The guy to my right started within the first minute of kick-off. “It’s a joke”, he frequently complained. “We can’t pass. The defending’s s****.” And so it went on.

This was my first visit to Villa Park of the season and I could immediately see what Steve Bruce has been referring to when he has discussed the fact the locals can be a hard bunch to please.

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Together with the noisy Sheffield Wednesday supporters, there were 35,572 of those locals packed into Villa Park on Saturday to witness Bruce’s 100th game as manager.

But any sympathy for Bruce during the opening exchanges soon wore off and I could quickly empathise with my neighbour, who had probably witnessed the draw with Reading, the lucky win over Wigan and the Carabao Cup defeat to Burton Albion earlier in the season.

A midweek victory over the mighty Rotherham United had seen Bruce once again take aim at his detractors and even accuse the local press of being too negative. Reporters from the newspaper he had referred to all tipped Villa to beat Wednesday, but their positivity was not rewarded.

Villa played like a team of individuals, which maybe should not be surprising given how late they did much of their transfer business following the summer takeover.

But there was no discernible plan or strategy. Bruce started with on-loan Tammy Abraham and Jonathan Kodjia in a front two with Jack Grealish stuck out on the left wing.

Even the kids sporting their Jack haircuts waiting in the long queues for a half-time pie will have been wondering why Villa’s star man had not started in a position from which he can run a game.

All season it has felt like Bruce has been throwing balls, or new players, into the air and hoping something lands. If it clicks, great. But if it doesn’t, as it didn’t against Wednesday, then Villa often look clueless.

And, unfortunately, there has often been no better way to describe the defending than “s****”. John Terry is virtually irreplaceable, but it makes no sense that Villa did not sign another central defender or redouble their efforts to bring in a left back after missing out on Joe Bryan. All the Yannick Bolasies in the world will not solve Villa’s problems at the back.

John McGinn’s wonder goal got Villa back in the game after Wednesday had taken a deserved lead, but this only served to illustrate another problem of Bruce’s tenure. His team are often too reliant on a moment of individual brilliance, rather than winning games or scoring goals through dominating their opposition.

Bruce should have taken McGinn’s volley as a cue to make a change and use the momentum it temporarily gave Villa to take charge of the game.

Instead he waited, hoping a second goal would come, but, predictably to the guy on my right, Villa quickly lost the initiative and fell behind again. Only then did Bruce make a substitution. Once again, he was reactive, rather than proactive.

Did the supposed moaning Villa fans turn on their team at going behind or even turn on Bruce? No, not until the game was gone in stoppage time and, even then, the chants for him to go from the Holte End were barely audible.

Bruce and his dwindling band of defenders will trot out his record for taking teams up, but this is no longer of any interest to Villa fans. He did not manage it last season with a squad that was every bit good enough to get out of the division and his team currently sit 13th in the Championship table with three wins from nine games.

Just as Manchester United fans are not particularly bothered how many Premier League titles Jose Mourinho won with Chelsea, Villa supporters, often accused with being obsessed about the past, are only worried about the present.

Like Mourinho, much of Bruce’s problem solving revolves around constantly signing new players so it is not surprising there are now murmurings of discontent within his squad.

The likes of Scott Hogan, Henri Lansbury, Neil Taylor and Birkir Bjarnason have all been signed by Bruce and left out in the cold. Last season’s top scorer Albert Adomah was told he could go, only to see a move blocked at the last minute and Conor Hourihane often finds he is the first midfielder to be dropped despite providing a constant goal threat from midfield.

There are at least encouraging signs for Villa off the pitch, with Grealish signing a new contract and chief executive Christian Purslow taking advice from some of the industry leaders in his bid to find the right sporting director.

But it is becoming a matter of when and not if Purslow has to take a tough decision on Bruce if the murmurings are not to get louder and Villa’s season is not to become a write off.