HanoiVillan

Just now, Nabby said:

Yeah thank god we only had to play Arsenal ..away ..piss easy game that propping up our points total.

 

TBF, he's not wrong that winning that football match has made our form over the last 6 games look better than it would have done if we'd lost it. 

I wonder if he ever regrets the Dendoncker loan at all. It's been completely pointless - has he played even a single minute? - and it feels like we've been left very light in central midfield. Of course no-one could predict Kamara getting a season-ending injury, but it hasn't taken much in the way of injury or suspension to leave us with no fresh options whatsoever. 

2 minutes ago, Nabby said:

You would think we where bottom four not top 4 reading some comments ..

 

It's not about what we've achieved (a huge amount), it's about how we look dead on our feet and have been very poor for three games in a row. Tiredness isn't an excuse, it's just a fact. We're gassed. 

2 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

No kids in the starting 11 tonight unlike Newcastle who played 17 year old miley when no fit players or Liverpool who played 4 kids in a carabao cup final (and won)

Is it possible that Lewis Miley is just uncommonly good, and that none of our youth players are equivalent?

If 67 points is enough, we finish 4th. If it isn't, we finish 5th. 

We're done for the season IMO, this team doesn't look remotely like getting anything off Liverpool or Palace. 

1 minute ago, villan95 said:

Only 4 mins added. The free kick alone took longer than that (probably)

It did (5 minutes).

1 minute ago, maltesemike said:

We've struggled to break teams with a low block.. highly unlikely we're gonna do that with 3 goals today are we? 

In all seriousness, maybe a 1% chance? It ain't happening. 

Just now, The_Steve said:

Concerns about this match fixing ref confirmed 

We don't need any help to lose this game.

8 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

The random punishments and appeals happening all over the place are already making a mockery of these rules. 
 

A club being able to settle out of court for, presumably, a far more lenient punishment would put the nail in the coffin of any respect these rules carry. 
 

It would be a complete farce 

There aren't 'random punishments and appeals' happening. All of the cases have happened for a reason, and in each case a judgement has been published explaining in painstaking detail how they reached the verdict they reached. Every time I've read these they've been logical, and seem to be the outcome of a good-faith effort to find a balance between enforcing the rules and accepting legitimate mitigations.

On the other hand, I would absolutely agree that the way the media has talked about these cases very much gives the impression that there are 'random punishments and appeals happening all over the place', and that is what has doomed PSR: it has no legitimacy in the eyes of fans because media have misinformed fans, and because fans don't care enough to find out for themselves. For all the moaning about people breaking the rules, it turns out the only thing fans hate more than clubs doing the crime is anyone being punished for them later.  

6 hours ago, sne said:

It's for the benefit of a childrens hospital so I'll let it slide but this an awful kit to play and likely lose in.

Rubbish. 

3 hours ago, rbcuk said:

Arsenal away 

Rubbish. 

3 hours ago, rbcuk said:

Atletico Madrid

Rubbish. 

4 hours ago, mottaloo said:

mate !!!

 

He's not wrong, that is very literally unbelievable. 

I'm happy for him though. Or sorry that happened. 

4 minutes ago, S-Platt said:

Hull sacking Rosenior is bizarre I think he will do well wherever he ends up.

Those owners are consistently stupid. Yes they tailed off toward the end of the season, but it seemed from the outside like he was building something that would pay off in time. Rosenior is a smart guy and I hope he picks his next club wisely because I'd like to see him do well. 

15 minutes ago, Genie said:

Whenever I see these clips of Goldbridge’s tantrums I’m waiting for his wife to open the door to tell him to pack it in or she’s turning the lot off.

I'm still struggling to come to terms with realising he does these videos in his PJ's. Dunno why, but I find it troubling. 

5 hours ago, Davkaus said:

I am also surprised people don't spend ages talking about us after we've played in what can only be described as a match of football that technically happened.

Why would anyone even *want* to be talked about after yesterday's game, is my question. What do people imagine the media would say? 'Well Villa were shit, weren't they'. 

8 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

They'll probably get into Europe now so that likely keeps Pochettino in a job.

I read somewhere they've managed to fiddle it so the 55m for Mount goes in the books for this summer instead, didn't he join Man. United before 1st July last summer? Also got money coming in for Hall for Newcastle and will sell Maatsen to Dortmund for 35m so there's plenty there and probably just needs one more sale.

The Mount deal went into last year's PSR calcs. I agree they've got some money coming this summer, but think they'll need to sell quite a few. 

1 hour ago, markavfc40 said:

Having had time to reflect I can't deny that like the rest of us I'm disappointed as my hope from today was obviously that we'd win and Spurs would lose and it would be all tied up. Pretty much second prize though was that we didn't concede any ground to them and we haven't. In fact we've gained a +1 in terms of GD. 

We could have won today and so could have Spurs and we'd still be in the position we are now but I'd say that would have been a worse outcome as it would have meant Spurs had halted a win less run and gained confidence from beating Liverpool. As it is they go into their next game against Burnley, who also have to go all out for a win, having lost four on the spin and in doing so having conceded 13 goals.

I get the pessimism from some of us as it is also a defense mechanism but there is also no dressing it up Spurs are in dire form and it is going to be some going to turn that around and take 7 or 9 points from their next 3 games having only taken 7 points from their last 8 games and 0 points from their last 4. 

 

Excellent post. Re the middle paragraph, I still think the idea that Spurs are sure to roll over Burnley is too confident. Yes, Burnley got a shoeing from Newcastle the other day, but then again so did Spurs a couple of weeks back. Before that Burnley were in decent form, and as you say they'll be scrapping for their lives. Not to say they won't probably win, but it's far from guaranteed. 

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

Where should they be finishing?

They've been the victims of their own early success really. 5th would probably have been seen as a good effort at the start of the season, but a lot of their fans really started to believe they were in a title race (in a very different way to ours) so the second half of the season probably feels like a massive let-down. I imagine there's also a sense among the fanbase that he's been kind of found out tactically at this point. 

2 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Interesting they've started scoring far more since Enzo Fernandez got injured.

He's a good player but I feel he slows them down a bit too much. Better balance with Palmer at number 10 and two quick wide players so wouldn't shock me if they offer him around Europe although no idea who'd even want to pay the fee they'd want.

They still need not far off £80m to make a book profit on him so I'm skeptical there's many plausible destinations. 

2 hours ago, Genie said:

Moyes must be hours away from the sack 

Would be pretty crass to sack him two games before the end of the season when there's not much riding on it. His contract isn't being renewed though. 

42 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Essentially it is what you said though. I am guessing by revise my expectations you mean I should be happy finishing 5th and going out of the semis of the Conference, which is practically giving up given we are in pole position to get 4th even after today.

 

I won't be told to grow up so if you say that to me one more time you're going on ignore. Or actually why don't you put me on ignore and save me the hassle.

If you want to know what I mean by 'revise your expectations', a better idea would be to ask rather than assume. In fact, what I mean is not you should be happy finishing 5th - nobody would be *happy* with that, from here - but that we probably won't get a positive result in our remaining games. Luckily we probably already have enough points for 4th, so it doesn't really matter. But I also think we can all prepare to be disappointed on Thursday night as well. The players don't have it in them at this stage. 

Just now, Leeroy said:

See, you've got personal and I haven't. So instead of reproaching me for being frustrated, disappointed, angry for us not turning up at a crucial stage of the season, maybe you should work on your own way of dealing with some people's negative emotions. 

 

And no, I won't revise my expectations. I still maintain that if we finish 5th from here on in, we have bottled it just like so many other seasons we have been in this position and failed to get over the line. 

I'm sorry you're annoyed by me pointing out that 'Ok let's just give up and concede the season then' is a childish reaction, but it is. It's also not a paraphrase of anything anyone has said. Grow up. 

3 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

Ok let's just give up and concede the season then.

You can react childishly if you want, but if your thesis is there should be absolutely no detriment to the players from having played more matches then you're just obviously wrong. 

We shouldn't give up, but you probably need to revise your expectations substantially downwards for the rest of the season. 

2 minutes ago, Leeroy said:

We have 8 out they have 9.

 

Us: Ramsey, Martinez, Mings, Buendia, Tielemans, Zaniolo, Kamara, Rogers.

 

Them: March, Ferguson, Lamptey, Lallana, Milner, van Hecke, Hinshelwood, Mitoma, Estupinan.

 

We clearly need Martinez, Tielemans and Zaniolo back to bolster the squad but it cannot excuse that performance today when we got comprehensively outplayed by a team with worse injuries than ourselves.

We have players out there who've played 15-20% more matches than any of theirs this season. 

9 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I think it’s pretty obvious we’re not going to win another game this season.

Im not even angry. Its been a great effort but we have 11 fit players capable of playing at this level and they’re playing 90 mins every 3/4 days.

We just need to hope Spurs don’t shock us by beating Liverpool or City. 

This is how I see it too. If we can cling on to a point against Palace and don't get too badly beaten against Liverpool then Spurs need two draws or one win against Liverpool and City, it's not a terrible situation for us.