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Author Topic: Bruce Sacked at last (now official)  (Read 2113345 times)

Online The Edge

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1470 on: April 05, 2017, 09:46:25 AM »
you can't and fortunately, the last two sides we've played, possessed zero threat up front - had they had a Kodjia results might well have been different.
Had my aunt been born with a pair of bollocks she would of been my uncle.

Online The Edge

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1471 on: April 05, 2017, 09:51:14 AM »
Bruce deserves credit, undoubtedly, for the current run, but I do feel that he’s somewhat stumbled across a successful line-up and formation. Had Bjarnasson not got injured I would wager that Bruce would still be persevering with him at the expense of Amavi or Adomah. He was also hell-bent on shoe-horning Hogan into the line-up when, the reality is our best football has been played with Kodjia as a lone-striker and 2 wide-men either side of him. Similarly had it not been for Grealish’s red-card / injury he would have been ahead of Green in the pecking-order, which has now been reversed.  I think Bruce is now showing that he’s effective as a motivator and at galvanising teams and making them hard to beat. I still don’t think there’s much there tactically though, and he’s heavily reliant on his attacking players individual ability to win us games. Still, it’s working at the moment and long may it continue!
7 clean sheets in 8 games might also have something to do with it!

Offline RussellC

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1472 on: April 05, 2017, 10:09:57 AM »
Well, yeah, clean-sheets stop you losing games but scoring goals is ultimately what wins them. We still don't attack with much plan and are heavily reliant on Kodjia's brilliance and (to a lesser degree) Adomah's creativity. Amavi doesn't provide much of an attacking threat at all and neither do our full-backs.  The midfield is looking very solid but not particularly creative. Still, I don't believe that it's a conincidence that our best run-of-form has come with Grealish out of the side. We've just got to hope that Kodjia stays fit for the rest of the season now.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1473 on: April 05, 2017, 10:16:22 AM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Offline aj2k77

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1474 on: April 05, 2017, 10:17:33 AM »
you can't and fortunately, the last two sides we've played, possessed zero threat up front - had they had a Kodjia results might well have been different.

Had we had different players too the games might have panned out differently too. We have what we have, they have what they have and at the end of it all we keep clean sheets and win games. It'll do for me. It's the start of our return and it sure beats getting the piss taken out of us every week, we aren't no Barcelona but we aren't a joke anymore either. Good stuff Villa.

Offline aj2k77

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1475 on: April 05, 2017, 10:17:56 AM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Well to be fair to them they score a hell of a lot more goals than we do.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1476 on: April 05, 2017, 10:29:16 AM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Well to be fair to them they score a hell of a lot more goals than we do.

Not recently.

Newcastle 2-2 Bristol City (same as us).
Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (first goal from Diame was a total and utter fluke, the sort of luck that has deserted us at times this season).
Huddersfield 1-3 Newcastle (good win tbf)
Reading 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 1-3 Fulham
SHA 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 2-1 Wigan.

They just had a good start to the season. 7 wins out of the first 9 wasn't it so miles clear of us. They really haven't impressed me that much when I've seen them on TV given what they have spent on their squad.

Now given their position in the table they're in lockdown mode.

We just need to have a good start to next season. At any level it's not a good idea to be giving rivals 10 point head starts as RDM expertly did between August-October.

Offline DB

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1477 on: April 05, 2017, 11:10:08 AM »
The Championship is shit footy. Winning and gaining confidence is more than it is in the PL. I still get frustriated why the players lose the ball or cock-up a play, being used to watching top flight quality - the players are just not as good.

Online The Edge

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1478 on: April 05, 2017, 11:23:59 AM »
you can't and fortunately, the last two sides we've played, possessed zero threat up front - had they had a Kodjia results might well have been different.

Had we had different players too the games might have panned out differently too. We have what we have, they have what they have and at the end of it all we keep clean sheets and win games. It'll do for me. It's the start of our return and it sure beats getting the piss taken out of us every week, we aren't no Barcelona but we aren't a joke anymore either. Good stuff Villa.
Spot on.

Offline Villa Lew

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1479 on: April 06, 2017, 08:13:39 PM »
Brucie one of the nominees for manager of the month along with Lambert and 2 others.

Offline brontebilly

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1480 on: April 06, 2017, 10:15:52 PM »
has turned around a very sticky situation to be fair to him

will leave it to regular viewers of the team to say whether the approach during this run is sustainable

has earned the right to kick on into next season

Offline Meanwood Villa

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1481 on: April 06, 2017, 10:26:14 PM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Well to be fair to them they score a hell of a lot more goals than we do.

Not recently.

Newcastle 2-2 Bristol City (same as us).
Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (first goal from Diame was a total and utter fluke, the sort of luck that has deserted us at times this season).
Huddersfield 1-3 Newcastle (good win tbf)
Reading 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 1-3 Fulham
SHA 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 2-1 Wigan.

They just had a good start to the season. 7 wins out of the first 9 wasn't it so miles clear of us. They really haven't impressed me that much when I've seen them on TV given what they have spent on their squad.

Now given their position in the table they're in lockdown mode.

We just need to have a good start to next season. At any level it's not a good idea to be giving rivals 10 point head starts as RDM expertly did between August-October.

They've got 27 more points than us, have scored 31 more goals and conceded 6 fewer goals. They have quite clearly been better than us in every department all season. Hopefully that will be us next year.

Offline SoccerHQ

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1482 on: April 07, 2017, 10:45:13 AM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Well to be fair to them they score a hell of a lot more goals than we do.

Not recently.

Newcastle 2-2 Bristol City (same as us).
Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (first goal from Diame was a total and utter fluke, the sort of luck that has deserted us at times this season).
Huddersfield 1-3 Newcastle (good win tbf)
Reading 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 1-3 Fulham
SHA 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 2-1 Wigan.

They just had a good start to the season. 7 wins out of the first 9 wasn't it so miles clear of us. They really haven't impressed me that much when I've seen them on TV given what they have spent on their squad.

Now given their position in the table they're in lockdown mode.

We just need to have a good start to next season. At any level it's not a good idea to be giving rivals 10 point head starts as RDM expertly did between August-October.

They've got 27 more points than us, have scored 31 more goals and conceded 6 fewer goals. They have quite clearly been better than us in every department all season. Hopefully that will be us next year.

I meant more from the turn of the year. Obviously at the start they lost their first two league games and then won something like 16 of their next 18 games while we were struggling to even win one game.

Point I'm trying to make is for all the stick SB gets for our style of play I can't honestly say Newcastle excite me more when I watch them as a neutral on the Sky games. They are another team to me that just grinds their way to wins most of the time.

Offline old man villa fan

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1483 on: April 07, 2017, 11:42:51 AM »
Are we really playing much differently to Newcastle?

Well to be fair to them they score a hell of a lot more goals than we do.

Not recently.

Newcastle 2-2 Bristol City (same as us).
Brighton 1-2 Newcastle (first goal from Diame was a total and utter fluke, the sort of luck that has deserted us at times this season).
Huddersfield 1-3 Newcastle (good win tbf)
Reading 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 1-3 Fulham
SHA 0-0 Newcastle
Newcastle 2-1 Wigan.

They just had a good start to the season. 7 wins out of the first 9 wasn't it so miles clear of us. They really haven't impressed me that much when I've seen them on TV given what they have spent on their squad.

Now given their position in the table they're in lockdown mode.

We just need to have a good start to next season. At any level it's not a good idea to be giving rivals 10 point head starts as RDM expertly did between August-October.

They've got 27 more points than us, have scored 31 more goals and conceded 6 fewer goals. They have quite clearly been better than us in every department all season. Hopefully that will be us next year.

I meant more from the turn of the year. Obviously at the start they lost their first two league games and then won something like 16 of their next 18 games while we were struggling to even win one game.

Point I'm trying to make is for all the stick SB gets for our style of play I can't honestly say Newcastle excite me more when I watch them as a neutral on the Sky games. They are another team to me that just grinds their way to wins most of the time.

What would be a neutral's view on us though.

We want Villa to do well and, like most supporters, accept poorer performances if it means good results but for how long.

For me, I set the standard based on the quality of the players and money available to improve on the weak links.  In that respect, we have steadied the ship and now need to be on the upward curve.

Offline Brend'Watkins

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Re: Bruce out
« Reply #1484 on: April 07, 2017, 11:58:15 AM »
Bruce has a reputation for only playing 'Steve Bruce' kind of football which is what we are seeing.  This is fine if it is all about eking out results to either stay up or get promotion to the big league with a limited budget.  This is what Bruce has had to work with in his time as a manager.  He now has the biggest job he has ever had and probably will ever have and it's the platform for him to show he's not just a Steve Bruce manager and that there is more to him than the turgid stuff we are witnessing. If it's more of the same next season and we maintain the results like we are then great for getting the job done he was required to do.  If he does it in a style that shows he's building something and he can be a very good manager then even better. I'd want him to stay on that basis.   If it's the former get rid as soon as we're up.

 


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