I can’t believe Steve Bruce laughed about Unai Emery’s philosophy, he didn’t even have a style of play at Aston Villa
Steve Bruce bizarrely chuckled when discussing Unai Emery’s approach at Aston Villa.
Liverpool secured a 2-0 win over Villa last time out as the claret and blue outfit faced yet another defeat away to the Reds.
Villa have a shocking record at Anfield, and I was hardly surprised when that continued as the Villans were let down by a first-half mistake from Emi Martinez.
Martinez passed the ball straight to Mohamed Salah, allowing the Egypt international to convert into an open net, going against the style of play that has been so effective elsewhere in the Premier League this campaign.
Bruce noticed this change while speaking via talkSPORT on 3 November when he said: “Maybe, though, now it’s changing back [style of play]. Now, everyone’s waxing lyrical about a long throw. It was ridiculed a year ago, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see it come back in, and there’s a change.
“All of a sudden, 12 months ago, you had to play from the back. It had to be from your goalkeeper, out to your centre-backs, through the lines. We’re seeing a bit of a difference with it now.“
These alterations are moving football back to what the ex-Villa boss is used to, but I still find it bizarre that he went on to laugh at Emery.
Steve Bruce laughed at Unai Emery approach at Aston Villa
Emery has come under pressure at Villa this season, but has managed to turn the ship back in the right direction in the past two months.
The Midlands side had six without a win across all competitions to begin the season, having scored just two goals in the process.
The Spaniard turned things around and Villa have now netted nine and have racked up 15 points after a six-match unbeaten run in the Premier League.
The performance against Liverpool was frustrating, but I don’t think the result is a slight against Emery, who was arguably let down by individuals.
That wasn’t lost on Simon Jordan, who was spot on in his verdict of Martinez and his mistake that put Villa 1-0 down.
He said: “Look at what the Aston Villa goalkeeper does on Saturday, you want to shoot him, don’t you?“
The ex-Crystal Palace owner cut off Bruce in the process, but the former B6 manager returned, saying: “But this is the ‘philosophy’ of how the team’s going to play.“
He seemed to have more to say, but couldn’t continue his sentence as he broke out into hysterics before he could.
Bruce isn’t even fit to lace Emery’s boots as a head coach at Aston Villa Football Club, and I think it is strange that the Englishman would want to come across in such a fashion.
Bruce had some howlers at Aston Villa
A cabbage was thrown at Bruce to end his Villa Park tenure, that is how bad things got under his management.
“We’ll be there or thereabouts” was the famous phrase from the ex-Manchester United man, but that began to grate on everyone, every week.
The resistance towards Bruce from “the mad few” didn’t come from nowhere, and I was genuinely surprised at the time that he got as long as he did.
He managed a win rate of just 45 per cent with the claret and blue outfit, losing 31 games across two years.
Some of his tactical revolutions included playing every forward player at once to try to come back from behind, while Bruce was also known to play Christopher Samba upfront.
The Congo international was a six-foot-four centre-half with no pace, who had been signed on a free transfer after release from Panathinaikos.
If that sort of approach doesn’t disqualify him from even talking about Emery’s style of play, I’m not sure what does.
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