Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[Lobsterboy]

I'm getting somewhat tired of Bruce apologising for us being shit and it is in danger of becoming the new 'we go again'

Bruce has now got his own players in so I would expect to see a significant improvement on what we have seen over the preceding 4 months - failure to at least show some signs that we can challenge for promotion next season will potentially leave us going through the cycle of a new manager, new players fiasco again

Here's hoping SB can get it right starting this Saturday

[chrisw1]

No, there are two parties in this love affair.  Aston Villa and me.  I have been a full on, home and away fan, never a an armchair pundit, for seven decades.  The load being imposed by such horrors as our centre forward not turning up for training because his gates are stuck is becoming too much to bear.  Steve Bruce? Go? Stay? Tony Xia? Go? Stay? Whatever.  I want an end to the misery their goings on inflict on fans in general and me in particular.  They have run out of time as far as I am concerned. 

Same here Brian. There appears to be no end in this misery being inflicted on us fans. Even when we buy better players from other teams we make other teams better.

It just seems an odd time to chuck the towel in - when we've just spent 20 odd million on new players.  Last night was indefensibly bad, but the fact is we blooded 3 new players, two of whom had been at the club for less than a week and one of those in a new country and not having played for several weeks.

I understand the depression, but they've tried to do something about it this window, surely it's worth seeing if it makes a difference over the next few weeks?

[ChicagoLion]

We have just backed him in the transfer window and his team has lost one game, not the time to panic.
There is however, a sneaking, nagging doubt that his tactical acumen and managerial ability might come up short. we are going to find out over the next 12 months.

[amfy]

Of course it was an awful embarrassing performance once Brentford got at us but remember that we started brightly. Then under pressure the shape fell apart. Isn't that just symptomatic of a team that's been together less than a week against one that's been battling together all season?

People have said to wait and see how he gets on once he has his own players in. I didn't realise he only had until the day he finished doing that! Aren't we going to wait and see how they bed in before we order the executioner?

He said he wanted to get players in that could play a 442, yet he didn't do that last night. That's a clue that not all of the players he needs to do that were in, or in shape right now, to do that, but I reckon they will be, and as the team work together, gel, and those players who have been out for a few weeks get back into condition, the shape will start to hold.

FWIW I think our previous stagnant midfield protected our back 4 quite well, and last night we found out that when we've got a midfield who try something a little more imaginative, the back 4 look a tad more exposed. That's the issue he's got to sort, and as the team works together, I think that is sortable.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

We need continuity and stability, Bruce is proven at this level let's give him the chance.

In the current climate SGT would not have survived finishing 17th in 1988/89.

[chrisw1]

Nobody ever got a job by not believing they were the best candidate, if you want to use that analogy.

Yes they do. People are surprised to get jobs they didn't think they would get all the time. And to counter your first analogy, lots of people go to football matches thinking their team will lose. Have you ever seen us play Man Utd in the last 20 years?

As I say, optimism is one thing, arrogance is another.

Yes. Optimism is one thing and arrogance is another. And you are determined to see arrogance.

Where it exists, that's where I see it.

You said you believed Villa would lose against Brentford. You made that decision by assessing the possible team and its few-too-many new additions. You made a reasoned judgement. Nothing arrogant about that.

Some of us made the reasoned judgement that the club was in such bad health it would not bounce back to the PL at the first attempt. Others decided to disregard all that evidence and insist we would smash lesser clubs out the water because we are who we are. That's arrogance.

Arrogance?

We had a new owner, had spent £50m on players and it was arrogant to think we may go back up?

Fucking hell...

[Jimbo]

No, chrisw1. Arrogant to think we'd smash all the little clubs in our path to glory because of who, rather than what we are. But if you think simply throwing money at a basket case of a club automatically turns everything around, carry on in your delusion.

[chrisw1]

No, chrisw1. Arrogant to think we'd smash all the little clubs in our path to glory because of who, rather than what we are. But if you think simply throwing money at a basket case of a club automatically turns everything around, carry on in your delusion.

I never thought we'd smash all and sundry, but believing we had a good chance of going up is with a new manager and new players who lots of people were excited about is hardly arrogant.

And like it or not, spending money in football very often leads to success.  It's hardly delusional to think that buying the best players available will ultimately lead to success. 

[Chris Smith]

Pass and move.  Pass and move.   Do they practice knitting at BMH.

Couldn't agree more. Football isn't that hard really. If people move then can be open for a pass, and when you pass it, you move and then become open for a pass. It's not difficult to do that.

Ashley Westwood is good at pass and move but of itself it means nothing. It has to be allied with other aspects of the game.

I am prepared to take last night in isolation due to the circumstances but that excuse will soon wear thin.

[kippaxvilla2]

Probably wise to take it in isolation.  However, the fact that quite frankly Brentford literally played us off the park from the 15th minute onwards was alarming to say the least.

[The Edge]

Every department of the squad now has a good selection of players to choose from. We need to give Bruce the time to develop his team ethic and personality over the next 18 games, so we are in a position to hit the ground running next season. Talk of sacking another manager is ridiculous ,premature and unhelpful.

The central defence department doesn't have a good selection to choose from. They were woefully exposed by Brentfords movement around our box. I've been championing Baker for a while now but he looked clueless in trying to deal with a decent cross into our area or how to deal with little ferret like players that Brentford have. As for Chester his positional sense was amateurish at best last night.  This pair NEED Jedinak in front of them for protection. In fact I think Jedinak could well be a good centre half in the making.Also what the fuck happens to players once they train at Bodymoor Heath? Is there skulduggery at play? Traore looks 10 times the player he was for us now he's at Boro.

[Jimbo]

No, chrisw1. Arrogant to think we'd smash all the little clubs in our path to glory because of who, rather than what we are. But if you think simply throwing money at a basket case of a club automatically turns everything around, carry on in your delusion.

I never thought we'd smash all and sundry, but believing we had a good chance of going up is with a new manager and new players who lots of people were excited about is hardly arrogant.

And like it or not, spending money in football very often leads to success.  It's hardly delusional to think that buying the best players available will ultimately lead to success. 

Yet again, I didn't say thinking we might go up was arrogant (although given all the evidence of the past half a decade, it was perhaps a little foolhardy). I said thinking we'd batter lesser clubs because we're big Aston Villa was arrogant.

Yes, we spent a lot of money (although whether we bought the 'best players available' is questionable), but the figures aren't the important thing. The state of the club was. The culture of the club was.

We'd lost to 'lesser' clubs on a consistent basis for years. Many of them had spent less than us. Very few of them seemed intimidated by us. In fact many of them seemed to be pumped up by the prospect of giving us a bloody nose. It's still happening. And look where we are. No surprises here, no delusions.
 

[Risso]

Of course it was an awful embarrassing performance once Brentford got at us but remember that we started brightly. Then under pressure the shape fell apart. Isn't that just symptomatic of a team that's been together less than a week against one that's been battling together all season?

People have said to wait and see how he gets on once he has his own players in. I didn't realise he only had until the day he finished doing that! Aren't we going to wait and see how they bed in before we order the executioner?

He said he wanted to get players in that could play a 442, yet he didn't do that last night. That's a clue that not all of the players he needs to do that were in, or in shape right now, to do that, but I reckon they will be, and as the team work together, gel, and those players who have been out for a few weeks get back into condition, the shape will start to hold.

FWIW I think our previous stagnant midfield protected our back 4 quite well, and last night we found out that when we've got a midfield who try something a little more imaginative, the back 4 look a tad more exposed. That's the issue he's got to sort, and as the team works together, I think that is sortable.

I'd have more sympathy and patience if we hadn't been so comprehensively played off the park last night, by a team who had a really bad record at home lately and who had just lost their best player to us.  Add in the fact that it comes off the back of a dismal set of performances and results away, and it's hard to see what Bruce is going to do to turn things round.

[chrisw1]

No, chrisw1. Arrogant to think we'd smash all the little clubs in our path to glory because of who, rather than what we are. But if you think simply throwing money at a basket case of a club automatically turns everything around, carry on in your delusion.

I never thought we'd smash all and sundry, but believing we had a good chance of going up is with a new manager and new players who lots of people were excited about is hardly arrogant.

And like it or not, spending money in football very often leads to success.  It's hardly delusional to think that buying the best players available will ultimately lead to success. 

Yet again, I didn't say thinking we might go up was arrogant (although given all the evidence of the past half a decade, it was perhaps a little foolhardy). I said thinking we'd batter lesser clubs because we're big Aston Villa was arrogant.

Yes, we spent a lot of money (although whether we bought the 'best players available' is questionable), but the figures aren't the important thing. The state of the club was. The culture of the club was.

We'd lost to 'lesser' clubs on a consistent basis for years. Many of them had spent less than us. Very few of them seemed intimidated by us. In fact many of them seemed to be pumped up by the prospect of giving us a bloody nose. It's still happening. And look where we are. No surprises here, no delusions.
 

I'm not quite sure what we're arguing about here.  People who made a 'reasoned judgement' that we would carry on being shit is fine.  But people who made a reasoned judgement that a team with a new owner, new manager, £50m of new players (whilst retaining the likes of Ayew, Grealish, Amavi, Gestede etc) were likely to go up are arrogant? 

It turns out the pessimists were right - you must be delighted.  But labelling people who were optimistic as arrogant is a unfair.

[olaftab]

No, there are two parties in this love affair.  Aston Villa and me.  I have been a full on, home and away fan, never a an armchair pundit, for seven decades.  The load being imposed by such horrors as our centre forward not turning up for training because his gates are stuck is becoming too much to bear.  Steve Bruce? Go? Stay? Tony Xia? Go? Stay? Whatever.  I want an end to the misery their goings on inflict on fans in general and me in particular.  They have run out of time as far as I am concerned. 

Same here Brian. There appears to be no end in this misery being inflicted on us fans. Even when we buy better players from other teams we make other teams better.

It just seems an odd time to chuck the towel in - when we've just spent 20 odd million on new players.  Last night was indefensibly bad, but the fact is we blooded 3 new players, two of whom had been at the club for less than a week and one of those in a new country and not having played for several weeks.

I understand the depression, but they've tried to do something about it this window, surely it's worth seeing if it makes a difference over the next few weeks?

It's not just last night it's 11 points from last 10 games  bottom 3 form that's galling.