With frustrations and tempers frayed amongst online Aston Villa fans at the very least, Saturday’s tie against Sheffield Wednesday was must not lose following manager Steve Bruce’s attempts to pass the buck and be the intelligent one given gripes against him.
Some of his comments can be argued as being justified, but as I said at the point, managers always end up targeting those they probably didn’t mean to and that was all Bruce achieved and having hung the fans out to dry, he continues to hang Mile Jedinak out as a sacrificial lamb for his own transfer market dealings and favouritism within the playing squad.
Our beard sporting Jedi certainly wasn’t our worst player on Saturday, he rarely is, but a round peg wobbles and gets your attention in a square hole so every little mistake is magnified and he’s suffering massively from that, as he always does in the backline.
I’d argue James Chester was uncharacteristically the weak link at the weekend, but Jedinak stands out more.
We have been abject again. No system. Grealish out on left wing. Adomah, out of form still and Jedinak has made error after error. There is sadly no progression under this manager.
— Will Davies (@wilsterdavies1) September 22, 2018
Entirely predictable. Jedi is a good midfielder. Gets done for pace all the time. Don't expect anyone to challenge Bruce on it tho.
— Will Davies (@wilsterdavies1) September 22, 2018
And that’s why Jedinak isn’t a centre back ???? beaten for pace then gives away a foul. #avfc #swfc
— Total Villa (@Total_Villa) September 22, 2018
A liability at centre half. It's unfair on a good pro.
— Will Davies (@wilsterdavies1) September 22, 2018
That was absolutely terrible from Jedinak.
— Claret Villans (@ClaretVillans) September 22, 2018
Shock
— Tommy B (@Barters28) September 22, 2018
At least most of the criticism levelled at him acknowledge you can hardly say it’s his fault and it’s not like he’s not trying, he’s professional and gives his all which is why fans like him, but unfortunately for him the criticism would still be valid (and not his fault) if we put him up front and wondered why he didn’t score, or put him in goal and wondered why we couldn’t keep a clean sheet.
Then again we can’t keep a clean sheet anyway so maybe that would be no different.
Last week Bruce told Radio WM:
“Don’t tell me that Jedinak can’t play centre half.”
If it’s true the crowd he listens to are those in attendance at Villa Park, then 35,000 odd are telling him just that – but I guess that’s their own lack of intelligence at play again as Bruce can’t possibly be wrong, can he.
