VillaJay

Just now, Rugeley Villa said:

The point I’m getting at is we haven’t gave ourself the best chance of getting something tonight, which is due to a lack of ambition imo. 

Disagree, it's a long game and strategic move, we don't have a billion pound squad to choose from.

Individual mistakes have cost us here, our season won't be defined by today's game, we've got our eyes on bigger goals.

Gifted them goals tonight

Played well first half, used the ball well, but that mistake for the goal is basics 101 and what people will remember of the first half.

Decent performance and we've used the ball very well when we've had it.

Can't afford any more individual mistakes in the second half, because we've defended well enough.

Very, very tough game tonight, but unlike my usual nerves watching Villa, I'm really excited about tonight's game, what an opportunity for us to go and win the game and get a grip on 4th place.

Incredible season and what a job Unai has done, like Unai said last week this isn't pressure, it's a fantastic opportunity for us and I think we could win tonight, pressure is on city.

5 bookings from the limited minutes he's had this season in the league is impressive!

He's got the tools to be a top player and technically he's fantastic which is a great starting point to work with, still a long way to go.

Up to him now to take his chance and push on and learn what it takes mentally to get to the next few levels.

Dr Bailey diagnosing Watkins injury as a bad wound, hopefully not too bad an injury for Ollie.

We were always going to lose games and spoiler alert, we will most likely lose at least a couple more.

Beat the teams that we should beat and 4th is ours, 5th most likely will be enough for champions league and I believe we'll do at least that.

Still a long way to go, but we're on track for qualifying for the CL and winning the ECL. 

Leicester were regularly finishing in Europe with him as their best player, he's not even in our top 5 best players.

We've come a long way in the last few seasons and built a real squad of underrated quality players.

Good player.

2 minutes ago, Hank Scorpio said:

Unless we have a big upturn again when Torres and Konsa are back even the most optimistic person must think champions league is becoming unlikely. Spurs overall seem to have a stronger mentality as a side.

Spurs have to play Newcastle, City, Arsenal, Liverpool and potentially Chelsea all in a row in April/May.

I still think we could be ahead of them going into that run. We have some big players to come back into the side.

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

And we never will. 

Why do you bother? You have an awful defeatist attitude and if the fans in the stadium acted like you we won't get anywhere. We will lose games thats part of football, but we will win too.

We're 5th - 5 points clear of Utd and they are not a better side than us. UTV

Some fans have a loser mentality, we're 1 point off 4th and still in Europe in February. Lots still to play for and some big players to come back into the team.

No reason we can't win this, our bench is very strong and capable of turning the game positively for us is we can be competitive until the 60th min or so.

Our bench looks much stronger than theirs...

The man has worked wonders since he's here, as mentioned a few posts above, progress is not always linear.

5th and a conference league win would be amazing, anything more would be incredible, in this climate, the toughest and most competitive league ever, and FFP constraints he is over performing.

He can of course be questioned as anyone should, but based on his performance to this point he should not be doubted. He's changing the whole culture at the club, demanding more from everyone and there will be dips but as shown so far he can deliver results.

Injuries and suspensions are part of the game we just need to navigate those times by putting points on the board and we have so far. 

Very error prone in Spain before we signed him, so no real surprise he can be a liability at times. Never convinced me he's anything other than 4th choice when all our starters are fit based on ability.

Overall he's only really had this season to get going and acclimatise to the league but age is against him and he doesn't seem like a composed clever footballer that can get by without his physicality.

We've had a lot of shuffling to the side over the last run of games due to injury and suspension, Digne, Tielemans, Pau Torres, Kamara all missing and key cogs in our best performing teams this season.

Pau Torres is proving critical to how we play and his stepping into midfield is a loss at the moment. Diaby really needs to find some form too, they're big signings and big players for us.

I don't believe we need to change from what's worked so well for us until now, we just need to get our best players back on the pitch together and give Diaby and Ramsay the opportunity to find their feet again from the bench.

His best form came from a lot of his link up play with Ramsay last season, he's a very good footballer going forward, but probably needed a little more easing back into the team. 

It's been mentioned for a while now but he's a real weak link and lacks the intelligence in his decision making to step up, he has good qualities and his athleticism is one of them but Moreno and Digne are miles ahead of him in footballing ability and contributing to our attacking play.

We're in a strong position, our form recent form has not been great since the city game, but we've picked up points whilst being in a bit of a slump performance wise.

A dip in form was always on the cards, and every side has them. Get Pau Torres and Bailey back in the side and win our next 2 league games and we're right back on track.

5th and conference league win would be a fantastic achievement and I believe we will do at least that.