Re: The Steve Bruce thread

[Guest]

Jesus wept. I'm losing belief in Bruce tbh. What a load of fecking drivel.

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/10/31/birmingham-v-aston-villa-match-report/

[achilles]

@Joppe84 what exactly do you want Bruce to say?

That is exactly why he is manager to defend his players if they come in for criticism, irrespective of what we might think of them.

Quite honestly I call it good management and I don't give a toss as long as Bruce gets results, that is the bottom line for me.

Perhaps when we are winning games consistently, then perhaps we might be able to play 'better' football but at the moment it is all hands to the pump!

[Guest]

Absolutely anything but that. Shit players like Westwood, Gardner, Hutton etc. are the reason we are where we are. Time to call a spade what it is. Westwood is playing fucking shite and is an embarrassment to anyone that follows this club, and he should be told exactly that.

How a grown man can shoot like a 4 year old and lose every single physical duel like a kid playing men I'll never know.

[Trotters]

He did look like he'd shat his pants.

Normally Westwood looks as fresh as a daisy when he comes off the pitch even though he's probably run further than anyone else by a country mile. But he was proper sweating after 10 mins against blues so I think he was really affected by the atmosphere.

Even at his very best, he's only ever going to get a 7 out of ten. This game was unbelievably bad for him. He didn't make an obvious mistake like Hutton's when he was on the ball, but he did look like a child out there. I can only recall one tackle in the 2nd half where he won the ball.

And that shot!!!!

[deadbuzzardalive]

Warren Joyce who was linked with the assistant manager's job with us has gone to Wigan as their manager. Maybe we was waiting to see what happened with that. That's if we're still looking for an assistant for Bruce.

[smetro]

Jesus wept. I'm losing belief in Bruce tbh. What a load of fecking drivel.

http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/10/31/birmingham-v-aston-villa-match-report/

On the whole I would judge any manager on what he does - rather than what he says. Pre and post match press conferences every week - theres only so much that can be said. I rarley listen to them.....its only one step up from trying to stay up to date with the club via the matchday programme.

[FoxyAV]

In case you're a betting man, something to look forward to from the Villa website, a draw away at Brighton and a win against Cardiff:

[deadbuzzardalive]

If we can cut the gap between ourselves and second place to say less than ten points, before January, then I think we still have an outside chance of automatic promotion.

Brighton are doing well at the moment but in this division teams look brilliant one minute and the next, go on a bad run. Not so long back Norwich and Huddersfield looked to be doing well, now they've both fallen away somewhat.

A win in a couple of Fridays time should set us on our way.

[4BetLite]

Don't want to put the bock on Brucie, but have to say a massive well done so far and I hope he continues to prove me and all the other undecided fans wrong.

Just hope we can find the 2/3 right players to make this team even stronger in January. Up front we are more then sorted, I would try part-ex either westy or gards for Lansbury, another MF, a good RB and maybe a CB is all we really need.

[NARLA24]

Sometimes i wonder what a manager has to do to get on the good side of us Villa fans. For fucksake, he has taken us from relegation fodder to within sight of the play offs. What more do people want?
Does he have to turn water into bloody wine? Mind you, that would not be enough for some i suppose.
After McGrath knows how many seasons of complete bloody drivel we at last have a bloke in charge who seems to know what the hell he is doing, and on top of that a Chairman who actually gives a shit.
We will be in a play off place by Christmas, 3 or 4 signings in January and i bet the bookies will have us odds on for automatic promotion.
Not bad for a bloke who does not know what he is doing eh ?
On top of that, reports from inside the club say that the whole place is totally different now Bruce is there. Aston Villa football club has been given a massive lift by Bruce and his new team. So lets stop giving the "Oh i am not sure if he is the right man for the job" shite.

[avfc forever]

Sometimes i wonder what a manager has to do to get on the good side of us Villa fans. For fucksake, he has taken us from relegation fodder to within sight of the play offs. What more do people want?
Does he have to turn water into bloody wine? Mind you, that would not be enough for some i suppose.
After McGrath  knows how many seasons of complete bloody drivel we at last have a bloke in charge who seems to know what the hell he is doing, and on top of that a Chairman who actually gives a shit.
We will be in a play off place by Christmas, 3 or 4 signings in January and i bet the bookies will have us odds on for automatic promotion.
Not bad for a bloke who does not know what he is doing eh ?
On top of that, reports from inside the club say that the whole place is totally different now Bruce is there. Aston Villa football club has been given a massive lift by Bruce and his new team. So lets stop giving the "Oh i am not sure if he is the right man for the job" shite.

I agree.

[achilles]

Sometimes i wonder what a manager has to do to get on the good side of us Villa fans. For fucksake, he has taken us from relegation fodder to within sight of the play offs. What more do people want?
Does he have to turn water into bloody wine? Mind you, that would not be enough for some i suppose.
After McGrath  knows how many seasons of complete bloody drivel we at last have a bloke in charge who seems to know what the hell he is doing, and on top of that a Chairman who actually gives a shit.
We will be in a play off place by Christmas, 3 or 4 signings in January and i bet the bookies will have us odds on for automatic promotion.
Not bad for a bloke who does not know what he is doing eh ?
On top of that, reports from inside the club say that the whole place is totally different now Bruce is there. Aston Villa football club has been given a massive lift by Bruce and his new team. So lets stop giving the "Oh i am not sure if he is the right man for the job" shite.

Where have you seen this then?
Certain it isn't some slum-dwellers just stirring it up?

[VTID85]

Sometimes i wonder what a manager has to do to get on the good side of us Villa fans. For fucksake, he has taken us from relegation fodder to within sight of the play offs. What more do people want?
Does he have to turn water into bloody wine? Mind you, that would not be enough for some i suppose.
After McGrath  knows how many seasons of complete bloody drivel we at last have a bloke in charge who seems to know what the hell he is doing, and on top of that a Chairman who actually gives a shit.
We will be in a play off place by Christmas, 3 or 4 signings in January and i bet the bookies will have us odds on for automatic promotion.
Not bad for a bloke who does not know what he is doing eh ?
On top of that, reports from inside the club say that the whole place is totally different now Bruce is there. Aston Villa football club has been given a massive lift by Bruce and his new team. So lets stop giving the "Oh i am not sure if he is the right man for the job" shite.

I had my doubts about his appointment and the suggestion of him as a candidate wasn't massively attractive, I'll be honest. However, I am always gracious in admitting when I've been a sugarbag and this is such an example! He's a bang on chap all round and I've been glad to see I was wrong.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Article on Bruce from Telegraph...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/12/17/steve-bruce-no-illusions-hard-task-restoring-fallen-giant-aston/?WT.mc_id=tmg_share_tw



Rebuilding Aston Villa was always going to be Steve Bruce’s greatest challenge in management and 90 excruciating minutes in Norfolk proved why.

The 1-0 defeat at Norwich on Tuesday was the equivalent of a roundhouse punch in the chops for Bruce, optimism from a recent revival temporarily crushed by some all too familiar failings. Bruce described the trance-like performance as “pretty pathetic”, while owner Dr Tony Xia even warned some players to “WAKE UP asap” in a withering assessment on his personal Twitter account.

disappointed &mad as every fan. Not the end of the world but need many lads WAKE UP asap. Let's see the team bounce back Sunday! #avfc
— Dr. Tony Xia (@Dr_TonyXia) 14 December 2016

That festive turkey should not be allowed to smear the Bruce impact so far, which has been significant, but the Championship promotion expert knows the honeymoon period is very much over.

“I’m under no illusions, there’s been huge changes in the club over the past 18 months and I’m the sixth manager in that time. There will be a seventh if we keep performing like that,” he said. “I know how difficult it is, that’s the way the manager’s job is – I’ve just seen someone at Birmingham [Gary Rowett] lose his job because his face didn’t fit.

“But this is a great club to work for and it’s exceeded all my expectations. I understood it’s had a difficult time and it’s my job to get rid of those difficult times. I’ll do everything in my power to turn it around, you hope you’ll get the time – but we all know we have to be instant.”



Bruce has already secured four promotions to the Premier League, twice each with Birmingham and Hull City, but a fifth at Villa would arguably be his biggest achievement.

Under the ownership of an increasingly disinterested Randy Lerner, Villa had been in decline for years and relegation last season was painfully inevitable after so much mismanagement. Xia’s takeover in June signalled an ambitious recruitment drive with a net spend of £30 million in the summer, with 12 players leaving and 11 coming in, but Roberto Di Matteo lasted just 124 days.

Bruce was parachuted in two months ago and there have been tangible signs of recovery. Before the nightmare at Carrow Road, the 55-year-old had lost only once in nine games.



“If we get this club moving the right way – I’m sure we will do – then it should be a great club to play for. That’s the attraction,” he said. “Because of the history and support, the tradition, it’s a big-club scenario and you have to meet the demands of what’s placed on you. This club is always going to have a big expectation and rightly so.”

Xia, who is said to average just two hours of sleep a night, is a man in a hurry and the Chinese entrepreneur has grandiose plans for the former European Cup winners. He is already considering buying a ‘feeder’ club, with potential options discussed in China, India and America, and is targeting a place in the Champions League within the next decade.

But Bruce can handle such expectation and his presence has brightened the mood at the club’s Bodymoor Heath training ground.

After Di Matteo’s sometimes aloof approach, there is now laughter in the corridors and the fog of the past five years is clearing.



There have also been dramatic changes behind the scenes. Keith Wyness, the chief executive, is a wily and experienced operator while Steve Round’s appointment as technical director in September was a major step forward. Previously David Moyes’s assistant at Manchester United and Everton, Round’s impact is already producing results and hinting at a brighter future.

Round has reshaped the scouting network and sports science department, poaching Ian Atkins and Danny Donachie from Everton. Whereas last season the scouting system under Paddy Riley was an incoherent mess – with the Bundesliga scout even living in Australia – this campaign has already brought a return to the “flat-cap brigade” of recruitment, where experienced spies physically watch players and report to coordinator John Harrower.

Round has also made it a priority to improve the academy and “take back the city”, after discovering that the best kids have been joining the likes of West Bromwich Albion and even Birmingham over the past three years.



The buzz around football, even at Premier League clubs, is that Villa now mean business and have a formidable infrastructure. Yet it all counts for nothing if results continue to be awry and the last three games have rammed home the size of the task.

Villa face Queens Park Rangers on Sunday with Bruce demanding a response from the Norwich debacle.

He said: “It’s hugely important to hold your hands up when you’ve not played well. A mate of mine said, ‘I’ve watched you play and you’ve been c--- all over the world’. There’s a nice part to that. So you play c---, but you don’t intentionally do it. You put your boots on and roll your sleeves up again and say you’ll make up for what you’ve just done.

“To be fair to the players, we’re two points short of the target I set when I walked through the door. A club like ours has to be looking at two points a game at least to give us a chance.”

[deadbuzzardalive]

So that's eleven games, six wins, three draws and two losses. He's doing a fantastic job really, when you look at it from a results perspective. The only criticism is that (with the exception of Reading) we've failed to beat our fellow promotion challengers.

Just a shame that our good form coincides with the good form of Derby, Leeds, Wednesday, Reading and others, I think it's pretty unusual for that many teams to be so consistent in the Championship.

[DelboyVilla]

My view is that we have put that run together without playing that well (apart from one half against Brighton) so when we do click we could really go on a run of wins!

[De Kuip]

Plus we've stayed in touch with a team minus a midfield. If SB does do well in Jan, I think that the other rivals mentioned will pretty much maintain form or drop off, whilst if we've bought judiciously and those players deliver, we'll be much the stronger for it in comparison to them. January is so key for us.

[achilles]

It is worrying that Kodjia looks the only one out of our much lauded strike force that remotely looks like scoring and we are going to be without him for the whole of January!

[DelboyVilla]

Mmmmmmm sell Ayew and buy Rhodes!!! Maybe Karanka would be interested in a swap?

[De Kuip]

Not sure what the current status of RH-M is - injured still? I think if we brought him through he could be like a new signing.

Feck knows what I'd eaten yesterday before bed - I dreamt that we'd forgotten we had Gavin McCann in the squad, so played him and he became our midfield saviour - seriously I need to lay off the Roquefort and port..................

[achilles]

Not sure what the current status of RH-M is - injured still? I think if we brought him through he could be like a new signing.

Feck knows what I'd eaten yesterday before bed - I dreamt that we'd forgotten we had Gavin McCann in the squad, so played him and he became our midfield saviour - seriously I need to lay off the Roquefort and port..................

He played last night and scored!

Game details

Match: Aston Villa U23 v Fulham U23
Date: December 19, 2016
Competition: Premier League 2
Venue: Banks’s Stadium
Kick-off: 7pm
Attendance: 218
Weather: 7C, cloudy

Scoring summary

Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson (24 mins)
Andre Green (40 mins)
Tom Leggett (45 mins)
George Williams (47 mins)
Rushian Hepburn-Murphy (70 mins)
Mikolaj Kwietniewski (84 mins)

Analysis

Villa’s youngsters played out an entertaining six-goal thriller against Fulham at Walsall’s Banks’s Stadium.

Rushian Hepburn-Murphy’s fine solo effort looked to have sealed the points for Villa, only for Mikolaj Kwietniewski to level six minutes from time.

That does tell the full story, though.

In what was a fast-paced end to end start, Jerell Sellars, making his first start of the season was unlucky to see two attempts edge wide of Marek Rodak’s goal.

Goalkeeper Matija Sarkic had to be alert to thwart Joshua Walker and also saved a follow-up attempt.

Moments later, Keinan Davis, who penned a new two-year contract last week met a fine cross from the right, his cushioned header was wide.

The visitors took the lead on 24 minutes – Jon Dagur Thorsteinsson firing home from close range.

Villa’s response was impressive.

They were level five minutes shy of the interval – Andre Green with a neat finish after a clever touch.

With confidence soaring, they kept pushing and got their just rewards on the stroke of half-time, Tom Leggett, forward from left-back with a cool, calm and composed strike.

There was an equally dramatic start to the second 45 minutes as the Cottagers were level within two minutes of the restart.

Mitch Clark was adjudged to have committed a foul in the penalty box – George Williams converting the spot-kick.

After withstanding some sustained Fulham pressure, Villa grew into the half – Sellars testing goalkeeper Rodak.

They led for the second time with 20 minutes remaining, Hepburn-Murphy with a superb solo effort, showing good strength to work his way past a number of white shirts and applying the finish.

The Craven Cottage outfit continued to threaten and levelled through Kwietniewski’s effort, to earn what was probably, a fair share of the spoils.

Line-ups

VILLA U23: Sarkic, Linley, Clark, Abdoul, Leggett (C), Clarke (Prosser 59), Blackett-Taylor (Cox 25), Sellars, Green, Hepburn-Murphy, Davis (Mooney 84). Unused subs: Johansson, Swift.

FULHAM U23: Rodak, Sheckleford (Fossey HT), Sessegnon, Edun, Davies, Kavanagh (C), De La Torre, Williams, Humphrys (Kwietniewski 32), Walker, Thorsteinsson (Harris 78). Unused subs: Hammond, Dolan.

Misconduct summary

Bookings – Villa
Jack Clarke
Jordan Cox

Bookings – Fulham
None

Officials

Referee: Alan Young
Assistant referee 1: Hristo Karaivanov
Assistant referee 2: Richard Watson
Fourth Official: Robert Evans

[Boldfinger]

yeah bhoy!!!!

he tackles and he passes,
he hassles and harrasses,
he gets up peoples asses,
he's better than zidane.
Gavin McCann, Gavin McCann.

[Trotters]

...That does tell the full story, though...

Anyone else stop reading at that point?

[Boldfinger]

...That does tell the full story, though...

Anyone else stop reading at that point?

You done well to get that far.

[Guest]

I'm not impressed.

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