Birkir Bjarnason - Released

[ACVilla]

Not sure how knowing a player made his debut over a year before is being an anorak rather than basic knowledge of the Villa but if it floats your boat go for it.

Well since football didn't exist until The Premiership was invented it was technically his debut.

[LeeB]

I think of Mr Shin as more of a Cagoule

I like to think of more as Kajagoogoo.

[tomd2103]

Threw in at the deep end and drowned hideously. To be fair as has been said after not playing competitive football for 2 months, in a new country, surrounded by a team with new faces, it was a dumb decision by Bruce, he should have known better.

Before the game, Regan on WM was saying that Bruce had been raving about BB after he interviewed him about the new signings and what a good buy he was.  Needs to be given time.

[Clampy]

Threw in at the deep end and drowned hideously. To be fair as has been said after not playing competitive football for 2 months, in a new country, surrounded by a team with new faces, it was a dumb decision by Bruce, he should have known better.

Before the game, Regan on WM was saying that Bruce had been raving about BB after he interviewed him about the new signings and what a good buy he was.  Needs to be given time.

Absolutley. When you have fans giving up on him after one game , then you realise how impatient and ridiculous some people are.

[Nev]

Threw in at the deep end and drowned hideously. To be fair as has been said after not playing competitive football for 2 months, in a new country, surrounded by a team with new faces, it was a dumb decision by Bruce, he should have known better.

Before the game, Regan on WM was saying that Bruce had been raving about BB after he interviewed him about the new signings and what a good buy he was.  Needs to be given time.

Absolutley. When you have fans giving up on him after one game , then you realise how impatient and ridiculous some people are.

I don't think anyone wants to bomb him out, as you say, that would be ridiculous. All of our new signings need to be given time. I was just rather alarmed at the way both he and the ex Barnsley captain shrank so much once Brentford got a foothold in the game. It could be down to any number of reasons many of which were outlined on this thread. Either way, I was concerned, not to mention let down and angry. I sincerely hope my concern is unfounded and that both players become the valuable additions we all hope they will be.

[brian green]

I will quote my son when he said about Taylor "I will tell you if he is any good when I have seen him play".   We have seen BB play a little.  It all came as a big shock to him and he is doubtless much better than he looked at Brentford.  However, never under estimate the importance of first impressions. 

[sid1964]

First impressions of people often stay in your mind

I hope that he improves, when I read about him on the Birmingham Mail after he had signed, I was expecting a Des Bremner type of player - full of energy and tough tackler, I did not see any of this in is debut

Hopefully in a few months once he has settled down (as with all the new joiners) we will start to see their true worth to the team!

[Nunkin1965]

I always go back to my first impression of Paul Merson when he came to us. I'll admit to getting it wrong initially!

[KRS]

Admittedly any player can be made to look good on highlight videos showcasing skills and goals, but its fair to suggest that the player we saw on Tuesday isn't the player that we bought given the little game time he's had recently, a move to England, settling into a new team and getting used to the Championship. Of all the new signings, I'd expect that it's going to take a few weeks at least for us to see anything resembling the player that we bought so we all need to be patient and give him time to settle. 

[onje_villa]

From what I saw of him (and Hourihane), it wasn't so much that they weren't any good, it's more that they never seemed to be in the right position to show it. They were off the pace our out of position constantly, which is hopefully down to lack of game time/lack of cohesion/perhaps poor tactics from SB.

I'm hoping in 5 or 6 games time, midfield will start to look a lot better.

[brian green]

He starts with the advantage - and I do not mean this sarcastically - that he can only improve.

[Risso]

He may well be a good player, but sticking him straight in after a 5 week break was utter stupidity.

[Chris Jameson]

Threw in at the deep end and drowned hideously. To be fair as has been said after not playing competitive football for 2 months, in a new country, surrounded by a team with new faces, it was a dumb decision by Bruce, he should have known better.

Before the game, Regan on WM was saying that Bruce had been raving about BB after he interviewed him about the new signings and what a good buy he was.  Needs to be given time.

Absolutley. When you have fans giving up on him after one game , then you realise how impatient and ridiculous some people are.

Don't think people are giving up on him, but then again there are already some saying Bruce is on borrowed time already so who knows?  Isn't it more a case of recognising that he wasn't ready to play and had what can only be described as a bit of a stinker of a debut?

[avfcpg]

He may well be a good player, but sticking him straight in after a 5 week break was utter stupidity.

Yep...he looked good for the first 15 mins..then, well we know what happened...

[supertom]

He may well be a good player, but sticking him straight in after a 5 week break was utter stupidity.

Yep...he looked good for the first 15 mins..then, well we know what happened...

It was all a bit desperate. But we do desperation very well. Hourihane and BB get chucked in after a few hours of training (pfft...training...at Villa?).
We have to write off any notion of playoffs because it's gone now. Teams which have gelled together are in decent form up there. The more desperate we are to keep clawing back at it, the more we're going to go into games with absolutely no composure.
We just need to start working now, for a proper promotion push next season. If in 15 games time we suddenly find we're within sniffing distance, hopefully we'll have a bit of cohesion and we might just sneak in the back door.
But we need to take the pressure off. Lets not start thinking of May. Just think about getting an actual game plan and playing style and taking it one game at a time. For me it just seems like we're not thinking of Brentford Away, or Forrest Away. We're thinking "6th by May! 6th by May! 6th by May!"
Fuck it.
Find a game plan first!! Get the players playing as a team, then we can look at finishing in the top 2 next season. Cut the desperation and calm the hell down. We're pathetic to watch.