Cardiff battered Villa Post Match Thread

[PeterWithesShin]

It was the issue for me watching the end of last season, free hit to try expansive football or different ideas as we weren't going up or down and it was just the same old shit. That's when I really wanted him gone. Then the pre-season games were the same old shit. And now the competitive games are still the same old shit. I don't see one thing better now than the day he walked in. We still look like a fragile disjointed mess that plays shit football and struggles to win without Kod and Jedi.

[curiousorange]

I think that pre season game against Walsall was one of the worst games I've seen us play. There were loads of fans insisting it was just for fitness but those players didn't have a clue what they were doing.

[ChicagoLion]

This is the point, you can not help thinking back to that article " I don't do tactics me"
And think he really is just a chancer, just like Sherwood without the charisma but just a bit more consistent.
He assembles squads, chucks players together and hopes for the best.
Maybe he got lucky before.

[aj2k77]

Now can we stop kidding ourselves about the state of the team and some of the players involved.

Alan Hutton, terrible, given another years contract, another half a million down the drain when we have younger, better players. He puts a shift in they say...... so fucking what, if that's the only requirement now to playing for us then you can be certain we aren't going up any time soon. Way below the standard required, positionally one of the worst footballers I've seen at Villa.

Agbonlahor. Finished. Has been finished for half a decade. Dug up from his slovenly grave because Bruce is a dinosaur.  Has lost most of the only asset he had, a bit of pace.

Scott Hogan. Sold down the river with this guy. He runs about a bit but has no presence up front. Hasn't finished any of the half chances he's had. Doesn't seem to have any attributes. We overpaid by about £10m if he was the £12m quoted. In the right team he might score goals but it's nothing that resembles the slow, ambling, pensioner like side we have.

Glenn Whelan. Now I'm sure he has qualities, Stoke fans love him but he's on the way down, another player signed when he's on a swansong and no doubt the desire and drive are on the wane. He's slow, he's poor on the ball, the exact two qualities we already have in abundance throughout the squad. Another player not required.

The team as a whole lacks anyone who can beat a man, lacks pace, lacks movement and drive.

It's a fucking rabble. Today was much worse than expected. How many times have we been outplayed under Bruce compared to times when we've outplayed other clubs? Bruce is on borrowed time, the transfer policy has been haphazard and yet again we find ourselves in a position where we have no idea how we are going to score against sides, or even put them under intense pressure.

This shit show of Bruce's will be over before October is out and we will have to rebuild, again, only this time we will have no money at all to do it, FFP, we're fucked because of it and will have to rely on clever signings, bringing our own players through or developing what we have off the pitch. Things we have become lazy at.

We are in massive trouble.

[QuintonVilla]

Pre season worried me aswell. I agree that you can't really judge results, however the performances were exactly what we'd seen last season and nothing has changed. The football was predictable, slow, laboured and boring. That's the way Bruce plays and if you're grinding out 1-0 wins you can kind of let it slide but when you're very rarely winning games all of those things will be used as negative things to beat you with.

[LukeJames]

I think that pre season game against Walsall was one of the worst games I've seen us play. There were loads of fans insisting it was just for fitness but those players didn't have a clue what they were doing.

The problem for me with this game was that i'd shut off from all things Villa since the Brighton game and had mustered up some optimism ahead of the new season over that few weeks, this was my first friendly and while i appreciate the results in friendlies are not the most important thing, I was still expecting to see some signs of progression and leave with some excitement for the season ahead, by 25 minutes I remembered why I was bored fuckless of Villa and was more interested in the aeroplanes on the approach to Birmingham airport than the game.

[paul_e]

It was the issue for me watching the end of last season, free it to try expansive football or different ideas as we weren't going up or down and it was just the same old shit. That's when I really wanted him gone. Then the pre-season games were the same old shit. And now the competitive games are still the same old shit. I don't see one thing better now than the day he walked in. We still look like a fragile disjointed mess that plays shit football and struggles to win without Kod and Jedi.

Absolutely.  The thing I find the most frustrating though is that people who want him to stay constantly shift the goalposts.  After the new manager bounce we had a shit December and it was just a case of getting new players in January, then we carried on struggling and it was about them settling, then we had a decent run and everything went quiet before the collapse towards the end of the season and then Bruce needed a pre-season to get them properly fit.  As that pre-season progressed it was all about the proper games and now "it's only 2/3 games we can't judge him yet".  As I've said before I'd love to know what the tipping point is for these people because most of them also said that 10 points from 11 games last year meant Bruce had an impossible job to get the playoffs last season so do  we wait until it's too late for a replacement to be able to salvage things or do we accept that it's just not going to work and get on with finding a replacement?

[curiousorange]

I try not to single out players in a shitty performance, but Hourihane played so badly at Bescot he looked like he was on the Walsall payroll. This was a player who was one of the most effective players in the league before we signed him. The common factor is Bruce - he manages through strong personalities and that's why he overpays for mediocrity. That's also why he signs over the hill players, because he doesn't have to mother them. He'll splurge what cash we're able to spend on Abel Hernandez because he knows him. Did you see that fake picture of Hugo Rodallega signing for Villa last week? I wouldn't have been remotely surprised if it had turned out to be real.

[ChicagoLion]

aj2k.
I think you are right, deep shit.

[pauliewalnuts]

Alan Hutton, terrible, given another years contract, another half a million down the drain when we have younger, better players. He puts a shift in they say...... so fucking what, if that's the only requirement now to playing for us then you can be certain we aren't going up any time soon. Way below the standard required, positionally one of the worst footballers I've seen at Villa.

Agbonlahor. Finished. Has been finished for half a decade. Dug up from his slovenly grave because Bruce is a dinosaur.  Has lost most of the only asset he had, a bit of pace.

Totally agree.

How many other clubs would be persisting with a 'striker' who had delivered 14 goals over the last five seasons?

Agbonlahor is not the only waster (see Hutton), but fuck me, if that's not a damning indictment of our pathetic acceptance of rubbish over half a decade, then I don't know what is.

How many other clubs would be starting with him up front?

[brontebilly]

Hutton - SHIT
Gabby - SHIT
Lansbury - SHIT
Adomah - SHIT

Only Chester, Onomah, O Hare looked like professional footballers out there.

Favourites to win the league? You're having a fucking laugh.

Can't Pass, Can't Attack, Can't Cross.

If the highlights are any kind of guide, Chester looked to have an absolute horror show. Soft as shite in physical exchanges and a huge gap between himself and Terry. Probably not comfortable at right sided centre back.

[curiousorange]

Alan Hutton, terrible, given another years contract, another half a million down the drain when we have younger, better players. He puts a shift in they say...... so fucking what, if that's the only requirement now to playing for us then you can be certain we aren't going up any time soon. Way below the standard required, positionally one of the worst footballers I've seen at Villa.

Agbonlahor. Finished. Has been finished for half a decade. Dug up from his slovenly grave because Bruce is a dinosaur.  Has lost most of the only asset he had, a bit of pace.

Totally agree.

How many other clubs would be persisting with a 'striker' who had delivered 14 goals over the last five seasons?

Agbonlahor is not the only waster (see Hutton), but fuck me, if that's not a damning indictment of our pathetic acceptance of rubbish over half a decade, then I don't know what is.

How many other clubs would be starting with him up front?

Wasn't Bruce making noises about him earning a new deal last week?

[olaftab]

 Gap? Terry is not even in the frame for their first and appears in the box as they start celebrating.

[QuintonVilla]

Imagine spending how much money we have and still having Gabby as a starter up front. Embarrassing. He'll dine out on that goal against Hull now until we play Small Heath.

[PaulWinch again]

Unacceptable again.