Dr T has pulled the trigger

[villadelph]

I still think some people are clearly in denail about how big this rebuild job is and how hard it's going to be to get out this league anytime soon.

Give it a chance FFS, it was always going to be a BIG job, just throwing money at it isn't going to make it any easier for a new team to gel. It's going to take time, it always was

I still think it could take three seasons. And no amount of changing managers/players is going to change that.

Yep. People getting into an almighty panic after 7 games is astonshing.

I don't think its panic, I think its irritation.

When they talk about sacking the manager and mentioning relegation, it's panic.

I don't necessarily agree. I haven't seen anyone mentioning relegation, but when a manager is failing to get the best out of a very able squad its irritating. Tactical mistakes and throwing away points will lead any supporter to question their manager. There will always be the few knee-jerkers that to call for heads to roll, that's at every club. We drop a division, change the hierarchy, spend 50 million and nothing has changed..

I expected more, and I think many others did too. I try to be as patient as the next guy, but despite this league being labeled a marathon these matches fly by.. and we're not taking the points we deserve.

[mallo]

If we don't win in the next 3 get rid - I've had enough of giving people a chance and Bruce would do better. Those players should be miles better than this and I'm not seeing them busting a gut half the time. Where is this attitude coming from???

Unless Xia has plan B to go up next season then there's no point sacking him now, might as well give him a season to prepare for next - I don't believe that for a minute. The minute we look like we're out of touching distance of at least the playoffs he'll go. I think he'll get till new year.

[PeterWithesShin]

We've won 4 of our last 47 league games, it's hardly surprising fans aren't in the most patient of moods.

[oswald funkletrumpet]

We've won 4 of our last 47 league games, it's hardly surprising fans aren't in the most patient of moods.

if you want to get really depressed 79 games and 52 points

[Skerra]

SirLord,

Just an observation, haven't Newcastle also brought in a lot of new players? Took them 2 games to gel. Have to add though that hardly any other team seems to have the injuries we do. Why that should be, I have no idea. Adomah for example, what does he even look like???

[curiousorange]

One thing Newcastle have managed to keep that we haven't is a core of players that presumably know how each other play. Okay, they also got them relegated but at least they've had more or less a year together. Virtually the whole of our team is new - some out of choice, some because we couldn't replace them.

Another, more annoying difference is that Newcastle lost anyone who was any good and play better. When Villa lost their best players they couldn't score six goals in six games, never mind one.

[Holte L2]

If Dr T Pulls the Trigger...It's Steve Bruce coming in.

and right there is a reason to panic.

That's steve Bruce that got SHA promoted and a poor Hull side promoted, twice.  Once a recently as last season.  I'd take him.

[mr underhill]

So would I. Of course I don't like him much, but there are few better when it comes to understanding what it takes to get out of this league

[django]

One thing Newcastle have managed to keep that we haven't is a core of players that presumably know how each other play. Okay, they also got them relegated but at least they've had more or less a year together. Virtually the whole of our team is new - some out of choice, some because we couldn't replace them.

Another, more annoying difference is that Newcastle lost anyone who was any good and play better. When Villa lost their best players they couldn't score six goals in six games, never mind one.

I think the other difference with the other relegated teams is we were so bad that our relationship with some players had deteriorated beyond repair. Richards, Guzan, Lescott, Guzan, Gabby, Sinclair, Hutton, needed replacing as much because of that as their limitations at this level. We needed to recruit so many players that it's no real surprise that we couldn't quite manage it in all the areas we needed to and we have an unbalanced squad.

On the balance of play we should have won more points from the games we have played than we have accumulated, but that was probably true of last season too. After a certain point the need to get points becomes all consuming and stops players playing with freedom and confidence. Last night suggested that maybe that could happen in this division too. If the new players start to feel like they've joined a team that's continuing to sink rather than one on the way up it could spiral further.

As others have said, the tense atmosphere and accompanying booing come from six years of disappointment, and similarly the new players will inherit six years of tension if things start to go wrong. Presumably its what happened at Leeds. Rightly or wrongly I think it points to RDM getting the next 3-4 games to turn form around.

[wittonwarrior]

Got to give him time that ford mondao took a while to reach Rome give Rome some time to deliver. We are not Leeds enough said

[itbrvilla]

SirLord,

Just an observation, haven't Newcastle also brought in a lot of new players? Took them 2 games to gel. Have to add though that hardly any other team seems to have the injuries we do. Why that should be, I have no idea. Adomah for example, what does he even look like???

Reminds me of the black guy who's mates with the getaway driver in Snatch I think.

[itbrvilla]

Tyrone or was that the driver?

[JUAN PABLO]

You will never get promoted playing the likes of Westwood and Gary Gardner in your midfield

[PeterWithesShin]

Tyrone was the driver.

[Tuscans]

So would I. Of course I don't like him much, but there are few better when it comes to understanding what it takes to get out of this league

I think this phrase "he can get a team out of the championship", "he has championship experience" is a bit overrated in my opinion. Boro, Watford, Norwich all went up with managers without any English football under their belt. I'm not doubting Bruce has a knack of it but their something about him which makes me think he takes you on a bit of a roller coaster, you go up and then down again. I could only see it ending in disaster again due to his other connections.

Personally I don't want Robbie to get the boot, I want to see what he does with a fully fit squad but if it did happen I bet Tony pulls out his trump card, dreams big and says "Oh Simeone boy, hold out your hand, what's £50 million a year feel like"?