I think we’re all left scratching our heads a little bit after Villa ground out a 1-0 win against visiting Queens Park Rangers Tuesday night. We thought a win would tell us something, and I suppose it did, but the message seems to be that we’re still managing to win despite having yet to put together a convincing 90 minutes.
We’re sort of getting used to winning, but there’s no real consensus about the team or its prospects even as a playoff spot and the possibility of promotion remain in reach. And even though we’re getting used to winning, we’re not quite sure how it’s happening. Is it solely down to Jonathon Kodjia and a bit of luck at the back?
Could well be. But we’ve also noticed better spirit in the side and greater commitment from the players. And we’ve at least found a talisman that keeps scoring. We’ve now beaten sides above and below us, and QPR, at least, had been on a good run of form.
As I’d mentioned following the Norwich match, we’ve also seen a pattern of play develop (in the big-picture sense): Try to score, score, defend that lead, and try to add to it on the counter.
Now, if I look at that the following way, I’m okay with it…
I’m Steve Bruce. I’ve come into a team that blows leads and struggles to score. I believe in building from the back. I’m a defender by trade, after all. I know the Championship. I know it’s a tough league, games come thick and fast, and teams are resilient and chasing a dream. Many of these teams have been together for a bit, though managers seem to come and go.
My team, on the other hand, the one I got from the Doctor and RDM, was hastily assembled in the wake of a tumultuous and disastrous relegation campaign. Many of the holdovers weren’t good enough, and some were just maddeningly inconsistent or ineffective. The new players were not exactly purchased in regard how they’d complement each other and play together with some sort of plan in mind. They addressed a number of needs, but central and wide midfield weren’t really among them. On their day, they could create chances, but didn’t put a lot of them away.
There was a lack of discipline, structure, belief and fitness. No system. No ethos. So, I discarded the gung-ho Keegan approach, put three in the middle to clog things up, and looked to stop the bleeding. I wanted to be tough to beat, create a side that could expect to win 1-0, yet was capable of winning by two or more. But I had to get the side playing together, knowing their roles, and buy time. I managed to do that.
What else did I need to do?
I had to address the midfield, central and wide. I got rid of players new and old who weren’t contributing much, though maybe I still could’ve used Rudy Gestede to change things up and provide an aerial threat. I brought in another striker, a couple more defenders, a new keeper. I sidelined Jack Grealish, by and large, Tommy Elphick, and Jordan Amavi, too, because they were either contributing to defensive frailties, or failing to provide total performances and not justifying their inclusion.
Three months on, I’ve got the side back to winning after admittedly putting too many of the new players on at once. I’m insistent on getting the team to be able to defend as a unit, and I’m drilling them on it game after game by simply dictating that’s how we’re going to play. Basically, step one is getting the first goal, make teams come at us, and learn how to soak it up and deal with it. It’s still not pretty, but somehow we’re managing to win, and consistently. I’ve taken the promotion pressure off, because it’s largely a pipe dream after the mid-season swoon, and tried to free the players up mentally by treating it as a period of development. The only expectation is learning how to win in the most basic way possible.
I’m trying to transition to 4-4-2 and get Kodjia and Scott Hogan playing together in that system. But I’ve also shown tactical flexibility (enforced and not), and some tactical blunders.
I lost Birkir Bjarnason just as he might’ve been finding his feet. I gave Andre Green the nod over Grealish because he’s talented and more direct. Then Green went down, so I brought Amavi back in as a makeshift winger. If the side can’t string together passes and control possession, I figured we’d just get the ball forward to our danger man as simply and quickly as possible. We needed to start winning by any means possible.
Like I say, given where Villa have been the last few years, I’m okay with all that. Not just because we are getting results, but because we honestly had to start from scratch. When you don’t do anything well, you try to at least start by learning to do the simplest things.
Now of course, no one enjoys watching the side under pressure for large periods. No one likes how shaky it can all look. No one likes our inability to put a stop to opponents having the initiative. No one likes our inability to hold the ball, the sloppiness and nerves that creep in.
No one really agrees whether we should be progressing faster, or whether, despite the wins, we’ve progressed at all in terms of the football. We can’t really agree whether the side should simply be executing better or whether Bruce could be doing more and is even responsible for the lack of apparent progress. No one agrees that Steve Bruce is the answer beyond this season, though if things keep going as they are, it’s likely he’ll still be here after the summer.
It’s all very strange. It feels like a kind of limbo, a state where nothing decisive is happening beyond a good run of results. And compounding that strangeness is the fact we’re still in with a faint shout at the playoffs despite all the misgivings.
Basically, we’d all like to be convinced we’re getting it right. Some are more optimistic that indeed we are. Others can point to a number of things that say we aren’t, really. As I also said after Norwich, I really do see both sides of the coin.
So, I’ll continue to hope for a convincing performance. Ideally, more than one. We didn’t get that against QPR, but we got another win. And the string of wins is good. Whether it’s misleading seems to remain an open question. That’s what I took away from Tuesday.
Over to you.
The Author
John Clark
John is co-owner of AVL, and has followed the Villa since the '70s. A journalist by trade, he is, by most accounts, a very nice person. You can follow me on Twitter @JClarkKohoutek. It's an astonishing experience. Or a complete waste of time.Comments 77
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JC,
Quite a marvellous synopsis of the evolution this season, and about where we’re at.
However, on the bit that says “It feels like a kind of limbo, a state where nothing decisive is happening beyond a good run of results.” I feel that there *is* something that’s happening, and that’s the fact that we have a squad getting to know one another that’s the first in 6 years to know what it’s like to be doing OK.
Let’s not forget that last season we only won3; that until Bruce came along we forgot what it was like to win regularly at home!
To me it’s all just now about building resilience and the feel-good factor of both winning and keeping the fans onside.
Next season? We move up a gear!
Well done to SB and the coaches.First rule at any level,be hard to beat,ten out of ten.One concede in 8 games is tremendous.It would appear that a lot of work has gone on at BMH to achieve this,about flippin time.Comparison is the thief of joy,lets stop looking for fault for once.Certainly the football is only pretty in patches,but after 6 years of crepe,I welcome and applaud each win.Step by step we are improving.All I keep reading and hearing is “how hard this division is”,yet when this is evident, like last night,all I tend to read is complaints about the quality of the football.Beggars can’t be choosers,and boy ,we have been beggars for so long.A great piece JC thank you.COYVB.
Cheers, John.
It’s a good point you make, and I think it’s fair. After I got this up, I thought perhaps I was being a bit curmudgeonly, but we are winning, and as you say, that’s pretty remarkable, no matter how it looks, given how bad we were at the start of last summer.
B6,
Great to see you back, mate! Hope all’s well.
“First rule at any level, be hard to beat, ten out of ten.” Absolutely correct—that’s where it all starts.
Excellent piece JC, and mostly spot on, but I do feel that we are closer to where we want to be, than it appears on the surface. The biggest failing we have now is the clinical finish, but we are not alone, either here in the Championship, or inthe Premiership.
If we consider our failings over recent years, it has been about giving up on the players that we had to execute the clinical finish, or selling off their supply line.
There is such a shortage these days , that all teams are struggling. Just lose one prolific goal scorer, and they are in the mire. Very few teams have the luxury of more than one hitman.
Very nice write up jc. Superb.
I think and hope! That we are building from the back and showing some solid foundations to build on.
Time will tell. But enjoying the winning feeling.
Saying again on twitter, season ticket sales are going like mad.
Come on huddy, need them to beat norwich.
Burton holding on against toon…..only after a daft pen reversal mind
Pritchard for norwich a very tidy player.
You think burtons going to be easy…they won at huddy and nil nill away to toon at the mo!!
http://thevillaview.co.uk/the-eye-of-a-coach/
Thanks for the fine leader, JC.
I think it is natural for fans to crave better football after winning a few on the trot. It is a natural and healthy progression. It might be a bit premature, as winning is still the #1 priority, but I suspect, regardless of future results, raised expectations is symptomatic of some pride returning to Villans, who know things can quickly change.
I think after giving him a run with the juniors, it might be worth trying Grealish again as an impact 10. Just to keep the opposition guessing.
Hmmm just seen the fixture run in of the teams chasing play offs. They all have tough fixtures!! If villa keep winning its going to be close! Going to be a frustrating what if scenerio though.
Bruce- we are only targeting 2 or 3 real quality players to make a difference.
music to my ears that.
bruce is on fire! more music…..next stage is we have to be more progressive, better with the ball.
3 very good good players in the summer, be better on the ball. if this comes off going to be very happy!
keith also saying how many new fans are buying season tickets for first time and we have sold 10k more than last year so far.
all this and 7 wins in 8…I need a lie down.
burton bring me down to earth sat!
jc
I think bruce has read your post!
says he thought we were too open and easy to play against when first in.
wanted us hard to play against and organised!
all sounds great today but still next season is the time to judge. football must be better and we must be challenging top 2.
Yes,
Pleased to see Bruce’s honest assessment of Tuesday Night’s game, saying we must be better on the ball, stop making silly mistakes, and make more use of our chances.
If he continues to make these demands, we can only get better, otherwise, as he says, we will be punished by better teams.
However, Our defence and their statistics, deserve nothing but praise.
we simply have to beat burton to make things interesting.
shef wed have Newcastle on sat. Norwich have reading and preston at leeds.
Andrew,
Glad I was polite, then! Wouldn’t want him going purple on me.
Paul,
Bruce has always seemed honest, and has spoken more openly than previous managers about what he sees, what’s good and what’s not.
He might not be Pep Mk II, but I think he does know enough to do what needs to be done at Villa.
JC,
Yes, I’d go so far to put Bruce on a par with Graham Taylor in terms of his forthrightness. And our managers of the 1990s were not a bad lot either in that regard.
villa have broken season tickets sales this week, beating the last decade!
tony coton and steve round were at a german league game, hannaover 96 against someone.
haha john
a purple steve bruce would be a sight!
Hi JC Good write up, thanks. I am like you I am waiting for that dominant performance to decide whether I am seeing progress or just grit and a bit of luck.
A few things that have hit me about performances under both managers and there similarities. Under RDM we attacked and generally went 1-0 up and could of had a couple more, second half the opposition change to combat our tactics and eventually we got the Alamo in the final 10-15 resulting in some late goals. Strangely the team follows a similar pattern under Bruce though more reserved or less dominant in possession but has become resilient at the back it seems.
Under RDM we had jedinak for 5-6 games usually jet lagged and with an ankle injuy too, no Adomah who had maybe 2 1/2 games with arriving late fitness and injury and then we had Kodjia, one jewel of a very expensive front three of egos which RDM tried to fit in at all cost. Elphick was captain so was kind of untouchable even if fallible but without a defensive midfield partner for jedinak in a 4231 no surprise really, gana would of been perfect. So early doors for the team and squad but only three losses for all the supposed dodgy defending.
In comes Bruce and beefs up midfield after the wolves game and Injury does for Elphick and Richards, a bonus. Baker steps in and the Chester Baker Jedinak trio is born, still weak in the full back positions but better because Adomah is fitter and filling in same with Grealish, chances go down to next to nothing except for Our Kodjia who steps into the space teams leave while attacking us.
We then stutter as jedinak has a groin injury and his form drops and eventually he has an op plus RMCgate and a few statements by Bruce about the players and maybe moral drops a bit pre- jan window.
The stutter turns into freefall even with new players in and a few out but still no Joy without jedinak and Kodjia in the same team, better midfielders and another CF but no joy. This must have been puzzling to Bruce as he said we were lacking goals from midfield, well we still are as it stands along with Assists from the previous goal and assist kings of the division when we bought them, again puzzling.
Next up Jedi and Kodjia back and we only lose to the top teams, clean sheets and two goal margins abound but why, has Bruce changed tactics? drilled the defence (who could not defend without Jedinak) or made Kodjia into a one man goal machine? Taylor has shored up the left side defiantly which helps but in most games the midfield still seems porous and runs out of steam (sprinting on the counter and continual jockeying the opposition is probably doing that)
So whats going on? is Bruce sorting it out with tactics, have his players changed us beyond recognition? Our top performers seem to be Jedinak, Kodjia, Adomah, Hutton, Chester, Baker, Taylor all bar one hand me downs, Johnson has looked better or at least the opposition less clinical hence the clean sheets maybe I don’t know.
We are clearly clinging to the hope of promotion and why not the gods may smile, but despite the wins I can’t see it being anything beyond the Kodjia and jedinak effect. We won’t know until they are not there but after Jan/Feb pray we don’t find out until we cant go up. Think thats far fetched regarding those players? well Liverpool have not won one game this season without Mane.
Mark: “I can’t see it being anything beyond the Kodjia and jedinak effect.”
Y’know that Bruce comes from the north-east, where they’re made from grit! 😉
Essentially he’s made ’em wisen up to the fact they have a job to do and if they want to continue taking home a fat wage packet then they have to do some grafting.
Even at the top (or near top) level, footie is not just about passing the ball in a nice way!
Good points, Mark. In past years, I harped on and on about ‘difference makers’, and Kodjia and Jedinak certainly fall into that category.
And as you say, every team has theirs. Usually the team with the most wins! Simple stuff, might have to give the Doctor a ring.
Jl– well they must have been stuck in Bruce’s wisening up classroom during Jan/Feb because without jedinak and kodjia we got 1 point , seems to me it’s little more than that and why try 1/2 a dozen styles 352 4231 442 4141 ? Only to return to 433, the wise teacher needed a few lessens himself 😉
was chatting to my mate who is a st holder. He says its clear as day that the tactics hace changed. Villa at the moment very happy/ confident to sit in and stand off the opposition and counter. Wonder if paul pears has noticed?
Not comparing it to chelsea but talking to a chelsea fan at work yesterday and he said about the man city match, chelsea did same thing. Chelsea very happy to stand off, lets see you break us down and go on the counter.
they was saying how in rugby its changed. Used to be if the team had a scrum 5 yards from touch it would soon be a try but now they could be there for 20 mins as opposition happy to defend tight . No idea about rugby so not sure!
Id like to think the art of defending is not dead….foxes last year and chelsea this year.
Jedinak under the cluless rdm was isolated and exposed. Short memorys….at the end of rdms reign jedi was going pelters and was being classed as too old slow!! Looks completly different player with lansbury and hourihan next to him.
Andrew- Your memory appears to be even shorter of course we were exposed with 2 in mids because we only had one capable DM Leicester use two so do Chelsea, and we had ineffective cover from the flanks, Adomah barley played under RDM and Amavi not even fit from long lay off, and cissoko average with no cover in front and lest not forget Delaet.
Jedinak was clearly unfit and overworked under RDM no match fitness and ridiculous flights, and he was new to the team five games in but I suppose the gelling excuse doesn’t apply to RDM’s time or team like it does Bruces, even though we were poor defensively at times we at least we did not lose two on the trot. By the way the fitness problem is still there our mids can’t last the game
I am not disputing Bruce uses sitting deep as a tactic its just proven ineffective without Jedinak, not one game under Bruce won without him.
Andrew- RDM had a month to access the squad and buy players and ship them out before the season started, Bruce got 12 games and a bigger squad to select from before he had to buy in Jan and look what happened?
I really am pig sick of hearing how fantastic he has done while RDM gets a slating when the situation/timescale was entirely different, a makeshift scouting system too and a boat load of useless hangers on and the loss of our better players. Sure Bruce has got results but I am not convinced that its not just players adjusting and a couple coming to the fore, lets not forget we haven’t got Tony Xia claiming we will win the world cup either.
short memories well I guess we all have them when we win a few. I am not even a fan of RDM but come on Bruce is doing ok but majorly fecked our season up in Jan/feb but thats ok
mark
It was what it was under rdm. kept on chucking away wins due to stupid subs tactics. what was it 6 games we conceded goals in the closing minutes….and each time he left 4 strikers on the pitch!! see the bloody game out, put some defenders on the pitch and defend! he might be still in the job!
jedi was overworked under rdm cause he was the only midfielder! hime and 4 strikers on the pitch.
jedi has just come back from in duty and player 2 games in 4 days fine in a organised side and not isolated.
I’m looking forward to a better performance against Burton. If my memory serves me correct, McCormack scored a winner for Villa last time, Bacuna also scored.
Old Villa
Hope you haven’t taken too many “happy” pills. You must be happy from all the winning Villa has been doing.
Mark
You do have a point regards Kodija and Jedinak, especially Kodija, who was sorely missed when away in Africa. I think there is more “graft” in this current side, just wish others would chip in with more goals. Perhaps we’ll see more goals for Villa on Saturday.
no doubt rdm oversaw a difficult time. imo we are still only getting settled. but factor in his apparent aloofness and detachment around the club, off the pitch. Being too soft on the team and most of all failing to make basic calls…ie put some defenders on and see out a game instead of remaining open. glad he has gone. not the man to start over again with. the dr called him out on twitter halfway through the period of conceding late calls….can take mistakes once or twice but if you don’t learn from them and keep doing the same thing then your out!
bruce has not done fantasticly well imo…see Christmas period!
Mark: “I really am pig sick of hearing how fantastic [Bruce] has done while RDM gets a slating”
I have not – anywhere on this blog – seen that anyone has said that Bruce has done “fantastic”!
We are only expressing the view that his approach – whatever it happens to be – works, so long as the players respond to his demands. January was a stinker, with Codger away but also as the new arrivals didn’t all come at once and they took a couple to settle in.
Overall, Bruce has turned things around – he’s got players working to the right attitude and he’s shipped out those not meeting his spec. Even Grealish has been sidelined, and I think most (nearly all) Bruce’s actions have been right – the players not now at VP were not playing.
By contrast, RdiM seemed to be short on motivational ability. He might – eventually – have got a better sequence of results going, but I somehow doubt that we’d be as high as we are under Bruce … nor with players that I feel are a better squad altogether.
Bruce is doing OK i.m.o. – but not “fantastic”.
lana
yeah think it was boxing day we played burton, won 2-1.
They wont be pushovers on sat…there last 2 games have been away from home won at huddy 1-0 and lost at toon 1-0.
Plus they are fighting relegation.
Will have to work hard and play well to get anything.
got a feeling 0-0. and all talk of playoffs going!
Hopefully win and could be 6 points off playoffs!!
Well, not sure if it’s because it’s Friday, if I’m a fickle fecker or I’ve lost my marbles but I’ve been reading Bruce’s recent interviews and by God I think he might actually have got this football lark.
His comments about being better with the ball is music to my ears, I’d like to see that translated on to the pitch because if he is seeing it then it appears that he intends to address it albeit we are a work in progress and the proof will be not in reaching the play-offs but what type of players and what positions he looks to strengthen in the next window.
Slightly despaired about the Frankfurt player being linked when his attributes mirrored Gestede so hopefully that is paper talk clutching at straws. I’m happy that he says Grealish has to adapt, it suggests that he does have a formation in mind and panicked in Jan/Feb trying to implement too quickly, we should be relaxing for the next 6 games which is probably because we’re set for mid-table obscurity but it won’t be to the advantage of the opposition.
It will be interesting to see how a winning mentality from this year effects what will be a more pressurised next season we have to get promoted from. Certainly we aren’t ready for promotion now but our results suggest that we’d have got a trip to Wembley this year.
I will always stand by my original assessment that relegation brought us the biggest opportunity to rebuild following years of mediocrity maybe having a young, forward thinking manager with a degree in sports science and a tactics/system approach first is not suitable for the championship where it is a rush to get promoted and football is second place without it being purely kick and rush.
Many things could have been handled differently this season from allowing Garde to produce a team to selecting a manager at the start who didn’t have champions league on his cv as some sort of badge of greatness. Maybe the dinosaurs of this world have a place in the championship and it’s only in the prem where budgets of the lower clubs and the inability to handle millionaires is when they are found out.
Bruce is doing ok but as fans we have the right if not the duty to challenge when we see things as being wrong for the progression of our club hence, I’ve never got carried away with the results but hopefully fairly criticised when others appeared to just be happy with winning, we as fans of this fine institution having been served dross for years shouldn’t just accept beating QPR or whoever as a new zenith because it’s better than being beaten by Stoke, we should always demand better of our manager and players, because we are Aston Villa, a name synomynous with greatness in English football history. Us long serving fans deserve better.
It’s not looking good in terms of me getting to VP this season, and if you local boys would kindly stop buying STs for next season so there are spare seats on the day, all the better for me as I’m bringing my two daughters to experience their first Villa game next season.
All the best my fellow lifers as we face a very tricky task against Burton
Jl- I am referring to the attitude that we will be fantastic next season because of Bruce when in truth we are 9 points off the play offs 1 less than when he arrived. In the light of day his handling of the Jan/Feb period has quite likely cost us a play off spot at least.
Andrew- it’s pretty much by the grace of god we have not conceded in the last run of games desperate defending is not good defending in my book and again jedinak missed a game from injury under rdm he got slated for being unfit and to slow he’s since had an operation under Bruce. If rdm had won five of those draws nobody would of given a crap if he’d walked around villa park with his bum out. Same as nobody gives a rats ass that Bruce got 1 point in 8 now we are winning.
We have momentum and a fairly good run in and could still make the play offs which shows what a monumental feck up this seasons been in truth. I think derby who were worse off than us points wise and are now on their third manager and could well pip us to the post.
I’ve heard from a fairly reliable source, Gareth Barry coming back next season.
Too old at 36…?
No such thing as a done deal though, but I think he maybe past it, he was never that fast in his prime.
Arch
DOR- I was wondering where you were, you succumbed I see to the idea of mid to late twenties footballers being new to the concept of passing the ball to each other, thank god bruce can see it 🙂
I continue to find it laughable that somehow he’s now assembled a team of players he has got to teach how to play football whatever next non plumbing plumbers?
Archie can he pass?
MK
Succumbed to the idea that my opinion is predominately best kept in my head and I’ve entirely relaxed on any agenda I had to oust Bruce and give Garde the reigns back, Dr.T is no longer returning my calls so my influence level has spiked to 0.
If I can’t convince JL I’m undoubtedly right all the time then there is no point trying 🙂
Mark
yeah agree mate, a disaster opening to the season and a disaster chrimbo has killed us. imagine like bruce says if we were just a bit bad over Christmas…just those 4 or five more points! or even held on to the wins at the start. think we may come fairly close to playoffs that it will frustrate the hell out of us!
haha Darren, if you cant beat em join em!
welcome to the dark side! we can work on Mark now 🙂
mark
if only footy was that simple! the last 5 years have been turgid AND I had to sit there and watch them not having a care in the world…the buggers wouldn’t even contest headers!
least now we are showing a fighting spirit and being a team! next stop total football!!
archie archie archie…you aint dropping a bomb like that and leaving…I want the name of your sources and contacts!!
My lord im not sure what id do if barry came home. love the man.
class act barry. would be head and shoulders above most of the players in the champ.
good stuff on twitter.
There WILL be a style, round and his team putting it into place via youth set up.
bruce in to get results at mo. time needed re style!
ayew, gestede, lescott, guzan, adama. All in the bottom 3 of the relegation zone…again!
Westwood. only started 2 games for burnley.
McCormack and tish cant get in forest team.
sums it up
On wed we sold 1400 season tickets. the best with sold in a single day in 10 years.
its lovely to see some positivity after learners regime.
Andrew I thought I was joining the bright side, where all is rosy in the garden. Not sure I want to be a part of this dark side stuff
Bruce out now, the useless twunt
Darren
It’s villa at the end of the day…is there ever a bleedin bright side!
last season in the prem we had the 7th highest wage bill.
I mean wtf.
I could cry.
expected to sell all our players out on loan..10? and only sign 3. few more could go. get the wage bill down more.
I think Gil, Sanchez and Veretout in a Villa side that has a different psyche would perform better than previous seasons, I’d like to see them back and given a pre-season chance to prove themselves before selling them on.
the ones out on loan id give a chance too are vertout and tishbola.
sell the rest and send tish on loan to someone who plays him. the lad needs game time desperately.
I’ve always had a few doubts about Gil … Nice footballer, and what a goal he scored last season, but too easily muscled off the ball, I think.
Sanchez … a bit too error prone, but, again, nice footballer.
andrew- that list of players we sold that are in relegation scraps or cant get a game, well other than Kodjia I don’t think any of our players would walk into a prem maybe Green or Grealeash would get a shout, bree maybe as he’s young but otherwise? blimey they can’t even pass yet without strict instructions, if we get to the play offs and win we might be wishing we had got a more forward thinking manager and built slowly 😉
Nobody could sensibly suggest that 7 wins out of 8 and 1 goal conceded is down to luck. Whether any of us are able to put our finger on exactly why we are winning or not, the point is that our team, after 6 years of trying and failing have finally found a way to win games. We may not like the way they are winning, but the vast majority of fans are enjoying seeing the points coming our way again.
Some will feel that we have a poor manager but some good players who are performing despite him. Some will feel that we have poor players but a manager who is somehow finding a way to make thd whole greater than the sum of the parts.
Saying that we have poor players ‘and’ a poor manager when we’ve won 7 out of 8 is unsustainable. . . . you have to pick one or the other. . . . unless for some reason you just want to decry everything about the club.
Morning Robbo……well said,I agree entirely.If we win today and Kod scores it will be “we would be lost without him we were lucky and we can’t beat the better sides,or the inform sides”.After 6 years of being good at one thing…….FAILURE……I am loving the current run of wins.Am I going to apologise for this?No.Do I think SB is the dogs gonads?No,but he and the coaches are starting to get the basics right.Clean sheets,scoring from set plays,defending from set plays,defending as a unit etc.There apperas to be some actually coaching going on at BMH,effective coaching,possibly proving that there is more to be done with a team than just throwing money at our problems.It would appear some are trying to find fault with every win and everthing Bruce says or does,in effect we are winning despite him,not because of him.Fair enough,winning doesn’t seem to fit their narrative.Well,I prefer our current form is rather than than the alternatives,a string of draws,or a run of defeats.Bruce isn’t my dream appointment,but he is addressing some of the decay of the last 6 years in a methodical efficent way,that the previous coaches seemed unable or unwilling to.Hoping for another win today against Burton,a tough fixture though.
r0bb0,
Yes, and a supremely welcome change-around has been the fact that the home fans are seeing a winning team on their own patch. In the last 2 or 3 years that was becoming a rarity – a real bottom in Villa’s history. It was once almost unknown for Villa to lose more than 5 home games in a season.
B6/Robbo
True. Winning and losing are both habits. Winning is the better for us. There are deficiencies in the team, but they can’t all be fixed in one hit. Villa’s culture was shot a year ago. Even Mr. Aston Villa couldn’t be bothered going to the games . And he was on more than £50,000 a week to, at least, attend. I think clubs that have done better than Villa from the onset already had more stability in place. SB got it wrong for a while but is back on track.
Darren
Agree that trio would do well in a better team/club culture.
1-3 Villa. Green, Kodija, Hutton
B6, JL, Iana, I notice that none of us have said we’re yet convinced by Bruce, we are simply enjoying the unquestionable improvement in results and incontrovertible improvement in atmosphere around the club as evidenced by season ticket sales.
As someone said earlier, there has been a change in our style of play and this was summed up for me by Baker’s pass that started the move for our first goal against QPR.
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/10825495/aston-villa-1-0-qpr
Baker is not renowned for his creativity and we’ve become used to him either passing it across the back or hitting it long in the air. This was different and hints at the players being coached into creating goals from quick breaks out of defence.
Now this may not be the type of football that some want to see and that viewpoint is completely understandable but it does feel to me more like a ‘Villa’ style of play (JL and other more knowledgable posters can put me in my place here).
In the short/medium term if it brings results that is fine by me. With a bit of refinement and steadily improving squad then it’s ‘still’ fine by me in the long term too although I accept that others will find that much harder to swallow.
Robbo answer me this, if we had kodjia and Jedinak fit during jan/feb would we now be in the play off positions? IMO definitely. So as much as we have improved our clean sheets and wins its more to do with personal returning than a change of plan, we are doing the same thing we did when he turned up with slightly changed personal, still no goals from elsewhere to speak of, still parking the bus, are we better at it? with 30 games gone you’d hope so. Thats fine we are winning but if it was as simple as Bruce setting them up right jan/feb would not of happened and that too is down to Bruce and his plans.
Mark,
I’m sorry, I fail to see the relevance of Jan/Feb, despite all your references to it.
Yes, it was a poor results period, but the squad was undergoing a massive re-vamp during that time, as well as absences from the team. The team re-building still hasn’t finished, but the extra touch of quality and attitude since that Jan/Feb period has made the difference, surely.
I dismiss that period as just part of the evolution and leave it at that.
r0bb0,
Yes, I think you’re right … there is something vaguely familiar about the style that used to do us reasonably well. Was it before Lerner came and upset the applecart?! 😉
Oh, wait, we had 3 or 4 years under MON and top-6 football, didn’t we!
JL- 1-0 kodjia enough said
Hey up … Codger’s there again!!!!!!!
Mark,
C’mon … don’t tell me he scores his goals by first of all collecting the ball in the goalmouth and dribbling through on his own! 😉
And Codger failed to score in the 2-0 win at Wigan! I suppose he decided to let others score one or two! 😉
And 1-0 Villa already.
Long day, late night, but a preview of sorts is now up. COYVB. Bring it home.
https://www.periscope.tv/paul_1874/1eaKbPrynLYJX
Thanks Mark!
JL- no he’s just exceptional for this league and when he gets the ball creates chances for himself thats is the majority of his goals
JL- no worries
Wigan? second from bottom Wigan and a goal off chesters testicle 😉
JL- by the way Kodjia seized on a mistake for the goal 😉 and he mostly played on the wing against Wigan
Mark, you’ll never give up! 🙂
Anyway, it looks as though you didn’t note that JC just scored! 😉 He’s put a new post up.
Mark, JL, I’m actually with Mark on this one. My ‘guess’ is that with those two players in January and February we’d have picked up the three wins or so that would have had us on the fringes at least of top 6. Considering where we were when Bruce came in that would have been impressive.
Bearing in mind the atmosphere in the club and the demeanour of the manager at the time I do think we’d now be flirting with relegation otherwise.
All speculation of course and nobody can prove any of us right or wrong so it’s probably not worth a lot of discussion.
It is worth talking about where we are now and where we want to be though.
I’m happy for us to create a team that’s solid at the back and have the skill to counter attack quickly in a number of different ways. If that’s the ‘style’ that we’re trying to create then that’s fine by me.
Under MON we were a bit one dimensional in attack. . . get it to the wingers and full backs, get to the opposing goal line, cross it and hope that Carew or Heskey would knock it in. It feels to me as if we’re trying to find more varied ways of counter attacking but maybe I’m allowing a bit too much optimism there?