turvontour

Sadly, i dont think teams necessarily see us as a big scalp anymore, and equally i dont believe that they up their games for us. However, i feel that we're a lot more disliked in this division than in any season in recent times due to our transfer policy essentially being to take the better players from each team. I can buy in to the idea that Brentford, Barnsley, Forest, Bristol City, Fulham etc will all up their games against us because we have weakened their team, rather than them seeing us as a chance at a giant killing. I mean invariably we're going to be in a lower league position than the teams we play anyway.

I’d imagine that he drowsily rubs his eyes, takes a moment to focus on his lavish surroundings, and then proceeds to p*** himself laughing for the next half an hour. Seriously though I’ve got nothing against Hutton, its Villa and football in general that I’m annoyed at for allowing it.

"A must win game" surely the most annoying phrase in football. This couldnt be any less a must win game, and is probably the least important game of the season so far, as we are to all intents and purposes out of the playoff race and way above the relegation zone. Not having a dig at you John, i just really cant stand that phrase. Was presumably dreamed up by sky to provide some relevance to dreary mid-table nothing fixtures like Saturday's game.

Im pretty irate about the signing too!

2 away wins in 4 days for Lambert and Weimann. We haven’t recorded back to back away wins since 2014. Although, we did have the great Phillipe Senderos marshalling the defence back then which made us more or less impenetrable. Seriously though wtf, don’t know whether to laugh or cry at this stage. Put this in the push for the playoffs thread just for the lols.

I don’t think expectation levels are overly high, most fans are accepting of the fact that we won’t go straight back up. The fact that we are playing clubs like Brentford and not even putting up a fight when a goal down is where the frustration is coming from. There was absolutely zero chance that we were going to turn that around in the second half last night. The players knew it, the manager knew it, and sadly the fans knew it.

Only four teams in the division have won fewer games than us. Doesnt exactly scream promotion at you does it......

Was it an away game today?

How has Green been voted motm by the way, looked well out of his depth for me. Missed a sitter of a header and had a few bursts down the wing with no end product. They were all bad though granted.

Bruce got it wrong and was too stubborn to change it. Could see after 25 mins where the game was heading. Absolutely no desire to turn it around from all quarters. No subs til too late, no player to drag us back into it. Hopefully just a very bad experiment. Saddest thing for me is that losing 3-0 to Brentford doesnt even come as a surprise.

He looks like he's lacking belief for me. Absolutely no conviction in his crosses whatsoever.

Absolutely phenomenal the away support by the way. One of the few positives of the last few years for me. Would be intrigued to see how many some of the supposed bigger clubs would be taking away if in our position.

Oh its hugely pschological, i agree. If youre Alan Hutton (not singling him out, just he's been a constant over the last two years) and youve travelled to and been a part of 2 away wins in 35, surely you're now at the point where you dont really go away expecting to get anything. He's human at the end of the day and we've fallen into a routine. What worries me is the impact it has on the new players, because i presume in some cases that they wont even know we're awful away.

The worst one far a while for me, OK a lot of new faces but there's no threat one we go a goal down as usual. What do the players even say to eachother on the coach to and from the away games, cant imagine there being any camaraderie? Hourihane, "Hutton, whats the craic like on the road?" Hutton, "fairly grim mate, we never win. You'll get used to it." Its infectious sadly.

Ye, its winning thats the problem, not going unbeaten. There are only 4 teams in the entire division that have won fewer games than us. I was thinking earlier how odd it would be if we were to go the entire season unbeaten at home but not do the double over anyone. Our first chance at a double is v Rotherham in March. Odd season..

This. I really hope we do try and get as many wins as possible under our belts and go into next season on a high. Weve won 30% of our games so far this season. You need to win roughly 60% of your games to go up or be in the mix. The change of win rate is going to be some ask.

I agree with all of that apart from the last sentence. One of the key reasons that we wont be going up this season is that we draw half of our matches. I just feel that as a club we have become fairly accepting of that type of result and that we need to shake it by next season if we want to be in the mix. Maybe im wrong, perhaps its just the few people i spoke to yesterday. Maybe Bruce is in there hammering them at full time saying that we absolutely cant afford to draw anymore games in this division. I guess we'll never now. I think Newcastles record sums it up, one draw this season, and that was against us......

Im completely with you on the home form being a positive and it was vitally important to turn that around given recent years. But Villa Parks hardly a fortress is it, we've won less than half our home games, 5 or 6 so far? Teams in the play offs will have won 9 or 10 at home.

I didnt mean it like that, and i agree its great that games are no longer a probable defeat at VP like previous seasons. I was saying that being unbeaten at home doesnt actually tell you anything about how your fairing that season, its a pointless benchmark. You can be promoted as Champions with an unbeaten home record and you can finish bottom with an unbeaten home record.

As i said in another thread, you can go down while being unbeaten for a season. Its such a pointless statistic.

Its a bad result. Made even more so by the fact that we rarely win away.

Yes, and i can understand why the fans are accepting of draws after the last 5 years of rubbish. I mean, drawing 2-2 with Preston feels better than losing to 2-0 to CrystalPalace. But it doesnt escape the fact that they are both bad results.

Its a draw, honours even at Villa Park, a share of the spoils. But is it? Not really. A share of the spoils would be 1.5 points, as the spoils are presumably 3 points, so this is more of an OK loss in my book. Im fascinated by teams attitudes to drawing games and particularly Villa's and some of the fans. A mate of mine said earlier, "well, at least we drew". As have many on this forum, "still unbeaten" etc. Very simple, if you win all your games in a season, you win the league. If you draw all your games in a season you go down. If you lose all your games in a season you finish bottom. You can be unbeaten, and go down. Thats how bad drawing games consistently is. We've now drawn 12 games this season. If it was a share of the spoils in the truest sense then we would have 6 more points and be on the verge of the playoffs. Now im not saying that the players have it in them necassarily to turn these draws into victories, im just cautious of the attitude that i feel has set in around the club. Its something that absolutely has to change next season if there's any chance of promotion.

Best of luck at the Villa, even if your name does sound like a make of chavvy clothing.

It feels to me like the police test the water every so often by allowing these late kick off times for derbies. Obviously not Villa Blues games (other than the league cup game which had to be played midwweek) but the fringe ones. Last one from memory was the WBA cup game which was a real success......