Villa Expected League Position 2018 -19 | Page 2 | Vital Football

Villa Expected League Position 2018 -19

With a mix of good youth and the experienced players we have we can certainly mount a challenge. Depending on who we keep if course.
 
Interesting thought McP. For me, the reason we failed to gain promotion was our failure to dominate games. To do that you need skilful, creative players in midfield, that's why Jack coming back from injury gave us a push last season. Having already lost one of our more creative (in terms of assists) midfielders in Snodgrass and resigned to losing Jack, for me our current midfielders will struggle to create enough to dominate. That's assuming we don't lose Bjarnason or Adomah or both as well.

Agreed Chester was important but could he be replaced with a combination of Bree, Richards, Suliman, Elphick or Jedinak?

My big worry is that the positivity created last season will be lost quickly through a combination of the summers events and a slow start. To have a chance of a decent campaign, we have to hit the ground running with whatever we've got.
 
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Time for me to have my insightful say on this thread.......where will we finish? Haven't got a bloody clue! The older I get the more I expect the unexpected with anything related to the claret n blue. So based on that......perhaps after the most depressing summer imaginable....we'll romp the league with over 100pts!
 
Having an educated guess at who will be leaving and any potential loans coming in then I am still thinking 16th-20th. I doubt that more than 1 or 2 of our youngsters will make a significant contribution to the first team, and I don't see where the creativity and goals will come from on a regular basis. If we were to go into administration then I think it will probably be relegation.
 
Think I'll reserve judgement until it is clearer who comes, who goes and probably more importantly, out of the ones who stay, who is fit?

If we tried to play on the front foot, didn't dwell on the negativity, and got off to a decent start, anything could happen.

I do fear mid table might be the most likely outcome, but it is too early really to properly guess. I do think we underachieved last season with the squad we had, especially with how good the spirit was at the club. Spirit at the moment isn't going to be the same, depends what happens in the next few weeks as to what sort of spirit there is come the start of the season.
 
With Fear on this one. I’m not sure if it’s just his look but Brucey looked exhausted to me towards the end of the season, hope he’s had a good break and has come back refreshed. I can’t help but think the off the field shananigans have had or will have an impact throughout the season.

I’m not overly optimistic or particularly looking forward to this season with much expectation.
 
He lost borth his parents in a short space of time. He is hardly going to look or feel bright eyed and bushy tailed. Add to that the pressure of trying to get us up and I would say he handled himself with great dignity and class.

He has now got all the financial fall out to deal with now and I guess he needs it like a hole in the head after t he few months he has just endured.
 
Bruce did look a bit down in the interview, but he tends to be quietly understated anyway. Talking about prospects of losing his best players isn't going to have him doing the chirpy bit.

Pretty sure he wouldn't be doing this if he didn't want to. So long as he has the prospect of getting some good out of it he won't readily back out of it. But if he thinks Xia is taking the club for a ride I expect him to be out like a shot; he wasted no time leaving Hull when he found the owner wasn't interested in backing the club. In a way that's reassuring; we don't want people bailing out Xia at any price.

Just hope he can keep last season's spirit going in the squad. I wouldn't object to a mid-table finish if we could see light at the end of the tunnel.
 
The BBC writers predictions for the coming season have been published.

1 Stoke City
2 Middlesbrough
3 Derby County
4 West Bromwich Albion
5 Nottingham Forest
6 Leeds United
7 Swansea City
8 Aston Villa

A reminder of the challenge we are facing. Need a good start methinks.
Personally, prior to the takeover I would have agreed that 8th would have been decent. With our best players remaining, should do better.
 
Here's Sky's predictions (I've shown top half only):

1 Stoke
2 Middlesborough
3 Brentford
4 Derby
5 Preston
6 Forest
7 Bristol
8 Leeds
9 Villa
10 Sheffield U
11 West Brom
12 Swansea
 
It's ironic really that pundits still assume we're in a crisis despite having one of the most talented and expensive squads the Championship has ever seen. There isn't a club in the Championship who wouldn't take at least 1 of our players, and most would take 4 or 5 IMO, yet nobody expects us to do anything. People talk about Bruce being more suited to underdog clubs, well if that's the case this is exactly the sort of situation where he could deliver.
 
Bit more on the BBC predictions. 9 of their pundits predicted us to contend the playoffs, 5 to finish bottom half. So the position they gave us is the middle of two extremes.

Me, I think we should get to the playoffs even if Jack goes. We should have found our Championship feet by now, and we still have a better squad than most, even if a bit unbalanced.

Brentford, Preston, Derby, Sheffield U and Bristol should finish top half, but reckon we can end above all of them. And ahead of West Brom and Swansea.