Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[pbavfckuwait]

If he is looking at Gabby to be a main stay for the African cup, then I am sorry Dr. Tony you got it way way wrong, he managed at Hull last season which correct me if I am wrong, is part of the UK so if he was not aware of Gabbys on and off field efforts, he must be very singular in his attention span and not read or watched any media, the guy (Gabby) has been a busted flush for so long and yet still picks up a comfortable living from the Aston Villa pension fund. If Gabby is the answer to our striking problems that may arise, in fact have already arisen even before the African cup, lest hope we will be happy with just about staying up this season.

[Clampy]

I think he's done very well to get us within 6 points of the play offs in the short time he's been here. Obviously, we're not going to go up if we keep playing like we did last night but i'm happy with the job he's done so far and it's obvious he want to make changes in January. A bit of patience is needed I think.

[sid1964]

Apart from a 25 minute spell at Brighton, I cannot think of any other game under Bruce, where I have enjoyed watching the team

[LukeJames]

Apart from a 25 minute spell at Brighton, I cannot think of any other game under Bruce, where I have enjoyed watching the team

And even then we didn't score in that period.

[Phil from the upper holte]

Give it 6 weeks we'll have a Bruce out Poll

[wittonwarrior]

Stop blaming Bruce or indeed RDM They have taken on a club who hit rock bottom last season.  New staff on and off the pitch need to bed in. We the fans are expecting too much too soon

[He wears a magic hat]

He's been here over 2 months now surely we should be playing free flowing attacking football and winning every game by 2 or 3 goals

[Ads]

The squad is massively unbalanced and the midfield is just desperately weak. We have RDM to blame for that.

He's got to stick to a three man midfield no matter what until January. Two in there just doesn't let us retain the ball or territory as Jedinak will get caught out if he pushes on, while Westwood or Gardner don't offer enough individually.

He's got to get the balance in the forwards right too.

18 from 10 is decent and light years ahead of what has happened in the past 12 months, but he needs to help himself out, keep that gap to the play offs no more than 6 points until January when we can address the squad.

[Ads]

Can't be arsed to read through but is the honeymoon over? Is he on borrowed time despite the fact he didn't sign a single one of the players at his disposal and has no idea how to fit a world class player like Tshibola into the side?

My guess is he'd still make Barcelona look boring. I hope you're right in your blind faith, Chris but he bores the shit out of me. He don't even live up to the tin, 'Wins Ugly'. Is it the pressure of having to entertain? I doubt it. Anyway, fuck it, I've reluctantly settled for another season in the Championship, though like you, I will find more interesting things to do when the Villa are playing. Tonight I cancelled a big curry night with friends to watch that shit. Not again.

We don't win ugly? What was Saturday then?

[Richard E]

He's been here over 2 months now surely we should be playing free flowing attacking football and winning every game by 2 or 3 goals

4 or 5 goals at the minimum. Your post just shows how expectations at this once great club have been lowered.

[brian green]

The most worrying thing to me is the recurring theme running through our last six managers, McLeish, Lambert, Sherwood, Garde, KMac and Black of not being able to bring anything remotely near their best out of players.  When I saw the first games of Veretout, Gestede, Ayew, Tshibola, Traore and Gollini just to name a few I was impressed by them.  However, in a short space of time they regressed and got steadily less effective.  So here we are again ticking off the minutes to the next transfer window when we base our hopes and expectations on new players being better than those in the squad.  As clear an example of this is Tommy Elphick who was an immense influence in Bournemouth's promotion becoming one of the names along with Gabby and Westwood we dread to see on a team sheet. 

[Ads]

It's a collective sport, so invariably you'll suffer if the system and balance of a side isn't right.

I don't rate Westwood or Gardner, but in a three with Jedinak they'd offer us far more than they ever could individually.

We've been weak on midfield since Milner left and Stan got sick. Delph gave us a good 18 months but, it's a vacuum of quality.

[john e]

i cant stand him being villa manager and despise the football his teams play

but he has done exactly what he was brought in to do, get results
this is the sort of football he plays he's got Hull and Blues up playing this game and if you look at the upturn in our results since he came its working

yes the performances are shit (apart from Brighton) but he gets results, and that's what everyone was saying before he came, yes he will play Gabby and Gestede and Westwood etc because these are the type of players he likes, I'm only surprised he hasn't bought back Micha Richards, but lets give it time

people expecting good attacking football and him buying a usefull midfield in January will be sorely disappointed, he will just bring in more Bruce type players to grind out results to get us into the playoffs,
 anyone thinking any different just look at the two most succesful teams he has built in the past they were instantly forgettable and both were relegated soon after they went up

but that's not the point, he was bought in to get us back in the prem and that's what he is doing, yes it might be excruciating to watch but look at the results over the last 10 games

its no good people saying there will be a 'Bruce out' poll soon,
 I wanted him out the minute he walked through the door, I wont be giving him a chance because I know what he can do, he's not a up and coming manager he's what he is, a middle of the road manager playing middle of the road football he's not going to change,
 I support villa not Steve Bruce I never wanted him and never will but he's doing what we bought him in to do even I can see that

 his sort of experience and football philosophy can work its worked before, yes there is a limit to him and the championship is that limit but he is still well capable of getting us up out of this league, just don't expect him to pick the line ups we want or the formations we prefer he will do it Bruce's way the way he's done it before and can do it again

you don't buy a carthorse and then get disappointed it doesn't turn into Mill Reef,
we appointed Steve Bruce he can get results out of teams at this level, lets not get disappointed when he doesn't play the sort of stuff we want because this is what we signed up for, results

[kippaxvilla2]

Can I just say here and now I want Steve to be given this season and next to turn us around.  It doesn't mean he's immune to criticism especially where Gabriel is concerned.

[olaftab]

Stop blaming Bruce or indeed RDM They have taken on a club who hit rock bottom last season.  New staff on and off the pitch need to bed in. We the fans are expecting too much too soon

Really? We were the 5th biggest net spender in English football in the summer only surpassed by Manu, City, Chelsea and Arsenal. We have hired coaches at premium prices  and I therefore expect better.