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RichW

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Everything posted by RichW

  1. RichW
    When the draw was made I felt confident Villa would get through this over 2 legs. Even after the poor performance last Thursday I would have taken a 0-0 away from home in Europe but I think the Spurs performance has deflated me. Man Utd, Spurs and Chelsea at home this season - big games where people expected us to win and we've come away with 2 battering's and a last minute defeat. I wouldn't say we've been particularly convincing at home in the group stage either so don't know what to expect tonight. Just please don't go to pens.
  2. RichW
    Wary over criticising individual players as Mcginn and Bailey have proved me wrong but from what I have seen from Zaniolo this season is I'm not really sure what he is particularly good at. From the very limited minutes Rogers has had since we bought him in January I can see why the club have brought him in and hopefully he should get some more playing time whilst Ramsey is out and develop into a player who will can play in Emery's system. Diaby is struggling right now but at least at the start of the season we saw what he brings to the team and hopefully next season he will adapt better. Sure there is probably a decent enough player in there in Zaniolo but for a team with aspirations for challenging for Europe in the Premier League I don't think he is good enough. Does seem to very good at collecting yellow cards though.
  3. RichW

    Title race 2023/4

    RichW replied to Jareth's topic in Villa Talk

    Don't see any reason why Villa would be considered title challengers next season. As Newcastle have shown, it will be difficult enough for us to try and replicate this season.
  4. RichW
    People will post about our form not being great since the Man City/Arsenal games but it seems evident that we were over performing up to that point and now the league is balancing itself out. Bit like the media was getting carried away with Spurs after those first 10 games where they won 8/10, they were over performing. We will finish where we deserve at the end of the season whether that’s 4th, 5th or 6th. Personally think 10 games is a lot of football to still be played and there will be twists and turns for both sides over that time. 5 wins 2 draws 3 losses is what I predict but difficult to tell what position that is going to be good enough for.
  5. RichW
    If I remember correctly Newcastle got fortunate with injuries and don't recall them having any long term injuries to their first choice 11? Apart from Isak before the world cup I think they could field their first choice 11 week in week out and also had the luxury of having a week between each game. Newcastle didn't have Europe last season - makes what we are doing more impressive tbh.
  6. RichW
    Neutrals/Media will no doubt now have Spurs as favourites for 4th which is fair enough and will no doubt read over the next few weeks articles with Opta saying Spurs are x% favourites for finishing top 4 but I am just going to take the view there's a lot of football to be played yet. If we had won yesterday, whilst it would have been a healthy position to be in, it wouldn't have meant Villa were nailed on to finish top 4. It was a good win for Spurs so fair play to them, the main damage from yesterday is we are going to miss Mcginn for three difficult games. It was really annoying losing Kamara for a silly red card for three games and whilst everybody has their own opinion on whether it was a red it's annoying Mcginn gave the referee a decision to make. We've bounced back from defeats well before, granted we are now without Mcginn for 3 games and we are playing away at a ground we struggle at, Wolves who are our bogey team and away to Man City will probably have to win to keep up with the title race but I think Emery gets us a decent-ish points total out of them 3. Just got to stay close to Spurs over the next four fixtures and put ourselves in a position to pounce on their difficult second half of April/May. If they are still 4th after that Liverpool game then they fully deserve 4th and we haven't been good enough in our final 10 games. Also would be nice if English clubs got their act together in Europe so 5th gets Champions League just to make it a bit more comfortable towards the end of the season.
  7. RichW
    Had better afternoons at Villa Park for sure. Walking to the ground and saw the line up wasn’t too sure on the formation we were playing but I just think we gave too much respect to Spurs with that line-up. Can sort of understand why he did it, the Ajax game clearly had an impact on some of the players. Watkins, Bailey, Luiz, Konsa, Digne all looked off it today from what I saw. The first half was OK, neither team really did anything great. Second half it just got worse and worse. Seem to have a habit of when conceding once we concede a second quite quickly after. Happened under Smith, Gerrard and is now happening under Emery. That’s Newcastle, Chelsea, Forest, Luton and Spurs it’s happened in recent times. First goal is crucial in our games it seems, when we go behind it’s seems inevitable that we aren’t going to mount a come back and the atmosphere goes flat. Looking at the Mcginn challenge from the upper Doug Ellis it looked like he was really frustrated when he committed the challenge, not surprised it was a red and it won’t be overturned (doubt the club will appeal anyway). Now have to go into the next three games without him and leaves us down to the bare bones in midfield. Now time to bounce back at a ground we struggle at.
  8. RichW
    I know its only took till recently league table wise but I’ve always thought the top 3 were in a group of their own all season even when we beat them both and now the table is starting to show that. All 3 are just really consistent. I guess if one of those teams goes 2 games without winning all of a sudden they could find themselves out the title race. For the neutral hope all 3 can keep it up till the last few games to make the title race exciting. Spurs fans are 5 points behind us and still think they can finish above Arsenal!
  9. RichW
    The game I expected beforehand. Wasn’t pretty, think Ajax would have seen this as their biggest game of the season since they can’t win the league this year. Away games in Europe are tough and we won’t just rock up and win comfortably, this is the first European campaign for a lot of these players. Favourable position for the second leg with it being at home, expect the team to get the job done next week.
  10. RichW
    Sometimes think back to the summer of 2020 and imagine if we signed Callum Wilson instead of Watkins. £33 million well spent.
  11. RichW
    People over the past month or so have tried to give a rough estimate of our FFP situation but I guess once the club have announced the accounts the experts will be able to paint the picture of our FFP situation more clearly. That Ramsey story coming out a few days before the window shut doesn’t seem random to me and maybe the club trying to soft leak the fact a key player will be sold this summer means fans expect it over the following 5 months rather than it being a shock. Think when the club announce the accounts the main headline will be record turnover but will try and shove the negative stuff at the bottom.
  12. RichW
    With clubs starting to announce their accounts expect this thread to be lively next week.
  13. RichW
    I'm just enjoying the moment and not thinking about post-Emery yet. It will get to a point where he will be poached by a club that appeals to him or results will nosedive and he will get sacked but whenever that does happen I think the club is such an attractive project for anybody. When Dean Smith got sacked, the list of managers that Villa were linked with wasn't exactly exciting whereas I don't think Villa will have that problem post-Emery.
  14. RichW
    Feel like the media have gone a bit over the top with the reporting of the UEFA rankings table today. It's still widely expected England will be in the top 2, can't help that all the remaining English clubs topped their group so don't play this play off round.
  15. RichW
    Christ could you imagine this place if Villa didn't sign anybody this summer?
  16. RichW
    If Spurs are 4th after that Liverpool game then I don't think we can have much complaints. Newcastle (A), Man City (H), Arsenal (H), Liverpool(A) is a horrific run of fixtures to have in a row and is where we need to make sure we are above them if we want to finish top 4. They will be playing title challengers three games on the bounce and also have Chelsea(A) to be rescheduled somewhere.
  17. RichW
    West Ham and Villa both topped their groups so I think that means the second leg for both teams will be at home. First leg being away is probably inconvenient for us since its Spurs at the weekend. Hopefully West Ham don't have a new manager by then.
  18. RichW
    Person your on about Tom Julian took up a job working for the Bundesliga and was contractually not allowed to work on the podcast no more hence the sudden departure. Bardell explained this when he was on the Claret and Blue podcast last summer explaining the change from The Villa View to 1874 podcast. Noticed Tanswell has featured more often recently on there. Really enjoying his pieces this season and listening to him on the podcast. Be interesting if the The Athletic take Evans off Villa completely next season in which wouldn't really need to see him on the podcast then.
  19. RichW
    Saw a tweet yesterday that judging by the defence yesterday the original plan at the start of the season would have been Konsa Pau Mings Moreno. Was obviously concerned about two left footers before the game yesterday as you don’t really see it but I didn’t see anything hugely concerning with it so wouldn’t be surprised if that’s the first choice option for next season. Obviously will have to see how it fares over the next few games!
  20. RichW
    Think I heard on a podcast, not sure if it’s 1874 or Claret and Blue that Emery is wary about playing Bailey and Diaby for 90 minutes because they rely on their pace and it’s more common for them to pick up muscle injuries. I guess they have all the data in front of them so they know how long to play them.
  21. RichW
    Just got to accept we are going to have good weeks and bad weeks. We can all try and predict how fixtures go but the league will throw up surprise results. Expected a draw today just because of our poor record there and with the injuries this week but up until their goal which we could have avoided it was a comfortable afternoon and I didn’t feel like the system played left us exposed (compared to the Newcastle/Chelsea games). Knew Wolves wouldn’t be an easy game for Spurs but again saw Cunha ruled out with injury during the week and thought that would leave them short but fair play they go to Spurs and win, didn’t expect that especially when they made it 1-1. Just need to back up today’s win with a win against Forest. Be good to make this 2/3 wins in a row and possibly put together an unbeaten run although this will be difficult. With Spurs not playing next week, going 5 points clear of them going into our game with Luton and them playing a Palace under a new manager will put a bit of pressure on them to win. Man Utd will probably win today but at least our result has put pressure on them needing to win. One slight frustration from todays game was Palhinha getting booked so his suspended for Man Utd v Fulham next weekend, they’ve caused Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton issues away from this season but his gonna be a big miss for that game.
  22. RichW
    I thought the same before we played West Ham and put them to the sword. Cunha ruled out for the season by the looks of it so they are a striker down who has just hit form. They need Neto to stay injury free for the rest of the season. Got to factor in once the league table hits 30-32 games - some of these mid-table sides will start to see the beach in the distance. Can't qualify for Europe and not going to go down. Of course this works for Spurs/Man Utd aswell.
  23. RichW
    Looking at their fixtures and I feel like I am being generous with some of the wins. More then capable of dropping points against Luton, Fulham, Palace and losing to Brentford, Chelsea and Bournemouth. Plus they will have some mid-week games the further they go in the FA cup. Luton - W Fulham - W Man City - L Everton - W Sheff Utd - W Brentford - D Chelsea - D Liverpool - L Bournemouth - D Newcastle - D Burnley - W Palace - W Arsenal - L Brighton - L
  24. RichW
    If I had to make an attempt at predicting the rest of the season this is what I think it would be. Only one I've left is the Palace game because it will be dependant on what sort of result we/Palace need going into the game. Spurs/West Ham games back-to-back are key I feel, even if we could win one of those it would help us a lot (preferably the Spurs game). Forest, Wolves, Brentford, Bournemouth and Chelsea are home games I feel we should be winning (I know Chelsea just beat us comfortably but I back Emery not to make the same mistake twice). Don't see us picking up anything away to Man City, Arsenal, Brighton (will probably want to owe us one for the 6-1) and Liverpool usually beat us at Villa Park. Anything in those games are a bonus to me. If football was predictable we'd all be rich so it will no doubt be a case we drop points unexpectedly but pick up points elsewhere. 21 points going into the Palace game could have us top 5 sealed before the last game right?
  25. RichW
    Just looking at some of the teams that have been challenging for the Champions League in recent years Leicester 19/20 - 3 wins in the last 13 games. After 25 games 12 points clear of 5th. (COVID break wasn't helpful granted) Leicester 20/21 - 4 wins in the last 13 games. After 25 games 6 points clear of 5th Spurs 22/23 - 4 wins in the last 13 games. After 25 games 4 points clear of 5th (granted Newcastle had 2 games in hand) Looking at probably our closest season under MON to qualify for the Champions League 08/09 - 2 wins in the last 13 games (Went 9 games without a win). After 25 games 7 points clear of 5th. I picked game week 25 to start from because that is what the league table is going to be up to after this weekend but as you can see those teams had poor end of the seasons which is why they missed out. If Villa were to have similar last 13 games this season then we don't deserve to finish in the Champions League places however I'm pretty confident Emery won't have us go on a run that bad. Kamara/Konsa injuries have been deflating but we are still in a healthy position.
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