Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Drummond]

A win is  a win. I want to give him a chance but by all accounts he's lucky today. Agbonlahor and Hogan both injured. If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have had the energy we did.... Would we?

[KRS]

I'm glad he's complaining about the pressure and the criticism...firstly, it tells us that he heard it loud and clear; and secondly, he now knows that this club isn't a soft touch and he has to do something about it because we won't accept the crap performances and results that he's been getting away with. May be he got away with it at his previous clubs so I hope this last week has been a wake up call for him if he wants to stay employed at Aston Villa.

[Villatillidie1982]

A win is  a win. I want to give him a chance but by all accounts he's lucky today. Agbonlahor and Hogan both injured. If that hadn't happened, we wouldn't have had the energy we did.... Would we?

If a manager realises that he has made mistakes and acts to rectify those mistakes that's okay by me. Maybe Hogan and Davis together would terrify Championship defences. Hogan needs a partner.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

His interview is on the official Villa Facebook page.

I'm only going to watch it tomorrow. I'm not going to let him ruin a wonderful and rare Villa win.

[tomd2103]

I think it is a bit premature for Bruce to be having a go at the fans.

His interview on WM after the game was a bit bizarre to be honest.  He started off by making out that he had got abuse after "one bad week", seemingly forgetting the pretty underwhelming 7 months he had last season.  He then went on to say that some players had only had six months at the club before adding that people should remember "we're only young" and bemoaning the fact that he's had little money to spend.

Some bizarre claims, but the I found the one about being "young" very puzzling.  Couple of young players in today but not in the past couple of weeks though.

[ChicagoLion]

You know when the pressure has got to a manager, they start comming out with bizarre statements, give a completely different version of the game to every one else and start bending the truth to justify thier position.
Does not bode well.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Agreed. But I will give him a pass today. He has been on the receiving end of a lot of criticism from the likes of me this week, if he wants to give some back after his win then fair enough.

I do hope he takes some time tomorrow to think about why he was criticised though. Because putting his head in the sand is just not going to help him or us going forward.

 

[VinnieChase84]

The pressure has clearly affected Bruce. Some of his comments he's coming out with now are just bizarre

[PeterWithe]

The pressure this week hasn't been nonsensical in any way, Bruce is in charge of the most expensively assembled Championship side ever, one point from three games and playing garbage football simply isn't acceptable.

If he doesn't like the heat he should go and manage somewhere where the expectation is lower, as is the salary and the budget for players.

[mr underhill]

one win doesn't change a thing - he needs to get that sort of performance out of the team virtually every week - Even the best sides have an off day.

[Villa75]

Bruce needs to reign it in a bit.

One win, against a very poor Norwich side, does not exonerate him for what has gone before. If it goes tits up against Bristol City on Friday, which it could easily do, he is setting himself up for a massive backlash.

I'd much rather he focused on the positives of the performance, and admitted what came before was not good enough and that he would do his best to make sure it was not be repeated.

[aj2k77]

He's feeling the heat no doubt but if it's taking him out of his comfort zone then it's only a good thing for us.

Yesterday was a start. We need this attacking intent consistently. I want Bruce gone but more displays like that means he keeps his job and we will be on the up which is good for Villa.

Money wise, he is right to an extent, NET he is in profit for his transfer dealings, even more so if you count Amavi as a concluded deal. 

[PaulWinch again]

He has to follow this up with this sort of attacking performance each week now. It can't be a one off, and he also has to sort balance that with the defence not conceding at least two goals every week. Hourihane now he's being deployed in the correct manner is exactly the midfielder we've needed for a while.

[Virgil Caine]

I think the comment from Bruce that we deserved something at Reading shows a worrying level of 'in denial'. As many have said it was not a one week  of poor performance it was the fact we have won only 4 away games in the last 43, a close season that revealed nothing of a coached in method of play, capitulation last season and the resulting in poor performances away at at home, a lack of understanding that a solid start to the season is a must have and that without Kodjia we lacked a goal threat. I hope that his post match comments were a reflection of pressure applied by Wyness and Xia as the level of expectation is not unreasonably high at Villa, winning at home and averaging above a point away throughout the season is the minimum return for such a squad. I really want Bruce to prove doubters like me wrong as I believe he has integrity and I hope today he can reflect of his time with Villa so far and understand that performance has not been good enough.

[JUAN PABLO]

I think it is a bit premature for Bruce to be having a go at the fans.

Quite right. He is still adamant that we shouldn't have lost at Reading and takes no notice of his previous 40 games at the club. Oh, and he hasn't spent millions? Maybe not as much as others, but he's spent enough.  He stumbled on this team selection, yet he keeps picking Hutton.

spot on

I could understand If he had no right backs but he has two that can do a better job .    Same when he went back and used Gabby, we need to get rid of the old dead wood and think of the future now.