weedman

31 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

His shooting ability is also an asset, one that possibly gets less credit than it deserves. He generally is shooting from the top of the box and covered heavily by defenders, so no easy task, yet he always seems to force a desperate block or save from his opponent, if his shot isn't curling in, it's not too far wide.

I'd love to see him get better at creating space for himself in order to get a shot off, I'm not knocking his ability to create space as is, I just think if he wants to add a decent tally of goal contributions, he's going to have to add to his game, because the opposition is going to hound Jack at every opportunity, as we've seen.

If he wants to get goals he's going to have to learn to use his left foot once in a while. I love him, but every time he gets the ball on the edge of the area in a shooting position he shifts it to the right to try a curling shot. It's either that or a pass out wide for someone to cross in and defenders know it, they show him onto his left and he always tries to take it back to his right foot meaning he's under huge pressure because the defender is ahead of him.

If he can shift the ball left from time to time, not even to shoot, but maybe to dink in a cross or something left footed defenders won't be able to predict what he's going to do and not only will he end up with more space to shoot which = more goals, but you'd have to assume a few of those left footed chances will result in a goal or assist as well upping those numbers 

If he adds a left foot to his arsenal he could potentially walk into 99% of teams, until then he'll struggle because as good as he is, as important as he is, modern football is only concerned with 2 attacking stats, goals and assists.

Just to clarify, Bruce kept the same team last season after the Wolves win, we lost and got absolutely ripped to shreds for it. Now Bruce changes the team around and we win, and he gets absolutely ripped to shreds for it? 

Righto 

My mate just sent me this screenshot with no other information...is he actually gone?! 

Edit : article...

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/www.sportbible.com/football/football-news-after-665-days-without-a-game-micah-richards-is-finally-released-20180813.amp.html

2 hours ago, TRO said:

some people do have 6 fingers.

Don't you bring Blues fans into this

57 minutes ago, macandally said:

Were you there yesterday, you call that solid?

We looked porous every time they ran at us or strung five passes together.  We are treading water, we are not getting better and even if by some miracle we dragged ourselves up, this type of set up will see us relegated in a season.  We so need some form of plan it is painful (nearly as painful as watching a Bruce team).

Said it before, some people’s expectations have been lowered so much they are just happy that he has turned us into Wigan!!!

That's the gameplan, like I've said multiple times it was never going to be plain sailing in these early games. We had a new goalkeeper, new right back, Jedi at CB, new CM playing most of whom have barely trained as they've only been at the club a matter of days after a summer where we've been in turmoil. Players like Chester, Grealish etc wouldn't have had a clue where they'd be by the time the season started as by all accounts they were nailed on to be sold before the takeover, hence we were a bit all over the place. It will form into an organised defensive unit because that's what Bruce does.  

I'm fairly sure we'll also bring in at least another defender to bolster that a bit more, and hopefully a striker who can hold onto the ball for more than 5 seconds. In the meantime we're picking up points and not leaving ourselves an impossible gap to make up once it all comes together like last season 

Bruce has many faults, but literally any manager here would be suffering the same way at the moment, and one thing we all know he can do well is get a bit of fight out of the players, and it's that fight that has directly led us to turning our first 2 games from defeats into victories. 6 points gained from losing positions this season, some teams go all year without managing that 

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

It’s refreshing that the excuses keep changing. First it was he hasn’t had a preseason, now he hasn’t had the right sort of preseason. 

I’m not saying it’s been ideal, but there is always some sort of preemptive reason for Bruce not to succeed. And indeed what is deemed as success is a constantly moving target. Last summer even his most ardent of supporters generally added a caveat that he must hit the ground running and automatic promotion is the only acceptable achievement. Now people are suggesting that another playoff final would be a success. 

The first thing we should invest in is a bucket of 6” nails to stop the goalposts moving. 

Its almost as if circumstances change over time isn't it? Besides, how many managers need to be "making excuses" after two wins in 2 games? 

Besides, I'm stating facts, saying our off season wasn't ideal is massively downplaying events. Man Utds pre season wasn't ideal, ours was a total **** of bad news and uncertainty over everything, you don't think that'll affect the players and staff? 

All I was saying is that the start was always going to be tough after the summer, I said this before the season (with the caveat that I think the league will be tighter this year so we should be able to recover from a poor start) but despite that we're 2 from 2, 6 goals scored (including a Hutton goal) and we've got new owners with real money, I'd say things aren't going too badly right now are they? 

47 minutes ago, eholm said:

No gameplan, no clear strategy and limited tactical approach over the last 21 months.....financial issues or not these should all be in place now, no excuses.

There is a gameplan and strategy and a tactical approach, it's just defense oriented so you don't like it. We're organised, solid and counter attacking, and excellent at set pieces. The style is absolutely nowhere near as bad as people make out. Just because you don't like the gameplan doesn't mean there isn't one and doesn't mean it won't work.

For all the talk of attacking football being the only way, Cardiff got promoted playing the worst football in the division, for all the talk of Wolves they played really similarly to us, organised and counter attacking team, they just had a range of £15m+ players doing it instead of Glenn Whelan. The only team you can argue really played good attacking football was Fulham, even the rest of the top 6, Boro have Pulis and play 11 men behind the ball hope for 1-0 because, Pulis. Derby played very defense oriented football as well. Literally 5 of last seasons top 6 prioritised the defence

All the talk of Bruce ball, yesterday we had more possession, more shots, more on target, more blocked shots, more passes with a higher pass completion, more key passes, scored more goals and came from behind to maintain our 100% start to the season, with an unsettled squad which desperately needs a couple more players - players we're likely to get in the next few weeks. I mean, it's not ALL bad right? 

1 minute ago, eholm said:

Thought i was reading a Bruce post-match interview there......!!

So none of that stuff happened then? I must have one hell of an imagination. 

1 hour ago, PompeyVillan said:

I must be in the minority that think he's doing an excellent job? 

He's dragged us kicking and screaming for a team that lost habitually, the players didn't seem to care, the fans were disillusioned and embarrassed and angry at the players. I got used to hearing boos at half time and full time. It was desperate. 

We're now in a position where we get good crowds, there is a connection between the fans and the players and we tend to win more than we lose. 

Villa is a pressure cooker, my god I'm so happy with how Bruce deals with it all. He's genial, but firm, he's well respected and gets a shift out of everyone. He's honest and doesn't make excuses. I think the 'behind the scenes' aspect of being Villa manager is underplayed. You just have to read Villa Talk to get a sense of it, the fans feel entitled to be in the Premier League, they look at other successful clubs and say 'we should be doing that'.

Thing is, we've had no continuity in how we've been administered off the pitch. We've had feast and then famine over and again, no clear transfer strategy or 'Villa way'. It's been madness. 

People will say our first two results are papering over the cracks in performance. I'd suggest that Steve Bruce has been papering over the cracks behind the scenes since he came in. 

I get that Bruce's style of football can be alienating when it doesn't work. I think it makes sense to support Bruce because I think he's done a good job, and hopefully with the Dr Tony saga behind us we can build a team capable of being promoted. Perhaps not this season, but who knows? 

I don't know, football changes quickly, 5 games without a win and I think I could understand the calls for him to be sacked. 

I think what sums this situation up for me is the gushing praise for McGinn and how good a signing this appears and how Bruce seems to have been given little credit for helping making it happen. 

Top post

To all those concerned with the performances, remember the off season we've had? You know, from 2 weeks ago? Every player for sale, possible administration, manager that doesn't know if he's coming or going, no signings until the absolute last minute, big players leaving? We were in complete turmoil. Remember that?

It was always going to be a tough start to the season as the preparation for it was totally ruined by all the off field issues, the fact that we're still winning is a huge positive, we'll naturally improve as the season goes on as everything settles down somewhat and a few new players are brought in (we're desperately needing a striker to take some pressure off Kodjia. He may well be finished after the injuries but he may just need someone to take the burden off him a bit) so I'm feeling cautiously optimistic at the moment 

7 hours ago, AVTuco said:

Not from the bench he doesn't, so they're not unavoidable.

Touché 

11 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

So with the Grealish saga, it’s unlikely we are going to loan anyone from Spurs.

Are there any good players from the top sides we’d be able to get? 

Wonder if it improves our chances of getting someone from Arsenal? 

1 minute ago, Dante_Lockhart said:

This is incredible 

13 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

its cute wording, nothing more

"according to sources" "i understand" "people close to the player" or "people within the club" means they can print what they want

reporters privilege, not sure on this country but its an actual law in the states

 

Its the same here, news outlets can get away with with wildly misleading headlines (generating clicks) if they claim it was a quote. I saw one on vaping a while ago where the headline was "vaping worse for you than smoking" and the article seemed to imply the total opposite of that, looked into it and apparently they spoke to someone there who wasn't even affiliated with the study and they gave them the quote, even the authors of the study came out and said that's not what it showed but to this day when people see me vaping they will tell me its worse than smoking 

15 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

He's a mistake waiting to happen. He can't be trusted at all. Terrible defender. Even against Hull there was a moment where he tried to control the ball but completely ballsed it up and Hull were through and should have scored. Can't keep gifting chances away like that in any league. 

You see, in my opinion he was at fault for the goal, I know the stats won't show that, but would Terry or even Baker have let that ball in? No chance. However that pass was terrible, if it had been made by Whelan instead of Grealish it would have been called a total hospital pass, across the middle bouncing at an awkward height and with some pace on it, sure, a top player would still have controlled it, but there aren't too many of them in this division. 

I think he's a more than capable backup but wouldn't trust him as first choice all season, think mid table Championship is about his level as he's fairly timid and probe to the odd error, but he showed last season when Terry was injured he's a more than capable defender and I'd keep him as long as there are 2 better defenders ahead of him in the pecking order

I think he'll be a Success here

5 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

Go big or go home! 

 

 

 

 

 

Oh wait you just lost your home!

Go big or go to a hotel? 

9 minutes ago, Mantis said:

Starting, but that doesn't mean he's definitely going to be here in a week's time to be fair.

Him not playing would be far more of a hint than him playing is, at least we can assume nothings been agreed yet

4 hours ago, Robtaylor200 said:

They are only offering 50/1 now. 

Sky Bet OUT! 

2 hours ago, Czechlad said:

Good defender, but isn't a right back. Can play there in a pinch, but lets keep him at center back. Make Elphick and Axel fight it out for the spot next to Chester. 

Which is worrying as we are desperately short of right backs at the moment

4 hours ago, sidcow said:

You know I think about this the opposite way around. 

Last night I re-watched the Wolves game to get myself up for the new season (I have watched that match an unhealthy number of times) 

The thing that struck me last night is that the team I was watching completely dismantled the best team in the league, and that the majority of that team are still here. 

Then I thought about who is missing:

Johnstone - I know some people think different but I really don't think he was that great, and anyway, so long as you have an average keeper in this league you are OK.  Look who Wolves had in goal as they won the league. I think we will do just fine regardless of who is between the sticks. 

Gabban - Well we have arguably actually improved here bringing in Kodjia who could well score more goals and certainly provides a good deal more unpredictability to keep defenders on their toes and perhaps their eyes off other players. 

Snodders - OK this is our first problem however I think he was pretty poor at the start of last season (see my various criticisms in his thread) and also towards the end.  Green has huge potential I think and even if it turns out he can't match the high points Snodders turned out, he may prove more reliable throughout the season. 

Terry - Big miss, really big miss. 

So my conclusion is the team which destroyed Wolves (and also beat Cardiff around the same time) is broadly still there.  There are probably 2 issues which need sorting but we know we are looking to bring in 3 or 4 players anyway (maybe one will be Snodders so total cancellation of one issue) 

So basically I certainly don't want to bet against us! 

That's fair, I guess the biggest questions which we won't know the answer to until some way into the season are, firstly, will Kodjia be back to the player he was before injury (if so, Grabban problem sorted, if not, it's still a problem!) and is Green ready to replace Snodgrass in terms of goals and assists, he's got huge potential and is capable but doing it as a one off every now and then and doing it consistently is probably the difference between a 28/30yr old at their peak and a 18/20 year old prospect.

Obviously CB is a huge priority as we can't go a season with only 2 (3 if you count Jedinak, which I think we will be this year - I also think he'll do fairly well contrary to popular opinion), as injuries are bound to happen.

I'm still confident we can do well as long as the right players are brought in but the squad as it stands isn't good enough to get playoffs in my opinion (first team maybe, but our lack of depth is a concern) 

6 hours ago, LakotaDakota said:

£180 & Spanish VPN it is then, Less than £4 per game

Out of interest what vpn do you use? I'm wary about spending money on these things that I know very little about 

1 hour ago, Dave J said:

Yes and Bruce was his manager for the majority of this  1st season you refer to  ? 

Its almost like it takes a bit of time to coach someone into changing their natural way of playing or something isn't it? A little time to get fitter and stronger to suit that new way of playing? It's a head scratcher, for sure 

1 hour ago, Keyblade said:

No way we shouldn't be challenging in this league. I hate that Bruce already has his excuses out, when he should be licking his lips at how poor the league is this year while we are pretty much just as good as we were last season personnel-wise.

The problem is, we're not. We've lost our captain and he's replaced by Tommy Elphick, we've lost our main source of goals last season in both Snodgrass and Grabban and we've lost our #1 goalkeeper for the last 18 months. We've not been able to bring any replacements in yet either (apart from the young keeper that I know nothing about so can't compare to SJ at the moment). We need players ASAP if we're going to have a chance and imo we'll struggle at the start. We needed the takeover a month earlier really 

Edit : just to add I think the league will be way tighter this year and no one will run away with it so we can get away with a poor start if we get our recruitment right in the next few weeks