Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Legion on October 15, 2016, 07:27:50 PM
-
Woeful. Lucky to get a draw.
-
Crap
-
Steve has his work cut out. I'm convinced that we are cursed or something supernatural is affecting the club. Maybe Lambert was right and someone (he thought it was Lerner) is mysteriously floating about the place.
-
Horse's tits.
-
Crap Again
-
Thanks ref. Bailed us out.
-
At least our lucks changed we should have lost
-
Poor first half, shite second half
-
Cack
-
Very disappointed with the forwards.Didn't work hard enough.
-
Should of won 2-1 :-X
-
Dear Mr Bruce
You were a fearsome defender in your time, unlucky to play for England, & you won a shit load of medals.
Please teach your new defenders your craft, or else we're at Port Vale & Walsall next season, & you might not be.
Many thanks,
Pablo.
-
******, every last one of them.
-
Sigh.
Some thoughts, Adomah is very ordinary. Richards may be an athlete, but is sure as fuck no footballer. McCormack and Grealish seem too similar to me.
-
Another draw. We didn't deserve it from the second half 'performance' either. We go again.
-
One of the worst second halves I've ever seen us play. No gumption, disorganised, pretty clueless all round. Wolves should have won by three or four.
-
We need 3 solid midfielders in January, a RB and another CB. Oh and send Cissokho to a butcher to be made into dog food, bring back Amavi and get another LB too.
-
Awful, we were lucky to get a point to keep us out of the relegation zone as we were battered in the second half.
-
Genuinely struggling to describe how poor that second half was.
It wasn't just shit, it was comedically bad, struggling to string two passes together, cut apart at will by Wolves, very, very lucky to take a point from that.
-
A great point, given that we were fucking outclassed front to back by the the fucking dogheads, at home.
-
Absolutely fuckin shite. Pathetic.
I hope Dr X has got deep pockets because this squad is full of shit players, and he needs to spend another £50m to get us anywhere near to being promotion candidates. The only other option is that Bruce is actually some kind of miracle worker, but there is far too much shit for a miracle of biblical-esque proportions...you can't polish a turd.
-
Shite
-
awful
lucky to get a point
was convinced we would win in the second half , did not expect Wolves to batter us
at least Bruce was shouting and trying to sort it but he is soon realising a lot are crap at the moment.
-
Back to drawing ways.
-
Fitness still seems to be an unsurmountable problem. For years our players have never seemed as fit as the opposition. You don't have to coach fitness, you just sweat the buggers.
-
Wel it's safe to say i really didn't have much expectations for Bruce but i think i set them miles too high on that performance. I knew things were bad when he tried to shut up shop for a win after 15 minutes, forgetting our defence is only a defence when the ball is nowhere near them. But even i was unpreparesd for the 2nd half when only the ref and individual heroics stopped it from being a rugby score. At least after the worse performance i've seen since Black and Garde, you can say Mr Potota head can only get better, but i was never worried about being relegated under RDM. I am now.
-
We're no team. Clearly no organisation ever took place under di matteo. I only hope that this absolutely shite performance is due to dreadful manager hangover.
-
Shit on a stick.
And more evidence for those of us that think no manager in the world is able to halt the slide of this club. What's wrong goes beyond what managers and coaches are normally able to do.
At least Bet365 let me cash out for more than if my bet had won.
-
Another summer of business where the wrong cogs were bought to make the machine work. The first signings of January need to be 2 centre mids who have legs, can press and control a game with forward passing. We're getting bullied, outnumbered and outplayed in the most critical department and that won't change.
Wolves spanked us for most of that match and Reading Tuesday is going to be just as difficult.
-
Not good but probably a point gained based on that second half performance (or non-performance)
Would like to have seen what Bruce could do to change things round but with Jedinak blowing out of his arse after 55 minutes and then Richards and Elphick injured he didn't get the opportunity.
We should have lost and not conceding late on might, just might help our brittle confidence
Bruce clearly has a massive job on his hands here...
-
Ghastly. Will this bunch of buffoons ever click or gel or maybe glick?
-
Fucking Horrendous!
I have never seen such a clueless, spineless, useless so called "team" performance.
No fight, no urgency, no desire, no passion and no chance!
This is no reflection on Bruce as he only been through the door 5 seconds, but the players need to take a long hard look at themselves as that was dier!
If I was Bruce, I'd run for the hills, no positives to take whatsoever.
When will this misery end?
-
Where is all this leadership we were bringing in?!
-
Just when you think we are bobbing along the bottom and the only way is up, Villa manage to find another underwater chasm to plunge over. Lucky not to concede three pens and several other goals, and to finish with 11 men on the pitch. No midfield to speak of, a wobbly error prone defence and an attack with little or no movement or service. And we don;t look fit. Brucie's got a bit of work to do.
-
At least our lucks changed we should have lost
At first I thought the Ref was anti Villa - but the longer it went on, the more it showed how shit he was. It turned to our advantage as we should have lost. As you say - luck turned?
At least a draw where we should lose feels better than a draw where you should have won
-
Oh - and Micah! - Jesus Christ and God and Trump - how fucking fucking poor can you be? GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLUB
-
Albert, McCormack, Grealish and Kodja all looked lively first half and all looked completely off the pace second half.
Our other deficiencies in defence and midfield are well documented, but I'd wonder about the fitness of the latter three. As this evening is not the first time it has happened.
Wolves were really going for it second half, but that presents opportunities. But we didn't have an outball second half. As soon as it went up anywhere near that trio, it invariably came straight back.
Tish didn't provide the legs we need in midfield either and his passing was too casual.
Concerning.
-
Fucking Horrendous!
I have never seen such a clueless, spineless, useless so called "team" performance.
No fight, no urgency, no desire, no passion and no chance!
This is no reflection on Bruce as he only been through the door 5 seconds, but the players need to take a long hard look at themselves as that was dier!
If I was Bruce, I'd run for the hills, no positives to take whatsoever.
When will this misery end?
If I were Bruce I'd make sure they were running the Malvern Hills tomorrow
-
How big was that fictional number that Sherwood said he wouldn't accept for Grealish? 30M?...or maybe 50M?
If he keeps this up we going to end up paying someone to haul him out of here....
-
Oh - and Micah! - Jesus Christ and God and Trump - how fucking fucking poor can you be? GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLUB
He is absolutely hopeless.
-
Amazingly we had 3 shots on target, Wolves only 2! Bruce has a job on his hands.
-
Worst second half ever. Awful. Jedinak is the worst player I've seen.
-
only the second game I have seen live this season.
Thank fuck for that, we were dreadful.
Wolves should have won at a canter, dreadful defenders (apart from the goalkeeper) between the midfield and the forwards not a fucking clue.
Painful., painful.
Mr Bruce, you have a lot to sort out.
-
Jedinak is dire.Chester and Elphick have turned into gibbering wrecks already.
Bad signs
-
Shocking second half. If Kodjia had squared to McCormack in the first half who knows what would have happened but by God second half was depressing. I'm sure Bruce will sort it out by holy shit that was dire. Fair play to Wolves, they played well.
-
Positives......
Gollini made some nice saves.
-
Happy to not get releagted this season. Talk of promotion is crazy, even via the play offs. We signed a load of individuals in the summer. Again
-
That was up there with the worse performances I've seen in 25+ years of supporting Villa. And we didn't even lose!
-
If a team was playing to lose they would play the way we do. Are they all unbollockable? Are they a squad of Lescotts who react to playing shit by polishing their cars? Why don't Green, Lyden, RH-M, Toner and Davies ever get a look in? They can't be worse than Richards, Jedinak, Elphick and Pointy.
-
Positives......
Gollini made some nice saves.
That was Hutton
-
If the dingles had a decent striker we would have got smashed, rode our luck got a draw....move on regroup let's have it!
-
If a team was playing to lose they would play the way we do. Are they all unbollockable? Are they a squad of Lescotts who react to playing shit by polishing their cars? Why don't Green, Lyden, RH-M, Toner and Davies ever get a look in? They can't be worse than Richards, Jedinak, Elphick and Pointy.
Agreed re the youngsters being given a chance
-
Oh - and Micah! - Jesus Christ and God and Trump - how fucking fucking poor can you be? GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLUB
He is absolutely hopeless.
I was cursing him throughout the match but in mitigation I guess he was short of match fitness and not up to speed.
-
Bluenose prick :D
Seriously though our defence is so laughable I'm waiting for people to start dressing up like our defenders and roaming the streets scaring everyone.
-
That was up there with the worse performances I've seen in 25+ years of supporting Villa. And we didn't even lose!
yep, if you were a doghead you wouldn't quite believe what happenned 2nd half. Quite funny in a grim way - we were that shit and they still didn't beat us.
-
fuck me I noticed even McLaren got a win with Derby today. It's entirely possible that we will never again win a game.
-
That was absolutly dire.
We really have bought a copper-bottomed turd in Jedinak. He is absolutely bloody awful.
-
That was up there with the worse performances I've seen in 25+ years of supporting Villa. And we didn't even lose!
yep, if you were a doghead you wouldn't quite believe what happenned 2nd half. Quite funny in a grim way - we were that shit and they still didn't beat us.
My life would of been unbearable for at least 6 months if we'd of lost!
-
Fitness still seems to be an unsurmountable problem. For years our players have never seemed as fit as the opposition. You don't have to coach fitness, you just sweat the buggers.
I said exactly the same Brian. Our forwards were barely able to break into a jog second half.
-
Is there a footballer hiding underneath that big beard we've got in midfield? If so i'd be obliged if he'd reveal himself (so to speak). Gotta be bad news when you get the hook for Westwood.
-
One of my first thoughts at the start of the season, with this team, there will be very few draws. Bollocks.
-
Oh - and Micah! - Jesus Christ and God and Trump - how fucking fucking poor can you be? GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLUB
He is absolutely hopeless.
I was cursing him throughout the match but in mitigation I guess he was short of match fitness and not up to speed.
When he is up to speed he'll make his customary fuck ups a lot quicker.
-
Think we might need to replace the Jedi, Westwood, Tommy and ditch Richards. Bacunna with all his faults is far better than him. Bruce will sort it but promotion this season might be well off.
-
Second half was shockingly bad. If we'd lost 4-1 I'd have no complaints. One day I'll leave VP happy!
-
Gruffnuts and dangleberries, the lot of em.
-
Second half was shockingly bad. If we'd lost 4-1 I'd have no complaints. One day I'll leave VP happy!
You do know that isn't true? ;) you would just feel less happy for 1 point
-
Today summer up my concerns with Bruce (I know it's very early and this isn't a criticism of him, it's a confirmation of the biggest flaw with us I see), just getting them to work harder and show more passion will not turn things around. We looked disorganised (which he will address but we also looked nervy of our technique (taking 2-3 touches instead of 1) and scared to take things on.
I watched the rugby earlier and in the wasps game they had an injured wasps player in the studio and one thing he spoke of was that every Monday they concentrate on skills. I totally agree with that approach and think we should do the same. The rest of the week we can work on fitness and tactics but we really need to put some focus on basics if we want to break this cycle of shite.
-
the defence has no legs , so played very deep not to get turned but this drags the midfield back so we cant press and then we have an absolute huge gap to the attack.
McCorrmack was going bolistic at them to push up ,
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
-
I think that young referee is trying to make a name for himself with the .F.A.
-
A shocking disappointment.Bruce will go home take a sharp intake of breath shake his head and pour himself a very large scotch....as I am about to do!
-
On my way home. Absolutely shocking second half. Elfick and Chester gave another truly woeful performance as a centre defensive pair. Again they both looked completely shit scared to be in a Villa shirt. I'm sure it is also the reason that Gollini looks all over the place in goal. any kind of win looks a long way off. Lets hope its not quite so crap at Reading!
-
Mr Bruce you need to learn fast that players' past reputations mean nothing at this club. Richards is finished, even at this level. He is too casual and not fit enough to play fullback.
What is it with the midfield that they keep on dropping back. The forwards are telling them to step up another 10 yards and they still don't. I know injuries forced his hand but should have given up the flanks and pulled the two wide players in from the touchline.
-
Pathetic second half. We owe the ref big time. Impressed with Wolves especially Helder Costa who had the Freedom of Villa Park and used it very well until he was surprisingly subbed.
Hopefully that will be the last time I ever have suffer watching Micah Richards in a Villa shirt. He wasn't alone in being crap but his challenge for what should have been a penalty demonstrated just what a dumb, useless footballer he is.
MOTM: The ref.
-
The issue is need a defensive midfielder and someone energetic . I would have actually had 3 in the middle some one like a delph, gaye is much needed.
Cissoko and jedinak stand out performer for being hash. And then Chester and Richards!
I think tjrte are several inherent problems which include lack of ability in fitness as well as decision making. These players were the main protagonists for both poor shows.
Great penalty and lead up to the goal . However on whole the play especially 2nd half failed off spectacularly.
Actually relieved with the draw and point however after the manager and then the lead being taken hoping for more.
Fair play to us holding on thoifh in some ways ! Wolves were on the day un lucky but brucie can improve this lot as we can agree can't get much worse
-
Richards, Ephick and Cissokho are liabilities at the back...each of them is a mistake waiting to happen.
Jedinak, Westwood and Gardner simply aren't good enough even by Championship standards.
We have an abundance of attacking talent but they all look completely clueless anywhere near the 18 yard box.
Bruce will know now that he's got a proper job on his hands to organise and start getting consistent results out of this bunch of shit.
-
Defence was bad but they tried for the most part. The midfield tho.........fucking hell Jedinak, why was he bought? Grealish, most overrated midfielder in Villa's history. Hopfully both of them are consigned to the bin now.
-
As bad a match as I can ever remember in 40+ years. What a f**king shambles. Good luck Mr Bruce, you will need it.
-
When Jedinak went off for Westwood it felt putting the lid back on a bowl of sprouts, only to lift the lid on a bowl of cabbage.
-
Without seeing him play for his former club, is Elphick any good ? Seems to have too many mistakes in him as does Chester. Though I do wonder how much their performances are effected by having no central midfield in front of them.
A team of strangers, no cohesion, plenty of work to do for Mr Bruce.
-
Pathetic second half. We owe the ref big time. Impressed with Wolves especially Helder Costa who had the Freedom of Villa Park and used it very well until he was surprisingly subbed.
Hopefully that will be the last time I ever have suffer watching Micah Richards in a Villa shirt. He wasn't alone in being crap but his challenge for what should have been a penalty demonstrated just what a dumb, useless footballer he is.
MOTM: The ref.
And he's on loan. Where are we when these players are being offered
-
Also i dont know if already pointed out but are now a point closer to play offs as results went villa way apart from own.
9 points off now as opposed to 10. A week a long time in football next 2 games will say alot to how we go for the play of and promotion push
-
Holloway was spot on for once when said players lose belief and confidence the longer it goes on without a victory. I still have great faith in Steve. It's very early days.
-
When Steve Bruce watches that back he is going to see Kodjia fail to pass the ball to McCormack for a tap in and in the same move Adomah doing exactly the same.I feel sorry for McCormack he is an intelligent player.
-
Kodjia Bruce has got a big job on his hands, we don't look anything like a team. Kodjia looks nothing like a £15 million player and pretty much all the new signings are very underwhelming.
Watched three matches today, my son's under 14's match was a great game, Harrogate Town was awful but the Villa game was easily the worst of the lot, shocking.
-
On the basis of that second half I think we might struggle in League 1 next season.
-
Our central midfield are where most of our issues lie, and the problem is that we only have four to pick from and from what I have seen this season none of them are much different from the other.
Westwood - Has taken a lot of stick on here, came on for Jedi and didn't make any major mistakes and even made a few last ditch interceptions to keep us in it
Jedinak - Was so bereft of urgency I nearly dialled 999 to report a dead body. He was all meanings of the word 'passenger' from start to finish! In his defence, being part of the Aussie national side and trekking half way around the world every four weeks cant be helping him or us.
Tshibola (pronounced She-Bowler for idiot pundits/commentators out there) - Was very busy but more of a busy fool due to being outnumbered for much of the game. He had some good touches and passes in first half but was anonymous in second along with everyone else.
Gardner - Another who has had a lot of stick on here, it must be said he started our only win this season (albeit against Rotherham) surely he cant be any worse than the other three!
We were overrun in the midfield all game, which is why the entire team tired so badly in the second half. IMO 4-3-3 would be the way to go which would be 4-5-1 without the ball to protect the defence which I will need a whole other reply for and to maybe give the front 3 a clue of what they should be doing.
On another note, can we please stop all talk of promotion/play offs on this forum, it was a long shot on 7th August and it is a complete fantasy now.
To quote a much over used cliché, we are in a position where we as a club/team/fans need to take each game as it comes.
-
The only positive to come out of that was somehow getting a point the second half is as bad as we have seen in a long time.
The gap from the forwards to the midfield was huge, forwards making the wrong pass, as many have said a collection of individuals.
Not a massive Baker fan but he deserves a run of games as the other two are not exactly in the greatest form.
Special mention two the ref he was our best player!Bruce you have a job on your hands here.
-
Gardner - Another who has had a lot of stick on here, it must be said he started our only win this season (albeit against Rotherham) surely he cant be any worse than the other three!
He is.
Your not wrong about our midfield being a problem though.
-
We're just never going to win a sodding game ever again, are we?
-
Pathetic second half. We owe the ref big time. Impressed with Wolves especially Helder Costa who had the Freedom of Villa Park and used it very well until he was surprisingly subbed.
Hopefully that will be the last time I ever have suffer watching Micah Richards in a Villa shirt. He wasn't alone in being crap but his challenge for what should have been a penalty demonstrated just what a dumb, useless footballer he is.
MOTM: The ref.
And he's on loan. Where are we when these players are being offered
Wolves have a 'special' relationship with Benfica through Jorge Mendes.
-
Wow.
The worst 45 minutes I've ever seen.
How has RDM managed to turn this squad in such a bunch of cowards? Let's be clear, we've only lost 3 games, yet we are petrified about moving the ball forwards. Some absolutely atrocious performances.
To get battered by a side as bang average as Wolves like that? I am just staggered.
This will be an absolute slog to stay up.
-
Just got back and eaten my tea.
I haven't read the thread yet.
We're getting worse, aren't we?
-
We're just never going to win a sodding game ever again, are we?
Its beginning to feel that way
-
Just got back and eaten my tea.
I haven't read the thread yet.
We're getting worse, aren't we?
yep, we've gone from early days of RDM of "probably should have won", to "deffo should have lost"
-
It's going to take a bit more than switching dugouts and playing 4-4-2 to turn things around. I had to ask what decade I'd arrived in.
-
Grealish was murdering there full back until he won the penalty, then they doubled up on him and we had no fucking idea what to do, I felt sorry for McCormack, he was going ape shit trying to get team to push up, we didn't win a single header in there box from corners, Wolves won every second ball, we should have lost, we didn't.
-
Fitness still seems to be an unsurmountable problem. For years our players have never seemed as fit as the opposition. You don't have to coach fitness, you just sweat the buggers.
I said exactly the same Brian. Our forwards were barely able to break into a jog second half.
Hmm, since the Bodymore refurb when they installed the gym and recovery pools and whatnot?
We make the players' lives too comfortable. The reason other teams' players out-work ours, especiall in this division, might be because they're still looking to make their way upwards in their careers. With us, the players just seem to think they've made it and play on cruise control. It also doesn't help that to attract players to this basket case of a club we have to overpay them.
-
Well at least Mr Bruce now knows the extent of the work needed. Lucky to come away from that with a point - shocking second half, and if they had anyone who could shoot straight they'd have won at a canter. Having said that Kodjia had the easiest of passes to McCormack for a tap in, and from where I sit they should have had a man sent of for shoving Grealish when he was on the ground. The words straws and clutching spring to mind. Their number 17 (Costa?) looked very handy though. And is Jedinak really a footballer - it's got to be bad when Westwood is seen as an upgrade
-
The best thing to come out of that match was Bruce saying there is a clear problem at the club regarding the players.
It needs a manager to recognise it and confront it full on. Saying it out loud is a good start.
-
We really missed Ayew. And some people thought it was a good idea that he didn't start!
-
Well at least Mr Bruce now knows the extent of the work needed. Lucky to come away from that with a point - shocking second half, and if they had anyone who could shoot straight they'd have won at a canter. Having said that Kodjia had the easiest of passes to McCormack for a tap in, and from where I sit they should have had a man sent of for shoving Grealish when he was on the ground. The words straws and clutching spring to mind. Their number 17 (Costa?) looked very handy though. And is Jedinak really a footballer - it's got to be bad when Westwood is seen as an upgrade
You won't have seen Grealish kick him beforehand then. But Grealish does work for charity, so it's ok for him to act in that manner.
-
We make the players' lives too comfortable. The reason other teams' players out-work ours, especiall in this division, might be because they're still looking to make their way upwards in their careers. With us, the players just seem to think they've made it and play on cruise control. It also doesn't help that to attract players to this basket case of a club we have to overpay them.
I've thought the same for a few seasons now. All the trapping of a top PL club without the football side to match. Somebody's having a laugh and it ain't us.
-
How RDM and Co ever thought we could achieve a good shot at promotion with that midfield beggars belief. It has to be the most statuesque midfield ever assembled. I have seen a good proportion of our games and nearly every time the opposition have so much movement and mobility they leave us for dead. It seems to be the Championship way. Unless we can unearth a gem or gems from the youth ranks in the next few weeks or find some out of contract players, I think things ain't gonna get much better till the transfer window opens. SB hasn't got much hope with this lot unless he can come up with some magical new formula.
-
Well at least Mr Bruce now knows the extent of the work needed. Lucky to come away from that with a point - shocking second half, and if they had anyone who could shoot straight they'd have won at a canter. Having said that Kodjia had the easiest of passes to McCormack for a tap in, and from where I sit they should have had a man sent of for shoving Grealish when he was on the ground. The words straws and clutching spring to mind. Their number 17 (Costa?) looked very handy though. And is Jedinak really a footballer - it's got to be bad when Westwood is seen as an upgrade
You won't have seen Grealish kick him beforehand then. But Grealish does work for charity, so it's ok for him to act in that manner.
He did kick out at him but that was to free his leg that their player was deliberately trapping.
-
Anyone that thinks promotion is still possible needs to get off the drugs.
It's a relegation battle no doubt.
-
Yet another weekend where I have no desire to see how my team played. I hate that.
-
Worst home performance I've seen in years. And that includes the 0-3 thrashings.
-
Yet another weekend where I have no desire to see how my team played. I hate that.
About as much desire as they displayed, then.
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
100% agree, we havent looked fit for years
the second half performance is up there with the worst i have ever seen
absolutely zero goal threat, zero urgency, zero ideas
wolves should have won at a canter
-
Shockingly bad over all, and at least Bruce got to witness it without the loss the display deserved.
Can't decide if it's a mental issue, or if the players just aren't as good as we previously thought/hoped they were.
It's still like a team of individuals with no sign (bar the odd moment) of it becoming a TEAM. I don't know why, but I hope Bruce can find a remedy quick.
REALLY disappointed with Tish, Ross, Kodjia and Jack (especially second half) today. Some of the others I expect piss poor performances from but not those. So little calmness or aggression in their play
-
Our defence is terrible.
-
Anyone that thinks promotion is still possible needs to get off the drugs.
It's a relegation battle no doubt.
It'll be neither. Mid table comfortable finish and push on next season IMHO
-
Our defence is terrible.
As is the midfield and attack. Maybe not as individuals but they just can't function as a team
-
Utter shit again today. No drive, no desire to win a game and compete and fight to get on top. Lack of pace throughout the team. Pedestrian midfield, shit their pants defenders. Resemble nothing like a team, just a bunch of players plonked together who meet up for an hour a day in the week and a couple on the weekend, then fuck off and go about their business. Drivel, I'm sick of Villa. This 9pts from play offs sounds a lot like the gap we counted from safety last season, we are nowhere near good enough to get promoted, 12/13th at best.
-
The thing about how we play that gets on my tits the most? Not being able to take a decent fucking throw-in. Everything else - dribbling, passing, crossing, shooting - can be trained (allegedly, but at Villa that's not apparent), but these people have been playing the game since they were knee-high and they don't seem to be able to perform the simple task of chucking a ball next to a teammate's feet.
-
I think that we are, putting it simply, weak from back to front.
We haven't earned the right in any game so far this season and it really looks like we are going to have to limp through till Jan so Bruce can make some sense of this mess.
It looks like we've sold 50m worth of players not bought them.
Wolves were no more than all of the other solid battle hardened units we've already played and once again we just didn't cope. Shocking second half display. Lifeless, disorganised and worst of all, weak.
On that showing it's a relegation battle. No more no less.
-
Bruce interview with WM is on the Beeb site here.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/37593695
-
anyone here watch the U23s regularly? would be interested to know what we have in regards defenders/midfielders that could potentially come through
-
The league position suggests otherwise. I don't see any other possibility
-
Anyone that thinks promotion is still possible needs to get off the drugs.
It's a relegation battle no doubt.
It'll be neither. Mid table comfortable finish and push on next season IMHO
Which is realistic considering the last few seasons where we were relegated and humiliated in the process. This ship will take time to turnaround but it will I've no doubt. Not his season though.
-
Worst thing for me is I am just so bored
-
At least Bruce see's that we are unprofessional, unfit and unable to compete fully at the moment. All in all, a disgrace to enter another season with half fit ponces picking up a fortune in piss poor condition.
-
'Highlights' (http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/aston-villa/10619298/aston-villa-1-1-wolves)
-
It wasn't the worst performance I've seen in recent times (there have been so many), but it was dire given the level we are now playing at. I can't recall any threat we posed in the second half.
The team tiring game after game is alarming and there's just no pace at the back or in midfield, the area where there's also no quality.
By the time Bruce tries to get his own players in, we'll be looking over our shoulders at league 1 never mind the play offs.
-
The league position suggests otherwise. I don't see any other possibility
The league position after 12 games doesn't bother me one jot. Certainly not enough to think we'll be in a relegation battle that's for sure
-
Encouraged by Bruce's post match comments. Atleast he's acknowledging the fitness issue. This has been an issue since TSM2.
Absolutly disgraceful to not have a squad of professional footballers at a professional club to to be fit for their league though. RDM really was another chancer.
-
The biggest shock from today is we had more shots on target than the new black country Barca
-
Worst thing for me is I am just so bored
totally agree mate
instead of going to the fulham game im going for afternoon tea
ill get more excitement from a small sandwich with the crust cut off
-
NO MIDFIELD!!!! The reason the defence are crap (no protection) and the reason the attack is so poor (no creativity). Sort it and we would be top 6.
Lack of fitness is a disgrace, god knows what RDM and his staff were up to in the Summer...
-
Encouraged by Bruce's post match comments. Atleast he's acknowledging the fitness issue. This has been an issue since TSM2.
Absolutly disgraceful to not have a squad of professional footballers at a professional club to to be fit for their league though. RDM really was another chancer.
I agree with you. And it's good that Bruce sees it.
International duty regardless we look shot as a team after 60 minutes and we won't win games until this is addressed.
-
It's becoming more and more difficult to post something that doesn't seem like regurgitating previous posts.
-
Well at least Mr Bruce now knows the extent of the work needed. Lucky to come away from that with a point - shocking second half, and if they had anyone who could shoot straight they'd have won at a canter. Having said that Kodjia had the easiest of passes to McCormack for a tap in, and from where I sit they should have had a man sent of for shoving Grealish when he was on the ground. The words straws and clutching spring to mind. Their number 17 (Costa?) looked very handy though. And is Jedinak really a footballer - it's got to be bad when Westwood is seen as an upgrade
You won't have seen Grealish kick him beforehand then. But Grealish does work for charity, so it's ok for him to act in that manner.
Just saw it on that fantastic C5 highlights programme - obviously from the Upper Holte I couldn't see Grealish have a sneaky kick at their player, but clearly he did so both should have been off. And McCormack running 30 yards to shove their player may count himself lucky as well. Not sure where charity work comes in to the equation.
-
I was still optimistic about the play offs this time yesterday but after seeing the highlights just now....I'd be content when we get to 50 points.
What a sorry state of affairs given we have new owner, spent 50m, are in a weak division and yet we have won as many games as we were in our worst ever season in the premier league.
-
Great read.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2016/10/15/manager-verdict-bruce-wolves
-
NO MIDFIELD!!!! The reason the defence are crap (no protection) and the reason the attack is so poor (no creativity). Sort it and we would be top 6.
Lack of fitness is a disgrace, god knows what RDM and his staff were up to in the Summer...
Everton had a good midfield today.Barry,Gueye and Cleverly.Wish we had a midfield like that.
-
The thing about how we play that gets on my tits the most? Not being able to take a decent fucking throw-in. Everything else - dribbling, passing, crossing, shooting - can be trained (allegedly, but at Villa that's not apparent), but these people have been playing the game since they were knee-high and they don't seem to be able to perform the simple task of chucking a ball next to a teammate's feet.
Richards actually looked like he was deliberately picking out their players first half.
-
Great read.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2016/10/15/manager-verdict-bruce-wolves
Agreed. I don't know if previous managers had similar insights and kept it to themselves ("I thought we were excellent"), but it's comforting that at least now we know that he knows.
-
Great read.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2016/10/15/manager-verdict-bruce-wolves
With hindsight the reason I didn’t play Jordan Ayew and Leandro Bacuna was because they had huge, big delights.
I think we need to work on our web site editing as well as the team.
-
There were no afternoon delights today not even small ones.
-
Great read.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2016/10/15/manager-verdict-bruce-wolves
Thank god he see's it all too, really interested to see what changes he makes for Reading now.
-
At least we're unbeaten under Bruce!!
-
Worst home display this season? Problem we have is quite clearly the players in our club are not suited to kick and run football - lucky to pinch a point tonight. Is this the football we have to endure for the remainder of the season?
-
Every game we play like a bunch of fucking grand dads as well, it pisses me off, we get the ball, play to a set pattern, so slow, centre back to centre back to midfielder who drops deep out to fullback, back inside. Like a broken record, every single fucking game, so so slow. They're really pissing me off now, the most boring, dull, uncomitted, lethargic lazy bunch of ****** in all the divisions.
-
Awful perfomance.
Richards has been a footballer for how long ?
Doesn't seem to know how to take a throw in.
Chester was lucky not to get a red card.
Wolves deserved to win.
Please Dr. Xia , can you buy a totally new and functioning mid field in January ?
There is NO point playing Kodjia, McCormack or Ayew if we can't get the ball to them.
FFS
-
I don't think Richards was injured. He just decided to give up the useless ***t
-
We are a good side which needs direction and strong management.
-
At least we're unbeaten under Bruce!!
However he has lost his 100% record.
-
Second page of the new manager'' first match and sickbeggar gets in early with a 'we're going to get relegated under Bruce'. Is this a record.
£50 million (or whatever it was) to make a terrible side even worse, impressive.
-
At least we're unbeaten under Bruce!!
However he has lost his 100% record.
no clean sheets either
-
Great read.
https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2016/10/15/manager-verdict-bruce-wolves
These international matches aren't helping. No wonder Jedinak looked knackered having only arrived back from Australia on Friday! Steve said it was a mistake that he played him. Ayew will come in on Tuesday. Where was Amavi?
-
We are a good side which needs direction and strong management.
We haven't strung together a 90 minute performance in the Championship and we've won 1 game, there's no way we are a good side.
Elphick and Jedinak look shot. The entire side looks one paced and there's no speed of thought from anyone.
-
I don't think anybody can say we were anything but poor today .........
Bruce has now seen the problems he has to face first hand ...before the game it looked a sensible line up
Fitness has been a problem but we were unlucky today to pick up injuries which prevented changing players who had been away on international duty
There is much work to do and I am starting to think some of the "leaders" signed in the summer are past their sell by date
We have major problems in midfield and can do nothing about it for about 10 weeks - our season looking upwards will be over by then
I fear we have a struggle on our hands and its no good us thinking we are too good to get dragged into a relegation battle - we should survive but can we really expect more than mid table? I doubt it
Lets hope that in a weeks time things will look better ...Reading and Fulham ...but currently would we bank on more than 1 point?
Yes Im being very negative tonite but also believe I am being a realist
The only positive tonite is I can miss Blackburn at home and have a holiday in the sun - thats now booked !! Just hope don't bump into Gabby as really hope he never gets near this team
-
Awful perfomance.
Richards has been a footballer for how long ?
Doesn't seem to know how to take a throw in.
Amongst other things, this fucked me off no end.
Virtually every throw in that that buffoon took went to an opposition player.
Juust how shit do you have to be to do that?
-
Until we sort out the midfield we're going to struggle, it really is as simple as that.
We're so weak in the most crucial area of the field, it's unreal.
We need a major overhaul January in the middle of the park, hopefully it's not too late by then.
The fitness levels are a disgrace too, it's all so disappointing!
-
Until we sort out the midfield we're going to struggle, it really is as simple as that.
We're so weak in the most crucial area of the field, it's unreal.
We need a major overhaul January in the middle of the park, hopefully it's not too late by then.
The fitness levels are a disgrace too, it's all so disappointing!
Spot on. Until we embolden the midfield we will be poor to mediocre. I felt SB gave the side better balance than the Italian moron. Fitness levels are atrocious - wtf. We have a slightly better starting XI than this but the international week prevented that. We are going nowhere this season.
-
I was still optimistic about the play offs this time yesterday but after seeing the highlights just now....I'd be content when we get to 50 points.
What a sorry state of affairs given we have new owner, spent 50m, are in a weak division and yet we have won as many games as we were in our worst ever season in the premier league.
You were lucky just to get the highlights. Other than that I fully agree. What a shambles we were today.
-
Well today proves Tone pulled the trigger at the right time. To let his team fester any longer would have been suicidal. Just hope Bruce can polish a turd
-
It's easy to shout down Micah and, although he wasn't great, he wasn't our worse player. He wasn't even our worse full back. Cissokho looks genuinely confused when he gets the ball and his second touch is often a tackle / apology.
A round of fucks to Tommy Elphick with his turning circle of a tank and Ross McCormack who is also worrying me with how easy he is pushed of the ball and his lack of energy when we are on the attack.
Tshibolia, Jedinak and Westwood would make a decent player if their combined qualities were one player but, individually, they are not quite good enough.
The only players to come out with any credit were Gollini and Kodjia (in spells).
-
Dis-jointed
Dis-assembled
Disappointed
Disgraceful
Simply not good enough have we not got a left back in the youth or reserves ?
Adomah has anyone told you that you are a Fucking winger
Just cannot understand how we got pulled out of position all game our midfield was non existent
Good luck mr Bruce you got your work cut out
-
Every game we play like a bunch of fucking grand dads as well, it pisses me off, we get the ball, play to a set pattern, so slow, centre back to centre back to midfielder who drops deep out to fullback, back inside. Like a broken record, every single fucking game, so so slow. They're really pissing me off now, the most boring, dull, uncomitted, lethargic lazy bunch of c***s in all the divisions.
That is insulting to Granddads -they could perform better than this bunch of wasters
-
I thought Wolves were better than us, in every department. Thanks for the point, shite ref
-
One of the worst second halves I've ever seen us play. No gumption, disorganised, pretty clueless all round. Wolves should have won by three or four.
Agreed, complete rabble from front to back and our three useless subs who came in
Wolves played us off the park and the final scoreline was an aberration
Think Bruce will have learned we cant play with two in midfield again, yet it was worrying how he didnt attempt to change the team's shape in the second half
They ran around us at will, though the lack of tracking back and appalling tactical discipline was reminiscent of last season
Self belief is obviously on the floor and some were suffering badly post the international break like Chester
But each and every one of our defensive options really has no defensive instincts, all of them run towards the ball like lassie towards the gate with no concept of players around them
Within 5 mins of Hutton and Baker on they are both running way out of their defensive line for no reason, leaving loads of space behind
That level of performance shouldnt be shocking at this stage after the last 5 years of shit but still that second half stunned me
Gollini 7 - couple of good saves but possibly we need more of an organiser back there
Richards 2 - charlatan
Elphick 6 - thought he was solid enough until a moment of madness in second half stepping way out of the line that should have been costly
Chester 4 - shocking, ref bottled a certain second yellow for him, left for dust in the second half on at least one occasion
Cissokho 4 - gave away a penalty like that last season too, out of his depth at this and every other competitive level
Adamoah 5 - on the ball an awful lot, tried hard but seemed very limited with the ball
Jedinak 3 - gave no protection to our back four, mobility reminscent of Joeleon Lescott, taken off so as not to suffer further humiliation, leader?
Tsihibola 5 - very happy with him first half, like others hid in the second half
Grealish 4 - started well, dived for peno, should have been sent off and will be banned, Wolves tightened up on him and he didnt want to know yet again
McCormack 3 - similar to Grealish, the michelin man was out of his feet after about 50 mins, gave away the ball constantly in second half with ridiculous passes, drop the fat fool
Kodjia 7 - outstanding in first half but not passing to McCormack was unforgiveable and his touch disappeared in the second half. quality player though
Westwood 5 - kept the ball ok but the presence of a traffic cone
Hutton 3 - joke player even at this level, put the ball over his head and he loses his bearings every time
Baker 4 - shit for brains, another defender of ours who seems to have little defensive instincts
433 from now on
-
No Richards or Elphick for the Reading game. Baker and Hutton in I assume. Just watch Baker injure an eyelash between now and Tuesday! I'd be tempted to bring in Ayew for Jack on Tuesday.
-
No Richards or Elphick for the Reading game. Baker and Hutton in I assume. Just watch Baker injure an eyelash between now and Tuesday! I'd be tempted to bring in Ayew for Jack on Tuesday.
Baker is emphatically left sided and left footed. When we have tried to pull stunts like this in recent years, with Ciaran Clark for example, it has ended very badly.
With Okore gone, you have to wonder who is backup for Private Schulz. Toner is out on loan so Flabby may be in the frame with the added benefit that he could resume captain's duties. If he gets vertigo we could staple him inside the area since the defensive line doesn't advance much further anyway.
-
Wel it's safe to say i really didn't have much expectations for Bruce but i think i set them miles too high on that performance. I knew things were bad when he tried to shut up shop for a win after 15 minutes, forgetting our defence is only a defence when the ball is nowhere near them. But even i was unpreparesd for the 2nd half when only the ref and individual heroics stopped it from being a rugby score. At least after the worse performance i've seen since Black and Garde, you can say Mr Potota head can only get better, but i was never worried about being relegated under RDM. I am now.
You're like a broken record. Bruce has only been here for a cuppla 3 days & you're pinning the pathetic display on him?! Do me a favour. He's inherited a bunch of players who have either been shite for years or have been bought for big money in the Summer & have turned to shite. If it's still shite in few months from now - then perhaps you could call him out. But now? Deary me.
-
,People really need to move on from saying 'if we buy x.y.z in jan then we'll be fine'. Last season we had Gana Veretout and Sanchez who, according to most on here, were all shit and should be sold, 1 is arguably the best player in a side that are 6th in the premier league and the other 2 are regulars in the top flight in France and Italy and having solid enough seasons. We didn't have a functioning midfield because there's fundamental problems at BMH and they don't appear to have been resolved yet.
-
Bluenose prick :D
Seriously though our defence is so laughable I'm waiting for people to start dressing up like our defenders and roaming the streets scaring everyone.
Oh bravo! :D
-
How is it we manage to buy a new team where the centre halves can't play together, the midfield can't function as a 3 or a 4, and the front two can't work together? I could get one department not functioning but they all look.......shit. Bruce must be thinking fuck me.
-
Went to the game and straight out after so only just got in. First fifteen minutes apart, a woeful performance which just got worse ac it went on. I thought Wolves were an ordinary side, but should have won the fan comfortably with the chances they created in the second half.
Just flicking through I saw someone mention it earlier, but again our fitness levels looked way below those of the opposition. We looked completely out of steam after 60 minutes. I think that is the first thing Bruce needs to address.
-
,People really need to move on from saying 'if we buy x.y.z in jan then we'll be fine'. Last season we had Gana Veretout and Sanchez who, according to most on here, were all shit and should be sold, 1 is arguably the best player in a side that are 6th in the premier league and the other 2 are regulars in the top flight in France and Italy and having solid enough seasons. We didn't have a functioning midfield because there's fundamental problems at BMH and they don't appear to have been resolved yet.
Very much my opinion after watching Wolves beat us to every loose ball and watch them flood forward and outnumber us on too many occasions.It was interesting to find that Bruce knew that fitness was a blatantly obvious problem. To which you can add as mentioned above a functioning midfield.We always play 2 central midfielders,usually static ones which makes the problems even worse when encountering 3 faster fitter opponents.
A terrible legacy from RDM. I don't like the sacking of managers but....and then you add the philosophy of Ray Wilkins who was disappointed that the Flabby one elected to pursue his own fitness or fatness regime.
Too amateurish beyond belief.
-
First half hustle n bustle and hunger. Happy with that. Second half totally lost direction. But it's only one game for Bruce. Lay off Jack. He is playing in a team who are light years behind his reading of the game.
-
I wanted a lucky manager and going by today I think we may have found one.
Now he has to whip the team into shape for Tuesday.
One match at a time, improving as he goes, hopefully this season isn't going to be the slow slide it was shaping up to be.
-
it's still shaping up as one though isn't it? I must admit I am now totally exasperated by Villa, as I can't rationalize how, after two summers of spending huge sums of money on new players, after successive managerial and coaching changes, after blowing up the bomb squad, changing ownership and the senior management team we are still utterly useless.
-
No Richards or Elphick for the Reading game. Baker and Hutton in I assume. Just watch Baker injure an eyelash between now and Tuesday! I'd be tempted to bring in Ayew for Jack on Tuesday.
Baker is emphatically left sided and left footed. When we have tried to pull stunts like this in recent years, with Ciaran Clark for example, it has ended very badly.
With Okore gone, you have to wonder who is backup for Private Schulz. Toner is out on loan so Flabby may be in the frame with the added benefit that he could resume captain's duties. If he gets vertigo we could staple him inside the area since the defensive line doesn't advance much further anyway.
Eh? Chester is right footed though. Don't understand your point
-
First half hustle n bustle and hunger. Happy with that. Second half totally lost direction. But it's only one game for Bruce. Lay off Jack. He is playing in a team who are light years behind his reading of the game.
Spot on. The same Jack Grealish who got Man-of-the-match for the U21's only a few days ago. He's trying to function in a team devoid of tactics and basic fitness. What was RDM and his coaching staff up to pre-season? Players look knackered after 60 minutes, which is a disgrace. Bruce looks genuinely shocked at that, and rightly so.
-
The second half was incredibly bad. Guess it was about 10% possession for us. Extremely lucky to get a point. Astonishing really when we're playing at home on managers first game. I think we'll be bottom half until Xmas as we seem to be regressing.
Looking like Danny murphy was right with his view on the players we've bought.
-
Steve Bruce is worried about our fitness levels he says.He needs to speak to an expert in this area of the game...and we have such a person readily available.
Gabriel Agbonlahor...
-
All our new signings have joined the gravy train that is AVFC and sat back. Its fkn shameful.
-
Positives we got a point. Negatives everything else. There is zero confidence. Bruce has a big job on his hands I'm confident he'll sort it. I think you have to give wolves credit
-
you do, for not battering us.
-
First match at VP this season. That team is no where near good enough to get any where near the top of the league. We have spent a lot of money on very ordinary players. McCormick was terrible and so off the pace. Jedinak legs have gone we have no midfield.
Bruce has his work cut out and Doctor Tony is going to need to spend a lot more money if he wants to get out of this league.
-
Well, in the Lower Holte we had our first "sort it out Bruce" after twenty minutes or so, criticism of the substitution of Jedinak ( "first sub and he brings that wanker on") and then a full on rant about bringing on Hutton and Baker... "should be trying to win this fucking game Bruce",without obviously working out Elphick and Richards were injured. ("Should've brought Ayew on")
We are all entitled to our opinions but give the manager a break! Seventy two hours and he's supposed to turn this mess around?
We got a point, we probably shouldn't have... I will live with it ... if it's still the same come the Burton game on Boxing Day then I will start to grumble.
-
I think it's difficult for anyone who was dead against Bruce coming in like me to say anything which sounds reasonable and unbiased
But yesterday had nothing to do with Bruce,
he's only been here 5 minutes and none of the players were his buys, as far as I'm concerned if we'd have won, lost or drawn it wouldn't have made any difference to what I think of him as a manager
I do think we see what we want to see though, if we had have won yesterday we would have got the ' we've started to win some games that's why we bought him in' type quotes,
on the match thread in the first half someone said they looked like a different side, when in reality they were exactly the same
I never wanted Bruce and just because we got him doesn't mean I can pretend otherwise but I support Villa so like the rest if us I want to see us win games
we are all pissed off with the way thing are at the moment no matter who the manager is,
the only difference between me and the people who wanted Bruce is that at least you have hope that Bruce is the right man to turn it around and can look forward to better things including promotion even if it comes next season
Whereas I don't have that hope or belief so your in a better place than me right now
-
First half, I thought we were ok and looked solid enough without doing anything spectacular. Second half was really poor though and I said in the car on the way home that they all looked absolutely knackered. Wolves players were all running round as if the game had just started towards the end of the game. It was a point we didn't really deserve.
-
The only plus point I can draw from the game is that for the first time in a long time we got a positive result we didn't deserve.
-
I never wanted Bruce and just because we got him doesn't mean I can pretend otherwise but I support Villa so like the rest if us I want to see us win games
we are all pissed off with the way thing are at the moment no matter who the manager is,
the only difference between me and the people who wanted Bruce is that at least you have hope that Bruce is the right man to turn it around and can look forward to better things including promotion even if it comes next season
Whereas I don't have that hope or belief so your in a better place than me right now
I find it difficult to fathom that you have no hope in a manager that has achieved promotion 4 times previously ? It makes no sense. I can understand you not liking him because of his style etc but to state you feel we have no chance of going up under him is just being negative for negatives sake when his record suggests otherwise
-
Are there any decent free agents out there he could bring in.
-
What I find totally confusing, is that at the start of the season we were playing well but not getting the points we deserved. We played well against Huddersfield, Forest and Derby for example. But since the second half against Brentford we have been woeful. What has changed? Maybe we should drop Jedinak, we seemed to play better before he arrived.
-
What I find totally confusing, is that at the start of the season we were playing well but not getting the points we deserved. We played well against Huddersfield, Forest and Derby for example. But since the second half against Brentford we have been woeful. What has changed? Maybe we should drop Jedinak, we seemed to play better before he arrived.
It doesn't seem to make any difference whether we play crap, well or just ok Winning games just seems an impossibility
-
What really worried me was how much fitter they were than us...just like Huddersfield were early on. Quite what RDM and his team were doing clearly wasn't good enough, so there's a lot of hard work needed in that department. I think we need to realise that we are miles off competing for the play offs this season after that showing.
-
What I find totally confusing, is that at the start of the season we were playing well but not getting the points we deserved. We played well against Huddersfield, Forest and Derby for example. But since the second half against Brentford we have been woeful. What has changed? Maybe we should drop Jedinak, we seemed to play better before he arrived.
It's because players are effected by levels of confidence. Negativity is infectious and in our case seemingly difficult to address. Players are humans not robots. Jedinak in the grand scheme of things has eff all to do with it.
-
What really worried me was how much fitter they were than us...just like Huddersfield were early on. Quite what RDM and his team were doing clearly wasn't good enough, so there's a lot of hard work needed in that department. I think we need to realise that we are miles off competing for the play offs this season after that showing.
Yup, Wolves and Hudds fans I know both said pre games that they would be fitter than us, both were correct. On the bright side it should be quite easy to correct that. Shouldn't it?
-
I never wanted Bruce and just because we got him doesn't mean I can pretend otherwise but I support Villa so like the rest if us I want to see us win games
we are all pissed off with the way thing are at the moment no matter who the manager is,
the only difference between me and the people who wanted Bruce is that at least you have hope that Bruce is the right man to turn it around and can look forward to better things including promotion even if it comes next season
Whereas I don't have that hope or belief so your in a better place than me right now
I find it difficult to fathom that you have no hope in a manager that has achieved promotion 4 times previously ? It makes no sense. I can understand you not liking him because of his style etc but to state you feel we have no chance of going up under him is just being negative for negatives sake when his record suggests otherwise
And as recently as last season
-
Are there any decent free agents out there he could bring in.
Leon Osman was on 5 live the other night which reminded me he's still alive.
Don't think he's retired.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
-
I think the great thing for me is that after 1 game Bruce sees it. In his post match comments he sees the flaws, the weaknesses and in my mind he will be able to address the issues that need sorting.
January will be very useful for him and stupid as it sounds after a £50 million outlay on players, it can't come quick enough.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
-
What I find totally confusing, is that at the start of the season we were playing well but not getting the points we deserved. We played well against Huddersfield, Forest and Derby for example. But since the second half against Brentford we have been woeful. What has changed? Maybe we should drop Jedinak, we seemed to play better before he arrived.
It's because players are effected by levels of confidence. Negativity is infectious and in our case seemingly difficult to address. Players are humans not robots. Jedinak in the grand scheme of things has eff all to do with it.
I'm with you Tayls. Their confidence is shot to bits & they've become a sorry bunch of individuals who have little or no belief in themselves or each other. Bruce certainly has one helluva job on stopping this ongoing slide & eventually turning it round. I just hope he's given the time to achieve what is desperately needed; & given mid-season funds to help sure-up this unbalanced, disorganised and criminally unfit rabble. God alone knows what RDM was doing at BMH during the week.
-
He needs them to go back to basics and get that right first. Then develop and confidence will grow.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
You can piss off with the fickle crap. They thoroughly deserved booing off the field after the absolute dogs breakfast of a second half.
Nigh on 5000 going to Reading on Tuesday. And we haven't won away for the best part of 15 months. One win all season. Fickle tossers.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
You can piss off with the fickle crap. They thoroughly deserved booing off the field after the absolute dogs breakfast of a second half.
Nigh on 5000 going to Reading on Tuesday. And we haven't won away for the best part of 15 months. One win all season. Fickle tossers.
Spot on.shoild be a banning offence to spout such shit about being fickle. As if were any different to any other set of fans, especially as you have mentioned the state of the last few years.
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
You can piss off with the fickle crap. They thoroughly deserved booing off the field after the absolute dogs breakfast of a second half.
Nigh on 5000 going to Reading on Tuesday. And we haven't won away for the best part of 15 months. One win all season. Fickle tossers.
Spot on.shoild be a banning offence to spout such shit about being fickle. As if were any different to any other set of fans, especially as you have mentioned the state of the last few years.
Anyone using the term fickle in relation to our support should be forced to have a picture under their username, maybe under the golden muppets bit, of O'Leary.
-
He needs them to go back to basics and get that right first. Then develop and confidence will grow.
I'm sure he will. I just hope he gets the required response asap, otherwise I can see a hammering on Tuesday evening inflicting further psychological damage on those poor wee lambs...
-
Yesterday at least showed Bruce what a sack of sh*t players he's got. Another manager who couldn't get any new manager bounce out of them.
If we'd flattered to deceive in his first game he might have thought they're not too bad, so at least he knows there's a lot of work to be done starting with getting them fit.
-
On the fitness question, I can't help thinking it's tied in with a key problem at the club, and that's to do with arrogance. The idea that this is a big club, that you've somehow made it when you sign for it, that opposition players will be intimidated by it, that you might not have to work quite so hard on things like fitness and organisation because you're special, and when things click we'll just tear up the league because we have players oozing with natural talent.
I noticed in the first half, we started well enough but then we began to get a little cocky, trying tricky individual things instead of playing the simple ball as a team. Then we lost our shape and were overwhelmed by a side that worked harder and played as a team.
I've said this before, but it's as if some players think they're better than they are, as if they're above all this, when what they really need to do is just keep it simple and play as a team. It's very strange.
-
I could be the manager, I'd say 'right men, under the previous 5 managers you were content to just sit back at let the opposition take their time and pick their passes...under me you close the f***rs down and don't give them time to scratch their balls before they pick out the defence splitting passes that 9 out of ten result in a goal, mostly in the last 5 minutes'....
...job done....3 million per year I thankyou!
-
the more i look at it , spending £14 million on Ross Mc and not buying two £7 million midfielders was criminal by RDM when we have a forward line of Ayew, Kodja . Rudy and H-murphy which is plenty enough.
Im sure Bruce will sort it , will take time but hes been there days and already he knows the problems where RDM was just a muppet .
-
The thing about how we play that gets on my tits the most? Not being able to take a decent fucking throw-in. Everything else - dribbling, passing, crossing, shooting - can be trained (allegedly, but at Villa that's not apparent), but these people have been playing the game since they were knee-high and they don't seem to be able to perform the simple task of chucking a ball next to a teammate's feet.
Completely infuriating isn't it? A couple of Richards' were absolutely criminal. Also just general technique. It must be confidence surely? Average Championship side Wolves are flinging passes at each other's feet at 100mph with barely a mistake. Our passes are almost always inaccurate and we end up coughing up possession again and again.
I just don't understand it, on paper we have a lot of very good players (for this level)
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?
I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.
I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill. Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Agree with all of that. We desperately need some energy in midfield.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.
-
Imagine if our current squad had proper jobs.
Imagine walking up to your manager and telling him or her that even though you still have half your shift left you will be doing the some total of fuck all.
Oh and going on to say that you still expect to be paid your full wages.
What exactly do they do in training all week?
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?
I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.
I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill. Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.
From where I was sat in the North Stand yesterday, I looked at the side in the second half and saw:
Richards - looked overweight and calf went
Elphick - calf went
Chester - looked OK
Cissokho - looked tired and was struggling to get back and defend
Jedinak - exhausted towards the end of the first half
Tshibola - known injury problems so there is a fear he could break down at any moment
Adomah - see Jedinak
Grealish - looked OK
McCormack - see Jedinak and Adomah
Kodjia - looked OK
We're never going to get anywhere if our fitness levels are inferior to the teams we are playing. I do have to wonder if they have actually done anything over the international break giving that we didn't have a manager in that time.
-
The thing about how we play that gets on my tits the most? Not being able to take a decent fucking throw-in. Everything else - dribbling, passing, crossing, shooting - can be trained (allegedly, but at Villa that's not apparent), but these people have been playing the game since they were knee-high and they don't seem to be able to perform the simple task of chucking a ball next to a teammate's feet.
Completely infuriating isn't it? A couple of Richards' were absolutely criminal. Also just general technique. It must be confidence surely? Average Championship side Wolves are flinging passes at each other's feet at 100mph with barely a mistake. Our passes are almost always inaccurate and we end up coughing up possession again and again.
I just don't understand it, on paper we have a lot of very good players (for this level)
Is that the same Mica Richards who - according to his personal website - "has been described as one of the finest defenders in Europe since making his debut in 2005"?! What a knob.
-
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.
This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.
-
But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
Codswollap.
The vast majority of our fans are magnificent.
-
Bruce really does have a major job to do. Since the Forest game when we played really well we have become useless. I just don't get it.
-
The shit performances and negative reactions become a downward spiral that's very hard to get out of. The more fraught and tense the atmosphere becomes, the more nervous and edgy the players get. Mistakes are made, the groans get louder. It's a very difficult cycle to break out of.
The solution, I expect, will be to instil into the players a Keep-It-Simple-Stupid mindset. Stick to a rigid, highly organised system where each man plays out his function simply and boringly. Have everyone know their role inside out. Play as a team.
At the moment we're like prisoners digging a tunnel. We're going to have to perform the same dull tasks over and over before we see any light at the end.
-
I think we might actually look better with Jedinak and Elphick both out injured. They're both carthorses, like playing two tugboats slowly drifting around the pitch as players stream past them.
Gollini
Amavi
Bacuna
Baker
Chester
Tshibola
Westwood (god help us, we are back to square one with this donkey again)
Gardner
Adomah
Ayew
Kodjia
Steer
Hutton
Cissokho
Jedinak
McCormack
Grealish
Gestede
-
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.
This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.
But they didn't get booed until after the game. When for 45 minutes most of them put in little by way of effort and far less by way of application. 6000 people didn't go to Preston in the hope of getting upset with them.
-
Interesting that Steve said "some tired badly" in the second half. It's been evident all season that the players simply are fit enough, which you can fully blame RDM and his fitness coaches. Basic fitness is surely a minimum requirement??
Didn't RDM come in and mention the fitness almost immediately? Or was that Garde?
I think both Garde and RDM mentioned fitness as basic fundamentals they would be working on.
I know there has been a lot said about BMH already, but it seems like these bunch of pampered princesses need a right shock to the system, so I'm hoping Bruce really puts them through the mill. Not only will it improve their fitness, it will show Bruce who is truly up for it and who's just coasting, and will teach them some proper respect for the management team.
From where I was sat in the North Stand yesterday, I looked at the side in the second half and saw:
Richards - looked overweight and calf went
Elphick - calf went
Chester - looked OK
Cissokho - looked tired and was struggling to get back and defend
Jedinak - exhausted towards the end of the first half
Tshibola - known injury problems so there is a fear he could break down at any moment
Adomah - see Jedinak
Grealish - looked OK
McCormack - see Jedinak and Adomah
Kodjia - looked OK
We're never going to get anywhere if our fitness levels are inferior to the teams we are playing. I do have to wonder if they have actually done anything over the international break giving that we didn't have a manager in that time.
From where I sat in the lower Holte, only one player actually looked to have any ambition of winning the game, Adomah. there were some shocking performances out there, Cissokho try's but he is always open to error, Grealish aint doing anything, when at the start of the season he was winning me over now he is window dressing, and no punch. Richards when fit will be an asset but he does look heavy, Jedinak he is such a disappointment, he is a yard slow.
Bruce made good substitutions and at the right time imo. The fact that what he brought on are players i'd rather not see playing in claret and blue aint Bruce's fault just shows where we are right now.
I thought both teams were poor maybe wolves slightly better than us, and the referee fitted in with the game, poor.
-
I might be in the minority but I thought Richards was actually trying yesterday, he looked a little rusty at times but I thought his effort was fine. Adomah did also, but he wasn't very effective to be honest.
-
Spot on mate. Wolves pummeled us second half. Reality check for many including myself. Brucie has a huge job on his hands to rebuild our team. I hope he gets the time and the backing to do it. But the booing from the Holte end don't help anything. That's why we have a reputation for being fickle.
4 wins in 50 something games, thousands travelling everywhere to see routine defeats, poor standard of football week in week out, complete lack of goals. Fickle my arsehole, no other fan base would stand for it so stop talking such shit.
This is pretty much the exact opposite of fickle. Being shown up for months on end and still having anyone show up at all is actually rather impressive.
Having said that, booing is hardly inspiring and I think it undoes the good will of fans showing up to support the team. There's no point in being proud of high attendances when it's such a load of arse on the pitch, if the reason for going is to bring everyone down with negativity. Not fickle, just counter productive.
But they didn't get booed until after the game. When for 45 minutes most of them put in little by way of effort and far less by way of application. 6000 people didn't go to Preston in the hope of getting upset with them.
Hold on I was there, and although it wasn't brilliant up to half time, the team got applauded off the pitch, at half time, the ground was magnificent the support was there, nothing on the pitch apart from Adomah, but support we did, and in fairness the wolves fans were good as well, both sets of fans deserve more than what was on the pitch,
Steve Bruce will sort it out, of that I'm confident, so we got a draw yesterday which was a point gained, on reflexion of the performance.
-
The shit performances and negative reactions become a downward spiral that's very hard to get out of. The more fraught and tense the atmosphere becomes, the more nervous and edgy the players get. Mistakes are made, the groans get louder. It's a very difficult cycle to break out of.
The solution, I expect, will be to instil into the players a Keep-It-Simple-Stupid mindset. Stick to a rigid, highly organised system where each man plays out his function simply and boringly. Have everyone know their role inside out. Play as a team.
At the moment we're like prisoners digging a tunnel. We're going to have to perform the same dull tasks over and over before we see any light at the end.
Agree. He's got to quickly come up with a way of playing and and pick players that best suit that style.
-
I might be in the minority but I thought Richards was actually trying yesterday, he looked a little rusty at times but I thought his effort was fine. Adomah did also, but he wasn't very effective to be honest.
Agree , but Adomah was our only outlet down the right and as he charged forward again and again, where was the supporting play ? he was on his own to a man most of the time and the claret and blue shirts moved away from him!, so he was left to contend with two/three wolves players on his own.
Get Ayew in on Tuesday and play Adomah one side Ayew the other with Kodija supported by McCormack or Gestede.
-
My first game of the season. It was a terrible performance but surely Villa must be dysfunctional behind the scenes? I just don't see how we can continue to be so totally unfit - surely this is easily changed?
A few times in the second half I looked down from the middle of the upper holte and all I could see were Wolves players in midfield - it literally looked like they had more players than us on the pitch. Our players were hiding on the edges and they look totally shot of confidence.
We really need to get back to basics - whatever is going on behind the scenes needs sorting.
-
Bruce has got one hell of a job on his hands, there is no shape of a team in those 11 to 16 individuals named each week, at times they are total strangers.
The fitness issue will be even a bigger problem, when the matches are coming weekend, mid week, then when there is a break most away on international duty, how can he set time aside for fitness, when I think someone above quite rightly said, the best way out of this now is for him to get them doing the basics, working to a rigid pattern and having to settle for that until a couple of wins (whats one of them) brings self and unit confidence back.
I would also take a very good look at the youth, because surely there is someone within the Villa ranks that are the equal of Jedinak and Elphick.
-
Get them fit. And get two midfielders and it's play off. Don't and it's Division 3.
-
Bruce has got one hell of a job on his hands, there is no shape of a team in those 11 to 16 individuals named each week, at times they are total strangers.
The fitness issue will be even a bigger problem, when the matches are coming weekend, mid week, then when there is a break most away on international duty, how can he set time aside for fitness, when I think someone above quite rightly said, the best way out of this now is for him to get them doing the basics, working to a rigid pattern and having to settle for that until a couple of wins (whats one of them) brings self and unit confidence back.
I would also take a very good look at the youth, because surely there is someone within the Villa ranks that are the equal of Jedinak and Elphick.
Lyden deserves a go I think. I'd play him and Tish in midfield to provide the legs, and bring in Gardner, giving him a bit more freedom to get forward, and he may then offer some threat from distance.
-
I might be in the minority but I thought Richards was actually trying yesterday, he looked a little rusty at times but I thought his effort was fine. Adomah did also, but he wasn't very effective to be honest.
Richards is not a footballer, he's absolutely pathetic.
-
Richards good footballer if only he concentrated on his own play.
As for yesterday poor all round. I fear for us with that type of performance
-
Bruce has got one hell of a job on his hands, there is no shape of a team in those 11 to 16 individuals named each week, at times they are total strangers.
The fitness issue will be even a bigger problem, when the matches are coming weekend, mid week, then when there is a break most away on international duty, how can he set time aside for fitness, when I think someone above quite rightly said, the best way out of this now is for him to get them doing the basics, working to a rigid pattern and having to settle for that until a couple of wins (whats one of them) brings self and unit confidence back.
I would also take a very good look at the youth, because surely there is someone within the Villa ranks that are the equal of Jedinak and Elphick.
Lyden deserves a go I think. I'd play him and Tish in midfield to provide the legs, and bring in Gardner, giving him a bit more freedom to get forward, and he may then offer some threat from distance.
Definitely needs a narrow 3 in midfield and has been suggested, a back to basics approach. It was noticeable again yesterday the number of players taking too many touches in possession instead of moving the ball on - Adomah, Grealish, McCormack, Kodija, all guilty of it. Not enough of a team ethic.
In the absence of many options I'd have Bacuna in midfield with two of Tish, Jedinak, Westwood and Gardner. He will at least add some energy and he can get box to box. We need to leave out a forward option but would definitely bring back Ayew.
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me. Maybe you want to see the promising 18 year-old that broke through at Citeh and was making the England squad. The problem is he never developed from there.
He always had the physique and decent pace, so Citeh probably reasoned that with good coaching and big match experience the other stuff: the positioning, game awareness, basic passing technique et.c would come. But it never did.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
As for Wolves -and as much as that second half was shocking- they did go to Newcastle and beat them 2-0. They looked like the best team we have faced so far this season -second half, at least. Their issue is putting it all together.
Not that it's much consolation, but not too many teams in this division would be capable of playing the way they did second half.
-
The first thing Richards did yesterday was try and replicate his floor level diving defensive midfield header at Luton. It set the tone for the remainder of the game.
-
Bruce has got one hell of a job on his hands, there is no shape of a team in those 11 to 16 individuals named each week, at times they are total strangers.
The fitness issue will be even a bigger problem, when the matches are coming weekend, mid week, then when there is a break most away on international duty, how can he set time aside for fitness, when I think someone above quite rightly said, the best way out of this now is for him to get them doing the basics, working to a rigid pattern and having to settle for that until a couple of wins (whats one of them) brings self and unit confidence back.
I would also take a very good look at the youth, because surely there is someone within the Villa ranks that are the equal of Jedinak and Elphick.
Lyden deserves a go I think. I'd play him and Tish in midfield to provide the legs, and bring in Gardner, giving him a bit more freedom to get forward, and he may then offer some threat from distance.
Is Lyden actually any good though?
All I saw from him against Bournemouth was him running around and chasing the ball, he got a great reception that day purely as he wasn't Richardson, Bacuna or Guzan all who got roundly booed.
Any youth team watchers out there who think he'll turn out better than Chris Herd?
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
No, you're seeing exactly the same one as me. He's utter shite
-
From the few youth games I've seen Khalid Abdo looks like just the sort of midfielder we need, anyone who's seen more of him think he could step up?
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
No, you're seeing exactly the same one as me. He's utter shite
Same here.
Whoever told him he was a footballer needs was taking the piss.
-
Bruce has got one hell of a job on his hands, there is no shape of a team in those 11 to 16 individuals named each week, at times they are total strangers.
The fitness issue will be even a bigger problem, when the matches are coming weekend, mid week, then when there is a break most away on international duty, how can he set time aside for fitness, when I think someone above quite rightly said, the best way out of this now is for him to get them doing the basics, working to a rigid pattern and having to settle for that until a couple of wins (whats one of them) brings self and unit confidence back.
I would also take a very good look at the youth, because surely there is someone within the Villa ranks that are the equal of Jedinak and Elphick.
Lyden deserves a go I think. I'd play him and Tish in midfield to provide the legs, and bring in Gardner, giving him a bit more freedom to get forward, and he may then offer some threat from distance.
Is Lyden actually any good though?
All I saw from him against Bournemouth was him running around and chasing the ball, he got a great reception that day purely as he wasn't Richardson, Bacuna or Guzan all who got roundly booed.
Any youth team watchers out there who think he'll turn out better than Chris Herd?
From the little I've seen of Lyden he looks like he'll disappear down the divisions, doesn't have any stand out feature of his game, he's just there and tries but isn't good at anything.
As for Richards, total prick, shouldn't be near the first team squad. Him and his knob mate Gabby, pair of fucking losers who should have been first out of the door. It speaks volumes that we haven't paid them off and they're still lingering. Before anyone says it's not my money being written off, you are correct, but haven't them around is counter productive and lessens the chance of us being promoted, they're a pair of really poor examples to have around. We should have taken a financial hit on both of them. They're shit and ******.
-
We need some pace on the bench and Rushian HM is the player. He made a massive difference in his one cameo and then disappeared. He is a future star for us and as Wolves and other Championship teams have demonstrated you need pace in this league. He would be ideal away from home as an outlet when under pressure.
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
-
That's because we were the total opposite with no cohesive midfield at all and that's how it's been in all home games bar small patches except Rotherham who just gave up after we scored.
-
I sincerely hope every last Villa fan can now sling any ideas of promotion this season into the bin and realise that what we have is a relegation battle. Make no mistake, every team in this league knows our many weaknesses, so absolutely every player will see an opportunity to get the better of us, and many will.
The fact that Bruce has articulated some of our problems, rather than spewing out a load of platitudes like his predecessors, is a positive sign. He knows what he needs to put right, and I believe he will, but it'll take time.
Fitness, mental fragility, lack of shape and cohesion are the things he needs to work on before he can strengthen in January. If we can get any form of win in the next few games, it will help immensely. But don't expect any more than mid-table stability this season. It only heaps more pressure on a nervous bunch of players, and it will ultimately lead to disappointment. We're going to have to take this one step at a time.
that's the spirit!
-
Agree one hundred percent Walmley RH-M is very quick and very busy. Can burrow into the penalty area and cause havoc. Should have been brought on by that clown Black so that he could have been in the fray from Day 1 in the Championship.
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
Indeed, and they were making those runs right up until the end of the game.
Are our lot really that unfit, or is there a bit of arrogance in them that makes them believe they are too good to need to work hard?
In other words, just fucking lazy?
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
Indeed, and they were making those runs right up until the end of the game.
Are our lot really that unfit, or is there a bit of arrogance in them that makes them believe they are too good to need to work hard?
In other words, just fucking lazy?
when wolves were moving forward from there half NO villa player stopped them until they were on top of us in our 18yd box.
I wonder what that ultimately is going to produce.
at this mo all my hopes are on Steve feeding the 40,000
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
Indeed, and they were making those runs right up until the end of the game.
Are our lot really that unfit, or is there a bit of arrogance in them that makes them believe they are too good to need to work hard?
In other words, just fucking lazy?
Last season, I would have said just laziness and bad attitude. But it can't be coincidence that the players we've bought in, some of whom were previously viewed as very good players at their previous clubs, have almost immediately also looked unfit and lacked impact late in games.
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
Indeed, and they were making those runs right up until the end of the game.
Are our lot really that unfit, or is there a bit of arrogance in them that makes them believe they are too good to need to work hard?
In other words, just fucking lazy?
Last season, I would have said just laziness and bad attitude. But it can't be coincidence that the players we've bought in, some of whom were previously viewed as very good players at their previous clubs, have almost immediately also looked unfit and lacked impact late in games.
I think it was a combination of wolves having their tails up knowing they could beat us and being fitter
-
What stood out massively for me is the way Wolves streamed forward with runners from the midfield and wide, compare to the way we attack.... it's all very organised and slow and predictable with no link up with Midfield or runners bursting through.
I think we look very very poor.
Indeed, and they were making those runs right up until the end of the game.
Are our lot really that unfit, or is there a bit of arrogance in them that makes them believe they are too good to need to work hard?
In other words, just fucking lazy?
i was going to say exactly the same, 3 mins into injury time wolves broke and had 4 runners in a line ahead of the bloke with the ball
a couple of times towards the end we broke and there was no one ahead and no one trying to get forward
-
I never wanted Bruce and just because we got him doesn't mean I can pretend otherwise but I support Villa so like the rest if us I want to see us win games
we are all pissed off with the way thing are at the moment no matter who the manager is,
the only difference between me and the people who wanted Bruce is that at least you have hope that Bruce is the right man to turn it around and can look forward to better things including promotion even if it comes next season
Whereas I don't have that hope or belief so your in a better place than me right now
I find it difficult to fathom that you have no hope in a manager that has achieved promotion 4 times previously ? It makes no sense. I can understand you not liking him because of his style etc but to state you feel we have no chance of going up under him is just being negative for negatives sake when his record suggests otherwise
And as recently as last season
and the year before had a relegation so maybe we'll get one of them instead
like I said you keep the faith in Bruce because of his record
i'l try and pick some up along the way
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me. Maybe you want to see the promising 18 year-old that broke through at Citeh and was making the England squad. The problem is he never developed from there.
He always had the physique and decent pace, so Citeh probably reasoned that with good coaching and big match experience the other stuff: the positioning, game awareness, basic passing technique et.c would come. But it never did.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
There was one moment in the 2nd half where Richards was facing their wide man and he actually made a 360º turn in front of him. In all the years I've been watching football I honestly don't think I've ever seen a player do that before. What the hell he was thinking I'll never know but you're right, a dim-witted manchild just about sums him up.
-
Don't think I've ever seen a more dispirited post-match thread. Considering that it's SB's first game in charge, that's quite something.
-
Yes it is but I don't think it's anything to do with SB it's more a product of very poor performance yesterday and general realisation that we are not going to get out of this division this season.
-
Yes it is but I don't think it's anything to do with SB it's more a product of very poor performance yesterday and general realisation that we are not going to get out of this division this season.
I suppose you're right.
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
No, you're seeing exactly the same one as me. He's utter shite
Same here.
Whoever told him he was a footballer needs was taking the piss.
n
Thirded - or fourthded - wherever we're up to - I think he's an absolute joke as a professional footballer hopefully Bruce saw yesterday why he shouldn't be anywhere near the team again
-
Yes it is but I don't think it's anything to do with SB it's more a product of very poor performance yesterday and general realisation that we are not going to get out of this division this season.
Not the way we want anyway. Seriously though, I always get worried when there is no new manager bounce.
-
Don't think I've ever seen a more dispirited post-match thread. Considering that it's SB's first game in charge, that's quite something.
Yeah I think it's the constant long term failure.
-
I saw Richards in those shorts and thought he was carrying Gabby around in them. Athlete my arse!
-
Perversely the awfulness of yesterday's game might be a good thing. Steve Bruce will have seen from his third day in his job just how bad we are. He can be under no illusions about the magnitude of the task ahead of him. By the same token we can get right down to finding out how good a manager Steve Bruce is. No foreplay, no honeymoon, no dead cat bounce, just the stark realisation that our players are not good enough and Tony Xia's money has been wasted on inadequately researched purchases.
-
has Steve Bruce been living on the moon until yesterday then
the world and his wife know how bad we are, we've won one game in the last 8
months,
We've lost David Bowie Ronnie Corbett and Victoria Wood since we last won away,
I think he had a good idea we were pretty much shit when he joined
I really don't think he's been taken by surprise, we've been playing like that for years he's got a telly and he's into football I think he would have noticed
-
Some of you must be seeing a different Micah Richards to me. Maybe you want to see the promising 18 year-old that broke through at Citeh and was making the England squad. The problem is he never developed from there.
He always had the physique and decent pace, so Citeh probably reasoned that with good coaching and big match experience the other stuff: the positioning, game awareness, basic passing technique et.c would come. But it never did.
The Micah Richards 2016 version is a dim-witted manchild who thinks he's better than he is. He is not alone with that delusion, a few on our books have similar delusions of grandeur.
There was one moment in the 2nd half where Richards was facing their wide man and he actually made a 360º turn in front of him. In all the years I've been watching football I honestly don't think I've ever seen a player do that before. What the hell he was thinking I'll never know but you're right, a dim-witted manchild just about sums him up.
Richards is a fucking brainless idiot.
In fact, if I had to choose one word to describe Aston Villa these last six years, it would be "brainless". We are utterly fucking brainless as a team and seem to specialise in signing players with zero nous.
-
Of course Bruce knew we were bad. However, until last week it was not his concern. Now it is. When he looks at them now he can't say "aren't they utterly crap" he has to say "what do I have to do to improve that lot?".
Seeing a car crash and being involved in it are very different things.
-
Of course Bruce knew we were bad. However, until last week it was not his concern. Now it is. When he looks at them now he can't say "aren't they utterly crap" he has to say "what do I have to do to improve that lot?".
Seeing a car crash and being involved in it are very different things.
This is the key, lots of people seem eager to praise him for asking the question, personally I'm more interested in the answer he comes up with. I hope it's more than just getting them to do a few extra laps of the training ground and some shuttles, my worry is that it won't be.
-
Of course Bruce knew we were bad. However, until last week it was not his concern. Now it is. When he looks at them now he can't say "aren't they utterly crap" he has to say "what do I have to do to improve that lot?".
Seeing a car crash and being involved in it are very different things.
This is the key, lots of people seem eager to praise him for asking the question, personally I'm more interested in the answer he comes up with. I hope it's more than just getting them to do a few extra laps of the training ground and some shuttles, my worry is that it won't be.
My worry is that the problems are so deep rooted the answers won't arrive until the January Transfer window opens.
-
Of course Bruce knew we were bad. However, until last week it was not his concern. Now it is. When he looks at them now he can't say "aren't they utterly crap" he has to say "what do I have to do to improve that lot?".
Seeing a car crash and being involved in it are very different things.
This is the key, lots of people seem eager to praise him for asking the question, personally I'm more interested in the answer he comes up with. I hope it's more than just getting them to do a few extra laps of the training ground and some shuttles, my worry is that it won't be.
My worry is that the problems are so deep rooted the answers won't arrive until the January Transfer window opens.
If Bruce takes that approach then it's not good enough, there's plenty of things you can do with this squad, even the midfield is nothing like as bad as it looks right now, it's just hard to see any positives after the last 4-5 performances. We might not have the midfield to compete for the top 2 but we certainly have enough quality to be top half at the very least. Yesterday is now 13 points dropped from winning positions, you don't get yourself in front that often if you're irredeemably shit, in the same way you don't drop that many points if everything is ok. We need to focus on doing the things that are working (or were at the start of the season) and work to address the things that aren't. It sounds really simple but if you ignore the former then you fall into the trap that Sherwood and RDM did of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
-
A team full of the best players is not always the best team and that is certainly the case with Villa. A well functioning team needs hard work, energy, pace, skill, motivation etc., etc. Unless a player is truly top class, you are not going to get all of those things in one player, so you have to build a team with players that each have some of those assets. Bruce has now seen that fitness is a major issue but we have the 15 that generally make up the playing squad being very similar regarding pace and energy.
He needs to give up some of his experienced players to perhaps lesser players (currently perceived). Who in the full squad has energy and reasonably pace. I would say Bacuna and Amavi (if he is fully over his injury) are two and I would bring them in at fullback to cover the lack of pace in the centre of the defence. They may be more of a risk defensively but they would add so much more going forward.
Bruce needs to look at the midfield and bring in one of the naturally fit younger players from the U21's to just add some life to this area of the pitch. Paul Birch was never the best player but he ran all day. Then you load the bench with fit players to come on in the 2nd half to stretch the opposition, rather than this happening to us.
We can get away in this division with playing young players as they do not have their inexperience exposed, providing they get involved in the game. Also, I believe some youth in the team adds to team spirit and togetherness. The older players look out for them when opposition players start having a go at them.
I have had enough of seeing Richards, Hutton, Cissoko, Westwood etc. They are not going to change the way they play, even though we are playing at a lower level. You should always look at a player and assess whether he can play better than he currently is. If he can't and he currently isn't playing well, you have to get rid.
-
Of course Bruce knew we were bad. However, until last week it was not his concern. Now it is. When he looks at them now he can't say "aren't they utterly crap" he has to say "what do I have to do to improve that lot?".
Seeing a car crash and being involved in it are very different things.
This is the key, lots of people seem eager to praise him for asking the question, personally I'm more interested in the answer he comes up with. I hope it's more than just getting them to do a few extra laps of the training ground and some shuttles, my worry is that it won't be.
My worry is that the problems are so deep rooted the answers won't arrive until the January Transfer window opens.
If Bruce takes that approach then it's not good enough, there's plenty of things you can do with this squad, even the midfield is nothing like as bad as it looks right now, it's just hard to see any positives after the last 4-5 performances. We might not have the midfield to compete for the top 2 but we certainly have enough quality to be top half at the very least. Yesterday is now 13 points dropped from winning positions, you don't get yourself in front that often if you're irredeemably shit, in the same way you don't drop that many points if everything is ok. We need to focus on doing the things that are working (or were at the start of the season) and work to address the things that aren't. It sounds really simple but if you ignore the former then you fall into the trap that Sherwood and RDM did of throwing the baby out with the bathwater.
Their confidence is completely shot and I just don't think they've got it in them at the moment to fight their way out of it. Some of them look shell shocked at the moment and we aren't going to get anywhere when we are getting outworked by teams.
-
He is going to need the rest of this season and a close season to even get us near to challenging to get out of this division. I just hope he is given the time.
-
I just hope he is given the time.
I just hope he knows what he's doing. ;)
-
Oh - and Micah! - Jesus Christ and God and Trump - how fucking fucking poor can you be? GET THE FUCK OUT OF THIS CLUB
Only just got round to reading the post match thread, this is a brilliant post,
-
It wasn't a very good game for us we really need to do better.