John

18 hours ago, GlobalVillan said:

Yes I think our squad has shown itself to be significantly worse than Spurs squad several times this season. (By that I mean that we have struggled pretty much every time we have had to make a few changes ie Mostar, Everton,  Sheff Utd.....)

We won at their place when they had about 6 players out and whilst it was a good win, we barely got over the line. 

Had they had Maddison and Bentancur (they had many more out)! and we were missing Watkins and Luiz, I reckon we would have lost heavily.

But my main concern is that we rely solely on Watkins as a striker, due to having absolutely no quality back up.

Spurs are only 3 points behind us despite their ridiculous injury list and when they get the likes of Maddison back, they will push on.

They also have no Euro distraction.

I doubt Buendia coming back will have the same effect, and that's if he comes back this season at all.

I'd be delighted with 5th and it would show real progression. I cannot see us finishing any higher, but it's hard to see us finishing any lower either.

I understand what you mean by "Euro distraction" but I would be happy to have that distraction every year and I'm sure Spurs aren't happy about being free of that distraction. I also agree that our squad needs more depth and 5th would also do for me, but I don't think that Spurs are such a force as you describe, they could finish top 5, but could also drop back, as they did last season. 

1 minute ago, GlobalVillan said:

We really, really need that 5th place to go to England as I believe that's where we will finish.

It's possible we could miss out and finish 6th behind a resurgent Man United or Newcastle but I'm confident we can grab that 5th place.

4th will go to Spurs, with Man City cheating their way to yet another meaningless title and Arsenal and Liverpool making up the top 3.

Let's hope the English clubs go far into their respective European tournaments.

 

Really? I rather think we are a tad better than them and they would still be behind us with a win, and also have to visit Villa Park. They are also Spursy....

Last night was just one game and although we were some way off our best, we were still only a couple of VAR decisions away from a win. We have bounced back before after dropping points and we can do so again. Top 5 is likely to give us CL qualification and we remain on course for that. A lot of people thought that our title challenge had faltered when we lost at home to Ipswich in 1981, but our manager still believed and we all know what happened then, history might still repeat itself. UTV!

1 hour ago, Delphinho123 said:

We really do. Diaby, Bailey, Watkins, McGinn, Ramsey. They’re all good players in their own right, if not very good, it’s just they’re quite blood and thunder. They prefer running with the ball and trying to get in behind. Luiz and Tielemans are probably the only two where you think - ‘they might do something a little different here’ - and actually unlock a defence. I’m not saying the other players don’t, but like you say, the low block teams are tough to break down. 

We’re missing, dare I say it, a Coutinho type. Buendia is kinda that player but he’s weak, slow and loses the ball way too often. We need that no. 10 type. 

I think our captain, Watkins and Diaby are actually very good, that Bailey has been in recent weeks and that Ramsey can be once again with another couple of games, because I'm all for a bit of "blood and thunder" myself. It also seems that you don't rate Emi.  Other than that, I'm with you. 

7 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

I think we might need to sell to buy. We definitely need CL football or we might have to sell a big hitter or two as we don’t generate enough revenue. 

I hope that we don't need to go down that "sell to buy" route that and we can build on what we already have. I think we should make the CL, but they certainly put some hurdles for clubs like us to clear don't they?   

I wonder how much we can reasonably spend in the coming window? Unlike Chelsea, we will have to keep a weary eye on that FFP thing. Two or three players would give us a squad that could better handle suspensions, injuries and the weight of fixtures that we face in the second half of the season. It seems Lenglet will have another option, if he leaves that would enable us to bring in another loan, I assume and who wouldn't want to join us, when they are shown the league table?  

Goals from Joachim and Dublin (2) Mike. 

Looking forward to a chorus of "We'll be top by ten o'clock" tonight, it's been too long since we sung that. The game that sticks in my mind most from that time, was the one on 13th December when we came back from 2-0 down, after a prolonged half time (due to Santa's fall) to win 3-2 and go back to the top of the PL. We spent quite a lot of the time at the top that season.  

 Rangers did this. 

We gained points on Liverpool and Manchester City this weekend, we are sneaking past them on the rails just like Leicester did, when they won the title. Nobody was convinced that they could maintain a title challenge and it seems many pundits feel the same about us, good! If we can win our next home game and Arsenal draw at Anfield next weekend, then we will go into Christmas in pole position. What a nice Christmas present that would be for us all and who knows, we might just stay there. One thing that's for sure is that I wouldn't want to bet against us, Coral now have us as 11/1, so it seems they have learned something from Leicester and we're not Leicester, we are Aston Villa and we have done it before, just ask an Ipswich fan! 

43 minutes ago, Follyfoot said:

I would imagine the Kamara red gets overturned

I hope so too, but I very much doubt it. They will be more likely to fine us for not keeping control of our players, which UE was attempting to do, when that idiot of a ref showed him a yellow card. 

This ref thinks everything is so amusing...he is running the pundit close for the "most annoying" award! 

2 minutes ago, AshVilla said:

If you want to finish top 4 or challenge for the title you have to beat teams like Brentford.

All the teams below us won so we need to win here.

Manchester City didn't, but I know where you are coming from.

Really missing Digne and Douglas aren't we? I would imagine there will be a lot to say at half time. We need to show a lot more in the second half!

2 hours ago, StanBalaban said:

If they were open to a loan, how would folks feel about bringing Kalvin Phillips in for the rest of the season to give us some depth?

I couldn't see them loaning even him to a rival for their league title, more likely he will rock up at Newcastle as one of their shady transfer deals next month. 

Records are there to be broken and what a way to do it. Two points off the top, two great home wins in a week and secure in the CL places! 

By the way Saka loves a roll around on the ground doesn't he? 

HEITS RIP Benjamin. 

2 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

Who will we play in the Charity Shield after we win the league and the FA cup?

The PL runners-up, I can't wait! 

Coral have us fourth favourites to win the league @ 28/1 by the way, it's been a few years since we were that low in the betting to win this. 

Had a little look on "Goonersworld" this morning to see how they are feeling about the game:

"This will be a different game altogether, if we get a point from this it will be a good result, the Don will be looking for payback."

"This is going to be tough. Let’s hope Villa empty their tank smashing City before our game."

 "A draw will be good."

Posts made after last night's win (the posts after the first one below, are responses to it):

"Jesus, Martinelli, Saka, Odegaard, rice, Gabriel, saliba, white; when these 8 core players are fit，Villa will be lucky to get a draw against us even if they are playing at home. We are that strong."

"The way Villa played against City and the way we played against Luton, we would be lucky to get a draw."

"That is like the kiss of death lol we will be the ones lucky to get a draw out of this IF we are lucky."

"We will need to turn up more than we did at Luton, Can't see us scoring 4 at villa."

"Delete this!"

Nice to see that 99% of Gooners understand that this might not be quite a walk in the park for them now. 

Link: https://www.goonersworld.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=146562&start=15

I think given the pundits believe the team that are currently in 4th place in the PL will ultimately win the league, that the team that are in third place have a chance of winning it too. Pep agreed, when asked if we were in the title race:

 “Yes, definitely, because of the way they are playing. When you are there, you see the physicality, the tempo, the speed, the bench, the organisation from Unai, in the set pieces, the high pressing how incredibly they defend in the back four, a good goalkeeper, absolutely.” Pep should know...

We all started really believing on the 10th January 1981, when we beat Liverpool 2-0 at Villa Park. Was last night's equally well deserved win against Citeh a repeat of that moment?

This is our best start to a top flight season since then and our most successive home wins since 1903....day's just don't come much better than this one!  

Curcic was one of the worst signings we have made as a club during the past 60 years, if not the worst. He looked a world beater before he came to Villa Park and like Stan he could have been an outstanding signing. Sadly the money and the fee went to his head. Football and Villa really didn't matter to him. 

Difficult question isn't it? Having thought about it though, I will take the win both cups and qualify for the CL too option.

Champions League qualification brings us in the big bucks that would make FFP less of a headache, when it comes to buying players and it would also help retain our best players, who fancy a crack at CL football. It would also give us the chance to compete for that trophy for the first time since 1983.

Winning either of the cups brings Europa League qualification, as well as sees us lift a trophy. I would love us to lift the FA Cup again, whilst Peter McParland is there to witness it and the same applies to  Villa fans, who were old enough to witness 82, but too young to do that in 57. It would be great for fans who were too young to see our 82 win, to see us win a European trophy and for those too young to have seen us win a major trophy to tick that box. 

Not wanting to be too greedy, I would take the FA Cup, but it would be nice to lift any trophy again. If we can't have all three, I will settle for the FA Cup and top 5. By the way, where is the League Champions option?