Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[themossman]

I want Bruce gone, but have this inkling that him staying makes Jack more likely to also stay next season. The irony.

Also, yes, Grabban was a big disappointment in the playoffs. Last 3 games probably his worst for us.

[Walmley_Villa]

Agree...I would like some new ideas but Bruce could be the key to Jack staying...Saying that Jack could end up getting injured in pre-season again. I'm not a fan of risking building everything around one player.

[robleflaneur]

Agree...I would like some new ideas but Bruce could be the key to Jack staying...Saying that Jack could end up getting injured in pre-season again. I'm not a fan of risking building everything around one player.

And think how more effective Jack would be under a better coach.Imagine Jack playing for the Serbian Warlord at Fulham with their movement and then look at our style of play under Bruce.Our most important piece of business is replacing Bruce with a manager whose gameplan is based on pass and move,past examples being Ferguson,Atkinson,Clough and Paisley etc.
Someone posted a list of ex Villa players,pre Bruce, who were not highly regarded at the time  but have improved since leaving the club.Better circumstances ,better coaching.Saunders got rid of Gray and Gidman but being a good coach and adept at a high tempo pressing game the outcome was magnificent.
A good manager/coach is the most important part of the club.Bruce is  certainly not up to that standard ,perhaps in the early 2000s when everyone was playing 442 ,he was fine but the game's moved on and Bruce has been left behind.

[SoccerHQ]

Grabban would get 15 goals against bottom half teams. Ipswich away should that, he was taking the mick near the end. His goal record at Sunderland showed that aswell.

I'd still take him on a permanent if the opportunity is there.

[Ads]

Kodjia, Grabban, RHM and Davis are good enough for top 6 and compares favourably with our peers.

[boozey182]

Bruce needs to go, but I'd hope the club can do it in the most dignified way possible. A mutual decision where he gets thanked for his effort and for stopping the rot. Ultimately, though, he hasn't been good enough to achieve what we needed from him and the job we need next season is different to the one he was hired to do. This time we need to build.

I was never much of a fan of the idea of three different teams to get challenging in the Premier League again. It seemed incredibly short sighted and frankly quite wasteful. So now we have an opportunity to start something that will last.

Obviously the biggest influence on how we go about building is the financial side of things. If we are in a solid enough position to keep Jack and Chester, then we'll have two of the best players in the league to build around. Crucially, with Kodjia, they'll form a very decent spine of the team.

One of the biggest things Bruce got wrong, in my options, is not addressing our biggest weaknesses at the back and in midfield last season. Namely, we lack pace and power. So I'd buy a center back that can both run and jump, and a central midfielder that can run, jump, pass and shoot.

To generate some money, I'd look to sell Hourihane. He's one of the few signings that we could probably make some money on. He's one of those players that people, who don't watch him every week, think is an excellent player so we might get a decent price for him. We might get some money for Adomah as well, who has done very little since Christmas. You'd hope Green would fill in on the left without it having a detrimental effect on the team. We'd certainly have more pace. Lansbury is another that we might be able to get our money back on without any impact on our first team. I don't know who would spend money on Neil Taylor, but if we could get anything for him it would be a bonus and I'm not sure how he was valued in the Ayew deal.

Of our kids that we have coming through, I'd love to see Mitchell Clark get a go at full back. O'Hare will be an excellent player, likewise RHM, so we need to start introducing them into the first team, even if they're not ready to play week in, week out. I haven't seen much of Jordan Lyden, but he has also struck me as the type of player we've been missing in midfield. Suliman has looked very composed at the back every time I've seen him, so he might be one to start introducing into the match day squad.

There is lots of work to be doing, without doubt. And keeping Chester and Jack is by no means assured. But if we can, I'm quite positive about next season. Under a decent manager, playing to the strengths of our best players and with our younger kids getting more and more involved, I think next year could be thoroughly enjoyable.

[themossman]

Agree...I would like some new ideas but Bruce could be the key to Jack staying...Saying that Jack could end up getting injured in pre-season again. I'm not a fan of risking building everything around one player.

And think how more effective Jack would be under a better coach.Imagine Jack playing for the Serbian Warlord at Fulham with their movement and then look at our style of play under Bruce.Our most important piece of business is replacing Bruce with a manager whose gameplan is based on pass and move,past examples being Ferguson,Atkinson,Clough and Paisley etc.
Someone posted a list of ex Villa players,pre Bruce, who were not highly regarded at the time  but have improved since leaving the club.Better circumstances ,better coaching.Saunders got rid of Gray and Gidman but being a good coach and adept at a high tempo pressing game the outcome was magnificent.
A good manager/coach is the most important part of the club.Bruce is  certainly not up to that standard ,perhaps in the early 2000s when everyone was playing 442 ,he was fine but the game's moved on and Bruce has been left behind.

Hence the irony. Our best chance of keeping potentially the best attacker in the league might be to keep one of the least attacking managers.

[tomd2103]

Kodjia, Grabban, RHM and Davis are good enough for top 6 and compares favourably with our peers.

My one concern is that many of us are thinking of the Kodjia we saw in his first season.  Yes, he has had injuries, but he has looked a pale shadow of that player many of the times he has played this season.  Hopefully a rest over the summer and a good pre-season will see him back to his best. 

[AsTallAsLions]

Kodjia, Grabban, RHM and Davis are good enough for top 6 and compares favourably with our peers.

My one concern is that many of us are thinking of the Kodjia we saw in his first season.  Yes, he has had injuries, but he has looked a pale shadow of that player many of the times he has played this season.  Hopefully a rest over the summer and a good pre-season will see him back to his best. 

I honestly thought he was our bright spark towards the end on Saturday. If he'd had the chance Hogan had, I'd have bet the house on him scoring. He wasn't fit yet when Bruce last gave him 45 minutes, and he hasn't been given the chance since. He needs a solid 90 minutes under his belt before anyone starts writing him off as damaged goods or whatever.

[AsTallAsLions]

Allegedly we're talking to this fella Stramaccioni. Allegedly.

[LeeB]

Allegedly we're talking to this fella Stramaccioni. Allegedly.

Isn't he the fella with 3 nipples?

[Monty]

Well Tutto Mercato aren't *total* bullshit so maybe. Still sounds unlikely to me though.

[AsTallAsLions]

His record is... not wonderful.

[chrisw1]

Allegedly we're talking to this fella Stramaccioni. Allegedly.

I hope this is true.  Not that I know anything about the bloke or if he is right for us, but if we are talking to young coaches with a good reputation for bring young players through then we are at least starting to think outside the box.  My greatest fear was to hear we were talking to Moyes etc.

[chrisw1]

Hmm, with that said:

"The Italian has had a strange managerial career so far. He was named Inter Milan boss in 2012 after sterling work with the youth team. But the then-36-year-old lasted just one campaign with Inter finishing a dismal ninth, failing to qualify for Europe for the first time in 15 seasons.

Stramaccioni then led Udinese to a disappointing 16th-placed finish a year later and has also endured forgettable spells at Panathiniakos and Sparta Prague, who finished fifth in the Czech league last season."

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2018/05/29/do-report-aston-villa-contact-andrea-stramaccioni-and-dean-smith/