Continuous improvement

[brontebilly]

Ah, the old Grealish 'one-man team' myth.

Well, we were at nothing until he returned...but I thought Deano getting Steer back was critical. Wtf Bruce (and Gary Walsh) saw in Nyland I'll never know, a car crash in goal. Steer just brought that assurance that he wasn't going to throw one in any minute. Mings, rescued from Bournemouth reserves, was an inspired loan too.

[PeterWithesShin]

Kalinic or Nyland in goal, CB pairings for most of that crap run were Chester on one leg, and either Elphick or Bree, and even when Mings came in that was a player with only about 10 league starts in the previous 3+ years so took time to get up to speed. I'm amazed we weren't smashing the league with a defence that wasn't really worthy of the name.

[dcdavecollett]

Agree with most of this.

Getting Jed back and finding he was better that the THREE 'keepers that Bruce had brought in shows the depths we had sunk to in failing to use our own resources.

By the end of Jan, we had two left-sided centre-backs. Before this we hadn't had any. Tuanzebee was out for more than three months with injury. Jack coming back undoubtedly was a big moment but, as Mr Saunders used to say, it's a team job and we'd improved everywhere on the pitch by the time the long winning run started.

[PeterWithesShin]

In the three years we were in the second division we used Gollini, Bunn, Johnstone, Steer, Nyland, Kalinic, plus Moreira in the LC. We really did piss away a small fortune as a second tier club.

[Risso]

Ah, the old Grealish 'one-man team' myth.

Ah, the old "can't be bothered to actually look at the results with him and without him" routine.

[LeonW]

Ah, the old Grealish 'one-man team' myth.

Ah, the old "can't be bothered to actually look at the results with him and without him" routine.

That depends on which manager you’re looking at him under. There’s a sharp rise in the percentage relating to overall wins of the side in all competitions when he was involved (83% on average for 3 seasons) under one manager in particular, which drops to 60% under another and then to 50% under a further different manager. That’s just appearances, not direct goal contributions (goals or assists). But again, the numbers on those  jump sharply under one manager more than others. This one manager found a way to improve Joe’s direct goal contributions and how he could help the team win more than others, even with accounting for the frequent injuries Joe would have in a season.

[Legion]

Done.

[dcdavecollett]

Going back to your list, PWS -of course, Steer was on the books for the whole time!

He's had his injury issues here but he's never let anyone down.

[RichardBatchelor]

Continuous improvement is a bit like continuous economic growth - a nonsense myth, not how life works - that said wouldn’t mind a decade of it at the Villa!

[Diablo]

Great read!
It maybe the romantic in me but I still think DS would have finished higher than SG did.

[Risso]

Great read!
It maybe the romantic in me but I still think DS would have finished higher than SG did.

Not a chance, I think he'd lost it completely.