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Author Topic: Bruce Sacked at last (now official)  (Read 2114621 times)

Online paul_e

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7230 on: October 16, 2017, 03:52:43 PM »
The one thing that I find so tragically predictable with Bruce is that if we go in at half time not leading by a couple of goals you just know the opposition manager will make the necessary tactical changes and get the result. Bruce seems to be tactically out thought by anybody and everybody.

We've let a lead slip once this season.


We've also had 3 games where the full time result is worse than the half time score.

We also have a 2nd half goal difference of -4 (as opposed to +9 in the first half).

We've improved our result in the 2nd half (i.e. increased our goal difference) twice, against Barnsley and Burton.

There's 2 key things to take from this: we have a few older players and they struggle to see out games and/or when teams get in at half time having seen how we're playing they adjust things to account for it and we don't respond to the changes.

Offline exiled on the wirral!

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7231 on: October 16, 2017, 03:53:56 PM »
The thing is you don't have to press teams, it's a bit of a 'flavour of the month' right now but it isn't essential.  What's more important is that you don't let the opposition have the ball where they want it.  Against us, for example, crowd around Davis and get into Kodjia early.  Get both of those right and the rest of our team will be too deep to have an impact.  That's not about pressing, it's about having a plan to deal with how teams play.  That's what we're really missing and it's where Bruce doesn't learn.  Against Brentford in January Ryan Woods was the best play on the pitch by a mile because we let him have time and space to run the game.  Against Brentford a month ago we did exactly the same thing and it turned out similar but they didn't have the same cutting edge to punish us.


That's the real problem with us right now, once we get a decent result or 2 our style gets fixed and teams can analyse that and find things to work on but we never do that to them, you never see the subtle changes to the shape to isolate the slow defender or to get Davis/Kodjia playing wider to stop a full back wander up field so often.


For example given they were play a back 3 I'd have got Davis to drift to the right, Kodjia to drift a bit deeper, pushed Adomah higher up the pitch and got Snodgrass to step inside a little.  By having 2 wide forwards like that they either have to keep the wing backs deep or push the wide centre backs out on them.  Either way you're creating space for us to work with and disrupting their plans by making them worry about how they counter us.  Bruce never makes those adjustments.
I actually thought we pressed up quite well in the first half thus Wolves never really got behind us..we didn't do that at the start of the second half which proved our downfall. My biggest criticism I can lay at us is how slowly we come out in the 2nd half of games, Bruce really needs to address this more than anything else.

Offline tomd2103

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7232 on: October 16, 2017, 04:09:27 PM »
The thing is you don't have to press teams, it's a bit of a 'flavour of the month' right now but it isn't essential.  What's more important is that you don't let the opposition have the ball where they want it.  Against us, for example, crowd around Davis and get into Kodjia early.  Get both of those right and the rest of our team will be too deep to have an impact.  That's not about pressing, it's about having a plan to deal with how teams play.  That's what we're really missing and it's where Bruce doesn't learn.  Against Brentford in January Ryan Woods was the best play on the pitch by a mile because we let him have time and space to run the game.  Against Brentford a month ago we did exactly the same thing and it turned out similar but they didn't have the same cutting edge to punish us.


You would hope the bit in bold is picked up through scouting teams and then worked on in the training ground.  That said, there are always going to be changes to opposition systems and that is where some flexibility is required.  That is where Bruce struggles for me and he seems to be of the mindset that "we'll see it out until half-time / 70 minutes" before making any changes.  Two examples this season were Bristol City away and Brentford at home.  At Bristol City, he let Chester flounder out of position at right-back for 25 minutes before making a substitution at half-time when we changed from 3 at the back. 

The Brentford game is an even clearer example of his lack of flexibility.  Davis was up front on his own in that game and I'm guessing Brentford had seen that and they placed that little ginger lad in a screening role in front of him.  We had three in midfield, so their two more advanced midfielders were being picked up by Hourihane and Onomah, meaning Whelan was standing spare with no one around him when we were defending.  This meant that the little ginger lad had loads of space and time when they had the ball and this became obvious in the first ten minutes.  Rather than changing it and pushing Onomah or Hourihane on, he waited until half-time to make any changes, by which time we had lost any kind of momentum.       

Offline Leicester_Villian

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7233 on: October 16, 2017, 05:14:25 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

Offline Villa75

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7234 on: October 16, 2017, 06:36:37 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.


Offline saunders_heroes

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7235 on: October 16, 2017, 06:48:19 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



Agreed. I’m assuming Gabby is injured because he’s always a threat of the bench and a far better option than Hogan. No doubt he’ll make his return over the next game or two...

Online malckennedy

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7236 on: October 16, 2017, 06:51:50 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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  • GM : 17.03.2015
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7237 on: October 16, 2017, 06:57:21 PM »
He's not the answer we'd like but with our lack of pace at times he's, depressingly, our best option off the bench. Put it this way, he can't do any worse than Hogan has recently.

Offline Villa75

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  • Posts: 1033
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7238 on: October 16, 2017, 07:17:55 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Care to tell us what is?

Online malckennedy

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  • Posts: 846
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7239 on: October 16, 2017, 07:18:08 PM »
He's not the answer we'd like but with our lack of pace at times he's, depressingly, our best option off the bench. Put it this way, he can't do any worse than Hogan has recently.

I think he'd give it a good go to do worse than Hogan. He's an inept footballer who used to be a fast runner in the days when he could be bothered.

Online malckennedy

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Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7240 on: October 16, 2017, 07:20:19 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Care to tell us what is?

If I could do that I'd have a career in football. But I recognise a waste of a shirt when I see it.

Offline Villa75

  • Member
  • Posts: 1033
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7241 on: October 16, 2017, 07:22:31 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Care to tell us what is?

If I could do that I'd have a career in football. But I recognise a waste of a shirt when I see it.

Like Hogan, you mean?

Gabby will offer more than Hogan, especially coming off the bench.
« Last Edit: October 16, 2017, 07:29:22 PM by Villa75 »

Offline CT

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    • http://astonvilla.blogfootball.com/CT
  • GM : 11.02.2024
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7242 on: October 16, 2017, 07:29:22 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Care to tell us what is?

If I could do that I'd have a career in football. But I recognise a waste of a shirt when I see it.

Like Hogan, you mean?

If Hogan takes the piss out of the club for the next four or five years I'll totally agree.

Offline N'ZMAV

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  • Location: Peckham
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7243 on: October 16, 2017, 07:31:38 PM »
If Gabby Agbonlahor is the answer.... then what exactly is the question?

Offline Villa75

  • Member
  • Posts: 1033
Re: Bruce out?
« Reply #7244 on: October 16, 2017, 07:35:13 PM »
Its only a matter of time before Bruce will replace Davis with the free scoring Gabby ..........
Although guess I won't object if Gabby is on the bench for that next away game

I'd argue he would offer more than Hogan at the moment. And even though Davis might be the future, he's not good enough to be relied upon each and every game.

Could have done with Gabby's pace against Wolves at the weekend. It might have given them something to think about, rather than having free reign to do what they wanted.



It took a couple of minutes to realise that this was a serious post. Gabby Agbonlahor is not the answer to our problems.

Care to tell us what is?

If I could do that I'd have a career in football. But I recognise a waste of a shirt when I see it.

Like Hogan, you mean?

If Hogan takes the piss out of the club for the next four or five years I'll totally agree.

He's not good enough to be with us four or five years, so you'll have to take the evidence in front of you.

Can you honestly see Hogan scoring critical goals in big matches?

 


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