Bruce Sacked at last (now official)

[Legion]

Hutton would do a job.

[SheffieldVillain]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

Yes, I think the players can adapt.  Most of them anyway.  Grealish, Hourihane and McGinn are definitely capable of playing a more modern passing, possession based game, and I think Bolasie, El Ghazi and Abraham would be fine too. Chester is good enough to start things from the back, although he clearly needs a decent, reliable regular partner.  I feel sorry for any manager having to take on the absolute circus of a defence Potato Features has saddled us with.

Well there you go.  It's gonna take till next summer earliest for any manager to sort out the defence long term. I'm trying to not be too harsh on those who can do a job there, but really only chester  and possibly elmo is good enough, so there's 4 players he'd need to get in.  Plus the midfield squad is horribly unbalanced.

While of course there is work to do bringing in defenders and balancing the midfield picks, with the attacking players we have available, it should be possible to play any random 3 fans drawn from the crowd alongside Chester in defence and still walk all over this league, let alone AEH, Tuanzebe and Taylor - 3 full current internationals and an England U21. Our squad isn't half as bad as Bruce is making it look.

[sickbeggar]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

Yes, I think the players can adapt.  Most of them anyway.  Grealish, Hourihane and McGinn are definitely capable of playing a more modern passing, possession based game, and I think Bolasie, El Ghazi and Abraham would be fine too. Chester is good enough to start things from the back, although he clearly needs a decent, reliable regular partner.  I feel sorry for any manager having to take on the absolute circus of a defence Potato Features has saddled us with.

Well there you go.  It's gonna take till next summer earliest for any manager to sort out the defence long term. I'm trying to not be too harsh on those who can do a job there, but really only chester  and possibly elmo is good enough, so there's 4 players he'd need to get in.  Plus the midfield squad is horribly unbalanced.

While of course there is work to do bringing in defenders and balancing the midfield picks, with the attacking players we have available, it should be possible to play any random 3 fans drawn from the crowd alongside Chester in defence and still walk all over this league, let alone AEH, Tuanzebe and Taylor - 3 full current internationals and an England U21. Our squad isn't half as bad as Bruce is making it look.

well yeah i agree to a point. If you play defenders and jedi in random positions and then stick out a totally attacking midfield with no-one doing the defensive duties then you're gonna look crap defensively. My point is long term apart from chester none of the current defence i would say is good enough above maybe getting us promoted and then being sold. Tuanzebe isn't ours and unproven, Hutton is ancient, Taylor not good enough. Elmo, probably is on the borderline.  It's a major job for anyone planning not to get sacked within 5 months of promotion.

[tomd2103]

I just don’t see how someone who has done reasonably well at Brentford is the man to takeover and succeed at Villa. The set up and expectation at Brentford is completely different.

He would be a risk Paul and there probably is a bit of romanticism involved given his background.  I think to dismiss his achievements at Brentford as reasonable is a bit harsh, given the size of the club and the resources he has had to work with. 

[SoccerHQ]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

We are talking about some of the best players in the division. Grealish was great in most games after xmas last year and finally becoming the player we all wanted him to be, Adomah had his great form in the first half of the season and he's one who'll welcome SB getting potted, Abraham with his 20 + goals at Bristol, McGinn would look better in a team on the front foot etc....

Let's not make out our team is rubbish. We have a poor defence but so do WBA and they're 1st.

If Smith can get a tune out of Hogan who's our reserve forward I'm pretty confident he can do the same given time with plenty of those listed above.

[Lastfootstamper]

I just don’t see how someone who has done reasonably well at Brentford is the man to takeover and succeed at Villa. The set up and expectation at Brentford is completely different.

He would be a risk Paul and there probably is a bit of romanticism involved given his background. I think to dismiss his achievements at Brentford as reasonable is a bit harsh, given the size of the club and the resources he has had to work with.

I have to agree here. Whatever his merits may or may not be, I do think our focusing on him comes from a starting point of his link as a fan.

It's starting to feel a bit like the Lambert love-in.

[PeterWithesShin]

Bruce in The Mirror talking about Manure

Bruce said that the variety of social media channels was making life a ­misery for the modern-day boss.

He said: “Dealing with social media is part and parcel of being a frontline manager. It’s now the hardest part of the job.

“Society has changed, football ­management has changed, journalism has changed. Almost every industry has changed.

That you haven't changed changed with the times is why we're 15th.

[Risso]

He said in the week that he doesn't read social media.  Now it's the hardest part of the job.  He can't remember his lies from moment to the next.

[sickbeggar]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

We are talking about some of the best players in the division. Grealish was great in most games after xmas last year and finally becoming the player we all wanted him to be, Adomah had his great form in the first half of the season and he's one who'll welcome SB getting potted, Abraham with his 20 + goals at Bristol, McGinn would look better in a team on the front foot etc....

Let's not make out our team is rubbish. We have a poor defence but so do WBA and they're 1st.

If Smith can get a tune out of Hogan who's our reserve forward I'm pretty confident he can do the same given time with plenty of those listed above.

Well that's the gamble. I remember when we went down and everyone was saying we had the best squad in the championship, and promotion was an expectation with any half decent manager in charge, when the reality was the players that we came down with were a pile of arse in the main.  So maybe we've over-estimating ourselves again? I just think Smith could be heading into RDM territory  where its a period of rebuilding needed and we want instant results because we got to the play-offs with a load of players no longer here. He's not a Bruce who will come with a reputation so i don't think for a minute he will get the same amount of time.

[Lastfootstamper]

Does he engage with social media?

[Sexual Ealing]

He said in the week that he doesn't read social media.  Now it's the hardest part of the job.  He can't remember his lies from moment to the next.

And if he thinks the social media that he does or doesn't read is the hardest part of his job then it starts to make more sense when evaluating why he can't summon up an attack against a ten-man Ipswich Town.

[PeterWithesShin]

Every manager is a gamble. Even Pep would be, obviously you can make it as small a gamble as possible, Pep would be less of a gamble than me, but could he be as effective with inferior players as an example, no one really knows. Bruce was the safe pair of hands that wasn't meant to be a gamble, and yet here we are.

As for RDM I still  don't think it was just because of results based that he was binned, he came across, to me at least, as not seeming to give a give shit during and after that Preston game.

[sickbeggar]

Every manager is a gamble. Even Pep would be, obviously you can make it as small a gamble as possible, Pep would be less of a gamble than me, but could he be as effective with inferior players as an example, no one really knows. Bruce was the safe pair of hands that wasn't meant to be a gamble, and yet here we are.

As for RDM I still  don't think it was just because of results based that he was binned, he came across, to me at least, as not seeming to give a give shit during and after that Preston game.

well we've had a few Prestons withe Bruce i reckon and you have to hope we have another one coming up! End of the day RDM got binned on the 3rd October so the stars are aligning and all that.........

[SoccerHQ]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

We are talking about some of the best players in the division. Grealish was great in most games after xmas last year and finally becoming the player we all wanted him to be, Adomah had his great form in the first half of the season and he's one who'll welcome SB getting potted, Abraham with his 20 + goals at Bristol, McGinn would look better in a team on the front foot etc....

Let's not make out our team is rubbish. We have a poor defence but so do WBA and they're 1st.

If Smith can get a tune out of Hogan who's our reserve forward I'm pretty confident he can do the same given time with plenty of those listed above.

Well that's the gamble. I remember when we went down and everyone was saying we had the best squad in the championship, and promotion was an expectation with any half decent manager in charge, when the reality was the players that we came down with were a pile of arse in the main.  So maybe we've over-estimating ourselves again? I just think Smith could be heading into RDM territory  where its a period of rebuilding needed and we want instant results because we got to the play-offs with a load of players no longer here. He's not a Bruce who will come with a reputation so i don't think for a minute he will get the same amount of time.

Not for me. Too much of a losing culture still around in 16/17 and our midfield options were much worse back then. We were playing a combo of Westwood-Gardner with Bacuna also in the mix which says it all.

Stoke have had similar issues this season and obviously Sunderland last season were on a whole different scale of ineptness.

At least the losing culture has disappeared now and I do think it's a better squad than in 16/17. Weaker division aswell.

[sickbeggar]

You don't know though.. Looking at how we play, and how Smith plays, do you think those players can adapt? He just may not fancy them. He may not want those loan players. He may think a decent centre half on loan is more important. Can we send them back if they're not injured? Loads of questions really but i wouldn't say Aston Villa 2018 screams of a side made for Brentford's style of play so would people give him 12 months plus to get rid of those he doesn't want or is it promotion or bust again?

We are talking about some of the best players in the division. Grealish was great in most games after xmas last year and finally becoming the player we all wanted him to be, Adomah had his great form in the first half of the season and he's one who'll welcome SB getting potted, Abraham with his 20 + goals at Bristol, McGinn would look better in a team on the front foot etc....

Let's not make out our team is rubbish. We have a poor defence but so do WBA and they're 1st.

If Smith can get a tune out of Hogan who's our reserve forward I'm pretty confident he can do the same given time with plenty of those listed above.

Well that's the gamble. I remember when we went down and everyone was saying we had the best squad in the championship, and promotion was an expectation with any half decent manager in charge, when the reality was the players that we came down with were a pile of arse in the main.  So maybe we've over-estimating ourselves again? I just think Smith could be heading into RDM territory  where its a period of rebuilding needed and we want instant results because we got to the play-offs with a load of players no longer here. He's not a Bruce who will come with a reputation so i don't think for a minute he will get the same amount of time.

Not for me. Too much of a losing culture still around in 16/17 and our midfield options were much worse back then. We were playing a combo of Westwood-Gardner with Bacuna also in the mix which says it all.

Stoke have had similar issues this season and obviously Sunderland last season were on a whole different scale of ineptness.

At least the losing culture has disappeared now and I do think it's a better squad than in 16/17. Weaker division aswell.

I don't know tbh. To me our squad is seriously flawed this season. The midfield is awash with attacking midfielders and wingers and a few old men supposed to do the graft. The defence, well enough said - probably you could get a tune out of them if they were played in their right positions, but we're an injury away from being completely fucked. Imagine if chester got crocked? Attack, yeah on paper, should be plenty of goals in it given the right tactics.  We'll see but i hope whoever comes in isn't expected to get us promoted this season and if i was Smith i would seriously think about joining us in that scenario,