Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[john e]

Problem with Davis is he's never going to get regular service

FTFY

Like all our strikers with the possibility of Benteke and Kodja, who plays for himself, all our strikers are crap unless they get service and support. Playing up front surrounded by four defenders and your nearest teammate 20 yards behind is a desperate place to be and has been for far too long. I've always loved the idea of 'defence as a team, attack as a team' but we expect miracles from our strikers and dismiss them when for some strange reason they fail to deliver.

Grabban did ok.

he was pretty much rubbish in the last 3 games

[AsTallAsLions]

Problem with Davis is he's never going to get regular service

FTFY

Like all our strikers with the possibility of Benteke and Kodja, who plays for himself, all our strikers are crap unless they get service and support. Playing up front surrounded by four defenders and your nearest teammate 20 yards behind is a desperate place to be and has been for far too long. I've always loved the idea of 'defence as a team, attack as a team' but we expect miracles from our strikers and dismiss them when for some strange reason they fail to deliver.

Grabban did ok.

he was pretty much rubbish in the last 3 games

Agreed, useless when we needed him most.

[Clampy]

I haven't got too many complaints about Grabban, he did ok.

[garyshawsknee]

Felt sorry for him in the play off games, the negative tactics meant he was 40 yards from a team mate mostly.

[Villafirst]

I don't agree with this one up top striker approach, Grabban was left isolated at times with a degree of poor service. I'd have started him and Kodjia against Fulham. The negative, cautious first-half set-up cost us in the end. I'd like to see Dean Smith take the job if he gets offered it.

[Monty]

You can't have two up front *and* an attacking style of play unless you want to play without wingers.

And if you're a target man and you can't cope with playing up front on your own you can't play modern football.

[Ads]

Nobody can play edge tivrly up front on their own when your midfield is starting 40 yards behind you.

[john e]

it's true Grabban was isolated
but the problem is with Bruce and on here is an experienced player has a dip in form or goes through a tough patch and there's every excuse in the world for him (see above)

a younger player goes through the same and he's binned and not given the same chances

that's why we are where we are old slow experienced players not performing for weeks at a time but still getting the nod every week,

if I could only take one centre forward next season out of Grabban, Hogan, Mcormac and Davis it would be Davis with the right tactics and coaching he'll be better than the lot of them imo

[Boz]

It will be very unfortunate if it comes to a situation where people are gunning for him.  He was hired at a very generous salary to do a specific job for the club.  He has done what he has done to the best of his ability but he has failed.  In the professions and in business there is no shame in honest failure.  If we are to achieve our stated goal of a return to the top flight he must stand aside to allow fresh thinking and new approaches to be brought to bear.  Gunning for him should not be allowed to be what the first months of the new season holds.  If for no other reason than a better start than last season is imperative.

I agree with Brian's sentiments, but the Doctor has to move Bruce on. Villa need to be bold and try and find a manager like Fulham have found. The days of mangers like Bruce, Lambert, Pardew etc. are not the answer to clubs in trouble, to just re-gurgitate these hacks is no route to success.

I was not in favour of Bruce's appointment, but can see why he was chosen for the role. But he's failed, came close, but no cigar, so it's time to build from the bottom like Fulham have achieved. I don't think he'll stand aside, so IMO, they need to say thanks and pay him off.

Sorry for Bruce's family misfortunes, but it's business now and he has to depart.

[Dante Lavelli]

The doctors latest twitterer doesn’t suggest that there are going to be changes anytime soon.

“Still hurting. Felt even more when you realize how much all ppl love the club, gaffer, the whole squad, including myself, have given everything but still didn’t achieve our target. Also very difficult to verify ppl showing their real personality and humanity at this tough moment”.

Weird tweet, if everything was so positive: effort? tick, emotional investment? tick, then the problem is either the players were not good enough (unlikely as we probably had the biggest/best squad in the league) or the strategy/tactics were not correct.  Whilst I don't think it is intended, if that's the Dr's view the conclusion should be that he needs a new manager.

[SamTheMouse]

The problem with Bruce was perfectly illustrated at the weekend.

The first half non-showing wasn't due to the players not performing, it was due wholly to the way they were set up and the mindset they went out with.

Whatever the manager said to them at half-time should have been said before kick-off, but I think we all know that at some stage in that dressing room before the game, the words "Let's keep it tight for the first 20 minutes, lads" were uttered in a soft Geordie voice, thereby ensuring we started on the back foot and, predictably, stayed there until the break.

[David_Nab]

Nobody can play edge tivrly up front on their own when your midfield is starting 40 yards behind you.

Exactly and when that doesn't work we go for the default option of playing 3 strikers and still fail to get them any service.

The other thing is if you are playing one striker then you have to give him decent balls to win and hold up , we just punt widely up the field. When we chucked on Hogan to go alone with Kodji and Grabben what where the directions from Bruce ...just hang about up front lad hope something drops to you ...you will struggle to see a more inept performance against 10 men as we gave Saturday

[DB]

Nobody can play edge tivrly up front on their own when your midfield is starting 40 yards behind you.

Yes but vs Boro when JK came on for him, he did a lot more than Grabban. Grabban is not the answer, but playing 2 up would help

[AsTallAsLions]

Grabban being isolated is only one part of the issue. He barely moved for the first 45 minutes on Saturday. He chased nothing, barely trailed any passes back to the keeper to put pressure on them, didn't try to make any space for himself when we had possession in midfield, he was an utter passenger.

Kodjia when he eventually came on did exactly what Grabban should have been doing all game - showing for the ball, fending off his man with a bit of upper body strength and determination, holding it up in order to find Grealish in a bit of space where he could test the keeper or win something in front of the box.

[Risso]

Another year of Bruceball and watching him try to get an entirely different group consisting mostly of a bunch of kids playing competitively isn’t going to be much fun.