VillaJay

The co-efficient is the only reason I had any interest in CL, until we get there next season.

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

End of day everything is in our hands. If we dont get 4th or win Conference its our fault. Not Dortmund,Legia Warsaw, Qarabag or Arsenal

Time to take personal responsibility as Unai would say

Definitely, would prefer if we're the only english team left in Europe and all focus on us to win it. 4th is in our hands, win the next 2 and we're nearly there.

Listened to the James Collins one and confirmed MON gave them most of the week off, put no emphasis on fitness or training and had zero tactical input other than head the ball you C*nts when questioned by Dunne/Collins.

The players obviously loved him because of all the time off and Milner questioned the training methods numerous times and was told by MON there's a f*king exercise bike over there use it.

I believe MON did as much harm to the club's progress as anyone, with the right manager and our financial power at the time we should have cemented that top 4 position. He helped cultivate that lazy dressing room that Gabby and Co led and rebelled against any type of professionalism.

He played quite a bit during our good early season form, he has great physicality, a brilliant touch and technique and he has something about him that if it's harnessed correctly he could genuinely be a top level player.

A frustrating player at times, but has that Gareth Bale like build and still quite young and new to the PL.

I'm still undecided if I'd buy him but if he can show some consistency and contribute some goals/assists to the end of the season he would be worth the punt.

His best game for us vs Arsenal, it can't be underestimated how instrumental he was to us controlling that second half, it was a truly world class performance and we wouldn't have won that game without him dictating that game.

I'm not sure I've seen an as assured performance from a villa midfielder vs that quality of opposition.

Absolutely brilliant.

He's been very good this season, showing why he's played for Barca and has 40+ french caps.

Moreno coming in on the left side of the midfield for Zaniolo also added some solidity and got Moreno further up the pitch where his strengths are better utilised.

The constant work he's put into improving his game is really showing and he's moved up a level again this season.

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

We spent £21.1m on agents last season.

What was our matchday revenue again?

 

Interesting listening to JJ Watt on the overlap that the thing that surprised him most about football vs NFL was the agents fees and it's like the wild wild West vs NFL.

Agents had a big anti competitive legal win in the summer led by the same legal team taking on FFP, technically they shouldn't be capped but they are definitely feeding off the huge amounts of money available in the PL and holding so much power on where a player moves.

Money has ruined football, and agents are a by-product of that. The horse has bolted.

1 hour ago, GlobalVillan said:

I really think we need to match Spurs' result this weekend. If they win and we lose then I think we are done in the race for 4th, given they will be 3 points ahead with a game in hand and a far better goal difference.

Added to that Burnley and Sheffield United are their last 2 games whilst ours a Liverpool and Palace, I dont think we would be able to make up the ground required during their difficult run of games.

Huge weekend ahead.

Realistically to keep us in a shout with 4th place, Newcastle need to win this weekend, if Spurs win, they most likely will get 9 points minimum bringing them to 69 and a better goal difference. 

I can see us getting another 6-7 points, if we were to beat Arsenal I could see us getting 9-10 points and even then that might not be enough for 4th if Spurs win this weekend.

5th and qualifying via co-efficient seems to me the most likely scenario for us to get CL football and in truth that would be preferable if it meant we win the conference league too.

1 hour ago, Nigel said:

Really hope it doesn't come to that, there will be enough pressure as it is!

I'd take that now if you gave it to me!

Us winning the UECL to cement a CL place seems a real possibility and would be an incredible way to end the season.

The most stressful way to achieve CL football, but would be fantastic

3 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Bad night for our chances. 

The most positive post you've made in weeks, PL has gained points on Germany based on those games tonight.

Arsenal level...

City leading...

Arsenal should still win both legs, not sure on City, but Atletico and Arsenal winning would go a long way to help.

We also need to do our business.

1 hour ago, MrBlack said:

Good that he got a little rest the last couple of weeks.  Seems to be over his injury based on that performance, and it's given Duran a bit of time to get used to our style and some more experience.

But if we want to finish in the top 4 he needs to be playing in all our games.  He's such a class above that, just like Pau missing from defence,  the whole team struggles when he's not playing. It just corrupts our shape and way of playing too much. 

For that reason, there's no amount of money that i'd accept for him, at least none that any club would offer. Talking needing above world record fee.

He's clearly very determined, and just like he left Brentford to come to us, he'd leave us to take a step up as well if the opportunity arose. I doubt he's the type to kick up a fuss or down tools if we rejected a £100m bid for him though, so it's a no brainer to keep him for me. There are less key jigsaw pieces we can sell (although again I wouldn't want to) if we are struggling to meet FFP.

Ollie will be 29 next season has a contract with us until he's 32 and he's in his prime, can't see anyone paying the money we'd want for him.

As crazy as it sounds though, depending on FFP if we were offered 100m+ I'd consider it, if it meant we had room to buy 3/4 top top level players to take us on another level. Spurs have sold Bale and Kane and still pushed on.

Unai also has a history of getting goals from his number 9s everywhere he goes.

Can't see us selling anyway and Ollie has been brilliant for us and would be difficult to replace.

Luiz is crucial to us, and a top top player, but it's a team game and missing Kamara has had an impact on Dougies form.

Kamara has been our biggest loss this season.

Spurs should finish 68-70 points, Brighton away is a very tough game for us but if we can get 2 more wins before the palace game that should cement 5th and give us a chance at 4th on the final day of the season.

We should have a clearer picture by game week 36 as to whether 4th is achievable for us as Spurs will be expected to win their last 2 games.

Very tough run for Spurs now and Newcastle away is always a tough game despite their form and injuries.

15 minutes ago, TRO said:

So did you think we would get a draw against Brentford, before the game?....with Brentford in 15th place and struggling in the league......and us at home in 4th.

Did you think we would be cruising a 2-0 up, and capitulate in the manner that we did, to a team who didn't lay a glove on us up till then?

That's what many fans are discussing, without digressing to how well the season has gone as a whole....they are saying, how did that happen, is that a surprise.

The stadium is full to capacity, every game, with spirited fans, singing their heads off, me included.....Does that strike you as fickle or unappreciative fans?

Fans have a right to express themselves after a game....and that one did throw up some anomalies.....Fans reserve the right, to express themselves differently.

Many think the race for the champions league has passed, some think we have created a huge task for ourselves, some think nothing has changed.....who's right, I don't know.

On the evidence of the collapse, and other games, where we have done similar, I am not sure if we are actually ready for Champions league competition, anyway, with a WIP team...but that's just me.

No game is a banker in this league and even at 2-0 what happened yesterday can happen. Disappointing, but perspective is needed, we're in a brilliant position and they key point is we still are, and 4th place and a european trophy is a real possibility.

We need to strengthen every season, and irregardless of how well we do this season we still need to push forward to close the gap to the top 3.

2 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Spurs beat Forest, Burnley, Sheff United. 

Reasonsble, yeah?

They lose to Liverpool, Arsenal and Citeh. 

Again, I think that’s fair.

Puts them on 66.

Newcastle and Chelsea. What, maybe 4 points? Could be 6, could be nothing. Let’s say 4.

So the magic 70 total.

We would need to beat Brighton, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Palace. I’ve written off the other two games.

I don’t know, it still seems vaguely realistic to me.
 

I can see Spurs getting 11 points which would put them on 68, we need to win 3 imo, we need to be targeting beating 1 of Arsenal and Liverpool, I think we we'll beat one of them not sure which.

All tough games but we have the capability of winning at least 3 more.

12 minutes ago, maltesemike said:

He seems exhausted and has been out of form for weeks. Maybe the rest does him good in the end.

Blessing in disguise, we need a player of his quality for every game but he's played a lot of minutes, we need him fresh for what hopefully will be another 5 European games and 4 league games to end the season strong.

6 minutes ago, useless said:

Fourth is still possible, Spurs are favorites now, but they are just as capable of having a result like ours today as we are. I'd expect them to beat Forest tomorrow, but if Newcastle can do us a favor next weekend by beating them, then they will be no more than three points ahead of us going into a difficult run of fixtures where they play Man City, Arsenal, Chelsa Liverpool, so we've still got a chance, we really could do with them losing a game where they're not expected to, or even better us getting an unexpected win, to put us back into pole position

Fulham thrashed Spurs 3-0 last week, they will definitely lose a few more, wouldn't be surprised to see them lose 4/5 more.

We need 3 more wins from 6 or 1.5ppg and that should be enough for 4th.

I also think Arsenal are beatable next week and 4pts from this 3 game run would have us right back on track.

Every game is winnable but tough now for the rest of the season and today was never a banker, disappointing not to win from 2 up but overall we're managing with a huge amount of injuries and suspensions.

Utd are currently worrying about West Ham and Newcastle winning today I. Their battle for 6th.

We need to get 3 more wins and I believe that will be enough for 4th.

3 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

Good lord, every time a result doesn’t go our way a vocal minority act like the sky is falling. 
 

United aren’t in the race. We are still fourth, nor does it mean Spurs will win their games in hand. There’s a lot of twists to come and much to play for. 
 

The collapse was inexcusable, but we dug deep and unlucky to not score again. Have faith. 

The catastrophe fpr some posters is incredible, I guess it's how they deal with things not going there way.

We're currently in 4th place.

Spurs still have to play Chelsea, City, Arsenal and Liverpool.

I'd rather have the points on the board.