MarkLillis

30 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I bet they hate it that we are back on top and they are back jn the slums and we are the reason why. 

They thought it would last forever.They had their time but for now they are going to have to be a bit more humble.

we know what they are

Anyone think that Mark Albrighton might return?

At 30 he may just have the right balance of experience and fitness that we need.Seeing as he spends his days off from Leicester watching from the Holte End it could be an easy sell

16 hours ago, Mantis said:

In the new Wembley, just the one - the 2015 semi-final.

Our record there is pretty **** awful though:

2-1 defeat to Man United in LC final

3-0 defeat to Chelsea in FA Cup semi-final

2-1 victory over Liverpool in FA Cup semi-final

4-0 defeat to Arsenal in FA Cup final

1-0 defeat to Fulham in play-off final.

 

Or to put it another way, in the three finals we've had there, we've conceded 7 goals and scored one, and that was a penalty.

On the other hand, this is the first time we've actually been favourites at the new Wembley.

 

Personally I'm not very confident, but then again I was confident against West Brom, and I wasn't confident in most of the games we won during our winning streak.

It’s not often we go into a Wembley final against a team that finished below us in the league either.

See above all games against top four premier sides.....then last year we played the most in form team in the division to top it off.

If we could have picked our opponents 9/10 Villa fans we have picked Derby!

I think that the difficulty finding space to play over the two legs was a lot to do with the Baggies approached the game.We did run down a lot of blind alleys and there were quite a few potshots from outside the area also.Im not sure it was the form of the players generally dropping though, because they had to play well in a different kind of way and was to do with the level of performance of the opposition.

It would be nice to take the lead in the final this time even if it’s against the run of play.

As we have seen a goal Can galvanise a team a lead to an overall improvement over the 90 minutes.UTV

Baggies fans fuming...Mr Tumble they call him.

I though it was a very good performance by them. They know they cant take us on at football so they use other means and it very nearly worked.

But their fans are so obsessed with us, it affects their judgement! 

We were passing along the edge of the box during the majority of our attacks.

One of those passes would fall to Whelan who would take a touch and spread it out wide. It was a pattern of play the West Brom were very used too...and comfortable defending.

Id argue that this is why Hourihane had so much space for the goal.

If....and its a big if, this entered Dean Smiths thought pattern when he made the substitution then it was a very smart move!

There are not many  opposition fans who think highly of Jack.

They almost without exception think that he "dives, goes down easily etc. etc."

As fans and players of the opposition get more and more wound up (like yesterday!) I find myself watching the game and saying to myself " well just stop kicking him then " but of course they cant as they need to stop him playing.

Its catch 22 and I'm glad he is on our side!

Chester will be comfortable alongside Ming's.

He is happier when he has a more vocal player alongside him.

I know he was playing for a while whilst injured but I do think that part of his problems this season were that he had to take on Terry's role.

7 hours ago, terrytini said:

I don’t recall ever seeing a performance like Mcginns in the Second Half.

Agreed.He was just immense!

Whichever way you look at it,Dean Smiths results with a (more or less) full squad available are more than enough for a top six finish.

There are 7 games to go and it looks like the turnaround in form is here to stay.

Does anyone think his persistence with playing a style suited to Jack Grealish.....even though he wasn’t on the pitch,has helped the team click now that he is back?

I’m not working with any noses.

What is their view?

How are they reacting?

In my experience yesterday a new low for them....but also in my experience what Villa fans see as a low they see as an achievement....

3 hours ago, Rugeley Villa said:

Upper Trinity open for this weekends game against Derby. There is still around 1500 left elsewhere in the ground, so won’t be many up there in the Trinity upper. Still it looks like there will be 35+ there. 

So....35000+ fro a home game on a Friday night live on SKY. Full house against the Baggies and another 35000 plus attendance due Saturday. All this during one of our worst runs of results in recent memory.

But talk to a Blues or Baggies fans and........"Villa fans need to realise they are not a big club anymore!"

Their lack of awareness for basic facts is amazing.... 

2 hours ago, Mark_1989 said:

Shows how far we’ve fallen - people have come to accept us in this league.

I think we have to accept it is a tough league and we only a mid table side in it.

Of course we shouldn’t accept the poor performances which are putting us there...or should we because our job is to support through good and bad times?

Is that the issue here? We have a poor squad of players and we know that performances aren’t going to be pretty...but yet we still get upset.

so should we be upset or shouldn’t we?

Its all too confusing

On ‎17‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 18:57, Zatman said:

not having a go at you but I hate this attitude and it actually a problem Villa fans have that big clubs have some divine right to be in a league BUT Leeds are not really a team to even contest that. 24 teams have spent longer in top flight than Leeds including Burnley, blues, Sheffield United and Bolton

Actually 11 Championship clubs have spent more seasons in top flight than Leeds and one League 1 team

Interesting!

I have always though of them as a provincial club that had occasional periods of success...but try voicing that opinion and most football fans will say how much of a big club they are!

There is still a lot of football left to play this season.

But we have created a situation where we have to play like champions to get 6th place

Whilst I wont rule  out a change in form when our injury's start to clear up. I am now more interested in seeing some evidence of a more long term plan.

I think this will Saturday will be interesting at Stoke  because we go in without Jack Grealish or John McGinn.

I wonder what the plan is?

The ONLY thing that will fix the problems is better results on the pitch.

The fans can not get on the pitch and play so it has to come from Dean Smith and the players.

I could go something like this.....

1.Players show commitment and small improvements to all round game but results are still bad =most fans will notice this and have some hope therefore a better atmosphere

2.The improved commitment and better performances mean slightly better results = even more fans notice the improvement and now fans have real hope and there is louder atmosphere with anticipation in the air.

3. Players are confident playing well and getting results - full houses,loud proud support and the kind of Nirvana that some fans in this thread think should be a given!

Please tell me how else this can happen?

3 hours ago, hippo said:

Lambert got a new contract didn't he ? 

I was thinking about the treatment he got from us...the supporters!

We have got to tough this one out.

I don’t know if Dean Smith is the man for the job,how can anybody yet? Of course it looks bad now and the fact that we have not reacted to the loss of Jack in any obvious(to me...) way has sown the first seeds of doubt in my mind.

We should haves started to rebuild when we went down,now it’s upto Dean and I hope he’s not treated like Paul Lambert was!

3 minutes ago, Merson08 said:

The lad I sit next to at work is a Norwich fan and he reckons it all comes down to Farke. Some very astute signings and his use of the youth players has made Norwich this good. Its a culmination of players that has clicked with youth of Cantwell, Buendia, Aarons and Lewis mixed well with the experienced pros of Krul, Vrancic, Pukki, Hernandez and Klose. 

Ugh even contemplating how many would get into the Villa team would be depressing.

Still Grealish would out do them all! 

I agree, he seems to be a very good judge of a player and how they fit into his team. Norwich are impressive as a whole,  not sure about the same players if they were scattered around at different clubs though?

This type of team building works well at the lower levels I think.

In a similar way to Wagner at Huddersfield, the premier league may well be his undoing...

19 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yes look at Norwich they sold their best player and playing better. 

The Villa way is relying on one or two of your better players not a team. Look at us gagging for grealish tk come back. We should have enough quality to survive when he is injured but we haven't. We also are relying too much on Tammy another problem. 

I'm hoping Smith's strategy in summer is havi g a squad able to cope without one or two players. That what he had at brentford and that's what I expect we will be next season. 

Yes agreed.

But they replaced him with Emi Buendía I wonder how their season pans out if he was injured for  3 months?

14 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Guys...11 minutes. Let's give him a little more time eh?

11 minutes is more than enough time.....most players are written of before they kick a ball.

Why should Tom be any different?

3 hours ago, LondonVillian said:

Once again wild estimations gaining 6 points on the top 2 what kind of nonsense is that?

It's not giving up hope its being realistic and not looking at everything with rose tinted glasses. 

Have you seen us play recently ? Awful performances since Christmas - we scrapped passed the team rooted to the bottom of the league. 

We have signed no FB's which is quite clearly our weakest position on the pitch. 

Don't worry though we will easily catch Leeds when they loose the next 10 games, absolute drivel. 

The question I’m trying to ask is why be so down in your own team?

How do you enjoy the game when you have no hope before the start?

As Villa fans we recently supported a side that was beaten before it started (2015) it was horrible....now we are in a lower division agreed but this team is far from hopeless.

Despite your arguments to the contrary we have a very good chance of promotion along with around 10 other teams...some of whom have a better chance than us and some of whom don’t but there are 17 games left...so the facts are not decided!

On ‎31‎/‎01‎/‎2019 at 12:34, abdulaziz1 said:

We will need a bit of form anyway. But when you look at it there is a big difference between Wolves and Leeds who are supposed to be the best this season.

Derby who were second barely got to the playoffs.

What I’m trying to say is that all teams are dropping points this season. More than last season.

Saying that its still going to be a hard season. 

Agree.

Lets say in ten games time we could have gained 6 points on the top two.....never mind the top 6!

We would be 6 points of automatic with 7 games to go....that's  really not to much of a leap for the imagination is it?

What I find hard is how easily people want to give up hope. Why does it happen?

As football fans we cant influence anything so how much fun can you have without hope?

I'm going to look on the up side.

We have two very good players coming back from injury in the next month.

We have signed three new out field players if one of these turns out to be a success then I think the team will improved enough for a good run in.

A very average Hull side went to the best side in this division and won whilst creating a run of  6 straight wins.

There is absolutely NO reason why Villa cannot do the same at anytime.