Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Match Threads & Player Ratings => Topic started by: Ads on January 21, 2021, 11:42:12 AM
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I hope the players have blown off some cobwebs and have ample fire in the gut to go out and beat Newcastle on Saturday.
Martinez
Targett
Mings
Konsa
Cash
Dougie
Ramsey
Barkley
Grealish
Watkins
El Ghazi
The same level of commitment defensively and off the ball, but I expect us 10 yards further up the pitch and right on the front foot. No excuses, lets beat them.
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I imagine Traore will keep him place instead of El Ghazi but I think we'll beat these and beat them well.
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We should hammer the alehouse football merchants but need to be careful not to be too complacent.
If I was Dean I'd be playing on the injustice side of last night but also emphasise the need to be professional as well. Play our game, Ramsey in for McGinn.
3-0
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3-0
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Newcastle are a definition of mediocrity and that's when they are doing OK. They are not doing OK at the moment so we can have no reasons not to win comfortably.
2-0 Villa.
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Could do with a win here.
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We need to, and should, stuff these fuckers out of sight.
Channel all the anger from last night into a 5-0 mauling.
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If we score early this will be an absolute mauling - I could genuinely see us getting 5,6 or even 7. Newcastle have virtually nothing going forward, complete plodders in midfield and a defence that will fold like a pack of cards if they go a couple behind.
6-0 to Villa and Watkins to get a hat-trick.
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I will be very disappointed if we don't take all three points from this one. Newcastle are fifteenth and have drawn one and lost four of their last five games. Their squad on paper isn't anything special. Hopefully we will all be playing Bruce bingo and ticking off all of his usual excuses after we beat them.
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Did chuckle when I read somewhere “With Dean Smith being sent off, it means there won’t be a football manager in either dugout at the weekend”.
I hope we’ve got some pent up rage saved up and we absolutely smash these out of sight.
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
They haven’t scored for 13 hours apparently, so I think we know what’s coming!
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Early goal and we'll be fine in this as they're very poor and we match up pretty well v them anyway.
3-0.
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
Losing to Sheffield United (even with 10 men) without having a serious shot for over an hour is all you need to know.
If you can't impose yourselves on a team who pre kick off had 2 points in middle of January you know you have issues.
They will just come for a 0-0 and we'd have to play our worst 90 minutes of the season to lose this so not too concerned.
Do the things we've been doing pretty much all season and we'll win this.
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
Losing to Sheffield United (even with 10 men) without having a serious shot for over an hour is all you need to know.
You wouldn't put it past Bruce to shithouse a result and for all his media mates to argue it serves us right for getting rid of him
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We've got to batter these, absolutely no excuses whatsoever. They are dreadful, we are good, but if we don't start winning some of our games in hand, we're going to end up in a disappointing lower mid table position.
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
Losing to Sheffield United (even with 10 men) without having a serious shot for over an hour is all you need to know.
You wouldn't put it past Bruce to shithouse a result and for all his media mates to argue it serves us right for getting rid of him
Maybe he can but they'll still be fighting relegation into the final weeks given how bad they've been in last 6 weeks while we will hopefully be comfortable top half. Burnley-Fulham is a postponed game so the winner of that would close things on Newcastle.
Early goal is key otherwise we risk it being another Burnley type one.
Fancy Ollie to end his goal drought as think he'll get some Liverpool one v ones with their backline compared to all the scrambled crosses he seems to get.
What I do expect from SB is endless talk of us spending 200m since he left while he had to make do with his "waif and strays" of Snodgrass, John Terry, Jack, McGinn, Tammy Abraham and Kodjia while he managed us.
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Pity we don't have Conor for the set-pieces. I fear a really frustrating draw.
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Anything other than a win will make it our worst result of the season
anything from 2 to 5 nil for me
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I think it may be tougher than some people think. Bruce will set them up to keep it tight so we may have to be patient. That said, I've not seen Newcastle play recently so I don't know how bad they've been.
We will definitely need to be patient, it will be a case of figuring out a way of breaking them down. Wilson is a threat, but they rarely attempt to get out of their own half. Certainly won't be end to end stuff like last night.
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Every time we seem to be playing well along comes a team and the match thread talk about 3-0 5-0 etc
And the inevitable happens.
keep our focus and we are good enough.
I think if we win and win comfortably then that could be the end for Potato head - would make it doubly enjoyable if so
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that's too harsh, he did a reasonable job with us and got us within a whisker of the PL. We need a win though to consolidate top half and then hopefully capitalize on our other games in hand.
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Let's take that rage energy from last night and absolutely funeral these.
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He should have left after the play off final, and then I think he'd be remembered a bit more fondly than he is. That defence or to be more precise, lack of one, he left us with was a disgrace, and was so bad it almost looked like sabotage.
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We need to start this game on the front foot, take the game to them and pin them back. Hopefully then to score and make them come out of their shell. If we do our usual, start knocking it around between the back four and the midfield, taking 5 passes when 1 would do, we will find the game gradually drifting away from us and being unable to rouse ourselves from our slumber to impose ourselves on the game. This particularly applies to Mings who has a habit of falling into the "that's a nice 15 yard square/backward pass I have just played, I will do it again next time I get the ball" mode instead of feeding it forwards to the midfield.
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As happened with us a Bruce team can pull a performance out of the bag occaisionally so I would not write them off or be over confident. That is before taking into account the treatment we are likely to get from the referees club.
We need to get back to winning again, it feels like such a long time.
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Newcastle nil please Villa...
UTV
The Doc
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I was never a Bruce fan, knew exactly what we would get when he was manager and I don’t buy all the “steadying the ship” stuff. I’m going for 3-0 but hope for more. Ollie to score 2 don’t care who scores the subsequent goals
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
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I like Steve Bruce. I mean, I'm very very very very glad he is no longer our manager, but he's a decent chap. I also have nothing whatsoever against Newcastle and find their bizzare hatred of us quite endearing.
Anyway, win this and we go 8th with games in hand and some reasonable fixtures coming up. Europe won't seem like such a ridiculous notion. I'd bring El Ghazi back in if he's fit. Probably at the expense of Barkley. We'll miss McGinn, but Ramsey looks up to it. 3-0.
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I was never a Bruce fan, knew exactly what we would get when he was manager and I don’t buy all the “steadying the ship” stuff. I’m going for 3-0 but hope for more. Ollie to score 2 don’t care who scores the subsequent goals
Managerial ballast.
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I like Steve Bruce. I mean, I'm very very very very glad he is no longer our manager, but he's a decent chap. I also have nothing whatsoever against Newcastle and find their bizzare hatred of us quite endearing.
Anyway, win this and we go 8th with games in hand and some reasonable fixtures coming up. Europe won't seem like such a ridiculous notion. I'd bring El Ghazi back in if he's fit. Probably at the expense of Barkley. We'll miss McGinn, but Ramsey looks up to it. 3-0.
I'd bring El Ghazi back in for Traore. Traore does absolutely no work whatsoever without the ball, and I don't think one or two moments of skill is enough to make up for that at the moment.
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I like Steve Bruce. I mean, I'm very very very very glad he is no longer our manager, but he's a decent chap. I also have nothing whatsoever against Newcastle and find their bizzare hatred of us quite endearing.
Anyway, win this and we go 8th with games in hand and some reasonable fixtures coming up. Europe won't seem like such a ridiculous notion. I'd bring El Ghazi back in if he's fit. Probably at the expense of Barkley. We'll miss McGinn, but Ramsey looks up to it. 3-0.
I'd bring El Ghazi back in for Traore. Traore does absolutely no work whatsoever without the ball, and I don't think one or two moments of skill is enough to make up for that at the moment.
I wouldn't argue with this should this be the selection. However I think this is a game that could be ideal for Traore. The last couple of games at Man City + Man Utd his disinclination to track back has made us more vulnerable than we needed to be.
Newcastle should be less of an attacking threat though so tracking back shouldn't be so key. He was outstanding against West Brom and could well be outstanding against Newcastle.
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I think we look more balanced with El Ghazi in the team, personally.
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0-2
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0-2
I think I'd stay in bed with the covers over my head for a month if Newcastle beat us 2-0....Last season's 2-0 home win against them was probably the most straightforward home win all season.
And we are much better now...
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If either Traoré or El Ghazi play I won't quibble, good arguments for either in this fixture.
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We're going to win. It's a fairly kind kick off time, we'll have had a few days after last night. Suitably rested, suitably trained.
Suitably positive against Mr Negative.
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
I've worked out 3 letters so far. The first and last F obviously, and the D for Dec.
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Have you been reading those Roddy Doyle books again?
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I have a bad feeling about this game. I don’t know why, but I do. Hope for the best, expect the worst!
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I have a bad feeling about this game. I don’t know why, but I do. Hope for the best, expect the worst!
on the contrary I have never been so confident of winning a game for a long long time
If Dean Smith can’t outwit Steve Bruce if our players can’t run all over their dreadful excuse for a football team, If our vibrant attacking play can’t overcome their Bruce ball negativity I’ll eat my souwester
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Let's hope it's a case of
"Wor VAR did us no favours out there"
3-0 please Villa
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I have a bad feeling about this game. I don’t know why, but I do. Hope for the best, expect the worst!
on the contrary I have never been so confident of winning a game for a long long time
If Dean Smith can’t outwit Steve Bruce if our players can’t run all over their dreadful excuse for a football team, If our vibrant attacking play can’t overcome their Bruce ball negativity I’ll eat my souwester
Blimey that’s quite the jinx. Obviously I hope you’re right!
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4 -0
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If ever we needed a Newcastle United its now. 2-0 and the veg stall will be empty before it opens on Monday Morning.
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
I've worked out 3 letters so far. The first and last F obviously, and the D for Dec.
Horse Punching, No Jumper Wearing, Blaydon Racing, No Longer Everybody's Second Favourite Team, Topless Fat Bloking, Sports Direct Financed, Toon Crier.
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We've got to batter these, absolutely no excuses whatsoever. They are dreadful, we are good, but if we don't start winning some of our games in hand, we're going to end up in a disappointing lower mid table position.
I think it's going to be a tricky game to be honest. They are in dreadful form alright but our lads will have had a very hard game in their legs after a lay off. McGinn is a big loss too. Wouldn't be surprised to see a somewhat flat start from us as a result.
I'd be swapping Jack back into 10 with AEG replacing Barkley. Kind of game AEG could have a field day in. Ramsey for McGinn is the obvious change in the middle.
Might be better to have Barkley coming on for last 20-30 mins until his fitness improves.
Get the first goal and these lads will fall apart like they did v Arsenal.
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I think we will win comfortably. An early goal and it could well be by 3 or 4.
Ordinarily I might be worried that this poor Noocassel side occasionally manages a dead cat bounce, but not with how we are playing and the intelligent approach of DS and his coaching staff.
As for Bruce. I didn't want him as our manager, never liked him but don't hate him (life's too short). Though I do get slightly irked from time to time that he continues to be very well paid, then very well paid off, from bringing next to fuck all to every club he manages - other than his tried and tested chat in press conferences. It seems enough for many in the media to give him an easy ride.
And I don't get the line that 'he steadied the ship'.
Certainly he didn't rock the boat or make huge demands but I don't give him credit for that. It is his standard operating practice - i.e. stand on the training ground watching others keep them fit, do the media stuff and chat to the lads before the game and at half-time - try to gee them up a bit.
Then off to do the post-match interviews with a favourite few lines about him being hard done by.
He's an amiable chancer getting very good money and doing the bare minimum.
UTV.
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They'll come to frustrate and shithouse a result. So long as we don't do anything stupid like give them the first goal then it should be regulation.
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Home win, Shelvey and Wilson sent off and a new world record for a cabbage being lobbed, landing nicely next to the dugout.
In short, ‘one of them nights’
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
I've worked out 3 letters so far. The first and last F obviously, and the D for Dec.
Horse Punching, No Jumper Wearing, Blaydon Racing, No Longer Everybody's Second Favourite Team, Topless Fat Bloking, Sports Direct Financed, Toon Crier.
Newcastle are just us now from 2011-12 and 13-15. Incredibly boring team to watch for a neutral who's sole ambition is to just stay up under manager not one of their fanbase actually want so considering all the hype they had in the 90s (when they were a very exciting team) that must be more soul destroying than never winning anything.
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3-1 Win.
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We are much better than them, but there’s always a but. Could be like the Burnley game, so an early goal for us would be nice. s has been said McGunn will be a loss. Think smith will just straight swap Ramsey, although he’s tended to play Ramsey further forward so not necessarily a straight swap. Don’t get the drip Barcklay talk, he’s quality and need to get him match fit. We should win and hopefully it’s straight forwards, 3-0 (Watkins, Greakish, El Ghazi)
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As witnessed tonight, no match is a foregone conclusion. So, I’m not going to say 3-0, 4-0 etc.
A 1 goal win will do for me, just to get us back into winning ways. Having said that, as long as no other dodgy VAR decisions go against us, player for player, we are much better than the Brown Ales. If we up the tempo on these, we should win. UTV
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We just need to win, get an early goal against them and it will be a comfortable victory - hopefully Watkins will score a goal 2-0
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8pm kick off against Newcastle?
8 pm ? On a Saturday night ?
Fucking hell, don’t think think people have got better things to do, places to go?
Oh, wait........
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FTFSCENBASF!
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8pm kick off against Newcastle?
8 pm ? On a Saturday night ?
Fucking hell, don’t think think people have got better things to do, places to go?
Oh, wait........
You ever been to Newcastle?
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8pm kick off against Newcastle?
8 pm ? On a Saturday night ?
Fucking hell, don’t think think people have got better things to do, places to go?
Oh, wait........
The slightly concerning thing is that Pandora's box has now been opened. When we eventually get to a post-lockdown world where people can go and watch football again, the TV companies in particular will have got used to showing the majority of matches on TV. Think there'll be some resistance on their part against getting rid of all of the wild-and-wonderful kickoff slots.
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
this is absolutely spot on in every detail
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
Obviously I would have to disagree with a lot of that Robbo. I’ve always thought that we wasted two years under Bruce and I think the ship had already settled when he took over. I didn’t see us dropping another division at the time. I’m not sure about him being a decent bloke because I don’t know him. To me he was our manager with outdated methods. His private life should be that, private. For instance, I loved Ron Saunders a brilliant manager but didn’t know he was married or had children until recently. That’s the way it should be
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
I've worked out 3 letters so far. The first and last F obviously, and the D for Dec.
Horse Punching, No Jumper Wearing, Blaydon Racing, No Longer Everybody's Second Favourite Team, Topless Fat Bloking, Sports Direct Financed, Toon Crier.
Newcastle are just us now from 2011-12 and 13-15. Incredibly boring team to watch for a neutral who's sole ambition is to just stay up under manager not one of their fanbase actually want so considering all the hype they had in the 90s (when they were a very exciting team) that must be more soul destroying than never winning anything.
The hope has gone!
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8pm kick off against Newcastle?
8 pm ? On a Saturday night ?
Fucking hell, don’t think think people have got better things to do, places to go?
Oh, wait........
You ever been to Newcastle?
Feel duty bound to say that Newcastle, as well as being a great city in general, is a really good night out as well!
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Yeah but it's the coldest place on earth.
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Newcastle is a great place for a night out. It is a long way to go though.
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
I agree entirely.
I don't know whether we were heading for successive relegations, but I was at Reading when we won our first away game for more than a year, and the relief was palpable. I can't deny him at least some credit for changing the culture and turning the ship around. We started to regularly win games for the first time in ages - we might have been winning ugly, but it was a needs must situation.
That said, I appreciated at the time that he wasn't a sustainable long-term solution for the club, but the fact is that he was operating in a leadership vacuum. We now have a very different structure around the manager, and a manager who is much better equipped to nurture and improve the team over time.
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I expect Newcastle will spend most of the game camped in their own half hoping for a 0-0 or to nick a goal from a set piece. Anyway 3-0 home win and a further sob on the Tyne.
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
this is absolutely spot on in every detail
Except is that it isnt.
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
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Yeah but it's the coldest place on earth.
Only if you're a great big shandy-drinking jessie!
(coldest place I've ever been, I don't think that Coats R Us does a roaring trade up there though.)
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
He made some good signings amongst the poor ones as all managers do, albeit some on loan - Snodgrass, Abraham, El Ghazi, Hourihane, Elmohamady all helped to turn the club around - and probably the best player we’ve got from Scotland since Des Bremner.
Bruce had his time and came up short but it wasn’t all doom and gloom in that period given the previous 6 or 7 years we’d endured.
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They are in poor form ,the fans and manager will expect improvement, and the Burnley result will encourage this, I think they will stifle our midfield I’m hoping 1.0 will enough.
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The away end at Sunderland is the coldest place on earth. They took the breeze from Roker Park and brought it with them to the Stadium of Light.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
He made some good signings amongst the poor ones as all managers do, albeit some on loan - Snodgrass, Abraham, El Ghazi, Hourihane, Elmohamady all helped to turn the club around - and probably the best player we’ve got from Scotland since Des Bremner.
Bruce had his time and came up short but it wasn’t all doom and gloom in that period given the previous 6 or 7 years we’d endured.
What tickles me about those players is he was making out they were all bargain basement loan signings rather than some of the top ones in their positions in the championship which likes of Snodgrass and Tammy obviously were.
Looks like they're going to gamble on Saint Maximn for this one although he hasn't played since November 21st.
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
He made some good signings amongst the poor ones as all managers do, albeit some on loan - Snodgrass, Abraham, El Ghazi, Hourihane, Elmohamady all helped to turn the club around - and probably the best player we’ve got from Scotland since Des Bremner.
Bruce had his time and came up short but it wasn’t all doom and gloom in that period given the previous 6 or 7 years we’d endured.
That's 6 players out of 20, I'll add Terry as well but that's about the lot and 3 of them were very much much short term solutions. a record of getting it right 1 time in 3 doesn't look good.
More important is the idea that he was 'exactly' what we needed when he came in, that's just nonsense. The absolute minimum requirement was someone who could organise a defence better than RDM but there are hundreds of managers who fit that requirement and most of them would also have also been able to setup the squad in a way that we didn't end up promoted with 12 senior players to pick from.
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
Di Matteo spent £54m (net £30m) summer 2016.
Bruce spent £21m (net £5m) January 2017, £2m (net £-13m) summer 2017, £0m January 2018 (net £0m), £7m (net -£7m) summer 2018. A total of £30m (-£15m)
Hogan was obviously a waste of money in terms of fee and wages, but all of the others were relatively low fees. Lansbury has obviously been a waste of wages, but most of the others have served a purpose, or been off-loaded. He generally played the loan market well.
I agree that this wasn't sustainable long term, because by the time he left we had a relatively old squad apart from the loanees, had to go out and buy a whole new squad in summer 2019, and if we hadn't been promoted would have been royally fucked. However, someone (Xia?) was sanctioning these transfers, and you'd struggle argue that Hourihane, McGinn, El Ghazi, Taylor, Elmohamady and Whelan (ultimately) weren't good value.
I agree that he didn't have a clue about tactics, and that he ultimately failed. However, he was starting from such a low base, with a squad that had been conditioned to lose football matches, and he did start to change this.
I am pleased that he is no longer our manager, but I don't understand the animosity towards him.
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The away end at Sunderland is the coldest place on earth. They took the breeze from Roker Park and brought it with them to the Stadium of Light.
I would say the old away end at Oldham would just shade victory in that one. (FA Cup 1990)
I’m sure Boundary Park was in Ice Road Truckers once.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
coldest away match Ive been was Oldham think we lost 3 0 too.
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The away end at Sunderland is the coldest place on earth. They took the breeze from Roker Park and brought it with them to the Stadium of Light.
I would say the old away end at Oldham would just shade victory in that one. (FA Cup 1990)
I’m sure Boundary Park was in Ice Road Truckers once.
I always found Boundary Park cold but the coldest I have ever been at an away game was the goalless draw at Notts County one midweek under BFR. The wettest I have ever been was Huddersfield away in 1987 in the early SGT days. My matchday programme turned into a ball of paper mache in my coat pocket. The coldest I have been at Villa Park was in the Trinity Road stand for a midweek ZDS cup game against Forest.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
Stoke away in '87/'88 was the worst view (or more accurately lack of view) I have ever had at a game. We were alongside the pitch and right down the bottom with our eye level view in line with the players legs. Although to be fair I wasn't cold.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
Yeah I was thinking Stoke. I had a lovely day there. 0-0 draw, bloody freezing, no beer at half time, staff ignored me when I queued up to get a pie.
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Another vote for Oldham.Frozen Bovril anyone?
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Yeah but it's the coldest place on earth.
Only if you're a great big shandy-drinking jessie!
(coldest place I've ever been, I don't think that Coats R Us does a roaring trade up there though.)
A mate as at Uni there. We went and had a night out. I slept fully clothed with 2 duvets on.
The kitchen had ice inside the windows and the washing up sponge was a brick of ice too.
It's just cold. And yes, if there was a bravery award it would go to the women of the city; the amount of clothes they wear appears to be inversely proportionate to the temperature.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
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Gotta disagree there Allan. Of course Bruce steadied the Villa ship. He, like it or not, was just what we needed at the time he took over. I think he did a good job, but we were on different trajectories. He’s a decent man, prone to making excuses like the best of us at times will. We out grew him ( I know- difficult!). He’s a top half championship/ bottom half Premiership manager and our ambitions are now, or should be, back in the top 6. I bear no malice to the bloke- tried to get us up, narrowly failed and the rest is history. Don’t forget the personal struggles he had, losing both his parents whilst managing Villa.
The late 60’s / early 70’s were before my time, but I see him as a Vic Crowe coming in and turning the ship around after the craziness of the Doc, before handing over to the more competent Saunders equivalent of Smith. Those older than me may well disagree, but there are similarities with how things seem to be playing out. Hopefully history repeats.
this is absolutely spot on in every detail
I agree with this. The club had been struggling since the MON walkout and we had in the main stunk out the Premier League for half a decade finishing 16th, 15th, 15th, 17th and 20th. I think he did steady the ship and he turned it around enough to get to a play off final we were unlucky to lose. I also think the new owners did the right thing by giving him a chance given that the new season was upon us. I backed him longer than most but in the latter weeks of his reign he went into the under pressure manager default mode of making excuses and blaming everyone and everything apart from himself. I think we were right to appoint him, right to stick with him and give him a shot after the takeover and ultimately right to sack him. We probably could and should have have sacked him a little bit earlier but apart from that little quibble generally speaking I think the owners
did exactly the right things at the right time. Bruce spent a fair few quid, had a decent amount of time and ultimately just fell short. I agree with the poster who described him as a bottom half Premier League manager, top half Championship manager.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
No. I am going to have to trump that with the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow in 2009. -12 degrees, about a foot of snow everywhere, chilly winds and Moscow's finest with their batons drawn holding us back in our pen. That's cold.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
Stoke away in '87/'88 was the worst view (or more accurately lack of view) I have ever had at a game. We were alongside the pitch and right down the bottom with our eye level view in line with the players legs. Although to be fair I wasn't cold.
The coldest I remember being was at Shitefield Rd in the seats on that horrific Boxing Day 3-0 when Mick Quinn got a hat trick, funny how the two worst performances I've seen there were in the two seasons we finished runners up.
The coldest I've been at though must be Hamburg a few years ago, it was showing -6 on the scoreboard.
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Stoke is always cold whenever I've been there.
Stoke away in '87/'88 was the worst view (or more accurately lack of view) I have ever had at a game. We were alongside the pitch and right down the bottom with our eye level view in line with the players legs. Although to be fair I wasn't cold.
The coldest I remember being was at Shitefield Rd in the seats on that horrific Boxing Day 3-0 when Mick Quinn got a hat trick, funny how the two worst performances I've seen there were in the two seasons we finished runners up.
The coldest I've been at though must be Hamburg a few years ago, it was showing -6 on the scoreboard.
Hamburg. The only time I've fallen asleep stood up.
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
Di Matteo spent £54m (net £30m) summer 2016.
Bruce spent £21m (net £5m) January 2017, £2m (net £-13m) summer 2017, £0m January 2018 (net £0m), £7m (net -£7m) summer 2018. A total of £30m (-£15m)
Hogan was obviously a waste of money in terms of fee and wages, but all of the others were relatively low fees. Lansbury has obviously been a waste of wages, but most of the others have served a purpose, or been off-loaded. He generally played the loan market well.
I agree that this wasn't sustainable long term, because by the time he left we had a relatively old squad apart from the loanees, had to go out and buy a whole new squad in summer 2019, and if we hadn't been promoted would have been royally fucked. However, someone (Xia?) was sanctioning these transfers, and you'd struggle argue that Hourihane, McGinn, El Ghazi, Taylor, Elmohamady and Whelan (ultimately) weren't good value.
I agree that he didn't have a clue about tactics, and that he ultimately failed. However, he was starting from such a low base, with a squad that had been conditioned to lose football matches, and he did start to change this.
I am pleased that he is no longer our manager, but I don't understand the animosity towards him.
That all ignores signing fees and loan fees which was where he was literally giving money away to gamble on short term 'success'. If he'd won the play offs and then kept us up (both things Smith managed) I'd have held my hand up and admitted he's a better manager than I thought but the facts are he failed at the first part and left himself with a near impossible task to try again because the squad he'd assembled was a fucking mess and our problems and takeover meant he couldn't throw another 7-8 players at it and see what happened.
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Let's mash Mr Potato Head.
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Bruce was thoroughly shit. He wasn't recruited to 'steady the ship'. His remit was promotion, and he failed in quite the most craven way.
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Bruce was thoroughly shit. He wasn't recruited to 'steady the ship'. His remit was promotion, and he failed in quite the most craven way.
We'd just been relegated on 17 points, losing 27 games and gone through two managers and a caretaker who no-one liked. Of course we needed some kind of stability.
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We needed much, much more than that.
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The rot needed to stop first and foremost regardless of who came in.
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The rot needed to stop first and foremost regardless of who came in.
Which a good manager would have done whilst being, well, good.
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Well, we stopped losing which was the main thing really. Sunderland will tell you that.
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Well, we stopped losing which was the main thing really. Sunderland will tell you that.
If our current set up were happy with being better than Sunderland we'd still be in the Championship.
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Well, we stopped losing which was the main thing really. Sunderland will tell you that.
If our current set up were happy with being better than Sunderland we'd still be in the Championship.
Which is not the point I was making. I think I'll leave it there.
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He left us better than he found us, which was an improvement on his five immediate predecessors.
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He left us better than he found us, which was an improvement on his five immediate predecessors.
Yes very true.
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I did not want Steve Bruce and when we sacked him I thought it was the right thing to do.
However, if I had chance I would buy him a pint and thank him for his part in where we are now.
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I did not want Steve Bruce and when we sacked him I thought it was the right thing to do.
However, if I had chance I would buy him a pint and thank him for his part in where we are now.
Agreed. Without the buying bit, obvs.
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I did not want Steve Bruce and when we sacked him I thought it was the right thing to do.
However, if I had chance I would buy him a pint and thank him for his part in where we are now.
Agreed. Without the buying bit, obvs.
Yes, he is a multi-millionaire after all.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
I was probably too cold to care.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
I was probably too cold to care.
Was that game when we had three players standing over a free kick and they all ran over the ball?
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
I was probably too cold to care.
Was that game when we had three players standing over a free kick and they all ran over the ball?
We did. It was wet rather than cold and I don't think we missed a penalty.
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Well, we stopped losing which was the main thing really. Sunderland will tell you that.
If our current set up were happy with being better than Sunderland we'd still be in the Championship.
Indeed. There is some revisionism going on here. There is no evidence now to say Bruce did better than DiMatteo would have done but I do not think we were heading for the third division under him and somehow Bruce delivered a miracle to take us to play-offs. .
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He left us better than he found us, which was an improvement on his five immediate predecessors.
I think MON left us with a better squad than he inherited. He took over a side that had finished 16th and took us to three top six finishes, a league cup final and a FA cup semi final.
My mistake, off the top of my head I miscounted how many predecessors we were counting despite Dave clearly
stating five.
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He turned us into a competent football team again. Something we hadn't been for the previous 5 years... That said, having the most expensively assembled squad ever to have graced the Championship then any competent manager could have probably done the same and delivered what Bruce did, a mid-table finish and losing play-off finalists.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
The ref felt sorry for us that we hadn't scored a goal in years ?
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This thread has gone off piste. Can we get back to discussing tactics Bruce is going to deploy tomorrow and do we have any chance of countering his strategy?
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There is no evidence now to say Bruce did better than DiMatteo would have done but I do not think we were heading for the third division under him and somehow Bruce delivered a miracle to take us to play-offs.
Of course there is no evidence, it is completely hypothetical. I don’t understand why you would be willing to give Di Matteo the benefit of the doubt, but not Bruce. We won 1 of our 11 league games under Di Matteo, and went out of the League Cup to Luton. Bruce at least turned that form around, and got us competing.
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No away end could possibly be as cold as Meadow Lane in 1992. And it was a terrible game.
I seem to recall Staunton missed a penalty.
And nobody could fathom what it had been given for in the first place.
The ref felt sorry for us that we hadn't scored a goal in years ?
Jesus I remember that game!
Certainly one of the coldest games I ever attended.
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The rot needed to stop first and foremost regardless of who came in.
Which a good manager would have done whilst being, well, good.
The other names in the running at the time were Pearson, McLaren, Allardyce, Wagner and Smith. With the benefit of hindsight we can say that Smith would have been the best choice, but he was a couple of years less experienced and would have been arriving into a complete shit show. I don’t know who from the rest of the list would have taken the job, but which of them do you think would have been a better appointment, or would have performed better than Bruce?
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He came in, spent a shit load of money that we didnt have on players that were not good enough. He had and has no idea of tactics which limited any chance of promotion. He failed miserably blamed everybody else until someone chucked a cabbage at him and then he fucked off. Good riddance.
Di Matteo spent £54m (net £30m) summer 2016.
Bruce spent £21m (net £5m) January 2017, £2m (net £-13m) summer 2017, £0m January 2018 (net £0m), £7m (net -£7m) summer 2018. A total of £30m (-£15m)
Hogan was obviously a waste of money in terms of fee and wages, but all of the others were relatively low fees. Lansbury has obviously been a waste of wages, but most of the others have served a purpose, or been off-loaded. He generally played the loan market well.
I agree that this wasn't sustainable long term, because by the time he left we had a relatively old squad apart from the loanees, had to go out and buy a whole new squad in summer 2019, and if we hadn't been promoted would have been royally fucked. However, someone (Xia?) was sanctioning these transfers, and you'd struggle argue that Hourihane, McGinn, El Ghazi, Taylor, Elmohamady and Whelan (ultimately) weren't good value.
I agree that he didn't have a clue about tactics, and that he ultimately failed. However, he was starting from such a low base, with a squad that had been conditioned to lose football matches, and he did start to change this.
I am pleased that he is no longer our manager, but I don't understand the animosity towards him.
That all ignores signing fees and loan fees which was where he was literally giving money away to gamble on short term 'success'. If he'd won the play offs and then kept us up (both things Smith managed) I'd have held my hand up and admitted he's a better manager than I thought but the facts are he failed at the first part and left himself with a near impossible task to try again because the squad he'd assembled was a fucking mess and our problems and takeover meant he couldn't throw another 7-8 players at it and see what happened.
I don’t know the details of the signing on fees and loan fees, and don’t dispute that they would have been significant - maybe they are available somewhere? I would argue though that this was the only realistic option in the circumstances. It would have been quite difficult to attract better players as permanent signings without transfer fees and wages that we couldn’t afford. Why would EPL players sign permanently for us when our prospects were so uncertain. After all, if he had arrived summer 2016 instead of October, he would have been able to spend the £60m that Di Matteo did.
The fact that you are blaming Bruce for the recruitment strategy is an admission that this was his responsibility as we didn’t have the kind of recruitment team that we do now. After all Pitarch carried the can for the summer 2019 signings (which have turned out all right anyway), not Smith.
Again, I agree that it was unsustainable, and I’m pleased he is no longer our manager. I just don’t see why he is reviled for not being a hypothetical manager who would have been better, available and willing to take the job.
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I don't really have any animosity to Bruce. He said some daft things towards the end, boasting about how he had "shut some people up" when we managed a home win against mighty Rotherham, for instance. Still, in hindsight, it's pretty easy to get caught up in the moment and it would be harsh to give him too much stick for some ill-judged comments under pressure of the sack.
He helped reverse the culture of losing and, worse, losing with a shrug of the shoulders that had become the Villa Way. He stopped the club being a joke.
He ran out of ideas towards the end, but his departure suited both parties eventually. We are both in the Premier League.
I wouldn't want him back, as feel our ambitions should be far and away from what he'd be capable of achieving, but as the manager to turn around laughing stock Villa he did a decent job of setting us on our way.
Special thanks for John McGinn. Scott Hogan... not so much.
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I fear but hope not that he gets a chance post the game to repeat his "I hope it shuts a few up. But I doubt it." remarks after we beat the mighty Rotherham 2-0.
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In the long run him being with us as long as he was is probably a blessing in disguise because, by failing, he opened the door for NSWE to take over but I think he's a terrible manager, it's really that simple, I don't revile him, I just find it funny how familiar all his excuses in the last couple of months are.
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Reading the Newcastle forums, they really, really dislike him.
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Seems like whilst their attack may be available (St Maximim), they're struggling at Centre Back with injuries.
Think Fernandez, Clark and Schar all up against it.
Fancy us to win big tbh.
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I don’t dislike Bruce either, he came did his best, ultimately he couldn’t get us up. Football at times was very bad, and some poor results. His loan signings were good, his buys not so, except Conor.
3-0 Villa
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A friend of mine has seen the video of the cabbage incident. An old chap had done his shopping at Tesco and was let in with his carrier bag. He dropped the bag and the cabbage rolled out. It was never thrown but because of who it was and the problems he had the club did not reveal the truth.
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Who’d have thought bruce would shop at tescos...
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A friend of mine has seen the video of the cabbage incident. An old chap had done his shopping at Tesco and was let in with his carrier bag. He dropped the bag and the cabbage rolled out. It was never thrown but because of who it was and the problems he had the club did not reveal the truth.
Not sure how true this is however I always found it strange that their were no witnesses (or no footage, in this era where everything is filmed) and no culprit was ever identified for actually throwing a cabbage.
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Never particularly like him.
Irrationally - other than having scored during the original Fergie time, played most of his football for the Plastics and then went on to manage at the Sty.
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The rot needed to stop first and foremost regardless of who came in.
Which a good manager would have done whilst being, well, good.
The other names in the running at the time were Pearson, McLaren, Allardyce, Wagner and Smith. With the benefit of hindsight we can say that Smith would have been the best choice, but he was a couple of years less experienced and would have been arriving into a complete shit show. I don’t know who from the rest of the list would have taken the job, but which of them do you think would have been a better appointment, or would have performed better than Bruce?
There was no compulsion to appoint one of the managers 'in the running', but any of the above would've 'steadied the ship', and some of them might have tried to win games. It's almost as though steadying the ship was the easiest goal our manager was tasked with.
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Bruce won loads of games when in charge of us, so not sure about that last comment. Saying that I couldn’t give much of a monkeys about Bruce now and I don’t mean that in a horrible way, there does seem to be a familiarity about his recent comments at struggling Newcastle as to when he was struggling at villa at various times.
He nearly got us up and got in some good players that season, Snoddy and Terry, but his tactics in the play off final were all wrong and ultimately reflected his conservative management style. I thought he should of gone after that. But maybe things happen for a reason, and if we had gone up the struggle would of been painful and we would never had the memories of that 10 game run or be building what we are now in the style we’re building it.
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Absolutely no complacency Villa. We need early pressure and to dominate territory, but no Brighton stupidity please.
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FTHPNJWBRNLESFTTFBSDFTCF
Something about Scotland?
I've worked out 3 letters so far. The first and last F obviously, and the D for Dec.
Horse Punching, No Jumper Wearing, Blaydon Racing, No Longer Everybody's Second Favourite Team, Topless Fat Bloking, Sports Direct Financed, Toon Crier.
Newcastle are just us now from 2011-12 and 13-15. Incredibly boring team to watch for a neutral who's sole ambition is to just stay up under manager not one of their fanbase actually want so considering all the hype they had in the 90s (when they were a very exciting team) that must be more soul destroying than never winning anything.
In Callum Wilson they've even got their own Darren Bent.
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Bruce won loads of games when in charge of us, so not sure about that last comment. Saying that I couldn’t give much of a monkeys about Bruce now and I don’t mean that in a horrible way, there does seem to be a familiarity about his recent comments at struggling Newcastle as to when he was struggling at villa at various times.
He nearly got us up and got in some good players that season, Snoddy and Terry, but his tactics in the play off final were all wrong and ultimately reflected his conservative management style. I thought he should of gone after that. But maybe things happen for a reason, and if we had gone up the struggle would of been painful and we would never had the memories of that 10 game run or be building what we are now in the style we’re building it.
Yes, I think some people forget that in 2017/18, we won lots of games and actually played really well on a number of occasions and the throwaway remarks about 'Bruceball' were not flying around at the time. Certainly he was nowhere near the worst managers we have had, but equally he probably wouldn't have been good enough to take us forward had we gone up.
I don't have any dislike Bruce but equally don't care about what he is doing or not doing since he left.
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A difficult 2-1 win, maybe with the winner coming late.
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Reading the Newcastle forums, they really, really dislike him.
I bet there’s still some on there saying he’s steadying the ship though
Defending him with their lives like there was on here
That’s why he’ll never be out of a job there’s always people think he’s better than he actually is
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His comments about Bentitez are pretty disrespectful to be honest, it's not his fault he's held in high regard up there. I imagine this will be Bruce's last top flight job in all probability.
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His comments about Bentitez are pretty disrespectful to be honest, it's not his fault he's held in high regard up there. I imagine this will be Bruce's last top flight job in all probability.
Bruce seems to have lost his marbles the last few weeks. Tried to throw his players under a bus for the performance at Sheff Utd and how it would be his way going forward. His players promptly responded with a dreadful effort at Arsenal. For an experienced manager I'm surprised at him. He is under huge pressure now.
A little unfortunately perhaps, solid season last year when they were fancied to go down. Spent a good bit of money in the summer alright but any uplift in form and they should still stay up comfortably. Covid hit some of their players badly, arguably their best two players in particular. The football is awful though, his approach has always been to throw players together in a team. Never much cohesion between midfield and attack.
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What's the snow situation in Brum? Had a right dumpful in Stourbridge
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What's the snow situation in Brum? Had a right dumpful in Stourbridge
I'm not far from Stourbridge - seems to be clearing up now - can't imagine there will be too many problems if it stays sunny.
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There was no compulsion to appoint one of the managers 'in the running', but any of the above would've 'steadied the ship', and some of them might have tried to win games. It's almost as though steadying the ship was the easiest goal our manager was tasked with.
The ship was steadied and we did win games under Bruce, so I think you’re really saying that none of the others would have been any better. Being in the running is an indication of who was available and realistic at that point in time. My point is that, with the exception of Smith who was an unknown quantity, and inexperienced at arriving into a crisis club situation, none of the others were better suited or more sustainable long term. If you think that another manager was available, realistic, and a better suited, feel free to elaborate. Again, I don’t know why you would blame Bruce for not being as good as some hypothetical manager who was apparently available, realistic, and just plain better.
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I feel a right beasting coming on tonight. I think Villa will be revved up to hell following Wednesday and Newcastle players will be trying to get Brucey sacked. Five - Nil the Villa.
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The most important thing is trying to get three points, regardless of who the opposition manager is. Some people may want to carry on the obbssesion over Bruce, but that's up to them I suppose.
Get the first goal and their heads will hopefully drop and we can get a couple more. They'll make it tough for us though,. LIke I said the other day, a bit of patience might be needed.
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The most important thing is trying to get three points, regardless of who the opposition manager is. Some people may want to carry on the obbssesion over Bruce, but that's up to them I suppose.
Get the first goal and their heads will hopefully drop and we can get a couple more. They'll make it tough for us though,. LIke I said the other day, a bit of patience might be needed.
Ha ha there’s only one person on here who was obsessed with Bruce
And we all know who that is
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To be fair, I didn’t start the discussion about Bruce, I just offered a different opinion to the one that prevailed in the thread. If that is obsession, so be it. I’ve consistently said I’m pleased he isn’t our manager.
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The most important thing is trying to get three points, regardless of who the opposition manager is. Some people may want to carry on the obbssesion over Bruce, but that's up to them I suppose.
Get the first goal and their heads will hopefully drop and we can get a couple more. They'll make it tough for us though,. LIke I said the other day, a bit of patience might be needed.
Ha ha there’s only one person on here who was obsessed with Bruce
And we all know who that is
Yes, you.
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To be fair, I didn’t start the discussion about Bruce, I just offered a different opinion to the one that prevailed in the thread. If that is obsession, so be it. I’ve consistently said I’m pleased he isn’t our manager.
It’s not you mate he knows who he is
He won’t be too long coming on replying
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Oh and there you go already has
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I’ve got more of a problem with newcastle than bruce. You just know its going to be 0-0 or 0-1 now.
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(Huge sigh) Anyway, down to more important things. I wonder if he'll put El Goalzi back in if Targett is out? One thing Targett does really well is overlap with Grealish and Taylor won't do that.
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I hope Targett is ok he’d be a big loss.
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Under-18s called off, assume this will go ahead?
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Frozen pitch forcunder 18s
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I hope Targett is ok he’d be a big loss.
I think he would against Maximus Dribblious but otherwise Taylor or Hause would be fine.
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What's the snow situation in Brum? Had a right dumpful in Stourbridge
Snowed for about 2 hours last night. Real fluffy stuff. This morning all the snow is solid ice in the garden. So if the match was played in my garden it would not go ahead but as Villa park has all the technology in the world deployed it should be not an issue.
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I hope Targett is ok he’d be a big loss.
I think he would against Maximus Dribblious but otherwise Taylor or Hause would be fine.
Could work to our advantage as Newcastle will bombard our area whenever they can and Hause is the best header of the ball in our squad.
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Hause has injured his foot and will be out for a while. Trez is back in the squad though.
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
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What's the snow situation in Brum? Had a right dumpful in Stourbridge
Snowed for about 2 hours last night. Real fluffy stuff. This morning all the snow is solid ice in the garden. So if the match was played in my garden it would not go ahead but as Villa park has all the technology in the world deployed it should be not an issue.
My wife and youngest daughter had a snowball fight in the hall last night (we have Laminate flooring so no problem). My wife had a very strict upbringing by her father so I think she tries to relive her youth through our youngest.
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Tbf the under soil heating will ensure the pitch is ok and games mainly get called off for safety of the fans. With no fans, it should be ok.
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
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Targett is fit to play tonight. He was taken off on Wednesday due to post Covid fatigue. He’s fine now.
Gregg Evans confirmed this.
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Targett is fit to play tonight. He was taken off on Wednesday due to post Covid fatigue. He’s fine now.
Gregg Evans confirmed this.
Great news
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Snowing heavily in Yardley now. You could barely see the ball in the closing stages of the women's match at Walsall. Worried this game could be off or, worse, played in conditions similar to Bolton away. You don't want to play long ball dross like this in the snow, it's a leveller.
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Targett is fit to play tonight. He was taken off on Wednesday due to post Covid fatigue. He’s fine now.
Gregg Evans confirmed this.
Great news
Yeah it is I was getting a bit concerned he wasn't gonna make it, going 2 nil Villa, Ollie and Jack.
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Snowing heavily in Yardley now. You could barely see the ball in the closing stages of the women's match at Walsall. Worried this game could be off or, worse, played in conditions similar to Bolton away. You don't want to play long ball dross like this in the snow, it's a leveller.
Surely that's not even a remote possibility with heated pitches these days? The only time I can recall matches being off for snow is when the surrounding areas are too dangerous for fans to travel, but that's obviously not going to be a problem today.
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Snowing heavily in Yardley now. You could barely see the ball in the closing stages of the women's match at Walsall. Worried this game could be off or, worse, played in conditions similar to Bolton away. You don't want to play long ball dross like this in the snow, it's a leveller.
I'm a couple of miles away from Villa Park and it's sunny here but we keep getting short snow showers. If it stays like this and things aren't massively different down the road then I don't think the weather will be a problem.
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Snowing heavily in Yardley now. You could barely see the ball in the closing stages of the women's match at Walsall. Worried this game could be off or, worse, played in conditions similar to Bolton away. You don't want to play long ball dross like this in the snow, it's a leveller.
Calling off for weather would only happen if 40k were preparing their cabbages and descending on the Villa Tavern and Cap n Gown as we type.
Think last game that was called off was QPR at home and that was due to safety of crowd rather than pitch issues.
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
olaftab you are naughty :)
UTV
The Doc
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
I dip in and out of threads, I don't read every single comment on every single thread so I'm going to miss some posts.
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
I dip in and out of threads, I don't read every single comment on every single thread so I'm going to miss some posts.
Yes, but what's wrong with Hause?
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We need to get ruthless, and be far less wasteful when in good positions.
I think El Ghazi was very unlucky to not start the other night, and he more than deserves a starting place tonight.
It's tempting to think that this is a game that is ripe for us to hand out a good hiding to the opposition, however Newcastle will be desperate to get something from this game and I've a feeling that a 1-0 win might need to do.
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I think it’ll be tricky. They’ll inevitably sit back - we need to be precise and ruthless.
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Nakamba or Ramsey to replace McGinn? Ramsey seems obvious choice on current selection, but he seems more of an attacking midfielder than McGinnis been playing lately?
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Not Nakamba, he hamstrings us with his inability to get the ball forward with any accuracy or pace and I don't think his tackling around the area will be particularly suited to Newcastle at home.
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
I dip in and out of threads, I don't read every single comment on every single thread so I'm going to miss some posts.
I thought you were OCD
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Hause wasn't in the squad against City so not sure if he's fit enough.
Injured foot, as I said before.
So what's wrong with hause?
I dip in and out of threads, I don't read every single comment on every single thread so I'm going to miss some posts.
I thought you were OCD
I am with some things.
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Target starting
Trez on the bench
Inside information from my Son whose last inside information was that David Moyes would be our next manager before we then went and appointed Smith
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Had a quick look at their forum, thread is titled Villans V The Hopless Shites
Don't know if they are talking about lack of beer ingredients or the need to sign one legged players.
https://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/42850-villans-v-the-hopless-shites-8pm-villa-park-sky-sports-main-event/
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Had a quick look at their forum, thread is titled Villans V The Hopless Shites
Don't know if they are talking about lack of beer ingredients or the need to sign one legged players.
https://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/42850-villans-v-the-hopless-shites-8pm-villa-park-sky-sports-main-event/
God, all the Gifs. My eyes hurt from looking at it.
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That’s funny. They expect to be battered today. I hope we can meet their expectations.
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Had a quick look at their forum, thread is titled Villans V The Hopless Shites
Don't know if they are talking about lack of beer ingredients or the need to sign one legged players.
https://www.toontastic.net/board/topic/42850-villans-v-the-hopless-shites-8pm-villa-park-sky-sports-main-event/
Jeez what a crap forum. Thank McGrath for H&V
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Targett in. Nakamba too....
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4-0, have a good feeling about this one