Re: Steve Bruce: Aston Villa Manager

by **Sandie** Fri Apr 14, 2017 11:37 pm

I think we had to stick with whatever we chose once we had gone with it. Years of discontinuity has hurt us as much as the poor managerial appointments that caused that. There have been some mitigating circumstances for Bruce in the time he has had this season but next season is the real thing. There can be no more excuses.

With regard to the two or three key signings, what areas are the most in need of improvement? Goal keeper? Left wing? Any others?

by **villabromsgrove** Sat Apr 15, 2017 9:17 am

Goal keeper, left wing and a commanding centre back to replace Elphick, and maybe a replacement for Kodjia if he attracts attention. Is Bruce confident that he has found his centre mid playmaker? He isn't currently playing in a way that would indicate whether or not he sees that position as important.

by **villabromsgrove** Tue Apr 18, 2017 1:38 pm

Next season will be starting before too long, and this team and this "system" will not get us into the top six (again).

The Championship has changed dramatically in the last couple of seasons and a number of teams are now playing attractive well organised football. A number of younger managers with a progressive mindset have come into the division and set a new bench mark, which has left behind Bruce's old fashioned resilient defence and counter type football,

The only time we play as a team is when we are defending. From the moment we cross the half way line we are just disconnected individuals. There is no set shape which would allow us to attack and keep recycling the ball until an opportunity arises. Other teams do it against us with the greatest of ease, but we have no system in place which will enable us to do the same to them.

I can't see this changing next season (which is only a short time away), so that will see us beating the weaker teams (again), and falling apart against the better organised teams (again). The reason why it wont change is sadly because Steve Bruce is either unwilling or unable to change with the times.

I really want Bruce to succeed, but to do that he has to demonstrate that a) he knows what's wrong, and b) he knows how to fix it. I haven't seen anything yet that would answer positively either a) or b).

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Apr 19, 2017 9:34 am

villabromsgrove wrote:https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2017/04/06/villa-domestic-friendlies-confirmed

This isn't in the right place for this article, but at the moment it doesn't need it's own thread.

Steve Bruce has put a workman like pre season together .... low key and no nonsense, with potentially a couple of mid league German friendlies to be added.

It's good to see that planning for next season has already been done. Does this indicate that we are at last ahead of the game, and that maybe our two or three "quality" transfer targets have already been identified?

It does put to bed any thoughts that I may have had about a progressive younger manager coming in (Wagner?), because it demonstrates that we really need the continuity and planning stability that Bruce's management allows.

So that's me eating my words then!

I've quoted myself to show how confused I am about the way forward for Villa.

Yes, we need stability in order to plan a settled future for the club. We do not need to throw away another two thirds of a season's work by our current manager, and start from scratch yet again.

But .... I see new players who have come to Villa and immediately regressed from being top Championship players, to hesitant individuals who can hardly pass a football. I've seen "leaders" join us and quickly become sheepish in their demeanour.

What I haven't seen .... I haven't seen any sign that after seven months Steve Bruce and Colin Calderwood are any closer to knowing their best system, their best first eleven, how to properly integrate and play a midfield, how to coach a team to consistently score goals (if Kodjia isn't available), how to change a bunch of disparate individuals into a proper team.

Will that change in the next three and a half months? I would love to say yes, but common sense tells me it's very unlikely. If that's the case then next season will be another struggle by a hamstrung bunch of individuals having to make it up as they stumble along.

It shouldn't be like this with the players at our disposal (plus two or three right signings). It doesn't have to be like this with the right management and coaching.

I guess the question is, can Steve Bruce and Colin Calderwood throw away the old Bus that we've been parking this season, and provide the right quality vehicle for our players to drive over a Promotion finish line next season?

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Apr 24, 2017 11:09 am

Yesterday's performance begs the question "why did Bruce want to spend so much money on Hogan?"

I think Hogan is an excellent striker, but Bruce must have known that his style of football would not work with Hogan. We pumped hopeful high balls up to a front man who is known to want the ball at his feet, which tends to prove that our manager has wasted a chunk of Dr T's money.

Why did SB want to buy Hourihane and Lansbury in January, when he must have known that his style of football would bypass them and make them totally ineffective.

Six of our Lerner era players were involved in yesterday's match, probably because they are used to the lack of finesse that our style requires. So why did we go out and spend so much on potentially influential ball players, when we were never going to let them play with the ball?

When your best players don't fit your system, you change the system. A manager shouldn't have "his way of playing football". He should have the brains to come to a club and analyse the playing squad, and design a way of playing that maximises the abilities of his best fourteen players. The way Villa are currently being sent out to play is a total waste of our expensively acquired collective ability.

by **Sandie** Tue Apr 25, 2017 8:41 pm

I actually think most managers have their own way of playing football and end up needing to adapt their squads over time to build what they want. What's difficult to defend is how the manager has bought the players who most conspicuously aren't suited to the manager's style of play.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Apr 26, 2017 9:25 am

Sandie wrote:I actually think most managers have their own way of playing football and end up needing to adapt their squads over time to build what they want. What's difficult to defend is how the manager has bought the players who most conspicuously aren't suited to the manager's style of play.

It makes me wonder whether Round and Wyness are sourcing the players for Bruce. SB said that he would have the final say over players, but the mismatch between Bruce's style of play and the players we have signed would point to Round having a large input.

Unless SB is totally confused!

by **villabromsgrove** Fri Apr 28, 2017 11:36 am

https://www.avfc.co.uk/News/2017/04/28/bruce-highlights-summer-plans

All my conjecture about a possible change of manager appears baseless. Dr T and SB are already talking about next season's plan.

Bruce seems a little vague with his "two, three or four" comment and I worry that no matter how good our potential signings are or may have been, we will very quickly dumb them down to our keep it tight and hope that we nick one "strategy".

I really hope I'm wrong about Bruce's ability to change the habits of a lifetime, otherwise we're in for another frustrating season.

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Apr 30, 2017 1:45 pm

Bruce said that we look like a rudderless team with Jedinak missing yesterday. Effectively it's an admission that Bruce sees us as a two man team.

Jedinak is the rudder, and without Kodjia to hoof it up to we're toothless. Let's get the other nine players involved shall we.

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Apr 30, 2017 2:50 pm

Calderwood said that the reason why he came to Villa was because he only assisted the coaching at Brighton, and moving to Villa meant that he was totally in charge of coaching. It also looks increasingly likely that Round and Wyness have had a big input into the players we have bought, because they clearly don't fit a Bruce/Calderwood philosophy.

After most matches Bruce has been critical of the team's performance, and on the last couple of occasions he has been particularly scathing. It's almost as if Steve Bruce is just a figurehead manager which leaves him free to be ultra critical of other peoples failings.

His comments do not add up if he is the man coaching and setting up the team. He gives his opinion as though he is an observer, rather than the man responsible for the utter garbage that Villa fans are being forced to witness.

Is SB's job limited to being the nice father figure around the dressing room and in his office, and does he just give Calderwood his weekly instructions and leave him to interpret these on the training pitch? Surely this can't be the case, so Bruce must stop blaming everyone else and start taking responsibility for producing a team that regularly plays turgid rubbish!

by **Sandie** Sun Apr 30, 2017 5:06 pm

It would explain things to an extent though. The players we have seem unable to fit into the system we want to play. I don't think any manager would approach their job that way, surely?

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Apr 30, 2017 6:43 pm

Sandie wrote:It would explain things to an extent though. The players we have seem unable to fit into the system we want to play. I don't think any manager would approach their job that way, surely?

It would be a very strange way to run a football team The way he regularly talks about the team performances and rubbishes the players efforts in post match interviews, it's almost as though he thinks that it's nothing to do with him. It's unusual to say the least.

by **Sandie** Sun Apr 30, 2017 7:27 pm

Not unusual for our managers, though. Tim Sherwood did it too, as did Remi Garde and Robbie Di Matteo to an extent.

It could, of course, be a manager desperate to deflect blame from his own failures.

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Apr 30, 2017 9:18 pm

The plot thickens Sandie. Steve Bruce: Aston Villa Manager - Page 8 3640643743

by **villabromsgrove** Wed May 17, 2017 9:10 am

Fulham were unlucky not to progress to the play off final last night. They were the better team but were undone by a penalty decision.

Jokanovic is now approachable, and I love the way he's got Fulham playing better football than all the other teams in the Championship. He could do things with our existing players that we can only dream about under SB. I don't expect it to happen, but I'll say again .... If money isn't available (FFP) to bring in Bruce's type of players, then changing the manager remains the best option if we are going to stand a chance of automatic promotion.

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