Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[brian green]

For me it is very simple.  I hate to see Aston Villa lose.  The circumstances are immaterial.  You play every game to win or you don't take part.  It is how I feel.  I do not want to change.  I do not intend to change.  You can't be a bit pregnant.  You can't be a football fan who accepts defeat coolly and rationally.

[UK Redsox]

Sparky now available

[Legion]

No thanks.

[Three Spires Villa]

For me it is very simple.  I hate to see Aston Villa lose.  The circumstances are immaterial.  You play every game to win or you don't take part.  It is how I feel.  I do not want to change.  I do not intend to change.  You can't be a bit pregnant.  You can't be a football fan who accepts defeat coolly and rationally.

This 100%

[sickbeggar]

For me it is very simple.  I hate to see Aston Villa lose.  The circumstances are immaterial.  You play every game to win or you don't take part.  It is how I feel.  I do not want to change.  I do not intend to change.  You can't be a bit pregnant.  You can't be a football fan who accepts defeat coolly and rationally.

That's fair comment i think, but sometime you have to take a hit unless you have the squad to cope and/or nothing else to play for. Obviously if we lose the next league game more people will rightfully question Bruce's approach to this tie but i see it no different to managers in the bottom of the premier league resting players against the better teams over christmas so they're ready for the  "6 pointers". Even Peterborough have their priorities and they know a cup run is their best chance of making any money even when compared to going up, so they went for it.

[bobcat]

Sparky now available

We need to start a campaign for Bruce to go to Stoke and we get Dean Smith

[Sexual Ealing]

here we go again with the mass hysteria

Here we go again, the apologists

John e being called a disciple of SB, I've read it all now!

Well forgive me for not spending my whole life on here to get the in jokes.

Bruce out.

Oooooooooh

[brian green]

I am calming down a bit now.  The twin passions of my life have been football and the horses.  In racing if you do anything whatsoever to prioritize one race over another for your horse you will get warned off for life under the Non Triers Rule.  If you go on the turf you do everything possible to win.  Tell the Jockey Club that you had long term plans for the horse and they will throw you into Newmarket High Street on your arse.  On days like today I wish football was as uncomplicated.

[Mister E]

I never thought I would live to see the day when so many Villa fans would be ambivalent about us going out of the FA cup at home to a club we have always considered beneath us.  If we finish out of the play off positions today will be just another of the hundreds of stupid, unnecessary rolls of the dice made by our last six managers and three owners.  This is not the Aston Villa I grew up with.

I'm with you.
What a shambles.
If Bruce doesn’t do coaching or tactics or nutrition – because he is, by his own admission, a motivator – who should carry the can for a team lacking dynamism, energy, guile, commitment and pride?
And, many of the players still cannot pass to their team-mates: Onomah is the prime culprit; but Hourihane really is an empty vessel, Bjarnasson is a waste of space, Taylor needs putting out of his misery ... and the almost-total absence of movement off the ball is as embarrassing as it is frustrating.

I think it's totally legit to ask: "what the hell do they do in training?"!

[mr underhill]

infamy, infamy, they've all got in infamy!

[Gareth]

He keeps having these in game conferences with Clemence & co but nothing gets changed, what do they talk about? Which pub they are going to?

The lack of reaction to what they are watching when there is a group of them on that bench does my head in more than anything.

One team today when defending corners had 2 left up top, one team took the cowards approach of dragging back all 11...absolutely no plan to counter.

Green, Taylor, Bree, O’Hare (after bright opening), Onomah & Davis despite his goal all failed their auditions for me & gave Bruce all the opportunity in the world to keep them away fron first XI

Some of the basic passing was shoddy.

[Mister E]

One team today when defending corners had 2 left up top, one team took the cowards approach of dragging back all 11...absolutely no plan to counter.

That bit always does my head in: if you leave 2 players out (hopefully, your quickest / sharpest), the oppo has to bring three back, which gives our keeper so much more visibility of what's going on! It's pretty friggin' simple!

Green, Taylor, Bree, O’Hare (after bright opening), Onomah & Davis despite his goal all failed their auditions for me & gave Bruce all the opportunity in the world to keep them away fron first XI
Some of the basic passing was shoddy.

Actually, O'Hare did pretty well throughout, I thought. Taylor and Onomah were appalling. Green was simply rusty. Bree did okay (surprised to see him at CB, not RB, though). Davis needs to work with a CF coach to learn how to lead the line properly.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm not a fan of it but lots of teams do it these days. The idea is you actually break quicker. Think Luna goal at Arsenal.

[Mister E]

I'm not a fan of it but lots of teams do it these days. The idea is you actually break quicker. Think Luna goal at Arsenal.

What? like the trend for zonal marking, which also seems to cause chaos at corners.

[dave.woodhall]

Ron Atkinson did it back in 1993. I didn't understand it then either.