Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[boozey182]

I didn't intend this to be as long as it ended up, apologies for rambling on:

It's far too early to judge Bruce as Villa manager. He's not yet had a match where he's been able to pick 'his' players, so he needs chance to do that, and only then will we really know whether he's got the ability to get the most expensively assembled team in the league promoted.

And I should prefix what I say below with: I want him to succeed. Scrap that, I'm desperate for him to succeed. We're expecting our first child in May and I'm starting to genuinely worry whether I can justify inflicting Villa on it's life, which is something I never thought would ever cross my mind. So I really want Bruce to turn this around.

I'm worried though. Tuesday night was abysmal, and not all of it can be put down to the new players 'gelling', 'bedding in', 'getting up to speed', or 'adjusting to the speed of the game'. We looked underprepared, which is unforgivable. We looked incapable of reacting to their tactics. Again, unforgivable. Not making a sub until the 75th minute?! This was an actual match that meant something, not a preseason friendly. All the positive enthusiasm from the transfer window evaporated in 90 minutes of staggering ineptitude.

There are other nagging doubts I have as well though. His belief that 4-4-2 is the way out of this division seems based on years of experience that few can rival. He's been there and done it. It just seems a bit odd that when presented with a task at a new company, rather that assess what you have, what needs to be done and what the competition are doing, you strip everything back to exactly what's worked for you in the past elsewhere. Also, and I might be a lone voice here, I think we've just done too much in the January transfer window. Too much chopping and changing. Two midfielders and a right back would have been fine. Maybe a striker to replace Rab C Nisbett. Now how long do we have to wait for everything to settle again?

I'm worried he's too old school and his style (I'm being generous there) is being left behind. I know he got Hull promoted last season, but was that a massive achievement? (I ask this genuinely, I didn't follow the Championship at all last season. But I assume they had one of the best squads with one of the best budgets). Watching Brentford pass round us the other night, and countless other 'nothing' sides play much more attractive football than us is soul destroying. And yes, I'm fickle. I wouldn't care if his style was working. But at the moment it's not and it makes my eyes bleed.

We were awful under Di Matteo. Undoubtedly. But have we improved under Bruce? We did, yes, for a little while. While we were conceding late goals under RDM, we were scoring them under Bruce, so draws and losses became draws and wins for a month or two. Incredibly fine margins though. A goalkeeper error in our favour against Fulham, one not in our favour against Huddersfield. One manager is solid and organised, the other doesn't know what he's doing. Of course there is much more to judge them on.

How many of our individual players have improved since Bruce took over? Maybe Chester (if we forget about Tuesday and God knows I wish I could), maybe Kodjia although he started okay under RDM and he is still quite hit and miss, and definitely Gabby (hooray!). Perhaps Jedinak for a while but again he's gone off the boil. My point is, I'm not sure many of them are getting any better. With better coaching and management, you want to see better performance and I'm not convinced we have. And I don't think I'm blinded by the recent dip in form, even when we were in our mini run of form, no one was putting in '7 or8 out of 10' performances. We were plodding along. This might be good, it shows there is plenty of room for improvement. But when? And how?

The new signings all look great. They all look like they could transform the team in exactly the same way I thought the last few window's transfers could (last January was the only window in living memory where I've accurately predicted the consequences of our actions). So who knows? Not me, is the answer. I hope they all work out. Odds are some will, some won't. Some of the players we let go will be mistakes, some will be great deals. I hope for once it's more in our favour. Surely we're due a good one?

I've been suffering from migraines for the last year (another thing that might be clouding my usually positive point of view) and am currently going through various medications; each takes a few months to get in to the system, and only then will we know if it is working. It feels like the perfect metaphor for Villa at the moment. All I want (irrational and impatient as it may be) is something that works now. I dont want to have to wait any longer, I've been waiting for what feels like forever and nothing seems to be working. I want some signs that this is going to be the one, some signs that we're getting somewhere. A sign that all of this is going to stop, that we've finally hit rock bottom and things are improving. No false dawns, this is it, we're on the up. I thought Tuesday would offer those signs, which is probably why it hit me so hard.

I like Bruce, and I think he talks a good game. But I liked Remi Garde and couldn't stand Alex Ferguson. I don't want to hear him apologise to the fans anymore, because I don't want him to have any reason to. I want some heroes, on the pitch and in the dugout that will drag us up, and put the same amount of effort and passion in that the people above and below them seem to. It seems I'm always incredibly proud of everything about the club, from the fans through the staff to most of what happens involving the boardroom; it's just the massive chunk in the middle that consistently lets the rest of us down.

It starts tomorrow. Over to you Steve.

[SoccerHQ]

I didn't quite get the losing mentality comment he made.

I think that's too easy to use and after all Sherwood said it two years ago and got panned for it and you look at all the changes since.

Look at the results though...15 games we've taken the lead in this season and we've only lost once (Bristol) yet we've also only won once when we've conceded first in a game (Blackburn).

Too often our players just give up as soon as we go 1 nil down even if we're playing o.k as we saw the other night.

To get promoted you need to turn losing positions into wins and then the points add up so we need to get that fighting mentality into this group before next season starts.

[Toronto Villa]

While I agree with this and appreciate his honesty he should have known better

Bruce: "I threw three people in (at Brentford) thinking that it could just happen straight away. I was wrong." [bbc wm] #avfc

[Jimbo]

You might be onto something here, SHQ. If it's not a 'losing mentality' it might be the fact that we don't have a winning at all costs mentality?

[LukeJames]

Look at the results though...15 games we've taken the lead in this season and we've only lost once (Bristol) yet we've also only won once when we've conceded first in a game (Blackburn).

Too often our players just give up as soon as we go 1 nil down even if we're playing o.k as we saw the other night.

.

This for me is a huge issue, as soon as we conceed our heads collectively drop, it doesn't matter how well we are playing up to that point either, panic and hoofing will set in, if we conceed the first goal we have no chance of getting back into it and is one of the reasons we've ended on 0 in so many away games this season.

[Bottom Right 89]

You should never underestimate a wounded animal. Brentford having known that there best player was off to Villa before the match played like their lives depended on it.

Let's not over analyse and keep dwelling on this performance if we get 3 or 4 of these in a row then yes it's time to question but for now write it off as a bad day and concentrate on putting Forest on the canvas.

What does disappoint me and has done for a few years is how easy we concede goals on the break and then let in another one soon after. I put it down to poor team work not backing each other up when someone moves forward to cover his position, bound to be the case when you are playing with a new team. Once our starting line up settles down we'll improve.

Having said that we've had a poor run of results since Colin Calderwood came in maybe the players haven't warmed to his training methods.

[BOB MANSFIELD]

You might be onto something here, SHQ. If it's not a 'losing mentality' it might be the fact that we don't have a winning at all costs mentality?

You guys have pinned it down.
It isn't a " losing mentality " at all..........it Absolutely Is, the absence of anyone within the team who demonstrates that " win at all costs mentality ".
We might hope that Lansbury will have that, but his poorly disguised block-offs on Tuesday night seemed more to show a different attitude. One of, well, " at least I'll take out a couple anyway.......".
Negativity rather than Positivity.
We need a good influence on the park to bring that transformation about. Maybe Conor H will do that ?

[PaulWinch again]

My patience is beginning to run out.

[itbrvilla]

Get fucked Bruce

[Steve67]

Why the fuck do we play so deep? We cannot get anywhere near our two forwards to support them and we are not quick enough on the break to outpace teams.  I do worry about a manager who constantly changes the shape of the side, it tells me that he doesn't know his best 11. 

[PaulWinch again]

Putting every player back when we defend a corner is pure idiocy.

[clash city rocker]

Get your fuckin  finger out of your arse  Bruce

[SteveN]

My patience is beginning to run out.

Mine has run out.  Not sure what the answer is though.

[wittonwarrior]

I knew this division wouldn't be a walk in the park but surely not this difficult.  Do  what Hull are doing cancel their days off.

[Chris Jameson]

I honestly thought he'd sort this fucking shower out, we look like a bunch of players who have just been thrown together.