A message to the Villa fans: Give Bruce the time he deserves...
VILLA started the New Year like they finished the previous one – firmly in the promotion hunt.
Despite a disappointing December, the festive period has actually been a roaring success.
Villa have HALVED the between themselves and the matic promotion positions Christmas.
Results inevitably dip during a season and Villa have had a couple of worrying blips already this campaign.
The start of the season was miserable and last month equally as frustrating, but this current crop keep finding a way to bounce back.
Important victories against teams above them in this changing of the calendar year has completely flipped the script. gap autoover
It was only last week that supporters were calling for the manager’s head.
Then again, what’s new? It was the same after just THREE games of the season when they wanted him out, too.
The form was worrying enough, though, for owner Tony Xia to vent his anger on Twitter, describing December as a “disaster month”.
Chief executive Keith Wyness also chipped in with his thoughts but there will be no complaints now.
Villa are fifth in the table with 44 points from 26 games. And, crucially, they are only five points off second place. Crisis, what crisis? A week ago it was the end of the world when Villa lost at Brentford but in the space of 48 hours they have hit back and are now right in the mix.
All along, Bruce thought they would be, hence why he called for calm when results were not going as planned.
But Villa needed a result like Monday’s to send a message out to the rest of the division that they mean business.
Their record against the top six since falling into the Championship was poor until the Robins were rocked.
But Villa have never looked as convincing under Bruce as they did against Bristol City.
The 5-0 success was the biggest victory of his tenure.
And his side answered so many questions. Two clean sheets in a week, back-to-back wins and seeing off teams above them. Even Scott Hogan and Birkir Bjarnason scored!
Now is the time to kick on. If Villa fail to win promotion this season then Bruce and the players deserve to be questioned.
But, surely, with 20 games remain- ing there’s right.
The Holte End certainly think so. They sang Bruce’s name loud and proud and even called for him to wave when the third goal went in.
This was the perfect start to 2018 and special mentions are needed for Jack Grealish, Alan Hutton and Robert Snodgrass, who were excellent.
Tommy Elphick also deserves a pat on the back for helping to keep two shut-outs after his recall to the team.
Of course, there’s still a long way to go but clubs with smaller squads are starting to feel the strain.
Cardiff have won one in six and lost the last four, while Bristol have lost two in a row.
The strength of Villa’s squad was always going to work in their favour this term and, as the season progresses, they should get stronger. enough time to get it