Bristol City v Aston Villa 4

If their goal was fortunate, I bloody wonder what you'd call our goal?

Joppe84 wrote:If their goal was fortunate, I bloody wonder what you'd call our goal?

I would call it "fortunate".

I liked the look of Onamah tonight, though. Especially after they scored.

He really took the game to the opposition. Kept hold of the ball. Tried to make things happen.

He'll be a good signing for us this season.

BLIMEY!!!..I'm a grumpy old sod on the best of days but the reaction on this thread tonight makes me wonder if I saw a game from a different galaxy and in reality we got gubbed 5-0 or something .

Look, of course not winning again away from home is very annoying and it gave me the "same old" feeling about it. BUT, having watched the game back again, yes Bruce made a massive cock-up by playing 532 and it gave Bristol the momentum from the off. Thankfully he changed things pretty sharpish and from then on I thought we bossed the game. We had them pinned back for the last fifteen minutes of the first half and had several spells in the second half where we were dominating the ball and had them under pressure.

Looking at the points of the league leaders right now is futile. There's forty-one games to go ffs and I firmly believe our quality will tell in the end.

Here are my ratings

Johnstone= Has grown in confidence since his early days here. Had no chance with the goal but was generally steady apart from that one time he ran out of his area.

Samba= Done well really. Looks a decent back-up for the main two. Won most headers and made a few timely tackles before being subbed.

Terry= I thought there was nothing he could have done with the "handballs" and thankfully the ref saw it the same way. As for his performance, I thought he done pretty well. He was a calming influence, made some good headed clearances and passed the ball very well too.

Chester= Wasn't happy being pushed out to right-back but coped ok. Went back to his normal position and made some very good clearances too. Also one crucial block that if he didn't get right would have sent Reid away. So again I thought he did fine.

Taylor= Got forward more than usual. Was tidy in possession and defended well.

Whelan= Was a little sloppy at first but as the game wore on I thought he was fantastic. Kept the ball really well and linked with Onomah on several occasions. Also made several blocks and interceptions from what I could see. And often took the ball off the defence and stated attacks from deep.

Onomah= I thought he was outstanding. Done all the things we saw him do at Colchester. He keeps the ball so well, dribbles, tackles and got a goal aswell. He really is the total package in the middle of the park.

Hourihane= Wasn't involved that much until the change back to 433 imo but he got more involved as the game went on. Shame about his heavy pass that sent in Elmo, a little lighter and it may have been a goal. Also got himself into two decent positions to have shots on goal. He done alright.

Green= Was busy and involved in a lot of decent play. He drifts in and out of games and that's understandable for one so young. I just hope he keeps learning as I think he could be important for us this season.

Elmo= Wasn't that impressive tbh. He did link up well with his team mates on a few occasions and also got into some dangerous positions out wide. But nothing came of them chances. Think Snoddy replaces him in the next game.

Davis= Just brilliant imo. His hold up play and ability to link with the midfielders is simply outstanding. And for one so young and inexperienced it's utterly astonishing what he's able to do now. He was constantly in the game. He chests it down nicely, controls the ball and brings the others into the play. Also ran the channels really well too and plays with intelligence way above his years. I think this kid could be as good as he wants to be tbh!!!..can't wait to see him score his first goal and gain even more confidence.

Bree= Came on and done very well. Got stuck in when he needed to and also passed the ball well and got forward. He's a gem no doubt.

Hogan= Thought his introduction help us wrestle back the play towards the end. He's quick and busy which unsettled the Bristol defence.

Thor= He too got stuck in and was involved in a lot of the late pressure we were putting on them. Got into some good areas and might have set up a winner with a bit of luck.

All in all it's frustrating that we haven't won away again but come on lads!!..we've still got Kodjia, Jedi, Grealish and Snoddy to come into the team yet. So I'm not worried about the other teams just yet. Cardiff and Ipswich are not gonna as consistent as Toon and Brighton were imo...so no need panic. We're three games unbeaten and let's just build on that now after the international break. Bruce knows he needs to get us up there soon...if not he'll be out the door. It's as simple as that.

And in closing...we've got to remember that we had FOUR players who were twenty and below in the side today...so that's almost half the team. And also that had better be the last bloody time potato head contrives to play five at the back again. He's done it four times and we haven't managed to win a single one.

@AstonThriller you are right about the reaction but i think its because so many of us have written Bruce off. Once that mindset is in, its hard not to play on the negatives. As soon as i saw that formation I was pissed  at him. More fucking changes with seemingly no logic. Last season I posted (after spending a long time doing the numbers) about how many player changes he made (I didn't even count players playing the next game but moving position) and it was a massive number. He is Mr Inconsistent and personally I've seen enough/read enough/heard enough to believe the sooner he fucks off the better. Who was the better player on that pitch last night: Terry or Baker? I know who I'd rather have. Adomah or Elmo? I know who I'd rather have. What about the formation? So he changed it, yep when it was obvious (by the way, something that was obvious to every fucking fan that saw it at the start) we were getting pumped. Why can't we complete throw ins? Why did a couple of our free kicks end up with them attacking cos we screwed it up? Why did their midfield have space to run at us time and again? Why did Terry handle the ball 3 times? Where the fuck was O'Hare?
Why did Bristol look faster and fitter than us? Why did they have time on the ball yet we got closed down consistently? Why do we still keep passing back to Johnstone so he can hoof it up the field and immediately give possession away?
Look, I don't expect a miracle overnight but I do expect to see us in our best formation, tactically adept, doing the basics like passing and set plays well and starting with the strongest team consisting of the right players in the right positions on more than one consecutive occasion.
So am I critical of Bruce? You fucking betcha I am.

We keep on saying we have got Kodjia, Jedi, Grealish to come back in but quite honestly that is just bullshit excuses!

Where do you play Jedi when he is fit? In place of Whelan or alongside him, basically at the moment unless Whelan gets injured we don't need him!
Grealish is out till January it is all going to be too late by then anyway so we can't rely on him.
Kodjia, interestingly his return could upset the current structure of the team (forget this 532 rubbish) as Davis (who is currently the first name on the teamsheet) would have to make way for him. Now I know that Kodjia could play on the left but I don't think he is as effective there.

And anyway this squad, without these players, should be good enough to win at places like Bristol City if we expect to go up. It is about time that we started imposing ourselves on the opposition from the start and make a statement that we ARE Aston Villa and just be bloody positive.

It's not really the drawing away at Bristol City in isolation that's disappointing, it's the fact that taken with our other results this season it means we've only won one game in five, no where near good enough or promotion form, neither is one win in fourteen away games.

After today we'll have some serious catching up to do, and I'm not so sure that we're suddenly going to improve enough to cover the ground. Kind of feels like a repeat of last season, where we kept waiting for us to improve but it never happened.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:It's not really the drawing away at Bristol City in isolation that's disappointing, it's the fact that taken with our other results this season it means we've only won one game in five, no where near good enough or promotion form, neither is one win in fourteen away games.

After today we'll have some serious catching up to do, and I'm not so sure that we're suddenly going to improve enough to cover the ground. Kind of feels like a repeat of last season, where we kept waiting for us to improve but it never happened.

We did improve in two different spells last season though. One where we won seven in eleven games when Bruce first arrived. And the other when we won seven in eight games at the back end of the season. We've most certainly got better players now than we did back then, so why can't we do it again? I think we're more than capable of winning the majority of the games next month tbh. Especially as most of them are at home and the two away games are to teams near the bottom.

I think Josh Onomah is a really good player just a pity he's not ours at least I got the 1-1 score right.

Guess people have different reasons to want him out or not.

I'm normally pretty fond of continuity, but regarding Steve Bruce, I just can't see any progress.

He doesn't allow players to settle in positions to generate an understanding with each other. Adomah and Hogan were bouncing with confidence after the Wigan match, then they are benched for this match. That's some solid management.
He buys players and doesn't understand how he's supposed to include them in the line-up.
He managed to get a couple of wins on the row, generate some confidence (and he deserves thums up for that even if it is to be expected, then he goes and changes up the formation and line-up again. It makes no sense.
He whines in the media at both the fans and owner.
We are AVFC in this tin pot league and he is afraid of attacking away from home. That's just not okey.
We have the highest wages in this league. We have the biggest buys. We have by far the best squad. And he has us playing hoofball most of the time. Keeping the ball on the pitch seems like a mystery to the man.
His tactical prowess came to light yesterday when we played up on Davis on the pitch and had runs on to him from midfield. Except the midfield couldn't time their runs as they were utterly uncomfortable with the formation the first 30 minutes and after that their heads were all down. Then he subbed Davis for Hogan. You reckon he had us passing the ball into channels? No he had them hoofing the ball at Hogan. Like, what's the fucking point.
He hasn't been able to coach throw ins. We constantly fuck them up.
He hasn't been able to coach set pieces.

It just goes on and on. The man doesn't offer progress and improvement anywhere. If we for some miraculous reason manage to get several wins on the bounce and generate enough confidence to get a promotion run going, it will be in spite of Bruce, not because of Bruce.

With the matches we have coming in September and most of them being at home, that should be an opportunity to go on a bit of a run, and put ourselves back in contention, if that doesn't happen, I expect the club to appoint a new manager in the two week break before we play Wolves at the latest. But if things are going wrong in the meantime, we can't wait until the end of September, otherwise we'd be leaving a new manager with too much to do.

deadbuzzardalive wrote:With the matches we have coming in September and most of them being at home, that should be an opportunity to go on a bit of a run, and put ourselves back in contention, if that doesn't happen, I expect the club to appoint a new manager in the two week break before we play Wolves at the latest. But if things are going wrong in the meantime, we can't wait until the end of September, otherwise we'd be leaving a new manager with too much to do.

Agree. Xia himself has even said next month is massive. The heat is on Bruce now, make no mistake about it.

In times like these the job of the fan is reassuringly simple - all while we're picking up points I can enjoy the respite support the team regardless of & in spite of the manager.

BTW: love the way we can have @Joppe84 & @AstonThriller bringing different opinions to the table & not being slaughtered for them.

Yeah it's a good point you make @Dions_Bald_Head all of the other forums I occasionally looked are foul when people differ in their opinion, I mean really horrible. I don't agree with everyone's opinion on here but I respect that mine isnt necessarily the right one, but it's the one I believe in, so i have to accept that for others. I'm no angel and i've had my moments on here but hopefully they are rare and that pretty much goes for everyone.
Anyway, Bruce out

Playing the 5 at the back was criminal from a footballing point of view and a sackable offence!

I cannot comprehend why you would change a winning team?

I think Bruce is actually causing the away game nervousness by telling the players they cannot win!

All very interesting reading. I didn't realise it was a Friday match but am on a stag do anyway, so it would only have pissed me off. We've had various managers who've not been able to select a side and stick with it (Garde and Sherwood spring to mind), you'd have thought some players select themselves, and bearing in mind players are bought because they play a particular way and in a particular position it should be possible to stitch together a team. Clearly not, and the manager isn't managing and it's upsetting the whole team.

Possibly controversial I know but I think Jedi and Whelan are holding us back. I'd really like to see us settled in a 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2, where it's easy to switch between the two, with players like Adomah and Green knowing when they should cut in and try to slide it through to Hogan or when to keep it wide, take it to the line and get it on Lansbury's head. And yes, I'd play Lansbury and Hourihane in the middle. Terry and Whelan don't have the legs. We're going to be better defensively with Jedi in the team but we don't need five defensive players in this league and besides, Hourihane and Lansbury can both defend. Unlike Elmo, who is backup for Adomah and nothing else.

Ironic that this topic is 4 pages long....

DelboyVilla wrote:Playing the 5 at the back was criminal from a footballing point of view and a sackable offence!

I cannot comprehend why you would change a winning team?

I think Bruce is actually causing the away game nervousness by telling the players they cannot win!

Listening to the pros before the match playing 3 at the back allows us to flood midfield & play 2 up front, which you would have thought with our payers would be too much for Bristol, but obviously not they were up for it and running us ragged. To be fair Bruce changed it but it really wasn't until near the end of the first half that we got on top, but we failed to score, so basically playing 3 at the back is hard to perfect and we obviously are not capable of playing it at present, Brucie needs to find us a system where the calibre of player we have can give us an edge. Playing devils advocate we all think we know it all about football especially me, and we spout off on what we should do BUT basically its Brucie & his coaches who decide which way we play (that's assuming they do as t'hey are told on match day) until he is replaced, so all we can do is debate things, but not get too up tight if things don't happen like we want them to.