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.  

Such bad news for the player and for us. We have had about 5 years worth of injuries in one season! 

24 minutes ago, romavillan said:

I'd have taken Europa League after the Newcastle defeat start of the season for sure, but dropping out of CL if 5th might get us it would be harsh after all the great work that got us in the top 4 for a good while.

The Chelsea game we were flat, but the game against United we played some really good football for most of the game. If we can keep making that many chances in a game we will be fine. 
 

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. 

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! 

5 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Genuine question from a conversation I had with my brother earlier.

Given the squad we have now and the limitations of FFP (or PS whatever), would we happily take Champions League qualification now if it meant a "Newcastle" season of two steps back?

They qualified but weren't ready, got dumped out of Europe completely and are fighting to catch the pack now.

I know it's not binary and there's no evidence that the same would happen to us, but if our squad is struggling to be strong enough to qualify, how would it compete?

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. 

Has to be 7 minimum for me. 

11 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

It's such a contagious club. I imagine she may be saying to her nine year old one day, "it was at your age that I fell in love with this club," 

I really hope we can still watch the Villa in the afterlife. 

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.  

14 hours ago, Aston_Villan4 said:

Is Kamara alright? That’s all I care about.

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!  

3 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

The club are definitely looking at shuttle bus services - the problem at the moment being the movement of busses once they get close to Villa Park and the time it takes for that first mile on the journey home.

At the moment, if they were to put busses on, the best way they'd have to get people out and underway in the quickest possible time would be to have those busses pick up either on the bus lane near Aston station or at somewhere like Perry Barr one-stop - that's a rubbish solution, but the problem is that if you were to run a shuttle bus from the North Stand car park, it'd take you twenty-five minutes for it to get to Aston station or to the island at six ways - finding ways to get busses in and out of Villa Park is the difficult bit.

It's the same with taxis, if you're headed to the city centre once you've walked far enough away from Villa Park to get to a place where taxis can move at any kind of speed, you're already halfway there.

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? 

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.  

6 hours ago, Made In Aston said:

You would have thought at least 8 wins would be needed.

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. 

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)...

1 minute ago, Rugeley Villa said:

That’s a bit blurry that one, first ever time I spent the night in a police cell. Had a cracking black eye too. 

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. 

4 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

The Arsenal final the other year was infuriating. Having played so well against Liverpool to not turn up in the final was shameful. Honestly thought that was our year. 

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. 

8 minutes ago, cheltenham_villa said:

i dont think Cash covered himself in glory, but really what is he supposed to do. He was so often 2 on 1 with no support.

My feeling is that Unai has often taken Bailey out of the team for this reason. Great attacking output but no defensive discipline. 

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?

1 hour ago, El Segundo said:

67 years and counting but listening to radio on the way to the game one guy mentioned we'd got one FA Cup win in the last 102 years.   It's actually the last 104 years now we're out of this one.  Still better than Blues but as a top flight club for most of that time law of averages should have seen us win it at least two or three times.  

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.

13 hours ago, Brumstopdogs said:

It will be soon.  I can understand those that didn't want an FA Cup run, we didn't have the squad depth to go on all three fronts and injuries haven't helped, but it is still a trophy that I really do want to see us win. 

Worryingly similar to how the Newcastle game went and our visitors on Sunday will see their chances of a win, as much more likely following those two performances. UE picked a full strength team last night and will have been as disappointed, as those of us that witnessed their capitulation. 15 cup finals to go after this to secure CL qualification, which is our primary target. We need to show much more on Sunday and in those remaining games, and to somehow find our missing consistency.    

2 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

It’s weird because the Villans who live less than 10km from VP now have a special halo of awesomeness around them in my mind. I can’t help it. 

9 miles for me now, does that get those of us that miss out on the "halo of awesomeness" thanks to the metric system a "halo of slight smugness" at least?

8 hours ago, leemond2008 said:

2 miles now. 

Used to be even closer than that, when I was a kid I'd sit in the back garden when we were playing cuz I could hear the roar when we scored. 

So could I from 2 miles away (but less as the crow flies). It was a great to hear the crowd roar!

11 hours ago, maqroll said:

Great for our goal difference, which might be play a part in this story at the end of the season. Hopefully this scoring explosion jumpstarts our attack. Would love big wins against our next two opponents.

So would I, but I will gladly take any sort of wins. 

34 minutes ago, Kingman said:

Just put another £10m on his price tag 

There is no price tag, he's priceless and he's not for sale to anyone. 

22 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Does anyone know the injury? What is it?

Whatever it was, his recovery from it is taking longer than was anticipated, as was/is the case with Ramsey and anyone else these days. We simply can't afford to be without our starters. That said, we also can't rush them back before they are ready. Catch 22 isn't it? 

3 hours ago, PeterSw said:

And Zaniolo. I don't think we'll sign him permanently 

I think we might. Who knows, his goals may make the difference in the run-in?

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

 

He would say that though, wouldn't he?