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rubberman

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  1. rubberman

    Unai Emery

    rubberman replied to PeterSw's topic in Villa Talk

    Guy I work with was working at Arsenal when Unai was there. Says he's a really nice fella and would stop and chat with everyone and was really treated badly by the club. Still likes him even after the weekend's result!
  2. rubberman
    They are very bad at podcasting - all talking over each other.
  3. rubberman
    I would not be taking a draw. No easy games and all that, but in the grand scheme of things it doesn't get much more straightforward than against a depleted team who've lost 4 in 5. Also, doesn't this give us another record to break - most wins in a calendar year? Unai loves breaking records.
  4. rubberman
    I find myself conflicted over the United v Liverpool game. I guess in this thread a Liverpool win would be good, but with my Title thread head on a draw would be better. Do our job and see what happens. There's bound to be one upset over the weekend, just make sure it's not us. We'll need to be super focussed not to undo the work of last week.
  5. rubberman

    Unai Emery

    rubberman replied to PeterSw's topic in Villa Talk

    I think this is one of the key things in the Emery revolution. The players all deserve huge credit for all accepting that they can (and will) learn from what Unai has to teach them. You'd maybe expect some not to get it, others not to buy in or hate the analysis etc, but they seem to have universally as a group gone all in. And it happened really quickly. Great teamwork and a sign of some strong leadership and togetherness in the dressing room.
  6. rubberman
    Interesting. I assume a fair few of those must have been during the Gerrard days, so there is almost certain to be improvement.
  7. rubberman
    Crazy to say it, but that looks very pessimistic! Whichever way you look at it I can't see us getting 7 draws - it's not how we are set up. If you extrapolate season to date to the remaining 22, you get W15, D3 and L4, so 83 points. If you look at his entire time with us you still get W14, D3 and L5 for 80 points. And just for completeness, using just last season (which is kind of like-for-like timeframe), W13, D4 , L5 - 78 points. I'm sure someone has a spreadsheet to compare the remaining fixture points vs what we got last season, but I'd be surprised if it gave much of a different picture. Maybe injuries, europe/tiredness will come to bite us in the latter stages of the season, but while Newcastle/Spurs are already looking leggy, we're looking brilliantly managed so far. And maybe expectations are getting too high, but to finish mid-60's would be a pretty big drop-off from here.
  8. rubberman
    Yeah - the fact that we haven't dropped a single point after taking the lead in 11 games is extraordinary. Great, great mentality.
  9. rubberman
    Interesting that the Opta 'supercomputer' now gives us 4.1% chance of winning the title, which is the same as Arsenal and more than Liverpool at the start of the season. We've come a long way, baby. I also like us now being bracketed as 'more obvious contenders' for the CL places: https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/12/who-will-win-the-premier-league-in-2023-24/
  10. rubberman
    I think this season will be a lower winning total than we've seen for a bit. There are more sides in contention (generally) who can take points off the 'top' teams and no standout side looking unbeatable. Apart from the promoted sides pretty much everyone else would fancy their chances in most games. Fulham, Bournemouth, Everton - all mid-table (kind of in Everton's case), but getting results. Arsenal and Liverpool only just getting past Luton, Palace, Fulham etc. You may well be right that we don't have enough and eg City might win 20 in a row or whatever, but I'm on the belief train for now.
  11. rubberman
    Our current form is good enough. We are 2 points off top, and whether calendar year, or since Unai arrived, we are one of the top 2 or 3 sides. Yes, City might go on a run, but equally, they are in more of a 'crisis' than they have been in previous years and as things stand it is in our hands. Everyone is having the odd poor result. It's a tough league. Ours are no worse than the other contenders. There are, at a stretch, 5 clubs still in the title race. We are one. Same with relegation (as Everton will pull away again soon). Agree - top 6 would be OK, but top 5 (and CL) should be the minimum from here. But I don't see why a good tilt at the top spot is unrealistic - just need to keep on what we've been doing.
  12. rubberman
    Go for it. (assuming 'good' soiling rather than 'bad' soiling). Every little helps...
  13. rubberman
    Only in an emergency for me. Stones for City showed on Weds that defenders in midfield isn't a natural fit.
  14. rubberman
    This is excellent from Opta: https://theanalyst.com/eu/2023/12/aston-villa-premier-league-title-chance/
  15. rubberman
    Very impressive to be playing at that level as a 1 year old. Sign him up.
  16. rubberman
    Yeah this. We saw how exposed we were vs Liverpool and Newcastle when we had new players dropped in too soon (through injury). And equally, that eg Pau and Tilemeans have taken a while to reach the levels expected/anticipated. Ideally get one or two in with no pressure to come straight into the side and perform. We are turning into a well-oiled Emery machine and need to keep that process going.
  17. rubberman
    Excellent.
  18. rubberman
    Good results so far tonight. 1 more for West ham wouldn't hurt if I'm being greedy.
  19. rubberman
    I think West Ham should be able to take points off Spurs - they are struggling now. An Everton win would be a lovely bonus. Can't see Liverpool failing to beat Palace at the weekend, Utd at home vs Bournemouth is an easier game and City have Luton so really should get back to winning form. Getting something from Arsenal would be huge.
  20. rubberman
    I've developed a huge man-crush on Pau. Such an elegant player to watch - everything is so calm and cultured.
  21. rubberman
    Agree. But they also had a pretty draining game and we have fresh legs to change things up if Unai sees fit. I fancy we'll see a different approach vs Arsenal - they have proper midfielders so we won't have quite the run of the game there. Can't help but be confident that we can get another result here.
  22. rubberman
  23. rubberman
    Much as I love Ramsey, he doesn't seem to be back to the level needed yet - in his last couple of cameos he's looked well off the pace. I'd keep Tielemans in that role.
  24. rubberman
    Will be good to have Boubs back and fresh. Worried that Cash/Dougie will pick up yellows and miss the Arse game.
  25. rubberman
    1/2 hour time splits are really weird - especially when you have to work with people outside the time zone. Anyway - currently in the optimistic phase of match day. 2-1 Villa. Will no doubt come back and post the opposite in a few hours time as the nerves kick in.
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