Aston Villa v Tottenham Match Thread - Sun 21 March @ 19:30 - Sky | Page 37 | Vital Football

Aston Villa v Tottenham Match Thread - Sun 21 March @ 19:30 - Sky

Makes no sense about finishing 6th but not wanting Europe.

Anyway if we had had a dreadful start and were flying now we would still be on the same number of points and the perception would be a whole lot different.

I will maintain that the season will have peaks and troughs associated with a mid table side and as such should be taken as a whole and not a snapshot of a few games.

Peaks and troughs we can take, it’s the peak followed by the Mariana Trench we’re struggling with.
 
Overall, we’ve had a good season - if you pro-rata’d the points over 38 games, we’d be on 55-56 points which is where you’d have expected Everton and wolves to be at the start of the season.

The flip side is the form table, if this was a calendar year table in 2021, we’d be battling relegation again.

If we did get Europe next season, I think we’d be firmly bottom half of the table in 2021/22 as we won’t have the squad to compete so it seems almost counter intuitive to jump ahead in that regard.

I’m quite happy with that 8th-12th position as that’s significant progress, but we can’t lose momentum and go back to making up the numbers and just being grateful for being on the big stage which is what it felt like last season at times, which is what we did yesterday. I won’t be happy to see us strolling towards the finish line as that’s what Sheffield United did after lockdown, and look where they are now.

If we lose the momentum and that winning mentality we found at the start of this season, I think it could be a slippery slope downwards.

I’m not being negative - it’s been a great season - but it is a huge call out and I think it’s a huge watch out in terms of where we go next as to whether we push on, plateau or go backwards.

Quite simply the aim must be to improve season upon season. The owners won't tolerate anything else I think.
 
If we finish where we are we will have had a good season compared to what has gone on in the last five or six years , promotion excepted. I'd like to see us doing better now but the recent performances have highlighted the areas where major improvement is needed. Keep what is good in the squad and replace the weak links in the next transfer window. Evolution.
 
Are we just going through an O'Neil style of burn out? Too much put into the game at the start beginning to find us out? Last night we looked lethargic again. Also first signs of some arguing in defense - Mings throwing his arms up; Konsa swearing at someone I couldn't see plus one of the few panics from Martinez.
The defense has covered a lot of cracks this season IMHO and last night they didn't Watkins was nowhere near effective, wide men very inconsistent. (Traore has some great flicks but lacks concentration).

Davis helped the attack when he came on, surely its time to give him the chance to get up to speed? (OK I know he's not quick but you know what I mean.) This thought adds to the general issue: we've proudly used the fewest players, almost, and we are getting caught out by fitness, freshness and a shallow squad.
 
It looked like a game of two poor teams to me, Moura and Kane were the quality that stood out. Having said that it was only 2 silly mistakes that cost us defensively, I thought we looked fairly solid at the back apart from that.
Thought Deano let himself down with the subs. Sanson looked the better of the 3 mids to me, made no sense to take him off. Trez was bloody awful again, Keinan should have come on for him 20 minutes before he did.
Anyway Jack will be back for the next one and we will suddenly be looking awesome again and go on a 10 game winning run.
 
Quite simply the aim must be to improve season upon season. The owners won't tolerate anything else I think.

Agree but what would you quantify as improvement ?
If we don't take another point is that enough as it's more than last year - is 45 pts enough or should it be more than 50 ?
tricky to guage what the ambition actually is innit
 
Anyway if we had had a dreadful start and were flying now we would still be on the same number of points and the perception would be a whole lot different.

I will maintain that the season will have peaks and troughs associated with a mid table side and as such should be taken as a whole and not a snapshot of a few games.

Indeed the perception would have been different because in your hypothetical situation our current or recent form would have been a positive one as we would be carrying that forward instead of a poor one like we currently are.

As for judging on the basis of a "few games", we have won just 4 in 14.
 
If this season was reversed it would be positive but it's the polar opposite of that. We are in a big deep decline .
Hopefully this break will help.
 
Indeed the perception would have been different because in your hypothetical situation our current or recent form would have been a positive one as we would be carrying that forward instead of a poor one like we currently are.

As for judging on the basis of a "few games", we have won just 4 in 14.

And won 12 in 28.
 
Agree but what would you quantify as improvement ?
If we don't take another point is that enough as it's more than last year - is 45 pts enough or should it be more than 50 ?
tricky to guage what the ambition actually is innit

My point exactly, we reach safety and somehow that’s ok for some even if that means playing shite for the rest of the season.

I don’t get it, if I live to be 200 I’ll never be happy with Aston Villa Losing even if we’ve surpassed what some think is acceptable.
 
Neville rightly points out that last night Spurs had the advantage of extra quality he could put on the pitch. Fair enough. But how does that explain our performances against the likes of Burnley, Brighton and the rest? One thing is certain that we have one of the worst completed pass records in the league and you could see that last night. We look like one of those teams that gets promoted, blazes away at the start of the season, gets found out, and starts to drop like a stone. If the fall stops when Jack returns it will just prove we are a one man creative force and that can’t be acceptable after all the money we’ve spent.

That is on the assumption that he returns to form from game 1 which is a lot of pressure on him. The burden of expectations on him is unlike any prem footballer as he has to do it all on his own and carry the entire team.
 
It’s not about where I think we should be, its not about a number I have floating around in my head, it’s how I think we should be playing, or at the very least trying too, and no one that I know as ever mentioned a number either!!
There’s absolutely no excuse for the 3 months of shite we’ve been served up.

I’m also sick of individual players being ripped apart, whilst Smith and his 3 mates stand on the sidelines and do the same fucking thing over and over and get protected because “we’re safe’ it’s BS Sirdennis.

Ask him what our playing style is !
 
I am more disappointed with the fact that spurs were there for the absolute taking last night. Their back four are terrible. I think we only managed to get a strike on target in the second half.
We played well enough in the first 2/3 of the pitch. In the final third we are like schoolsboys. Cant put in a cross. AS USUAL. Waste stupid corners by taking them short, and then losing it. Our final third play is at best woeful.
Do we not cross or do corners in training? Doesnt look like it.
Im glad Cash is back, he looked lively.
Thank god we have a break now.
It wasnt a shambolic performance. But we need some serious serious work in our final third play.
 
So , where do you think we should be in the table then ? I am genuinely baffled about where the fans who think we are rubbish , think we should be. We have Silhill who is not happy and presumably thinks we should be higher in the table then saying he doesn't want us to be in Europe. !!! So it does confuse me a bit.

Are we a side that is going to finish in a European spot ? I don't think we are . Are we a relegation type side ? I don't think we are. I think we are a side whose position in the table reflects where we are , and I repeat the season is 38 games not 5 or 6 or whatever snapshot of games people want to take to make a case for whatever side of the fence they are on.

What I do know is that the majority on here would have taken mid table mediocrity all day long at the start of the season , I can't be bothered to look back but I guess plenty were tipping us for another relegation battle , but now people are moaning that we aren't higher than 10th.

For me, I want us to keep improving position and performance wise starting with Grealish for starters and then without him. And I do not enjoying seeing us lose and neither am I judging on the basis of a few games.
 
another poor show .yes we had lots of the ball again last night but nothing to show for it again i thought watkins would have played the game of his life last night following his call up but i think he was poor and bamford must be seething
its so clear that without grealish we would be bottom 4 because we have no real quality .how the hell chelsea put a £30 +million value on barkley i will never know
but jacks price should be going up every time we play so people can see how one player can make such a difference and make a bottom 4 club into a top 6 club had he been playing thats where i think we could be
so many people saying how well we have done this season . well thats crap how can a team go from looking so good and winning games and keeping clean sheets to looking clueless and losing games and letting in goals
 
Dean Smith on a quiz show.

So Dean, Aston Villa are on a very poor run but the team is also safe from relegation, what do you think you should do?

A. Nothing just leave it the same
B. Try resting players and giving others a go
C. Try a different formation
D. Fucking anything just try please

Dean..Errmm I’ll go (A)
Host...But that’s not working
Dean..I’m still going with (A)
Host...I don’t think that’s right though
Dean..I’ll ask my staff...........we’re going (A)
Host...Get fucked Dean.
 
I don't think we can underestimate the effect of the covid outbreak and the disruption it had. We have not recovered for whatever reason.

Not being able to create has nothing to do with covid. We are always shite without Jack. Glad covid wasn't around when were in the championship or else that could have also been mentioned as the reason behind our poor form when we won just 2 in 14 without him.
 
I am more disappointed with the fact that spurs were there for the absolute taking last night. Their back four are terrible. I think we only managed to get a strike on target in the second half.
We played well enough in the first 2/3 of the pitch. In the final third we are like schoolsboys. Cant put in a cross. AS USUAL. Waste stupid corners by taking them short, and then losing it. Our final third play is at best woeful.
Do we not cross or do corners in training? Doesnt look like it.
Im glad Cash is back, he looked lively.
Thank god we have a break now.
It wasnt a shambolic performance. But we need some serious serious work in our final third play.
we need to get some experienced prem players that have quality
we need one or two seasoned pros like wolves have because we lack real quality in the final 3rd anyone can make 10 passes in ther own half its what you do in the other half of the pitch that counts