danceoftheshamen

So not long back from the game. A rather frought affair which never looked comfortable in reality against a spikey Leeds team. Could not believe their keeper didn't walk for the denial of a goal scoring opportunity and am really confused by Bailey. He occasionally does something brilliant but then does 3 things which do not belong on a Premier League football pitch! Should have been easier apart from the self inflicted damage we always seem to cause! Their winger did cause problems but we dealt with the balls into the box very well I felt. Some odd refereeing decisions which nearly cost us but overall a Great win.

Hello AP, Welcome to VillaTalk. For me the reason players want to come here in the main is the potential and ambition of Aston Villa. Historically one of the big 6 clubs in England (Although over the last 20 to 30 years you would never know it due to in the main to a very stubborn owner who took over the Champions of Europe and ran us like a corner shop for 35 years!!). Indeed if you look at English football history up until the two World wars, Aston Villa was really right up there as one of the main clubs (1874 - 1920 especially). Even to this day, despite the mediocrity of the last decade or two, we are one of the most successful teams trophy wise in England. So I guess what I am saying is the potential is & always has been there. The fan base is huge too (especially considering the lack of recent trophies). I think the reason a lot of overseas fans don't recognise Villa as a big club is simply that most of our success was prior to the massive global growth which the formation of the Premier League brought about with Sky Sports etc then just banging the Liverpool, Man Utd, Arsenal drum initially & then of course the big money clubs like Chelsea & Man CIty. Villa kind of missed out on this global promotion bandwagon so our name kind of got left behind in the doldrums of time so to speak. Loads of young fans over here even are clueless as to the real size & potential of this club as all they have ever seen is the Sky Sports & general media hype about the same 6 clubs on repeat for 30 years!! Our new owners however are very knowledgeable sporting wise, wealthy and very ambitious. Coupled with the fantastic expansion of the stadium, surrounding area & infastrucure which planning permission has already been granted for the Villa "project" is very exciting. The ground expansion starts later this year and will take Villa Park from 42k to 50+k in stage one & then to over 60k in stage two. There is also a huge 20k+ waiting list for season tickets (which sell out every season) so those extra seats are pretty much already full too. Not bad I would suggest for a club which has stalled somewhat since the 90's. Overall it is very exciting times for this club and with our new top notch coach (Emery) to sort out the playing side all the ingredients are in place which is what is so appealing to players I believe. Of course the money comes into it too but to attract the elite players I believe you really do need to have an exciting future too. I belive Aston Villa has just that. We shocked Europe once before (I was there in Rotterdam 1982) and I believe many global fans who simply don't take us seriously will be shocked over the coming years at the rise of this great club. At least that's what I hope .

That guy was just so weird Black leather jacket with ""Villa have got a Werewolf"" painted on it if I remember correctly?! I remember him well from the away games. He always used to look as though he was really enjoying looking weird and the way people looked at him lol! Mind you my hair at the time was a thing of weirdness too as I remember... all black & spikey.

Also remember "Staffordshire" & "Warwickshire" being chanted along with "The left side v right side" of course which has been mentioned before. See it's those kind of chants I miss, "Cockney scum get out of brum" etc. Used to create a pretty hostile atmosphere. Now it's mainly the same songs sung at almost every ground. Especially by away fans with the "This is a library", "Who are ya", Your support is F*****G S**T etc etc. Just about every set of fans sing those regardless of the ground they're at or what the actual atmosphere is like regardless. I remember a couple of really tall skinny twins who wore the thick rimmed black national health spectacles. They must have been in their late 20's or 30's back in the 80's. But the songs they used to sing were hilarious & so original. They used to go to all the away games too, as did I, and I always used to go stand by them if i saw them as it was such a laugh. I cannot repeat most of the chants as they would now be deemed inappropriate (Another problem with the atmosphere these days I feel). Anyone remember those guys? They used to stand in the Holte too I believe.

Those were the days!

Must admit we do desperately need some fresh songs. I agree that the Birmingham songs are a bit tired too. Not even in the same division and really their main claim to fame is by clinging onto their "rivalry" with us. I mean there's barely anything else in their history really is there! A lot of the older songs for me were much better too than the rather dull current ones. I always thought the "We love you Villa, We do" was ok back in the day although loads of teams started to sing it (Some like Arsenal still do). Then there was "Bells are ringing" which was a real Villa song but seems to have been lost to time. The "Sweet Caroline" & Hi Ho Silver lining are sung by loads of teams Wolves included (Their fans appear to think we nicked them off them). So maybe we need some new material. Moreno needs one for a start! If we get Guenduzi Lord help us with that one though I do like the Coutinho song having said that and also the Ole Ole one as you have stated.

To be fair I have seen some decent atmospheres this season. Man U 3-1 was great. That Stevenage game was diabolical as a spectacle though and the footy was that slow & poor that I can see why the ground fell silent. The Wolves one was awful 1st half but much better second atmosphere wise so clearly the atmosphere is being led by the performance.I think we have a really ageing crowd too in the main due to the derth of fresh blood caused by the Sky bias & our run of poor teams & lack of trophies over the last 20 years. I have noticed too that as the UK becomes more & more multi-cultural the majority of kids are simply glory hunters as they maybe have no connection to the region historically so simply do not buy into the local team thing. As a result the ageing fanbase has less passion & is calmer maybe? Then you have the reactive way peoples brains work now. It's like "If I don't like it i'll instantly turn it off" rather than when I was younger you kind of just went with it more and were generally more patient maybe? I know as a producer that pop music tracks are now a lot shorter as a result of a change in peoples "attention span". I believe this has something to do with it too somehow. A lot of it has been brought about by computers & mobile phones. The answer for me has to start with a successful team. This will attract a new generation of fans who are more tolerant of performances maybe than old gits like me! I must admit having watched the Villa for over 40 years has sapped the belief out of me somewhat and this impacts on my energy on a match day. It's like you get to know the warning signs of a duff performance and instantly lose interest once they appear. Just seen it too many times maybe. Basically a lot are becoming miserable old gits lol! We need the fun & passion back which for me only a new generation of villans can bring (not discounting the many younger fans we already have of course). A good old trophy win should do the trick.

I have to admit that after this last week (Wolves 1st half & that League 2 team we handed the game to yesterday), I am just a little concerned as to the way we are playing. It is just so SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!! Is this an Emery thing? Or are the players simply not doing it? Coz when we play like that it is boring as heck and totally ineffective too. It is just a matter of time until the opponent realizes we are little threat and starts taking a few gambles when we happily will then donate a few chances to them by basically passing them the ball in a dangerous position (Exactly what happened on Sunday)

Regards this Felix fella.....I am actually quite relieved we didn't end up spunking a fortune on a player who has failed to live up to the hype in a slower, easier League & who clearly didn't want to come here anyhow! Suits Chelsea to a tee! I think we should coin a new phrase "The Glory Hunter Player" the same type as a Glory Hunter fan who sees nothing but the media hype and nobody else counts in their head. The net result is a "Chelsea" full of overhyped & underperforming "names" (With the exception of one or two of course).

For me it is far easier to start with who I feel we should keep! I feel the defensive part of this team is a lot closer to being good than the rest. I include defensive midfield in that too. So for me you keep Martinez, Mings, Carlos, Konsa & one of Augustinsson & Digne as cover for a new LB. Ashley Young is still a useful player but only for once a week, so again as a squad player or Bench player (if we have 2 games in the week). Of course he only has a season or so left regardless. I am happy with the Kamara/Luiz part of midfield & clearly we have missed McGinn's energy since he's been out too so I would keep him also. In the rest of the midfield & forward area's only Watkins would be an option from the bench, otherwise the rest can go. So in: Martinez, Carlos, Kamara, Luiz, Mings, Konsa, Watkins (Bench) Young One of Digne & Augustinsson. None of the others am I bothered about.

Well, to a large extent for home crowds I would say yes personally, with maybe a couple of exceptions (Leeds & maybe the Palace Ultra's for example). But that was such a diabolical, dull & slow performance yesterday that I would suggest it would have silenced almost any crowd, the aforementioned included it was so poor, It was shocking in fact. I was at the back of the Holte and they actually were trying to get some singing going but it was just so poor it even sucked the life out of them too eventually. I could not believe the snails pace we were playing at, especially against a League two team!!! They were parking the bus quite clearly and it's obvious that the way you get though that is with quick play. I could not get my head around how wew were expecting to get through them with slow labourious obvious passing. It was actually easy for them to defend. Add to that the disgusting "give the ball away" play which effectively gifted them two goals and you end up with a cup shock. It was a pityful performance. Absoltely self enduced too. Some heads need to roll for that in my view. Aston Villa is better than that.

Was definately a case of the team flattened the crowd for me.

He looked ok I thought amidst a sea of mediocrity. Good finish which got him the MOM from me although that was as much down to the lack of anything else in that Villa performance.

Exactly. He has become a liability. It was similar against Wolves when I counted 6 occasions he needlessly passed straight to a wolves player, often resulting in a dangerous counter. I thought this guy was supposed to be able to thread the eye of a needle with a pass forwards? Clearly this was incorrect!

It does look as though it has all gone to his head a bit. He is big news in Poland right now doing TV commercials etc. Needs to retrieve his head from wherever it is at the moment.

Digne is another one who can go for me. Augustinsson is one dimensional. Clearly cannot take on his man and every single time turned inside to cross with his right (poorly). Beundia just constantly gives the ball away, Bailey I agree on but I just don't see remotely enough from our forward players, not even close. It's slow, ponderous, no cutting edge, poor in the air, poor at set pieces, poor shooting from outside the box, poor finishing inside the box, no pace... i mean there literally is not much left. Of course every now & then something goes in but it really does have to be a lot, lot better if we are serious about progressing.

It's the entire forward players for me. They are atrocious. Buendia, Bailey, Watkins. Coutinho, Ings (poor today). Really poor for me the lot of em. What quite you do with that lot if you're Emery I really don't know. I would seriously bin the lot of them & start again.

Good Bye, Times up i'm afraid for me regards Bailey. You can add Buendia to that list too along with a few others..

After that absolute heap of turd, it is for me personally time up now for Bailey, Buendia, Augustinsson, Chambers, Olson, and a few others too. Absolutely disgusting performance.

Talking of different characteristics.....I would love us to be more of a threat in the air and to see more pace as others have already mentioned. Watkins is good at the press and the physical side of the game, Ings is our best finisher but I would love to see us score from crosses with headers much more than we do. As for pace we must do better than seeing our striker outpaced by central defenders as was the case against Wolves.

Just said on talksport that we have just signed some player from Arsenal? Young player I think? edit it was for the ladies someone called, knobbs apparently

Well I think two of those had already peaked for them & were on their way down regardless & the other was a bit nuts so a bit different really.

It does look as though Villa's "time" is lining up to be the season after next. I just cannot see it happening majorly until then. Next season by the sounds of it will see construction going on and possibly only 3 stands open so that will be weird.

Dunno what happened to him today, he was doing good things apart from the key moments which he fluffed in quite embarrassing fashion. It was like a total lack of composure / panic at the key moments.

Amazing how their rubbish players have suddenly become decent since the oil money rocked up.... wonder why that is then? Could it be the difference between thinking "Oh I;m playing for a bottom half Prem team" or "Oh hang on... If I don't start perfoming now i'm going to be ousted from the richest club in the World" Or is it the mastery of their manager? I'll let you decide I think a few of our players need to realise the same issue applies here for the large part.