Aston Villa Fan View: Steve Bruce has bought himself some time at Villa Park

Villa’s winless run came to an end on Saturday against Derby in quite frankly, a dull and uninspiring manner.

We can put the performance to one side for a moment, as 9 defeats in 10 meant that Villa just needed to stop (another) horrible rot.

And with Derby also in poor form, with no win in 4, they were welcomed to Villa Park, but were actually the better side on the day, and Villa at time rode their luck.

A 1-0 scrappy home win via a James Chester header means that Villa are now 8 points away from the drop zone, so Villa’s expectant fans can just start to breathe a little easy, for the time being at least.

However, the knives are still very much out for Steve Bruce amongst a growing number of Villa fans. His constant changing of lineups and formation continues to frustrate and the lack of playing style is more than apparent.

He really is coming across like a manager who really isn’t sure where to turn, and just hopes he lands on a winning hand. He’s been in the job since October.

Cardiff City, one the supposed ‘troubled’ clubs in the league appointed Neil Warnock in October, they sit 12th, 7 points ahead of Aston Villa. Another ‘troubled’ club in Leeds United sit 22 points ahead of Aston Villa and not only look like a team, but have a distinct playing style instilled into them from Gary Monk.

There is no doubt that Bruce continues to underperform and is transfer strategy in January is already starting to unravel. He currently has central defender Chris Samba on trial, and it has been reported he is looking to bring another striker to the club.

Villa sold/loaned out Rudy Gestede, Jordan Ayew and Ross McCormack just four weeks ago. Bruce is really muddling through at the moment, and the club just need to reach the end of May (how many times has that been said over the past 7 years), and re-group in the summer.

Tonight brings Bristol City to Villa Park, who are also fighting to stay in the division, but are without their top goalscorer, Tammy Abraham who is on loan from Chelsea and has bagged 18 goals already this season. The return of Mile Jedinak has undoubtedly helped the spine of the team, and allows the likes of Henri Lansbury to get on with their natural game.

It would be nice to see Bruce sticking with the same team (bar the suspended Bacuna) against Bristol City, as the team is desperate for continuity. 4-3-3/4-5-1 suits the players we have and it’s the formation that was played for large parts of our unbeaten run in November and December. This should be another win Villa, and anything but a win, will see the pressure turned up yet again on Bruce. UTV!