Fulham 1-0 Aston Villa Play Off Final Post Match Thread

[itbrvilla]

Why do I get the sinking feeling Bruce will still be in charge next season?

I have that horrid feeling.

Who’s out there that will do a better job?

For me, we should stick with him.

I agree....he’s made us better not worse, unlike the previous 4 or 5 managers that couldn’t do it

More resources and against inferior competition.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes Bruce’s “lob strikers on” tactic has never worked and is even more dumb against 10 men.

[clash city rocker]

The most frustrating thing today was that we didn't give it our best shot.We had the chance today but instead of grabbing that chance with both hands we decided to wait and see if Fulham would hand the game to us but any villa could have told you Fulham weren't going to do that. Their manager decided to grab the chance today with both hands.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Bruce’s bradford moment?

He's had a few.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

First half awful today. Too negative by Bruce and we were made to pay! 2nd half too little too late. Poor game management by Bruce. Given a lesson by Fulham manager esp after they went down to 10 men. We had 11 days to prep for today and Bruce set the team out no differently to the majority of games this Ssn. We didn't  play in the 1st half to win the game! As is the case with Bruce we were playing the percentages game and got found out, the Fulham manager playing Bruce at his own game 2nd half.

[SoccerHQ]

Yes Bruce’s “lob strikers on” tactic has never worked and is even more dumb against 10 men.

In defence of him in terms of the game most managers would do it.

Mourinho last week finished with Alexis, Lukaku, Martial and Mata as a front four. Fergie always threw four strikers on at the end of games Man. United were losing.

If it comes off it looks glorious. Of course the problem is you still need players who can get the ball to them as we found out in last fifteen minutes.

[PaulWinch again]

It’s why it doesn’t work.

[taylorsworkrate]

Why do I get the sinking feeling Bruce will still be in charge next season?

I have that horrid feeling.

Who’s out there that will do a better job?

For me, we should stick with him.

He has failed and failed miserably. He built a squad based that had no future beyond this season. We had to go up this time. In no way does he deserve to keep his job.

[PaulWinch again]

That’s the point. This game was an end point either way. The squad was built to be promoted last year or this one. That plan has failed, it’s start again now.

[paul_e]

It’s why it doesn’t work.

The problem is for it to be a viable tactic you have to train for it, so the players know what's expected and how to work together.  Given we barely look like a team that trains together with our primary tactic expecting us to be effective at a tactic that we've made up on the fly is fanciful at best.

[SoccerHQ]

It’s why it doesn’t work.

Sometimes. Other times Cole, Yorke, Solskjaer and Sheringham all finishing a CL final puts you down in history and then no one blinks when you keep doing it every time you're losing in last 10 minutes.

It works the other week. People would be going nuts on here if Kodjia or Hogan had been an unused sub against ten men.

[PaulWinch again]

We’re also desperately static and slow.

[Toronto Villa]

Bruce proved himself to be what he is. A conservative football manager that even with more resources than he has ever had in all of his career cannot break himself him away from the pinch a win mentality. We played to do just that inevitably.

[Rudy65]

It’s why it doesn’t work.

Sometimes. Other times Cole, Yorke, Solskjaer and Sheringham all finishing a CL final puts you down in history and then no one blinks when you keep doing it every time you're losing in last 10 minutes.

It works the other week. People would be going nuts on here if Kodjia or Hogan had been an unused sub against ten men.

It rarely works and it didn’t in 99. Cole didn’t finish the games as Solskjaer replaced him. Too many forwards just get in each others way

[OzVilla]

We got beaten by the better side today and the better side all season.  As someone said earlier, they came to win it while we came to steal it and their goal was well worked after a build up of sustained pressure.  In comparison, our best chance was at the end of the Grealish freak run, we really created nothing from anything you could point too from work on the training ground. We looked skittish at the back and I thought Snoddy had a shocker with Grabban so isolated it just meant the ball just never stuck so we were deep in midfield.  That's tactical and that's the annoying part. 

Fulham played how they have most of the season first half and so did we.  2nd half you felt if we'd scored we'd have maybe gone on to win but for all the huff and puff we went nowhere. Top 3 went up.