Another Press-ing

[dave.woodhall]

Read it and weep:

http://thebirminghampress.com/2018/10/drama-at-villa-park-as-bruce-on-the-brink/

[Villa in Denmark]

A fair summation Dave.

As you say there surely can't be any way back for Bruce after this latest debacle.

[Drummond]

That Whelan pen summed it all up. Nonsensical.

[paul_e]

As a slight point, it was a definite penalty for me, the red card is really harsh but given Chester never actually made a challenge he can't claim to have been trying to win the ball so I can sort of see why the ref gave it.  I think it was the wrong decision and I strongly suspect the red card will be annulled but I don't think it's because the ref didn't know the rule as some people have suggested, for me it's the ref saw it as intentional contact but on a replay it's clearly accidental.

[Sexual Ealing]

I hope you're right Dave. I also never fail to recognise the pivot that took place that Sunday afternoon Vs Stoke.

[Steve67]

The penalty was as soft as I've seen for a while.  Maybe a little nudge but hardly a sending off. Very, very unlucky and I think it might be overturned on appeal.  Whether Bruce is back in Chester, or watching Chester in the next game is now for the owners to decide.  Utterly shambolic performance.  When I was a Manager of a football club, my players understood their jobs, even the substitutes.  They knew who was marking and where, they knew who was taking penalties.  Bruce didn't organise them enough and he didn't even know that Forestieri was banned for Sheffield Wednesday, further evidencing a lack or organisation.  He's taking the piss. What is it now, something like 29 points won from around 81 available? 

[Toronto Villa]

If Bruce truly wanted to keep his job he'd have pegged it onto the pitch and snatched the ball away from Whelan and given it to one of our attacking players.

[eamonn]

Whelan, as far as I remember, did take a lot of dead-balls for Stoke and Ireland so I can understand him feeling confident in taking the ball and having a go. Bigger issue was Bruce having shat himself at the red card leading to the substitution of the two main choices for penalties, his two strikers.

[brian green]

I would not mind so much eamonn if Whelan had "had a go".  He did not.  He side footed it to the goalkeeper.

[rob_bridge]

Good write up Dave.

[rob_bridge]

Whelan, as far as I remember, did take a lot of dead-balls for Stoke and Ireland so I can understand him feeling confident in taking the ball and having a go. Bigger issue was Bruce having shat himself at the red card leading to the substitution of the two main choices for penalties, his two strikers.

Eamonn look at what a  limited Southgate achieved with a fairly limited England team? Attention to detail - Trippier taking set pieces, all the big guys knowing where to position and run at corners, the whole NFL style meeja love-in day creating a good vibe.
Bruce is a million miles away from that - still the 'tuck into a few pie and pints post game' manager.

[mike]

I would not mind so much eamonn if Whelan had "had a go".  He did not.  He side footed it to the goalkeeper.

I wouldn’t mind if Whelan had scored more than one goal in seven years (according to the Beeb). I’m surprised no one has said he missed it on purpose... or no one else stopped him just to get rid of Bruce.

[paul_e]

I would not mind so much eamonn if Whelan had "had a go".  He did not.  He side footed it to the goalkeeper.

I wouldn’t mind if Whelan had scored more than one goal in seven years (according to the Beeb). I’m surprised no one has said he missed it on purpose... or no one else stopped him just to get rid of Bruce.

I implied it last night on the match thread.  I don't think he intended to miss, but the reaction was so muted that I don't think anyone really cared either, there was just something strange about the whole night after they equalised, it was almost a dream sequence.

[chrisw1]

If Bruce truly wanted to keep his job he'd have pegged it onto the pitch and snatched the ball away from Whelan and given it to one of our attacking players.

Half the battle with penalties is having the confidence to have a go.  Whelan immediately took control and stood over the ball and clearly had the confidence to take it.  I don't think at that moment it would have been right for Bruce to intervene.

[dave.woodhall]

I would not mind so much eamonn if Whelan had "had a go".  He did not.  He side footed it to the goalkeeper.

I wouldn’t mind if Whelan had scored more than one goal in seven years (according to the Beeb). I’m surprised no one has said he missed it on purpose... or no one else stopped him just to get rid of Bruce.

I implied it last night on the match thread.  I don't think he intended to miss, but the reaction was so muted that I don't think anyone really cared either, there was just something strange about the whole night after they equalised, it was almost a dream sequence.

Some games are like that, when there seems an aura of incredulity about the entire evening (it's almost always an evening). The  McLeish Bolton game, for example. What's forgotten is that for an hour we absolutely battered them. I had to leave at half-time as we were off to stay somewhere that  night; in the first half we were good, I listened to the start of the second half and we were just as good then just as I was pulling onto the drive we scored. I got out the car, dropped some H&V stuff, picked up my bag and put it into the boot then started the car up again. I couldn't have stopped listening for more than five minutes yet in that time we'ed gone 2-1 down and the WM commentary team could barely speak for excitement. Someone made the point after one game (I think it was Reading) that you could put up with it once because these things happen, but these things don't happen on a monthly basis.