MikeAVFC

Honestly this season is bonkers. I've gone from having hope to no hope to lots of hope again! Bournemouth look virtually gone, Watford are in turmoil off the pitch with managers and a hard last 2 games. In a weird kind of way we seem the most together out the three. That alone could save us. Feeling a lot more hopeful than I was immediately after Everton have to say. Can really see us sneaking this on goal difference on the last day  believe folks! 

Think we'll grind out a draw and keep it alive till the last day. 1-1

I'm feeling really confident for some reason. Can see us nicking it 0-1 giving us yet more hope.

On 14/07/2020 at 12:10, OxfordVillan said:

Mike, I really hope our players don’t go into this fixture with the same mindset. We’ll get beaten if they do.

Oh no, of course they can't, they need to be level headed and prepare for a tough game. But reality is, we have an opportunity to get a huge and unexpected shot at survival. This is the easiest game left on paper for us, a side with nothing to play for. 

These are on the beach, huge huge huge opportunity that we must take. 

**** hell lads, talk about playing with emotions. All of a sudden I have hope again  

25 minutes ago, PaddytheVillan said:

Palace are a very decent team. It's not like we're playing Norwich.  We've got no chance. 

They are on the beach though, which could help. Wouldn't surprise me if we did pull out a win to give us false hope before the inevitable follows afterwards. 

Frankly not interested in the penalty excuses. Yes it was a horrific decision but the reaction from the team after that was pathetic, no intensity, no urgency, it was a training game for United. Win or bust on Sunday now. Really is last chance saloon but to be honest I'm tired shitless of watching this team. Even if we somehow did pull off the unthinkable big changes need to be made. 

A half arsed Liverpool side clearly on the beach and still beat us comfortably. Had our moments but can't hit a barn door. We're done 

Backlash at the weekend after this scoreline tonight. 

1 hour ago, Farlz said:

 

That's that then. Percy is always bang on. 

If there was ever a time to gamble, it's now. The board have sat on their hands doing nothing, watching this free fall for months. Reality is he should have gone at Christmas but understandably wasn't little over a month after being given that brainless new contract. Supposedly he was close to the bullet before lockdown, now we really do have to act if we are to stand any chance. 

Barring a change of manager, we are 100% done for. I say this as a fan who wanted Smith last season and was delighted when he got the job. However, it's so clear he's out of his depth. That's literally the only hope now. Wolves are a good side, but we literally did not want to know today. Insipid, didn't lay a glove on them and schooled by a WWFC team in first gear. . The guy has run out of ideas, it's clear he's lost the players. My question to the board would be this - do they believe Dean the answer long term, whether we stay up or not? Purslow has said many times in the press in the last 12 months that he's part of the long term future bla bla bla. If the answer is no to that question, then the answer is simple. Get rid now and at least give us some sort of a fighting chance, a short term stop gap till the end of the season then review the long term solution again. However, regardless of what happens with Smith, this squad needs an overhaul yet again. A horrifically unbalanced mess that Smith and co have put together. 

Got a sneaky feeling we could fluke something tomorrow, maybe even a win . No logic to that, just a feeling in me bones. We're due a result   and Wolved have a piss poor record at VP

Absolutely last chance saloon. Lose this and we're done for

Shameful performance, shameful attitude and shameful tactics from a manager that is fast running out of ideas. Utterly amazed that we somehow went in at ht in front. Everything was passive, no movement, no quality, no desire. Literally the only saving grace is Bournemouth and West Ham look just as shit as we do.. That's it. Regardless of what happens, stay up or go down, this head coach is not good enough. Must go at the end of the season whatever happens 

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Been saying this for years.

We need a high profile coach that is able to handle the expectations of the club.

If Leeds can attract Bielsa. If Newcastle can attract Benitez, i can't see a reason to why we can't.

Agree. Providing we manage to stay up I'd like to think we could attract a higher calibre of manager next season. Those clubs have as you say, also Wolves got Nuno in the championship, look where they are now. People can say what they like and call it arrogance or whatever but we are a huge club and therefore will be more attractive than a Burnley/Brighton etc even if we are down the bottom of the table. At the end of the season I'd hope that's what we plan to do. 

It's coming back whether some clubs like it or not. Motivation is key here. It's an awful thing to say in some ways but the break will have done us good. Others around us seem extremely demotivated in terms of a restart (Watford, Brighton to name 2). It was already extremely tight pre the break, now even more so. Before the break I thought we were nailed on gone. Think we have a real chance now if we want it a bit more than the others. Apologies if this seems a bit of a sensitive post re the pandemic but from a pure football pov if we started again in a month or whenever, I'm fairly optimistic we'd get out of it, the players seem pleased to be back. Maybe it's blind optimism but there we go! 

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Somebody said earlier and its true, the Championship isn't being instructed to play on neutral grounds 

Is a lot more derbies or grudge matches in that division that fans will turn up

The athletic confirmed that both Prem and Champ would be neutral. 

https://theathletic.com/1800891/2020/05/08/leagueone-league-two-efl-ppg-coventry/?source=emp_shared_article

"As things stand, however, both the Premier League and Championship are determined to finish this season’s fixtures in neutral stadiums behind closed doors, which would mean all these issues would be settled on the pitch in the top two divisions."

The fact that the club haven't released any sort of statement, 24 hours on from the incident, speaks volumes and suggests there's more to this than meets the eye. What the **** have you done Jack

1 hour ago, Elton said:

Lol. How do you know that? You know he is not our manager right? He could be a poor manager, he could be a great manager. We don’t know because he is not yet a manager..

He's part of the problem. As much to blame as Smith, he's part of the coaching staff that is failing. 

1 hour ago, Elton said:

Unless you are a headline writer I can guarantee that won’t be a headline. I’m not sure anyone should be slightly bothered by such a headline anyway.

Personally if Smith is sacked I’d like to see Terry get the job.

May I ask why? The bloke is just as clueless as the rest of them. Appoint Terry and we effectively wave the white flag, pointless

Just now, DCJonah said:

I keep reading about tactical know how. 

Does tactics make nakamba and luiz stronger and better on the ball? Does it do anything to Engels athleticism or Trezeguet's decision making? 

We have a poor premier league squad. Yes Smith could probably make better decisions, but which players do people think will suddenly improve under a new manager?

Long term, they probably don't. However, in the short term, a different voice, a manager bounce and a tactical plan at least gives us a fighting chance. The stakes are too high for us not to be sounding out managers now. I love Smith, and have backed him all season. However, enough is enough. It's got to a point where change is simply a must now imo. He's not going to turn this around, and we should not just sit here accepting relegation. Reading people saying they don't want Big Sam, time to put this Villa pride nonsense to one side. Needs must, to stay up. Whatever it takes, then re-evaluate in the summer depending what league we're in. Yes his style is shit, but it's a darn sight better than what we've been watching all season and maybe, just maybe, we might actually start to a see a something resembling an organised team as opposed to the chaos we're currently witnessing.