The biggest think pissing me off is the accusation of how far we have fallen behind Wolves. Well were a division behind the likes of Palace, Bournemouth and Swansea. It is what it is, and how this club has been neglected by the previous regime. Blaming Bruce for our current standing in the football hierarchy is disingenuous. Im no fan of Bruce and his football, but he has nowhere done enough to be sacked and therefore we should see how far he can get us without this pathetic outcry everytime we don't get a result.
Quote from: ktvillan on October 15, 2017, 04:30:58 PMI think your argument is over simplistic. It's not just slagging off wins because they were against poor to middling teams, it's about the level of performance and quality, whether we've won or lost. The fact is we've ground out most of those wins playing some god-awful football despite the lack of quality in the opposition. I can kind of see why some are happy to take the results on face value and enjoy them while they can, but I think others are able to see the bigger picture and put those results into context. In how many games have we actually looked like a quality team? Hardly any. It really should not be difficult to look decent and competent in this division, especially with the money we've spent. Bruce is making us look way less than the sum of our parts. For what it's worth I agree that the style of football is not good enough for the players we have, but I think we lost all chance of us playing attractively when we appointed Bruce. With the fact that you can't teach an old dog new tricks and leopards don't change their spots (etc etc), Bruce will not change and thus we ultimately have to go on results. Results - currently - are improving and we should be looking to be comfortably in a play off spot by Christmas. I don't want Bruce long term, but he's what we've got so right now results, more so than performances, are the priority.
I think your argument is over simplistic. It's not just slagging off wins because they were against poor to middling teams, it's about the level of performance and quality, whether we've won or lost. The fact is we've ground out most of those wins playing some god-awful football despite the lack of quality in the opposition. I can kind of see why some are happy to take the results on face value and enjoy them while they can, but I think others are able to see the bigger picture and put those results into context. In how many games have we actually looked like a quality team? Hardly any. It really should not be difficult to look decent and competent in this division, especially with the money we've spent. Bruce is making us look way less than the sum of our parts.
So you don't think wanting a manager out after suffering his 1st defeat in 9 matches and 4 wins on the trot is hysterical? Villa were 14th in Division 2 heading into 1975...its a good job Ron Saunders wasn't around now.
We can't get away from that at all. We want to do everything we can next season to go up. It will be an important season, we have got a great squad, there will be no excuses for us not to go up.
"One particular task this season is to dramatically improve our away results."Hope the new away kit brings luck to us, 15+away wins! UTV!"
Quote from: exiled on the wirral! on October 15, 2017, 06:17:11 PMSo you don't think wanting a manager out after suffering his 1st defeat in 9 matches and 4 wins on the trot is hysterical? Villa were 14th in Division 2 heading into 1975...its a good job Ron Saunders wasn't around now.I don't think being unsure about a manager who was hired to get promotion, finished 13th and is outside the play offs again is hysterical.Yet again it's all about expectations and targets, in march Wyness said:QuoteWe can't get away from that at all. We want to do everything we can next season to go up. It will be an important season, we have got a great squad, there will be no excuses for us not to go up.In July you had this from Xia:Quote"One particular task this season is to dramatically improve our away results."Hope the new away kit brings luck to us, 15+away wins! UTV!"Right now, even with 4 wins on the bounce, we're not looking like meeting either of those targets. We may beat Fulham and Blues and be right in the mix for the top 2 by the end of the month, or we might struggle to a point in both of them and be midtable, I think both of those are likely as the other based on what we've seen under Bruce, and that's why people aren't happy.
"Hystericals" vs "Happy Clappers"Might make for a decent 5 a side game
Quote from: paul_e on October 15, 2017, 07:42:06 PMQuote from: exiled on the wirral! on October 15, 2017, 06:17:11 PMSo you don't think wanting a manager out after suffering his 1st defeat in 9 matches and 4 wins on the trot is hysterical? Villa were 14th in Division 2 heading into 1975...its a good job Ron Saunders wasn't around now.I don't think being unsure about a manager who was hired to get promotion, finished 13th and is outside the play offs again is hysterical.Yet again it's all about expectations and targets, in march Wyness said:QuoteWe can't get away from that at all. We want to do everything we can next season to go up. It will be an important season, we have got a great squad, there will be no excuses for us not to go up.In July you had this from Xia:Quote"One particular task this season is to dramatically improve our away results."Hope the new away kit brings luck to us, 15+away wins! UTV!"Right now, even with 4 wins on the bounce, we're not looking like meeting either of those targets. We may beat Fulham and Blues and be right in the mix for the top 2 by the end of the month, or we might struggle to a point in both of them and be midtable, I think both of those are likely as the other based on what we've seen under Bruce, and that's why people aren't happy.Being unsure is one thing..being hysterical is another. Id rather give someone time and given the benefit of the doubt rather than than wripping everything up and starting again....when we are a point of the play offs and 5 points of automatic.
Bruce got his tactics wrong yesterday. We couldn't afford to play a right-sided midfielder at right back against a team with a dangerous front 3, just as we couldn't afford to only deploy a midfield 2 against their 3. I would rather we had played De Laet at right back, even if there was a risk that he wouldn't last the 90 and played Onomah instead of Kodjia. One of Bruce's biggest failings must be that despite re-shaping the whole squad, he's only comfortable playing the same 11 each week. He should be able to make tactical changes and rotational changes to keep everyone fresh but doesn't look like he can. We were crap in the first match after the last international break and Bruce held his hands up and said he should have freshened things up yet did exactly the same thing again. Einstein's definition of insanity is to repeat the same actions and expect different results.
Quote from: exiled on the wirral! on October 15, 2017, 08:29:37 PMQuote from: paul_e on October 15, 2017, 07:42:06 PMQuote from: exiled on the wirral! on October 15, 2017, 06:17:11 PMSo you don't think wanting a manager out after suffering his 1st defeat in 9 matches and 4 wins on the trot is hysterical? Villa were 14th in Division 2 heading into 1975...its a good job Ron Saunders wasn't around now.I don't think being unsure about a manager who was hired to get promotion, finished 13th and is outside the play offs again is hysterical.Yet again it's all about expectations and targets, in march Wyness said:QuoteWe can't get away from that at all. We want to do everything we can next season to go up. It will be an important season, we have got a great squad, there will be no excuses for us not to go up.In July you had this from Xia:Quote"One particular task this season is to dramatically improve our away results."Hope the new away kit brings luck to us, 15+away wins! UTV!"Right now, even with 4 wins on the bounce, we're not looking like meeting either of those targets. We may beat Fulham and Blues and be right in the mix for the top 2 by the end of the month, or we might struggle to a point in both of them and be midtable, I think both of those are likely as the other based on what we've seen under Bruce, and that's why people aren't happy.Being unsure is one thing..being hysterical is another. Id rather give someone time and given the benefit of the doubt rather than than wripping everything up and starting again....when we are a point of the play offs and 5 points of automatic.the bold bit is exactly right but it's not me you need to tell that, I'm not remotely hysterical and never have been, I had clear targets for what I'd see as acceptable for him to deliver and he's missed all of them so far and is short of the current ones as well. I don't think we can sack him right now and I certainly won't be tweeting anyone demanding it but I also think it's inevitable that he'll fall short again and be sacked. On that basis my concern has always been about giving the next guy the best possible chance. If we're 12-13th in the league at the start of December then that might be too big a gap for a new manager to make up, but if we're 7th-8th it might not be enough to sack him. I hope I'm wrong, I hope we win 6-7 on the bounce and are in the automatic spots coming up to the window, but I just can't see it.