Bruce's First Name Is Certainly Not Robert

Another manager bites the dust. Having said that, Bruce has had an extended run compared to those four or five before him. But was this the correct answer to the situation?

From the owners' point of view it was probably the kindest thing they could have done to Bruce as the relationship between he and the fans was going sour. But how unfortunate was he? 2-0 up at half-time last night, Villa perhaps should have finished 4 or 5 goals to the good, but the fans took the view that Villa came out second-half to just hold what they had, and then a mini-disaster hit Villa as their skipper got sent off for being the last man in a clear penalty decision. A foolish act on the skipper's part as the keeper may well have saved the forward's attempt. But the penalty was easily converted and that left Villa with ten men and with two relatively inexperienced centre-backs to face the music.

If Villa had lost - as appeared to be case as Villa entered injury time - then opposition to Bruce from the fans would have been a logical outcome. But they didn't lose as an equaliser came after Villa belatedly pulled themselves together and fought back. And then Villa might have won it at the death with a penalty kick, but it was saved. Preston would rightly have felt robbed if Villa had won.

Bruce - to my mind - is desperately unlucky. Yes, some of his decisions in terms of player selection have seemed strange, but, hey, he was the manager and was just trying to find the right permutation. Sometimes it worked - last season at least.

Not the perfect manager at Villa, but given the state of things as they were in 2016, he was not a bad answer to the Villa's needs. He wasn't that far away from succeeding in my opinion and he certainly turned around a bad attitude in the dressing room when he arrived.

Now, the question is clearly who will be appointed now? The next question is: will he last as long as Bruce?

Some Tinkering To Be Done Still...

Well it's clearly going to take more than the "2 weeks" I claimed it would take to get it right in my last post! And with 3 new players arriving and having to 'bed in' I shouldn't be surprised really.

But it's not just that. Clearly the centre-back situation is none too clever with Chester and the Jedi being made to look like disjointed twins by Wednesday. And Jack Grealish, I'm afraid, has been sussed. They claim he would be a great player if put on the Premier League stage, but I doubt this view very much. His style is tricky and nice to watch on occasion, but is too powder-puff in my opinion. In yesterday's match he did virtually nothing of significance. He, Kodjia and Abraham were well out-thought and out-muscled by a good defence.

McGinn's goal was wonderful, and Conor's subsequent goal-bound shot was luckily turned away for a corner, but apart from that Villa didn't offer that much by way of a threat against Wednesday, who, in Fletcher, had a very good foil and might have had a hat-trick. And wee Barry Bannan was not bad at all.

I'm now going to say something that a lot of Villa fans will not like, but until Jack gets his modus operandi sorted, he's better out of the team in my view. I would keep a creative midfield pair of McGinn and Conor and bring the Jedi forward as the defensive piece in midfield, with Tuanzebe back at c-b.

However, as Villa are in the throes of setting Jack up with a new contract, I can't in reality see him being left out. Conor may be the fall-guy, perhaps.

But I believe Villa do need a strong figure at the back of midfield and I think that person is the Jedi. 

Two Weeks To Get It Right

It's 'tuff' being a Villa supporter isn't it?! Just when you think that the season might be about to get started then this (4-1 defeat at the Blades) happens.

Mind you, it would seem that Jack, McGinn and Kodjia were not really fit, but that doesn't excuse the defensive frailty.

I had the doubt - as, clearly, other fans did - about the defence. Last year people moaned about the defensive basis from which Villa played, and now Bruce has put more emphasis on attacking play, the defence has gone backwards.

Letting Steer and Elphick go for a new goalie and the Jedi instead seems daft now, and I seriously wonder how Bruce is going to deal with the c-b problem - for I think there really is a problem there.  Bruce this week commented that he thought Bree might fit, but why not Tuanzebe, who is supposed to be a better c-b?

It could be that Tuanzebe or Bree might be the answer but I would also see the Jedi put back into the holding position in front of defence. However, that's still worrying to me as I feel that age has caught up with him.

There are not many options, though, are there? It could be Bruce's big mistake of the season in not ensuring that we had proper cover after Terry's departure.


Well, Wolves lost 4-1 against us last season so there's room for hope still. 

We have the two weeks of the international break to get the problem sorted on the training ground.