turvontour

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......

Whats happened to this guys shooting? Scored 5 or 6 screamers in his first season and then nothing for three years. How do you regress as a 22 year old dead ball specialist who plays football all day.

Thats appaling. I think its 2 wins from the last 36 aways now, thats including games vs the likes of Wycombe and Luton. Looks like Sunderland are second worst in the country with 5 across the same period, Port Vale 7.

The players body language looked poor from the first whistle. 2 passages of play stuck out for me and i think epitomise where we are at the moment. 1) Mccormack offside from a free kick in the first half, which lead to him having a tantrum. He was stood about 8 yards offside presumably awaiting a diagonal cross for him then to become active in the 2nd phase following a nock down. Amavi took it short and he was subsequently flagged off a few seconds later. Genuinly, what are they doing on the training ground that they cant even coordinate the most basic of set pieces. 2) Very late on Bacuna recieved a pass from Jedinak that he simply didnt expect/want to recieve. Saying he was caught on his heels would be an understatement, his body language suggested that he was shocked that he was expected to contribute any more to that attack and it was only because it was zinged straight at him that he was able to keep posession. I think worryingly it showed that the fight had gone way before the final whistle. Adomah now very much looks like a Villa winger (of the last few years). He didnt play with belief and look to beat his man with the drive and determination that he did when he arrived. He looked like he was playing the role of a winger but didnt truly believe that he could take on the full back and produce something. I dont mean to single out Adomah but thats just how i see it. Gabbys an easier example. He still makes runs and chases down lost causes but only because thats what a moderately fast forward should be doing. Ten years ago it was hunger and instinct that was getting him there but i no longer believe that he necessarily wants to get on the end of these balls. Maybe im doing them a disservice i dunno. Last thing, other than these fundamental issus the main frustration of yesterday was that we didnt ask what was a visibly fragile Wolves side one decent question.

The acoustics arent great for away fans at Molineux but generally speaking i think the away support has been superb this season. Noise wise there seems to be the initial ten minute repertoire of songs and then the focus turns to the match and the inevitable dread and apprehension takes over. I guess theres only so many defeats you can witness before singing "the greatest team the world has ever seen" starts to tire.

Some interesting comments on the transfer thread earlier re it being pointless buying players as their game will just default to the current level of inenptitude. It links to this thread in some respects in that is there any point swapping e.g. Rhodes for Mccormack or Lansbury for Westwood if the general set up/expectation/attitude of the club is to win 1 away every 15. I suppose transfers/wholesale changes are presumably the easiest way to turn it around, although 4 different managers hasnt changed an awful lot.

I know its dreadful. But why is Preston at home next winnable but if it were Preston away very likely to be a defeat? Its the same inferior opposition in both instances. Is it psychological, tactics, a rut, what?

Relatively new to the forum and couldnt see a thread that focused solely on the clubs appaling away record. Presumably we'd be in or on the verge of the playoffs with just an average set of results on the road. Four goals away from home since late September. One goal in the last six away games. Whats peoples take on why this is?

Midfielder, ex Villa, panic buy, Big Mac. Patrick Berger anyone?

Wolves poor at home, Villa poor away. Another treat for the TV masses, 1-1. Anyone know if Villa fans are going to be housed in that stand behind the goal as well as the side stand, similar to the friendly a few years ago? Should make for a decent atmosphere if so.

I reckon that's 2 wins out of last 35 away from home. I'm guessing that's the worst in England over the equivalent period?