You know your side is struggling when both strikers get subbed off and Hutton looks your most attacking player, don’t you?
Good grief, I thought that game was horrendous and we came away with what we deserved, which was absolutely nothing.
It’s genuinely not sour grapes against Wolves, as I have nothing at all against them, but I really don’t think they were as good as Sky seemed to be making out. It’s more that I thought we made it far too easy for them.
Don’t get me wrong, for the first half I found myself often wondering if we might do a smash and grab, but always had the nagging doubt that you just can’t play a game constantly defending and expect to not concede.
And when Wolves did score, you just knew it was game over.
What’s annoyed me most is the fact that our midfield was totally non-existent and created nothing. Well, it couldn’t could it, when it was just an extension of our defence?
You have to blame Bruce for that, as that’s no doubt how he set us up.
That said, there are mitigating circumstances as we were without a recognised Left back, which was always going to cause us a problem.
Adomah was basically totally nullified because he had to spend too much time covering the position and without his threat I though we didn’t look balanced.
Of course, you have to ask who left us with only one Left back in the first place?
So Wolves got the goal and then eased off somewhat, which seemed to let us back in the game. Not that we offered any major threat, a Snodgrass free kick apart. And we got caught again in what might have been a more realistic situation if we’d played how we should have in the first place.
I said I’d be ok with losing this one, but never for one minute did I think we’d make it so easy for them.
In fact, I’m struggling to think of when we last demonstrated such a lack of intent in a Derby.
That was poor. Piss poor.
I’m not happy at all tonight 🙁
I could forgive the result if we played anyway decent and made it competitive, I could forgive the inept play and tactics if it was a 1 off “a bad day at the office” but this is a pattern, a pattern of shit play EVERY game we are not going up this season get rid of Bruce now and bring in a forward thinking manager in the hope that we can at least compete next season.
spot on kerryvillan
As I said. Scrappy wins mean nothing unless you put in the performances.We’re 12 games in and I’m already seeing our fans calling for gritty wins. We’re a quarter the way into the season and our standards for how we should be performing are so low. Our delusional fans are calling this day at the office, and if we won every other game, then fine. But we haven’t even won 50% of our games this season. I’ve pretty much called how every game would go so far bar beating Forest. And with again, we’ll lose to Fulham next.
Ah Badger! I spotted the deliberate error in your topic title. You meant to say that was piss poor.
This is precisely why I wanted Bruce out at the end of last season. You will not get out of this league playing turgid, defensive football.
The gulf between the teams was huge. Their manager is new to this league and has assembled a team in a fraction of the time Bruce has had, that is way ahead of where we are.
Time for people to face the truth. I don’t see a promotion here, unless we scrape the play offs and fluke it. Bruce’s team/squad/tactics/training. A million miles away from what we have a right to expect given the money spent.
You would think with two wide men Villa would be exciting. They are anything but that. As soon as we get a break to counter, the ball gets passed to Whelan who passes it back to Chester / Terry. Then the ball will be passed from side to side full backs. The opposition press, so the balk is punted up the wing and lost on most occasions.
Two wide men, get the ball out to them quickly.
Whelan / Hourine midfield is just not strong enough.
Bruce might have more championship promotion medals than any other manager on the planet. But his style of football is cautious, negative, predictable and boring. Dr Xia will eventually see the light.
Need to get rid of Bruce now.
Going into that game with 4 4 2 was a mistake. Our centre mids are not good enough. It works against teams like Burton and Barnsley but not good sides.
What worries me is Bruce didn’t see that coming.
replacing baker with terry was big mistake,we have brought our entire team back 20 yards starting off to compensate for terry lack of pace,along with that chester looks a completely different player from last year,play hutton whoever is in front of him retreats 30 yards to cover for hutton. then whelan even mon has dropped him from ireland team plays beside terry so that is now 6 players within touching distance of our 18 yard line, not easy for other 6 ,then when we are 2 down getting the run around bruce thinks its a good idea to put on ohare not last few weeks when we are winning against poor sides but away to one of league better sides brainless again spud
76% of our fans didn’t either according to poll. The gap between the two teams was scary they looked like they were a top 2 Prem team compared to us
Poor performance. Would have been nice to win but we need to look to the next game now. Got to get behind the lads agaisnt Fulham. Results were decent to us, still only 1 point from the play offs and 5 from 2nd. Plenty of games left. Lets move on!
The gap between us and Wolves was ridiculous Bruce has to go even if we get play offs there’s only a 25% we’d go up. With this squad and Bruce we’d be lucky to win one game in the Prem if we did get bk up.
We would spend big if we go up. Team would look very different. So until pur first game back in the prem its all ifs and buts.
Yes, I agree; we should move on.
Even the very best teams don’t win every game and we’re certaily no exception.
We got trounced by what’s currently a very good side, even though Bruce says it wasn’t about formation/setup (I think he’s 100% wrong about that, fwiw; we’re inherently too cautious).
But my money says Wolves won’t be where they are now, come the end of the season.
And it’s a long, tough season, where I do believe our squad will show out.
Badger, I totally agree with you. Wolves will not be where they are now come May.
I am convinced that they will fall away sooner rather than later and I am also convinced that we will still finish top 2.
Agree with Oohah that this squad will not be strong enough for the Prem but in the same breathe I also think it’s to good for The Championship.
We will get promoted, we’re one point off the playoffs and only 7 off top spot. with 30 odd games left to go writing us off now is nothing short of ridiculous. Even more so given our performances ain’t been great and WILL get better yet we sit in a very handy position.
IN BRUCE I TRUST.
UTV.
Bruce has been with us for a year and has had two transfer markets. How much longer does he get to prove HIS TEAM’s performances will get better. Emphasis on HIS TEAM.
I’m completely baffled how people are posting Wolves won’t be where they are now and we’ll still be going up. Have I been watching the same Villa as they have? Have we even put in a good performance this season bar Burton? Because… I’m gonna go with no. Maybe Norwich. What have you been actually watching that shows the PERFORMANCES will get any better? Because they were supposed to get better after January, and we went on a little run of poor performances but Kodjia scoring every game. And then that died off. He had the summer window and I was told we’d be playing that attacking football because that’s how Bruce will play. And yet we’re still defending every single game.
People are dreaming if they think performances under Bruce are ever going to change. He doesn’t think he plays defensive football and he doesn’t think how we played against Wolves was wrong. This is what you get with fossilized British managers. Outplayed by a young Portuguese manager in his first year. But they were supposed to be the foreign whipping boys…
I’m as surprised as you. Personally I think Wolves will finish comfortably clear at the top, great manager and excellent technical players a cut above the rest of the league.
But of course there are those who will wax lyrical over a scrappy penalty against Bolton and beating Burton as an example of us turning the corner. Yesterday was the acid test to show what progress had been made in the last 12 months from Bruce’s first game against Wolves….. and we saw the same predictable garbage.
I get trying to be optimistic, but realistically we are competing for 6th which is totally unacceptable.
I just don’t get it. Good football, teams that can attack, hold possession and make you look like garbage are the teams that 95% of the time win trophies. United under Fergie, Barcelona under Pep, Bayern under Heynckes, soon to be City under Pep, Juventus under Conte. They dominated teams, they went for the jugular and want to win every game. They don’t set up to draw. Well Fergie did on occasion when necessary but he was usually top of the league already. But then if you ask these people if Bruce was sacked who’d they want they’d want some shit British manager like Pulis who’s just as negative so. Our fan is the only one I knows that accepts shit football.
I should say, accepts shit football when we’ve spent more money than anyone and should be attacking every team every game. Not saying go 3-2-5 like Di Matteo… But 4-3-3 has always been our best formation.
Andrew, I notice you don’t mention Maureen in that list of managers.
He’s been sucessful, hasn’t he?
But I guess that doesn’t quite suit your argument, as his footy is crap too.
Just playing devil’s advocate 🙂
Haha you’re right, and that is why I omitted him. It’s incredibly rare that defensive football like his works.
In fairness when you spend as much as him at every club, it’s gonna work. Plus I mean, Drogba/Anelka then Eto’o/Milito then Ronaldo/Benzema now Lukaku. You’re gonna score goals.
Dortmund under Klopp, Wolfsburg when they had Dzeko and Grafite, attacking football 9 out of ten times beats defensive football.
Fair play, I can’t fault your argument, except maybe we signed the equivalent top players at this level, in Kodjia, RM and Hogan?
And they just haven’t worked out as we expected?
Or more accurately, it just hasn’t happened for us (we still have time with Hogan).
That would be down to the manager then, wouldn’t it? I mean if these 42m worth of strikers who can light it up at other sides aren’t producing for us, wouldn’t that mean that they’re not getting supplied correctly, or being played correctly? McCormack’s never been a top goal scorer, only having like 3-4 good seasons, but Kodjia and Hogan are pretty known for scoring. so how is on a supposed better team, we can’t get either scoring now? That’s 100% down to a shit manager. Which is what we have.
It was certainly not a surprise that we were completely out-thought and outplayed by a dynamic and forward thinking Wolves. who have been far bolder than us in bringing in a top European coach and technical players who are a cut above the championship.
Watching us fielding Glenn Whelan and Elmohamady just screams out Bruce and the old boys club….
Win, lose or draw I will call for Bruce to go every single week… he’s part of a dying breed of managers who have no purpose left in the modern game with their outdated tactics.
Yes, we might well sneak a play off place come the end of it, but i wouldnt back us in a pressurised environment like the play offs. We fold like a pack of cards when we’re under threat and every time we go behind the game is almost over.
The two times we’ve played genuine contenders in Cardiff and Wolves, we were an embarrassment. Sooner rather than later Dr Tony is going to have to bin Wyness and Bruce… every week with them is a week wasted
Xia’s naive like Lerner was with O’Neill and Lambert to the nice guy “I got this, I have the confidence and ability to take us forward” attitude these guys have for absolutely no reason. Attitudes they never warranted and were kept far longer than they should’ve. Bruce will get that same treatment. It’s been a year and there’s no signs of improvement in performances. And before someone says Burton, remember how bad we made Rotherham look under Di Matteo. Wyness is running the club, Xia’s the funder. Unfortunately he won’t bin either of them any time soon.
Thought we were doing ok until we conceded. Then we fell apart. Had we gone 4-5-1 Bruce would’ve been hammered for it. We need to persevere with this team and formation.
We can beat Fulham and Blues and we are in the mix. We can make the top 6. It’s very tight at the top still and we are strong at home. Just need to improve away from home.
We have only lost to Cardiff and Wolves who are both riding high. We will be top 6 at the end of the season.
Does Reading beating us not count anymore? I mean I wish we could take that back, but that doesn’t seem likely.
Top 6 and a play off spot isn’t good enough, because we won’t win it. Do you honestly think we can beat United, Bristol City, Leeds, Preston? And beat two of them? Sheffield United are on points with Cardiff and are also riding high, does that mean when we lose to them it’s okay too?
How bad we made Rotherham under Di Matteo…..they were down a month before the end of the season 😂
Are we not smart enough to understand the example given? Being happy to beat Burton is like being happy when we beat Rotherham. My word, step up your game bucko.
Do Wolves remind anyone apart from me of Leicester…..run run run…quick passing and a top striker (then)……also stronger than most of the opposition.
Saw Blues on Friday and then out Cardiffed Cardiff …so them will steamroller us ….we will need 10 Gabby types…..
Bruce says the Villa need stability……YES but not in this division……would be O.K. if we were mid table all the time in Prem……
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/41614264
Reading Bruce’s comments is about as awful as reading the Bruce apologists comments. At least he’s doing it because he’s desperately trying to keep a high paying job he’s not qualified for, the others are simply deluded.
“You can talk about systems and formations, but we didn’t do enough”
“I hope we’re a top six team. Yes, I think we should be good enough.”
After a year I would think he should’ve stabilized us… Two transfer markets and other than the back up left back he wanted, we got everyone he personally wanted. And yet he still can’t get it right…
i was happy when we beat burton and when we beat rotherham because i havent got miserable bastards disease – we will make top 6 and that’s all we can hope for with this team.
that is possibly one saddest post put up on here,bruce has assembled this team ,he is the expert in this league so why are we so poor
A good manager would do far better than just aiming for 6th. Its negative and defeatist. With our outlay we should be aiming for automatics and no lower than 2nd. its a sad sight to see some fans accepting the boring old cliches the dinosaurs Bruce and Wyness come out with. I dont even bother listening to what Bruce has to say, when he’s not talking his usual defeatist garbage, he’s having a pop at the fans because he managed to scrape a 1-0 against a dire Bolton side.
Ultimately even if we scrape 6th and win the play offs (which I don’t think will happen), we’d still need a change of manager.
The championship has moved on from the Bruce style of managers – the recent successes of Wagner, Nuno, Dyche, Jokanovic amongst illustrates this clearly
we definitely need a change of manager if we get promoted, the board know that – however they will keep Bruce for as long as possible in the champ – we may finish 3rd we may finish 6th but it will still be in the playoffs – after years of decline i’ll take top 6 this season
incidentally – is being happy with 6th defeatist or positive, depends on how you look at i suppose?
Being happy with sixth is defeatist, without a doubt.
Why isn’t Bruce aiming at top one or top two, at least?
You can cut this anyway you want, but surely after the money spent, we should be aiming high?
This is what pisses me off about Bruce.
He’s tried to make out like we’ve spent nothing, while trying to reduce our expectations.
That isn’t good enough.
Yet still I think he’s the right man for us, as of now.
Yes, some of you might think I’m crazy, but that’s how it is.
Of course, I’m able to change my mind, if it suits.
Oh, slight aside, but it seems Hogan is getting major stick.
I think that’s somewhat unfair, as he’s had absolutely nothing to work with.
The question has to be “can Bruce integrate him in a team that suits or do we sell at yet another major loss?”
I think I know where my money is.
I also think we should start asking who’s signing the players?
Because I seriously don’t think it’s Bruce.
I will give SB credit for one thing: honestly admitting we were beaten by a better side on the day.
Wolves were better because their manager with his overseas experience was able to stock the side with better players for the same or less money than Bruce has spent on well known in the UK players.
With the exception of Grealish and the reckless Taylor, Bruce had all his main players available – he still chose to set up his team who had won 4 on the bounce as if they were afraid of Wolves, with a strategy of putting 8 men behind the ball and trying to nick one through the front pair. It failed. It may have been a strategy which failed less badly and less quickly than one of taking the game to Wolves. Either way the team SB built is not good enough.
Across town the Bluenoses have asked to have Josh Taylor from Sutton United on a week’s trial. Since they can’t sign a player until January the attitude that Sutton’s next game is unimportant grates – but at least their scouting network is alive to the odd gold nuggets in the VNL. Villa’s scouts seem to have the blinkers on.
“he still chose to set up his team who had won 4 on the bounce as if they were afraid of Wolves, with a strategy of putting 8 men behind the ball and trying to nick one through the front pair”
Amen brother.
If Bruce persists with this “playing down expectations” thing, we’ll never go anywhere.
We have to go for the jugular and live and die by it.
Give too much respect to the oppo and they have the upper hand from the off, imo.
Although you have to ask what’s driving Bruce’s aproach?
I suspect the winter window will not see much happening.