EFL Cup, Burton v Villa Tuesday 28th August, 7:45pm kick off | Page 19 | Vital Football

EFL Cup, Burton v Villa Tuesday 28th August, 7:45pm kick off

People forget the very odd circumstances when, quite soon have we'd signed the January 2017 intake, Bruce stopped playing nearly all of them. Those players didn't have a decent run in the side to bed in, when the whole point of signing them then was apparently to have them integrated well before the following season.

Hourihane through luck found redemption, Bruce being surprised in an unscheduled appearance that he actually had something to offer. Lansbury never had that luxury, or if he did put in a good peformance Bruce didn't notice it. Seem to remember the last match of that season when we drew against a good Brighton side, Hourihane and Lansbury actually formed a good pairing in midfield, Jedi being injured. Didn't count for much.

Bruce seems to take against players quite easily. That's why he's always out for more signings. If you were one of those players and you knew that whatever you did you'd be unlikely to be welcome back into the fold, I think you'd be cheesed off, and you'd be likely to start thinking why bother.
 
Joe Bennett is now a PL player. Wonder how much he's worth?

I been told by an ex pro that making it or not is very much whether the manager likes you or not, the skill levels between the players at that level are very similar.
 
"Merd" said:
Joe Bennett is now a PL player. Wonder how much he's worth?

I been told by an ex pro that making it or not is very much whether the manager likes you or not, the skill levels between the players at that level are very similar.
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Ive seen Joe Bennett get outplayed by league 2 players. Although one of them was Matt Richie for Swindon who is also in the big time.

I think a large part of it is right place, right time.
 
"Merd" said:
Joe Bennett is now a PL player. Wonder how much he's worth?

I been told by an ex pro that making it or not is very much whether the manager likes you or not, the skill levels between the players at that level are very similar.
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Skill level has very little to do with it except at the very elite level.... attitude, discipline, work rate and fitness are the key. I highly recommend DiCanio’s book (written well before he lost the plot at Sunderland). He talks about how he was not even close to being the best player on his youth teams, that so many more talented than he fell off the rails for one reason or another, but he had the determination and work rate to succeed...
 
gmvillan said:
Skill level has very little to do with it except at the very elite level.... attitude, discipline, work rate and fitness are the key. I highly recommend DiCanio’s book (written well before he lost the plot at Sunderland). He talks about how he was not even close to being the best player on his youth teams, that so many more talented than he fell off the rails for one reason or another, but he had the determination and work rate to succeed...
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Exactly the point GMVILLAIN, all our recent buys/loans have come with potential and should have improved the squad. Only McCormack has a bit of a bad rep, so why can't Bruce motivate and utilise them?

He is obviously a decent bloke as many on here state after meeting him, but he has left clubs in disarray previously, with a bloated, overaged, overpaid squad and no discernable style of play. Something is missing in his makeup to make him truly successful.
 
Been watching the Man City documentary ‘All or Nothing', not once did I hear Pep say 'the Cup is not our priority', quite the opposite in fact.
Steve stride tweet.

Exactly what Brian Clough said. Once they won one they wanted more. When Clough said he’d walk to Villa Park you should have fetched him
My tweet reply to Steve
 
Yep, came with a good reputation and disappeared off the radar with us. If his reported wages are true it is a criminal waste. Is this down to Bruce, or him? Can't believe all of our cast offs have a bad attitude or nothing to offer.
 
Wurzel said:
This competition for Villa at the moment is completely irrelevant so going out of it is unimportant. What isn't unimportant is the performance of squad players who claim they want to be in the first team. Well they certainly didn't show it and that is a big concern.
Unfortunately for Bruce playing the b team has done nothing but pile pressure on himself and now the next game becomes important not just to get a result but there needs to be a performance as well. The players are there, he needs to stop playing players out of position and let them express themselves. If he doesn't he will rue his mistakes from the comfort of his armchair as I'm sure the new owners will be expecting better.
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Sadly the League Cup has become an irrelevance to every club except the one who wins it - we used to win it, remember? Bruce can well play a 'B' team but that doesn't mean he can just pick eleven players and then say you will play there and you will play there - it reminds me of school days. But then he is rather old school.
 
col8 said:
In the last round there was a call to "Play the youngsters, those on the fringes" So he played them and we lost.....

I always want the Villa manager to play the strongest team in every game and go out to try and win that game.

We used to treasure the League Cup (Ignoring the fucking Caroboo bollocks) and it always gave the fans a lift during a disappointing run to look forward to a good cup run.
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He didn't play the so called youngsters though did he!!!! One or two got a look in and they were stuffed from the outset
 
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1958Villan said:
I have a bone to pick with your second sentence Deano, you say; "Bruce didn't do anything out of the ordinary there."
I think you are 100% wrong in that statement.
I challenge you to name another football manager who would start a game with 3 rightbacks in the team, then remove the only centreback in the team and replace him with - have you guessed yet - yes thats correct, another rightback while having his first choice centreback pairing sitting on the bench.
Can you also come up with a plausible, even a slightly plausible reason why he would play long ball punts to a forward who can be no more than five foot six tall and weigh no more than eight and a half stone, soaking wet?
This is the start of his third season as manager and things have not only not improved but, are in the process of going backwards.
As for nobody wanting to play in this crappy cup, may I remind you, we have won this crappy cup several times, admittedly when it was known by different names and a piece of silverware at the end of the season, is still something to be proud of.
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@1958Villan - your post was so absolutely bang on correct, a simple click of the 'like' would have been grossly inadequate. I applaud you.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
People forget the very odd circumstances when, quite soon have we'd signed the January 2017 intake, Bruce stopped playing nearly all of them. Those players didn't have a decent run in the side to bed in, when the whole point of signing them then was apparently to have them integrated well before the following season.

Hourihane through luck found redemption, Bruce being surprised in an unscheduled appearance that he actually had something to offer. Lansbury never had that luxury, or if he did put in a good peformance Bruce didn't notice it. Seem to remember the last match of that season when we drew against a good Brighton side, Hourihane and Lansbury actually formed a good pairing in midfield, Jedi being injured. Didn't count for much.

Bruce seems to take against players quite easily. That's why he's always out for more signings. If you were one of those players and you knew that whatever you did you'd be unlikely to be welcome back into the fold, I think you'd be cheesed off, and you'd be likely to start thinking why bother.
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Thank God he will never [hopefully] get a job in the Judiciary, or even on a talent show whatever they are
 
danvilla2 said:
Ive seen Joe Bennett get outplayed by league 2 players. Although one of them was Matt Richie for Swindon who is also in the big time.

I think a large part of it is right place, right time.
Click to expand...
Yes we signed him too early, he was only championship quality (and potentially still is, we’ll see at the end of the season) and we were in the premier league and obviously needed higher quality. He was not good enough to step up at the time, but credit to him he moved on to a new club and has found some success
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
Bruce seems to take against players quite easily. That's why he's always out for more signings. If you were one of those players and you knew that whatever you did you'd be unlikely to be welcome back into the fold, I think you'd be cheesed off, and you'd be likely to start thinking why bother.
Click to expand...

I was talking to a guy at work who said he had noticed at previous clubs Bruce always seemed to sign players without consideration of who is already in the squad in the same positions - and this was before I even told him about our 5 right backs and goalkeepers. I agree it seems like certain players get dumped out of favour for no particular reason, or at least not given the opportunity to redeem themselves.
 
Erod said:
Been watching the Man City documentary ‘All or Nothing', not once did I hear Pep say 'the Cup is not our priority', quite the opposite in fact.
Steve stride tweet.

Exactly what Brian Clough said. Once they won one they wanted more. When Clough said he’d walk to Villa Park you should have fetched him
My tweet reply to Steve
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This is what you were trying to do Erod, you just needed to cut and paste the url I gave you!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1034588983169372160
 
david-avfc said:
Yes we signed him too early, he was only championship quality (and potentially still is, we’ll see at the end of the season) and we were in the premier league and obviously needed higher quality. He was not good enough to step up at the time, but credit to him he moved on to a new club and has found some success
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Always thought Joe Bennett had a good left and a little bit of flair about him. His problem was coming to us a struggling team with a crap manager and an odious back room staff of bullies. Lambert threw him straight into the deep end tbf he didn't have many other options but it still ruined the kid once the fans turned on him. Then the last kick in his nuts was when he was made to do that stupid fucking questions and answers bollocks on the web site and got absolutely slaughtered the poor bugger that was the day I started to hate Lambert. But fair play to the kid he kept going showing great determination and resilience and I've nothing but respect for the lad.
 
DeanoVilla said:
It is what it is.

All clubs use this cup competition to play fringe and youth players. Bruce didn't do anything out of the ordinary there.

The fringe players once again failed to step up... is that Bruce's fault? i dunno... judging by what has been said above about Lansbury walking round and De Laet just been awful, I dunno..... I doubt he asked them to go out and do that.

I'm not saying the manager is immune to criticism, of course not. It looks like the fringe players are refusing to play for him, which in itself is a worry. I've always said when the players stop playing for a manager it's the beginning of the end, but l think the main 11 are still playing for him which is the main thing.

If it gets to a point where McGinn, Chester, Hutton, Jack, Kodjia are behaving like that lot last night then it'll be time for Bruce to move on, but I don't think thats happening.

Remember Leeds lost to 10 man preston 3-0 too, so even in all the hype around Bielsa the same could be levelled at him in terms of thier fringe players not playing for him.

At the end of the day nobody wants to play in this crappy cup.
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A crappy cup we have proudly lifted on five occasions
 
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