nick76 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Happy with today, we played poorly but still dug out a win and that's sign of progression that we can still manage to win when we played poorly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Fair play to Bruce - keep it up. 10 minutes ago, andym said: Nothing under his tenure has convinced me he knows how to or even wants to develop a style of play and dominate and control games. He basically just picks and 11 and hope it all clicks on the day. I can't really complain while we are getting results, but i just keep going back to last season where we were playing poorly but getting results before Christmas, and that came to back to bite us in Jan and Feb. Not that it can't happen again, but in fairness we weren't blowing away teams 3-0 or 4-0 then either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 He's slowly turning me around I have to say. I cant believe that im saying that but its the truth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 I thought we were poor today against a very very poor Bolton... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Very unconvincing but I'll take it. Worried about October tbh. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post TrentVilla Posted September 30, 2017 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted September 30, 2017 A great run of results but I remain unconvinced we’ve really improved, fixtures have been kind and tougher games are ahead. We shall soon see. 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 It's been a very strong month in the end, well done Bruce. October will really show us if things have changed though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Ugly but it's another win. Feel like I can't judge too much today, Bolton were a disgusting team and the ref allowed them to do what ever they wanted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 18 minutes ago, Mantis said: Fair play to Bruce - keep it up. Not that it can't happen again, but in fairness we weren't blowing away teams 3-0 or 4-0 then either. did we just blow BW 3/4-0 away? bottom of the league-ers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carewjust4u Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Let's be totally honest, this team is showing signs of improvement. It's a process and we're showing we can break teams that sit back and keep it compact....something we have struggled with for YEARS. No-one can deny that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrusr Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2017 Well September football month is now truly done. At this point last year this we felt it was time to make the change with Di Matteo and it's clear Xia knew this was an important month. So what to make of Bruce? I have tried to avoid commenting as the run has been going on. However after Middlesbrough (league game) he lost it for me. All we got was poor defensive football, couldn't break down teams and we were not even winning ugly, which would deal with. Yet since then we've had 4 wins on the bounce. Scored 10 goals and conceded 1. We are now just outside the play offs. Much better then? Well, yes and no. Yes, brilliant to get back up to the right end of the table and look like we are playing a settled team with 2 strikers. Davis has been a revelation and what is clear teams are struggling to deal with him AND Kodjia, and then Adomah appears out of nowhere which is great. Snodgrass is looking stronger with each match (can't say for today though as currently on Holiday) and Hourihane is finally the player we thought we signed. Defensively we are looking stronger (Whelan the exception). Will be better when Jedinak is back though. So yes a lot of positives. There are negatives though. 4 wins against teams all in the bottom half of the table. If we are going to be challenge at the right end of the table we should be beating Burton, Brentford, Forest and Bolton. We should have also beaten Middlesbrough, especially since they were down to 10 men for most of the game. Given how we played before though we have lost points when we shouldn't have (Cardiff, given how they are doing maybe can let slide a little). To the extent that we are now getting around the playoffs. We are also still struggling to break down teams. It would seem we have played a lot better away and if teams sit back, it takes individual brilliance to sort it. I think the decent run has very little to do with Bruce. If anything, he has allowed the players to attack more but I can't decide whether that is down to him or the players. Likewise couldn't say that he was the one being conservative rather than the players (though there is a strong suspicion it is Bruce). Ultimately we need to see how we do against the Wolves, Leeds etc. To see whether we are truly going to be challenging the top 2 spots, playoffs or not at all. Can we do it under Bruce? Possibly. I can see us struggling against the big teams but you just don't know. Like I said, these are teams we really should beat, so it's difficult to say where we truly are. The Wolves game will be massively telling. They are in better form than us and looking better. Its clear though that Bruce is going to be given more time to prove it, and to be fair he has earns it. Has he won me back over? Nah, if he does get us promoted this season, I have zero confidence that he will be the guy to lead Villa back to glory (though I know he will be given the opportunity unfortunately). If he struggles against some of the championship sides, he will struggle badly in the premiership. So long as the first 11 more or less stay fit, we should be there or there about, but that's it. I do think you could have anybody there, it would just be utterly illogical to change manager now. So whether like him or not, I think he's staying for a little while. Overall Mr Bruce: 7/10. Ok but definite room for improvement. Just hope we can do something good at Wolves... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 15 minutes ago, Grasshopper said: did we just blow BW 3/4-0 away? bottom of the league-ers Clearly not - I was referring to the Barnsley and Burton Albion games. Whether we keep it up is another matter, but we weren't doing that last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 'There are negatives though. 4 wins against teams all in the bottom half of the table.' That's a negative? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 It wasn't the prettiest but it was fairly comfortable. When we lose the ball our shape is very good and teams will struggle to break us down. Bruce deserves credit for this months results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 When i saw Hogan and Onamah on the sidelines i turned to my son and said 'he will take off both strikers' I feel so sorry for Hogan. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 Very disappointed in Bruce today. ...he should have stuck one on that bald **** at full time instead of just remonstrating with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2017 I'm not reaching for the humble pie just yet. Performance was only just adequate to get the the job done. Let's see how the next couple of games go and I might start to believe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carewjust4u Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 1 hour ago, cyrusr said: We are also still struggling to break down teams. It would seem we have played a lot better away and if teams sit back, it takes individual brilliance to sort it. I strongly disagree with this, there has been clear improvement. Many of the goals we've scored this month have been direct killer passes behind the defence, which have been missing for a long long time. Today we could of daily had another couple of goals, opened up a very defensive Bolton a number of times (including kodjas miss, the one off the line and Hogans miss). Amy other season we would not have created anything. I understand the sceptism towards the recent results, but you can't deny there have been improvement in our attacking creativity and directivness. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 2 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said: Had to work far too hard for a win over a truly awful side who sit bottom of the league, but a win is a win I guess. This run of results is the minimum we should expect, the real test will come very shortly. So true and there will be absolutely no excuses for him. A settled side, on the back of three straight wins, a load of games unbeaten in the league, a local derby, possible chance to make play-off positions (depending on other results) etc. There really will be no hiding place for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 If we play against Wolves like we did today were going to get hammered. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts