Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[AsTallAsLions]

The only players he's played out of position on a long term basis are Hutton and Adomah and I've not heard too many complaints about those two this season.

True but on a short term basis he manages to get it wrong far too often. He's his own worst enemy.

I think he is definitely more of a reactive manager than a proactive one and waits for things to go awry before even considering any changes.  He also seems quite stubborn in that he persists with things that clearly aren't working (Johnstone kicking out to the right wing when his poor kicking means a lot of them don't get there being a main one).  That said, if he does get us up this season, then he has done a decent enough job.   

It was the left wing v Leeds..... straight out of play more often than not. Agree with your main points.

[Sexual Ealing]

The only three teams I can think of who move the ball quickly are Wolves, Fulham and Brentford and we've beaten two of them.

They’ve all beaten us.

[Monty]

I've gone back and forth about Bruce, but I've always thought of him as a manager with a ceiling on his achievements which is probably higher than promotion, probably higher than relegation from the PL, but almost certainly lower than thriving in the PL. The mixed season we've had against the better sides in this division confirms that for me.

[mike]

I've gone back and forth about Bruce, but I've always thought of him as a manager with a ceiling on his achievements which is probably higher than promotion, probably higher than relegation from the PL, but almost certainly lower than thriving in the PL. The mixed season we've had against the better sides in this division confirms that for me.

That about sums it up.

[Clampy]

The joke midfield that's got over 50 goals?

Calling our midfield a 'joke' must be a bit of a joke itself.

[paul_e]

The midfield isn't a joke but used better it could dominate games regularly, as is we get flashes of brilliance but look disjointed far too often and chase shadows more than we should.  I think the argument is more that it's barely the sum of it's parts and very reliant on individual talent.

[Drummond]

I saw a stat yesterday, which I now can't find and haven't the time to research, that suggests if we win our last two games we'll have more points than in any of Bruce's promotion seasons. We're already ahead of two of the four.

So Bruce could have a better season than he's ever had yet not get promoted.

[SoccerHQ]

One thing I criticise SB for is we weren't ready for the start of the season. That has proved costly with the start Cardiff made and given he came in October 2016 we shouldn't been prepared for the start.

Since then we've had some poor games and results but we've also been on some very good runs. We started to click from September and that lasted until late November, then we had a really good run for two months from NYE to the middle of February and we've got back to winning ways in the last few weeks (even though it's too late).

Third highest scorers in the league (71 so not far off the Wyness prediciton of 80 goals needed for promotion), third best defence in the league.

We're nearly, not quite. Same old Villa really.

[Legion]

The same old Villa of a couple of seasons ago would have done a Sunderland.

[Lastfootstamper]

I saw a stat yesterday, which I now can't find and haven't the time to research, that suggests if we win our last two games we'll have more points than in any of Bruce's promotion seasons. We're already ahead of two of the four.

So Bruce could have a better season than he's ever had yet not get promoted.

I think had anyone proposed in August that 88 points would see us potentially finish no better than fourth, they'd have found themselves on the end of both barrels accusing them of unprecedented levels of cynicism, even for a Villa fan!

I'd wager the top four have never aggregated this many points before.

[SoccerHQ]

The same old Villa of a couple of seasons ago would have done a Sunderland.

It was more same old Villa in not taking the final step, like not making top 4 under MON, not pushing on in the mid 90s, not turning up to FA cup finals after excellent runs to get there.

Second was there for us after the Wolves game. We have another life with the play offs but we'll see, no one can be 100% confident we'll get through them.

[nick harper]

I saw a stat yesterday, which I now can't find and haven't the time to research, that suggests if we win our last two games we'll have more points than in any of Bruce's promotion seasons. We're already ahead of two of the four.

So Bruce could have a better season than he's ever had yet not get promoted.

I think had anyone proposed in August that 88 points would see us potentially finish no better than fourth, they'd have found themselves on the end of both barrels accusing them of unprecedented levels of cynicism, even for a Villa fan!

I'd wager the top four have never aggregated this many points before.

Hull finished second on 79 points under Bruce. That was an odd season but does reinforce the exceptional seasons Wolves, Cardiff and Fulham have had. I don’t think any team has not gone up automatically with more than 90 points, a distinct possibility in the next week or so.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

The joke midfield that's got over 50 goals?

If you'd read my post beyond the word 'joke' you'd have hopefully understood it's context. I'm more than aware where our goals have come from, 21 between top scorer Albert (14) and Snoddy (7), Hourihane is second top scorer with 11, the rest with 4 or less.

Hourihane scores a hattrick and the next game he's playing as a defensive midfielder whilst Whelan is told to run around like a teenager. He brings in the very talented Omanah and plays him on the wing. I think he put Axel at right back whilst he has three right backs on the bench. He prefers to change the whole team around to accommodate one change. I could go on but it's got to the stage where it no longer surprises me. And then you wonder why we've been so inconsistent this season.

We've played the majority of the season without a recognised 20+ goal striker so you expect us to cut our cloth and utilise the players we have. You only have to read the Whelan thread to see how most think he's shit yet for the last couple of games, played in the correct position, he's a very useful player. It begs the question why Hourihane, a Lampard type goal scoring midfielder was playing in a central midfield behind a more advanced Whelan. It was a joke and not a very funny one, one that probably cost us automatic promotion.

[Small Rodent]

I saw a stat yesterday, which I now can't find and haven't the time to research, that suggests if we win our last two games we'll have more points than in any of Bruce's promotion seasons. We're already ahead of two of the four.

So Bruce could have a better season than he's ever had yet not get promoted.

I think had anyone proposed in August that 88 points would see us potentially finish no better than fourth, they'd have found themselves on the end of both barrels accusing them of unprecedented levels of cynicism, even for a Villa fan!

I'd wager the top four have never aggregated this many points before.

2011/12   =  339
2012/13   =  318
2013/14   =  360
2014/15   =  350
2015/16  =   354
2016/17  =   353
2017/18  =   351 as it stands
2017/18  =   375 if all top 4 win all remaining games

[TheMalandro]

Failure. Out.

Spawn a playoff win, earn your corn.