Do We See Villa Bouncing Back?

Anyone who is a born Aston Villa supporter and a believer in attacking football is likely to be welcomed with open arms by Villa fans, and those are exactly the qualifications that Dean Smith brought with him to Villa Park, as the new team coach.

His first three games were not highly productive and, indeed, they included two (away) defeats, but it has to be said that those games were quick-fire matches played in the course of one week, giving the new coach little time to orchestrate a plan of action and training sessions with his new charges.

Then came the home win over Bolton which showed glimmers of hope and a sure sign that Villa were being asked to play more positively, and in a pressing upfield manner. However, there were still defensive frailties and dithering to be observed, and they were again twice highlighted in the first half in Smith's fifth match at Derby, who had gone six games undefeated, including a 3-1 thumping of Birmingham the previous week. There was also a tendency to not get shots on target. Hence, despite some 16 shots Villa targeted towards the Derby goal, only one of those had actually been on target. Until, that is, the 74th minute, when Bolasie's powerful run and wonderfully accurate cross found the head (of all people) McGinn who headed it in as though he had been doing that sort of thing all his playing life!

And two further goals came, both excellent in their execution.

So, it was in the last 16 minutes Villa won the match, although since bringing on Elmohammedy as a full-back replacement for Taylor after half-time, Villa had looked more sprightly and created several chances before McGinn's header went in. Bringing on both Elmohammedy and Bolasie (70 minutes) seemed to make the necessary difference for Villa to win the match in such powerful fashion.

We go into the next match (versus our auld rivals Small Heath) in two weeks, after another international break, with some hope of seeing Villa's improved attacking play - well - improving!

UTV!

Bruce’s Playing Record This Season

Just thought I’d trawl through the BBC stats to see how Bruce’s record looked.

These are some conclusions covering the 10 league matches before the PNE game:

1. Villa had 55.4% possession on average and the only 2 games when Villa had less than 50% were in the two opening games (49% and 48%)- which we won! 
2. Villa had an average of 14.2 shots per game, with an average of 5 on target. 
3. In the heavy defeat against the Blades, we actually had 61% possession and sent in the same number of shots as United (9) – but they put 6 on target to our 2. 
4. In the 2 successive home draws against Brentford and Reading we had 57% and 59% possession and 17 and 21 shots, compared to their 13 and 10. In both cases we had 8 shots on target compared to their 7. 
5. In each of the 3 away draws against Ipswich, Blackburn and Bristol each time we had substantially more possession and more shots, including shots on goal. 
6. In the home defeat against Wednesday we had 54% possession and 18 shots compared to their 13, but 4 shots on target to their 5. 

Bruce’s failure in results seems to hang mainly on those 5 draws (items 4 and 5) when it clearly shows we should have won them all.

Why didn’t we win ’em? I put it down to (a) inaccurate shooting and (b) defensive errors.

Therefore the *main* reason for lack of success: the players, as KMac suggests.

We would have had 10 more points if we had won those games which, based on stats, we should have won. We’d have been top of the division with those points.

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?