played midfield.
nobody whines about thor a left winger playing holding mid role, should have left kodjia on,then he could of got injured, players pick up knocks more when fatigued, just back from a career threatening injury and playing alone role up top, three games in like 6 days.
chester should have stood up to the attacker, we should have scored more from the chances created. thats the excuse you should moan about.
nobody moaning about the goalkeeper this week. oh thats right he did quite well. great double save from point blank range. Ghazi début he crossed a great peach of a cross, which DEFENSIVE elmo headed in. Ghazi also looks to isolate his fullback and went on a decent run which he should have squared but chose to shoot from a very tight angle.
PATIENCE
We therefore ask for your patience, and your trust, as we all work together to deliver the success that your continued passionate support deserves.
that was the message from owners to the fans lol
what would make a refreshing change is the fans give the owners a chance to asses bruce for themselves. they have paid good money to have their say. they have recruited very good players already in no time. if the results are not a match to their expectations. i guess they will relieve bruce and replace with their choice henry