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John

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Everything posted by John

  1. John
    Given we have Kamara in the squad, hopefully we would be able to add one of those to the squad.
  2. John

    Tyrone Mings

    John replied to Demitri_C's topic in Villa Talk

    Any point in April would be a real boost for me. It would be great to have Tyrone & Buendia back available for the last few games.
  3. John
    I guess that we will, as one of the eight group winners, be seeded in the round of 16? If so, we would be facing one of the above. It would be Ajax and Henderson wouldn't it?
  4. John
    I like your confidence, but Brighton and Newcastle won't share it. I hope you are proved right though.
  5. John
    Coral have us @ 5/4 to win and the home team @ 2/1 on Saturday. They also have us @ 1/8 to finish in the top 6 and 7/4 to end up in the top 4 (Manchester United are 5/1). The bookies are still in our corner.
  6. John
    "The Football Association are keen for Gareth Southgate to remain as England boss beyond this summer's European Championships" - Unbelievable but it's the FA so what do we expect? Do they sound out Klopp? No, let's go for squeaky clean Southgate, no matter that he wouldn't win anything if he was managing Brazil in 1970.
  7. John
    My target at the start of the season was 6th and the Conference League. My target became 5th and the Conference League or FA Cup when we had such a good first half to this season, anything more would have been a bonus. We have now hit that bump in the road and have suffered injury after injury. My target remains 5th, although given what we have had to cope with, I think we would all accept Europa Cup qualification either through the PL or by winning the Conference League. That would be progress and the very least our team deserve, that said, they deserve CL qualification and I'm not going to back against them getting it. We beat the odds last season and UE will want to beat them again this season, if they do it will be some achievement.
  8. John
    Who should/could we sign in the next window for the defensive midfield spots, assuming we will need to? Sangare, Palhinha or the new sensational deep lying Ross Barclay?
  9. John
    He is a player that has taken a lengthy period to familiarise himself with the PL and he's not alone in that. He didn't get the early goals that would have boosted his confidence and had that betting issue to worry about, so settling in has not been easy for him. I still think he will have games to play for us this season (we will need to be able to call on all of our fit players in the coming weeks) and he may yet prove himself. He's a current Italian international after all, so he has it in him to do so.
  10. John
    Such bad news for the player and for us. We have had about 5 years worth of injuries in one season!
  11. John
    Agreed, it would be reminiscent of 1998/99 when we were top and unbeaten after our first 12 games as well as top at Christmas only to end up 6th.
  12. John
    I suspect that we will need around 70 points for top 5 and about 7 points less for one of the other European competitions, should we need to qualify through our league placing. We have 14 games left so that would be 24 points from these games for CL and 17 for the lower target. I would break those remaining 14 games into the following: very difficult: Manchester City (a), Arsenal (a) & Liverpool (h). tough: Spurs (h), Chelsea (h) & Brighton (a). winnable/point minimum: Fulham (a), West Ham (a), Wolves (h) & Palace (a). must win: Forest (h), Luton (a), Brentford (h), Bournemouth (h). We now have 46 points. Winning three of the four "must wins" would give us 55 and winning all four and two of the four "winnable games" should see us in Europe through our league placing. To get CL we would need to win all eight of the "must win" and "winnable" games. The points needed would be reduced with getting something from one or more of the "tough" and "very difficult" games. It can be done, but it will take some doing and what happens with our injuries will impact on how likely it will be that we will achieve our goals. Make CL qualification happen Villa!
  13. John
    Yes, there is no guarantee that we will be in as good a position next season or that we will not do better than Newcastle did. The boost to the status of our club in the next transfer window and the extra cash is also too good to turn down imo.
  14. John
    Has to be 7 minimum for me.
  15. John
    We will really have some squad depth and team selection will be a bit of a headache for the boss. Might struggle to find a ref though, most of them will be in the other place.
  16. John
    Knowing our luck, he will probably out for six weeks. Injuries at the back in recent weeks to Digne, Torres and now Konza have really done for us. I don't know why we didn't put someone other than Kamara on Maguire at corners, because he was clearly struggling against him from the start. Ramsey of last season would have put away at least one of his opportunities, as would Watkins on another day. Can't believe that Hoylund scored against us again and that they beat us with a late, late goal yet again. The chasing pack are now hot on our heels and are smelling blood, Spurs have got their noses in front of us, having found the knack of scoring late goals that has now deserted us. The season isn't over yet though and things can get better.I'm not giving up on us just yet and I'm sure UE is of the same opinion. We had a great 2023, but have hit a real bump in the road, winners bounce back and we need to do exactly that, and quickly!
  17. John
    Could buses not park right outside of the ground in Witton Lane for example and then be sent out together with a couple of the police that are already outside of the ground being asked to stop traffic at Witton island to allow the buses to get onto the main roads? Back when buses used to line up in the roads (number 11 & 7) and move off when full, that seemed to work well, although cars were not parked on the main roads as they are now and there are more cars on the road now too. Perhaps one main road could be closed to any traffic, other than buses after games for a period of time?
  18. John
    A reliable park & ride would be something we could do in order (for every home game) to reduce the number of cars parking near the ground. Special buses that picked up from outside the ground could also help. A couple of "special trains" being put on, that started from Witton in both directions 15 minutes after the game was due to finish (to allow some time for stoppage time) would also be an idea. Trains can be a bit of a lottery at the moment with cancelations and with some trains from New Street not stopping at Aston before games from 12 - 3pm. As has been said, having the concourses within the ground open for business after games, could also stagger departures and bring the club in some cash. All of that may reduce the number of cars that are parked on roads around the ground and make it easier for people on foot, buses and cars (where users have no alternative) to get away after games too.
  19. John
    100% record at home to end the season? I would be very happy with that. Yes, 70 points would probably do it, particularly if we can get wins against our two closest challengers in reaching that target. As has been said a draw on Sunday would not be the worst result, but we owe them one (well far more than one!), so let's win on Sunday and extend the gap between us.
  20. John
    Did anyone else leave the ground last night thinking that Chelsea might just find Leeds slightly difficult to get past in the next round and hoping that if they do, they get the draw that would have been waiting for us in the QF's (Manchester City or Liverpool away)? (Not that I am in any way bitter, about the result)...
  21. John
    What we need in our remaining 15 games, is something approaching the finish we produced last season, a lot of people doubted that we could get into a European spot then, such doubt are coming back now. We need a win on Sunday and when we play Spurs at Villa Park (both easier said than done, at the moment). Those are our two closest rivals and these are both "6 pointers". Win those two and we will be hard to catch and we will look good for a top 5 finish.
  22. John
    We met up with a cousin of my wife's who was working down there after the game and drunk to forget those 90 minutes. He told me we were the most miserable bunch that he had ever had a drink with. He was 110% correct.
  23. John
    2000 too. I was devastated after that one, I really thought we could turn over Chelsea. The 1980 - 82 team often refer to having missed out on winning the FA Cup with us, from 1977 to 1984, we were plenty good enough. If only we had the luck of the draw once and a while.
  24. John
    Bailey did noticeably less work in his own half last night, than he has been doing for most of this season, perhaps he needs the incentive of not being an automatic selection, although that probably applies to a few of them. FFP, injuries and drops in form, has perhaps left our first team starters feeling a little too comfortable?
  25. John
    Yes, we haven't been able to sing "7 times we've won it, no one else can catch us up" for a long time now. 1975 - 2010 was a period during which, we were good enough to have won it 2 or 3 times at least, I would suggest we should be on about 11 wins now.
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