The Official Steve Bruce Thread | Page 78 | Vital Football

The Official Steve Bruce Thread

I noticed Colin Calderwood wasn't on the bench today , he was sat in the trinity , then he did the post match interviews, no sign of Bruce
Was this a goodbye from calderwood or am I overthinking things
 
No Calderwood did the post match at Ipswich as well. I am guessing Bruce has been making a speedy get away to attend to his family matters.
 
Great to see Brucie joining in the ‘lap of appreciation’ at the end. Even better to be in the Holte joining in with everyone chanting ‘Steve Bruce’ - been a long time, probably since O’Neil, since there’s been that kind unity between manager, squad and fans.
 
I like Steve Bruce. I think he's doing a good job for us at the moment but something struck me yesterday watching Derby.

Derby are a bit of a nothing side. They have some big men at the back and some pace up front and they are playoff contenders. Likewise, Cardiff are a very average side with simple but effective tactics.

We have a pretty decent squad with some Premier League players in it and we aren't very far ahead of Derby in the table. I think it comes down to our style of play. We rely on our players to perform individual bits of magic to score rather than on team tactics. With Albert, Snoddy and Jack in the side, we can rely on someone to pull something out but we shouldn't have to rely on that. We aren't really set up to score or have a style of play that plays to the strengths of our forwards. We are in the playoffs because we failed to win so many of our easier games on the nights when we couldn't find that bit of magic.

I think it's a weakness that will be brutally exposed in the PL if we get there.

We stumbled across 4-5-1 and it seemed to work so we stuck with it and it would be madness to start experimenting now but at the end of season, we should get the Big Book of Tactics out and start looking at strategies that will work better for us, regardless of the league we are facing for next season.
 
BB - spot on. It's a worry. Having a style enables a team to play almost without thinking. Sometimes I think we spend too long working it out, unless somebody produces that moment of inspiration.
 
Yes BB we don't have a style we just go out and see what happens .
The thing that frustrates me most is we look scared even at home to get players forwards . Often only one player in the box.
Yesterday in the first half after a corner we still had the ball but Terry and Chester started to head back to the defensive positions . Cardiff would have taken the chance and left them in there and fired in a cross.
That's why they are second and we are fourth , they take risks and we don't
 
Melon Donkey said:
Bruce out.

Rowett in. A modern, young, forward thinking manager who would never send a team out to defend with 10 men behind the ball and play totally on the counter managing an impressive 28 % possession while in a key league game. And of course above all he is a villa fan.
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Listening to WM in the car coming back from the match and I thought Mrs C&BB was going to have a seizure when laughing at the Villa fan who said that Derby were "dog meat" - I thought he had toned it down from "dog sh**e" which is what I thought they were. They had shut up shop for a point before they got the goal and did it even more so when they scored.
I for one would not be worried if we got them in the play offs as over two legs we would beat them easily enough - if Bruce plays the team that finished the match.
Not sure if they will be in the play-offs though as Barnsley will batter them next Sunday and Burton are going to beat PNE. Obviously, Fulham are going to beat SHA and send them down to where they belong having their big day out with a derby against ............... Walsall !!!
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
BB - spot on. It's a worry. Having a style enables a team to play almost without thinking. Sometimes I think we spend too long working it out, unless somebody produces that moment of inspiration.
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Whilst I agree, the funny thing is we're third highest scorers in the league this year and thats without Kodjia. Its also quite insane that we have so many players who have produced those moments and so consistently.

It's been a crazy season for us we stumbled through the league for about 15-20 games and then we finally started clicking. As poor a start as we had its still criminal what happened after the wolves result, the damage was probably done at that point but we should have taken the league by the scruff of the neck after destroying Wolves.
 
Sorry to disagree but all this stuff about us not having a style of play does my head in. We are set up with three very attacking players (usually Albert, Jack and Snoddy) playing behind a striker and a second midfielder with freedom to get forward (usually Hourihane). Our full backs are encouraged to get forward and create space while the two centre backs and a holding player cover the space behind.
“We rely too much on individual moments from players” is football for goodness sake! That’s what creative players do! They are unpredictable and come up with moments that help win games! Do you think Pep’s “style of play” would work if he had predictable individuals? Maybe, just maybe, the individual brilliance of DeBruyne, Silva, Sterling etc has got them a few goals this year....
When a team goes forward, what makes them effective is the ability of the players to find space, elude opponents and create.
Against some teams we play a pressing style, whereas in other games we stay in our shape and look to counter attack. Obviously it doesn’t always work the way we want it to, and sometimes it bores the daylights out of us. But 90% of the time that comes down to under-performing players or good defending by the opposition....
 
We clearly do have a style of play - get the ball out wide and cross it in. We have attempted more crosses than any one else in the league (over 1000 this season!) I can understand people criticising the style but I would have to question what people have been watching if 45 games into the season they haven't worked that one out yet

In fact I think the style should be criticised - We have made 1065 crosses this season, and only scored 22 times from crosses, so that is a goal success rate of 2%. The average cross accuracy % is around 20-25% so most of the time you are literally just kicking the ball away to the opposition when you are in a promising position (our accuracy is around 23%). So if 75% of the time you are immediately giving the ball away, and even if you don't there is still only 2% chance you will actually score, it makes you wonder why bother crossing it at all?

Crossing only works when you are on a quick attack and the opposition defence is unorganised or out of position, and you can get the ball into the penalty box to a team mate quickly before the defence has a chance to sort themselves out. But most of the crossing situations are when all the defenders are back and ready to deal with the ball coming in. The amount of times I have seen us waste the ball in the final third with an aimless lob into the box does my head in. It's not even to do with the quality of the player (although I would argue the lower quality players tend to cross it because they aren't good enough to do anything else (Elmohamady)) it's just a poor tactic
 
gmvillan said:
Sorry to disagree but all this stuff about us not having a style of play does my head in. We are set up with three very attacking players (usually Albert, Jack and Snoddy) playing behind a striker and a second midfielder with freedom to get forward (usually Hourihane). Our full backs are encouraged to get forward and create space while the two centre backs and a holding player cover the space behind.
“We rely too much on individual moments from players” is football for goodness sake! That’s what creative players do! They are unpredictable and come up with moments that help win games! Do you think Pep’s “style of play” would work if he had predictable individuals? Maybe, just maybe, the individual brilliance of DeBruyne, Silva, Sterling etc has got them a few goals this year....
When a team goes forward, what makes them effective is the ability of the players to find space, elude opponents and create.
Against some teams we play a pressing style, whereas in other games we stay in our shape and look to counter attack. Obviously it doesn’t always work the way we want it to, and sometimes it bores the daylights out of us. But 90% of the time that comes down to under-performing players or good defending by the opposition....
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Perhaps my post wasn't clear. Derby and Cardiff don't rely on individual moments of brilliance to score goals. Sometimes you need that in a tough match but relying on it in ever game has cost us.

Our formation and tactics aren't in sync because we cross the ball in to a lone striker who doesn't or can't attack them properly (Hogan).

Derby is a great example of the team being more than the sum of its parts. Their pace gets at teams and they have had a great season despite their limited players.

We have a great squad for this division but seem to be making hard work of it.
 
I don't particularly think we're making hard work of it to be fair.

We've got 76 points from our last 38 games. That's auto promotion form.

It was always going to be difficult after the start we had, and in the end it's cost us, but we've improved a lot since then.
 
I think Steve Bruce is a safe option in the championship, he will always finish in the top 6. For this reason he was a good appointment to 'stop the rot'. As a manager I would grade him with C+, he's satisfactory and will get the job done (promotion) eventually. Though I see him struggling in the premiership.
If I was tony xia, I would keep my eye out for an A+ manager, someone who can make us shine like Wolves did this season and Newcastle the previous year.
Such managers are not always available, so one has to be opportunistic when one does become free.
Would any of you be keen on Arsene Wenger if he was interested in managing villa?
 
Arsene? No. Think he's a top manager in a lot of ways, but not for us where we are now.

Benitez, if he can't reach agreement with Ashley; that would be stellar.

Don't get me wrong. Bruce has frustrated me a lot of times because overall he's done well but there's a feeling that we've let too many points go we shouldn't have done, and that's a reflection partly of the way we seem to approach matches. Nevertheless, he has achieved quite a lot; if we get promoted I'd give him another year and see what he does with it.

If we don't get promoted, it's a difficult one to call. Think I'd have to trust the Villa management to get it right.

In either case I'd have my doubts, which isn't the same thing as saying he's not good enough.
 
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