Re: Steve Bruce: Aston Villa Manager

by **villabromsgrove** Sat Feb 25, 2017 10:01 pm

Chris Harte wrote:I think it is exactly what we need to hear myself. We cannot keep changing the manager.

What you say is correct Chris if Bruce can finally show that he knows what he's doing and he knows what Villa needs to do to win games. Sitting deep and trying to hit on the break, then sitting even deeper to hang on is not the way forward. At the moment he's floundering through Quicksand and the team is getting progressively worse. We had some luck today, but we will lose more than we win playing Bruce's current idea of football.

Sorry to be so negative, but it's honestly how I feel.

by **villabromsgrove** Sun Feb 26, 2017 2:27 pm

I'm incredibly disappointed with our team. Look at the players we have in relation to nearly all other Championship teams.

We should be controlling matches. I'm not advocating possession football for the sake of it, but we have to control a lot more of the ball to impose ourselves on other teams. I know what you get with Bruce as manager, which is dour grinding football to prevent too many losses and snatch one nil's on a fairly regular basis, but SB is not even getting the players to do that at the moment (apart from a bit of luck against Derby).

He was delighted with the win yesterday although we were absolutely awful.

The point I'm making is that we are supposed to be building a team, a style and a framework that will return us to the upper echelons of the Premier League, and to that end we've already spent a lot of money. There's currently absolutely nothing to show for it. We look as if we would be unable to control possession even in the old third division, should we be relegated.

The stage that Bruce is now at in his managerial career and the out dated methods he is trying to use, mean that we're being led to the future by a "nice man" who is sadly a footballing dinosaur.

by **Sandie** Sun Feb 26, 2017 9:44 pm

We're actually a long way worse than the typical Steve Bruce side which is even more perplexing. To say we're just dour and hard bitten is a disservice to teams that are like that. I could take dour and resilient. But we're worse than dour and resilience appears not to be in our lexicon.

I agree with Chris but also think that the vote of confidence is exaggerated. He'll definitely go if we go down again and probably will if things don't improve somewhat from here.

by **villabromsgrove** Mon Feb 27, 2017 11:30 am

We look clueless and dispirited as a team at the moment. We also look frightened and panicky for large periods during 90 minutes.

Okay, six players may be living in hotels, some players like Gabby, Grealish and Bacuna might have selfish attitudes, but it's up to the manager to deal with players problems and put smiles on their faces.

Insisting on such a ridiculously negative system of playing isn't going to improve player morale at all. Having the ball for 29 minutes in a 90 minute match isn't worth putting your boots on for!

by **Sandie** Mon Feb 27, 2017 10:18 pm

There's no discipline still if we look at Bacuna and Grealish's recent sendings off. That was one thing I'd have expected Bruce to sort out. We're just a ill-discplined, disorganized rabble. Just like we have been for much of the past three(?) seasons.

Just the three match ban for Bacuna, it seems.

by **villabromsgrove** Tue Feb 28, 2017 1:25 pm

Sandie wrote:There's no discipline still if we look at Bacuna and Grealish's recent sendings off. That was one thing I'd have expected Bruce to sort out. We're just a ill-discplined, disorganized rabble. Just like we have been for much of the past three(?) seasons.

Just the three match ban for Bacuna, it seems.

Bruce did say that Bacuna's attitude is problematical. We have to be ruthless with any one who thinks he can act as an individual, rather than a member of a team.

by **Sandie** Tue Feb 28, 2017 6:22 pm

So we have a not particularly great player who's attitude is a problem. He's involved, why?

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Mar 01, 2017 9:50 am

Sandie wrote:So we have a not particularly great player who's attitude is a problem. He's involved, why?

It's symptomatic of those players who've been around the club for a few seasons. I don't include Baker and Gardner. They were on extended loans at clubs without the "poisoned" atmosphere.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Mar 01, 2017 6:06 pm

At the risk of sounding negative, I have to say that entrusting Villa's future development to Steve Bruce and his staff doesn't fill me with joy.

This summer I would rather we took it slowly and introduced a new modern manager to the mix, with the energy and ability to change everything from the grass roots up.

Promotion at the end of next season under Bruce would only turn us into a yo-yo club who still couldn't hack it in the Premier League, so let's deal with this issue at the end of this season.

Steve is a smashing guy, but he's stuck in an antiquated rut, and apart from hard work and being well liked by the players I don't think he offers us a lot more. Our football will continue to be a recycling of everything SB's done so far which will be almost exclusively negative and boring, apart from a few patches of unusually attacking play when the players become p*ssed off enough.

If you're building a club and team for the future, you need a lot more than that.

by **Sandie** Wed Mar 01, 2017 10:16 pm

I think a huge part of our problem has been chopping and changing managers every season. Of course, to avoid doing that you need to have the right man in place to make it work. Steve has a terrific record at this level but the question there has to be whether we want the club stabilised or whether we see the current position of the club as an opportunity to start that kind of huge rebuild.

by **villabromsgrove** Thu Mar 02, 2017 9:35 am

Sandie wrote:I think a huge part of our problem has been chopping and changing managers every season. Of course, to avoid doing that you need to have the right man in place to make it work. Steve has a terrific record at this level but the question there has to be whether we want the club stabilised or whether we see the current position of the club as an opportunity to start that kind of huge rebuild.

I totally agree with you about the need for managerial stability, and I also think you hit the nail on the head when you say that we need to have the right man in the job to make it work. Is Bruce that man? I didn't think so before he was appointed, and I've seen nothing since he became our manager that convinces me he's capable of overseeing evolution, let alone revolution. Wagner at Huddersfield is an example of a new type of manager with fire in his belly, up to date ideas and the youth and energy to see the project through. In order to have a vision we need visionaries.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Mar 29, 2017 2:58 pm

Wyness is saying nice things about Bruce today. It would appear that SB is here for the long haul. A lot of what KW says about Steve is correct, I hope that he can adapt and move Villa forward into 2018.

I haven't copied the Wyness Video because of the usual interminable adverts!

by **Sandie** Wed Mar 29, 2017 6:59 pm

Both him and Round went big on Bruce so I'm not surprised. Of course, Bruce himself has never been one to stick around too long at clubs, though he has never had a job as big as Villa.

by **villabromsgrove** Wed Mar 29, 2017 7:39 pm

I think that there is a triumvirate of senior guys whose futures are inextricably linked. All three bear responsibility for this season, so naturally they're going to talk each other up. They may just have enough nous between them to get us promoted next season, but although I hope that is the case I wouldn't bet my house on it.

by **villabromsgrove** Fri Apr 14, 2017 3:02 pm

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! Steve Bruce: Aston Villa Manager - Page 7 3640643743

Steve Bruce: Aston Villa Manager - Page 7 3640643743

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