Steve Bruce - officially confirmed (as Sheffield Wednesday boss)

[mr underhill]

That is time. There is nothing more unforgiving than a league table and we are at the wrong end of it after spending more money than any team in the also ran league's history.

[pbavfckuwait]

Im not judging him on 7 games, we have had one half of decent football since he has been here, whilst he may have a record for getting teams promoted, he has also taken teams down, or got out before they went down. He is a bog standard British Manager that is always seen as being better than he is, when he is out of work, more by his mates in the media than for any previous trophys he has won.
I was never one of the "We will tear this league up" club last season, but did think with the right investment, which we have had, we may, just may be at the right end of the table.
It is horrible to be seen as a club that changes it's manager god knows how many times a season, but it is even worse to employ one that thinks going to a back 5 at home to the might of Ipswich is acceptable.

[Archie]

I haven't see many games but for my vision of football, if you have a good bunch of players and you don't take from them at least the 90% that they can give, you earned 2 points in the last 7 games, and you play with 5 defenders at home, the manager is not doing a good work.

[Chris Smith]

The 3-5-2 didn't work but the idea is that it is supposed to supplement the attack by giving the wing backs more freedom to go forward. On the evidence of yesterday neither of the wing backs picked is comfortable in the role and judging by Bruce's post match comments it will not be happening again.

We had a lot of the ball yesterday but wasted the majority of it and when we did make chances did not look threatening. Kodija frustrates the hell of me and Hogan's touch was suspect all game although his movement was good. Lansbury again looked a cut above everyone else on the pitch.

I agree with those saying we need to tough it out, stick with Bruce and trust that his experience will help him turn this around.

[oldhill_avfc]

The 3-5-2 didn't work but the idea is that it is supposed to supplement the attack by giving the wing backs more freedom to go forward. On the evidence of yesterday neither of the wing backs picked is comfortable in the role and judging by Bruce's post match comments it will not be happening again.

We had a lot of the ball yesterday but wasted the majority of it and when we did make chances did not look threatening. Kodija frustrates the hell of me and Hogan's touch was suspect all game although his movement was good. Lansbury again looked a cut above everyone else on the pitch.

I agree with those saying we need to tough it out, stick with Bruce and trust that his experience will help him turn this around.

Sounds like the game we saw. 

[Old Kodjia]

Before this time yesterday Jurgen Klopp had taken 3 points from the previous 15 and went out of the LC Semi against lower opposition.  He must also be a 'bad manager'.

Yes I know I'm being mischievous but you can see my point. Let's judge him over time, not just the last 7/8 games.

That is a good point but Klopp has got Liverpool into a great position.

Bruce has not improved Villa one iota.  We might just as well have stuck with RDM and seen some better football to boot.

Bruce has previously succeeded with teams by getting them very workmanlike and grinding out results.  With the players at his disposal here, we don't have to go down that road-We can take games to the opposition, like Newcastle do.  Currently, the tactics are abysmal, the team is all over the shop and apart from 45 minutes at Brighton and 45 minutes against Preston, the football has been dire.

How much time do we give him?  For me it is either until the end of this season or a similar time that RDM was afforded, if we go into next season.  The money is not going to last for ever, we had 3 bites at the cherry with the parachute payments.  We've just lost the first one, so we now have 2 more seasons in which to exploit our financial advantage over our competitors.  After that, we become a Leeds or a Notts Forest.

[Clampy]

I think the 5-3-2 might have worked had he picked different full backs but after an hour he should have took one of the centre halves off and put Adomah on.

As for sticking with Bruce, I think we should too, for mainly the reason's Chris has said.

[Risso]

I bet he calls it a "horrible day" or "it's a horrible one".  There have been a lot of horrible ones lately Steve, you useless arse.

Sorry to quote myelf, but:

"We've had no real luck. Again we make one mistake and we've been punished and it's one of those horrible afternoons that turns it into an awful weekend."

Yes, it's all just bad luck and "horrible" weekends.  The man has lost the plot.  It wasn't bad luck that we played 5 at the back at home against Ipswich, with two shit non-attacking full backs.

[pbavfckuwait]

The worrying thing is thou Clampy, I believe it is part his experience that is causing some of the problem, take the 5-3-2 yesterday, if you are going to play that as has been stated the full backs must be comfortable pushing on and also have some end result, i.e. be able to cross. Hutton is never ever going to be that player, Tommy has been a disaster more or less every time he puts on a Villa shirt, but his experience (stubborness) thought he knew better.
It is fine to admit your mistakes after a game, but his experience should really ensure those mistakes are not made to start with, too many times this season he has sent out the team to play in a manner they are not comfortable with, then his experience should also allow for changes whether in formation or subs when it is not working, at the moment his experience is not worth diddly squat.

[Clampy]

The worrying thing is thou Clampy, I believe it is part his experience that is causing some of the problem, take the 5-3-2 yesterday, if you are going to play that as has been stated the full backs must be comfortable pushing on and also have some end result, i.e. be able to cross. Hutton is never ever going to be that player, Tommy has been a disaster more or less every time he puts on a Villa shirt, but his experience (stubborness) thought he knew better.
It is fine to admit your mistakes after a game, but his experience should really ensure those mistakes are not made to start with, too many times this season he has sent out the team to play in a manner they are not comfortable with, then his experience should also allow for changes whether in formation or subs when it is not working, at the moment his experience is not worth diddly squat.

I've said that about the full backs on the post match thread, it was ridiculous playing Hutton there. The fact that he took both of them off yesterday says it all really. I would like us to stick with him though.

[Ads]

Was Bree injured?

Hutton is abysmal. The amount of crosses or opportunities to cross he wasted was ridiculous.

[TonyD]

Apart from Brighton the football has been dire,  no tactics, no formation,  clueless basically.  And that the manager.   I'd get rid.   

[VillaAlways]

Unfortunately we're not in the luxurious position to give him time. Lose on Tuesday and we're firmly in a relegation battle. A further run of shit results and he will be gone. We can only hope he can turn it around because if we're having to employ a third manager then that will mean relegation has become a real possibility

[PeterWithe]

Was Bree injured?

Hutton is abysmal. The amount of crosses or opportunities to cross he wasted was ridiculous.

Yes, knee knack.

Hutton was again poor in advanced positions but I can't help but like him, he's one of the few that know the tempo is wrong and tries to do something to gee up the side and the crowd, normally some kind of foul play.

[Allan C]

Im not judging him on 7 games, we have had one half of decent football since he has been here, whilst he may have a record for getting teams promoted, he has also taken teams down, or got out before they went down. He is a bog standard British Manager that is always seen as being better than he is, when he is out of work, more by his mates in the media than for any previous trophys he has won.
I was never one of the "We will tear this league up" club last season, but did think with the right investment, which we have had, we may, just may be at the right end of the table.
It is horrible to be seen as a club that changes it's manager god knows how many times a season, but it is even worse to employ one that thinks going to a back 5 at home to the might of Ipswich is acceptable.

This is exactly how I feel to the word. I felt at the time it was an uninspiring appointment because this is his limit IMO.