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jackbauer24

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  1. We could do with a poll to see how confident people really are of us getting 4th or 5th and whether that'll equal Champions League football! Is it just bravado/ excitement/ hope or do you truly believe? I will admit that I am definitely a naturally negative person. Practically 40 years of being a Villa fan hasn't exactly helped my outlook. I genuinely just can't see us doing it. Is that based on reality or trauma?! 4th is looking a step too far. Injuries, suspensions and our harder run in than our rivals makes me feel this is beyond us. If we don't get 6 points from our next two home games, it's fairly safe to say we'll be fifth before Spurs hit their tricky triple header. We're not exactly known for taking our chances when opportunities arise. So holding on to 5th... 9 points and GD ahead of United. But they have a game in hand, a ridiculously easy run in and the fear of being Man Utd, despite what recent years have shown. Teams will always fear Utd more than they worry about us. Maybe we can stay ahead of them, but wouldn't be placing huge money on it given our current team and form. So even believing we finish 5th, will PL get 5th spot? Man City easily could be knocked out by Real Madrid, Arsenal will struggle with Bayern Munich and West Ham will lose to Leverkusen. That's not doom mongering, think most would agree. Liverpool should walk Europa and I'd hope we might make Final... although we've got hardest route possible basically. I just can't see it all going for us. We are huffing and puffing, English teams have stuttered in Europe and... We're Villa.
  2. Take the point and run! Before the game, I would have taken it. During the game, I was praying for it. After the game, I'm thinking how lucky we were to get it! Unai messed up. Absolutely no doubt. And it wasn't the patchwork midfield so much as the defence: CASH KONSA PAU DIGNE That's it. Simple. Cash was MOTM for me, he improved Konsa, attacked brilliantly, awesome block at the end. He linked up with Bailey and Diaby and changed the game. That's not to say there weren't other odd lineup choices. Zaniolo and Diaby are struggling, but they are still clearly better than Rogers and Duran. They both have more experience too. Play one of the raw players, not both. And I'll accept it's early but calling Rogers 'raw' is extremely polite based on what I've seen of him so far. We've gained a point on Spurs this weekend. More than we expected. We've got two more games without McGinn and a bit of a rest. Luiz in particular looks completely done. Martinez has been poor lately (esp distribution) and a break is exactly what we all need - fans included!
  3. I'm very very concerned by our midfield for this game. No Kamara, Ramsey or McGinn is proper bare bones. Don't think Rodgers or Iroegbunam are ready and we can't afford to shift Luiz/Tielemans too much. For these games I'd be very tempted to play Pau as a defensive midfielder. He would add to the midfield and Konsa and Lenglet can carry on with what they did during Pau's injury layoff. None of it is ideal though. Martinez Cash Konsa Lenglet Digne Pau Bailey Tielemans Luiz Diaby Watkins (I hope!) No Watkins, then we're in MASSIVE trouble.
  4. Fair enough!! But don't mean permanently, just for three games with no McGinn. Think we can cope with him out of position better than we can cope with Chambers in midfield for example!
  5. Thinking out loud rather than having a strong conviction in this thought... Could he play deep midfield while no McGinn/Kamara? Play Konsa and Lenglet in Central Defence, Cash and Moreno (or Digne) and then Pau, Tielemans and Luiz with width supplied by Bailey and Diaby to (hopefully) Watkins. Just feel his calm composure, passing and ability to slot in as a back five when needed, could really work. Or is it to defensive? Don't think Ramsey (injuries) Rogers or Iroegbunam (readiness) are going to help us in McGinn's absence.
  6. It's about perception and direction. I kind of get where @cvbyrne is coming from, 2024 does feel we've jumped from one disastrous result to long term injury to significant suspension and poor luck outside Villa. And that depressing trajectory is hard to combat, regardless of where you feel you could and should be. Get a draw when losing 1-0 til the 92nd minute and you're elated, get a draw when you're winning in that situation and you're distraught. Still a draw. We end 6th having been much higher than that most the season and a lot will be upset, but had we repeated last season and been racing up the table and steal sixth and we're delighted. But perhaps, more simply, we should just do what we can and see what happens as regards league position and coefficients. Just take care of ourselves and what we can control. Everything else is just noise in either way, positive or negative. I'm far more concerned about OUR form, injuries and suspensions than who Man Utd have to play or whether it'd be better if two German teams were playing each other in Europe. Turn around our 2024 first, worry about everything else if it becomes relevant!
  7. True... And that's because I'm more concerned about holding fifth as to whether it's a CL place at the end of the season! Keeping 5th is the priority, the other part is largely out of our hands. Let's not pretend that Ajax are the Ajax of old or that we played well, despite the great result. West Ham will be several levels harder than tonight.
  8. Think we can be pretty confident in saying there are more goals in this game yet... Just not sure for who. Bailey, Diaby, Duran and Rodgers will have chances, but they all push forward and it's leaving us vunerable to a counter if Ajax can just play the right ball. Also wouldn't be surprised to see a Red in this game either, it's not as dirty as the ref seems to be viewing it as! We're playing comfortably within ourselves but wouldn't be confident of us having the energy for a second gear if Ajax nick one.
  9. And based on how the predictions (in jest admittedly) of a 4-0 win for Villa on Sunday went, it's far more likely this is what happens to Villa on Thursday... and we lose on penalties!
  10. Odd phrase... If we can lose it, then the other team have won the tie in the first leg! I have very little issue with the result. I have massive issues with the approach, the performance and the ref!
  11. Struggled to give anyone MOTM, Martinez gets it for a save but his distribution was horrific. They were all terrible. We weren't up for this game at all and are fortunate to still be level. We offered nothing. So frustrating when this is supposed to be the glamour games we crave and we played it like a friendly vs a lower league team. Ref was beying incompetent for both sides. Let's just walk away and never talk of this again.
  12. In an amazing season, the last remaining question is; can we handle pressure? So far, we haven't really. Spurs is a pressure game between two evenly matched teams. We have beaten some amazing teams as the underdogs, we have bullied some midtable teams and we have held on against some pluckier relegation candidates. But the bigger games we've gone in to as 'equals', we've generally struggled in or, frankly, blown it. Man Utd home and away. Newcastle home and away. Chelsea and Everton in the cups. Even just the opportunities to go briefly top of the table. Or the pressure of the first European game proper. We've lost these games but then, crucially, bounced back and our rivals haven't taken advantage or closed the gap. I am yet to see us win a pressure game this season and suspect we may be in for some more disappointment Sunday and, again, it will be how we react in the following games and if Spurs/Utd push on.
  13. Some seem to suggest we should gamble with weaker teams in Conference to put focus more on chasing Chanpions League qualification in league. However, surely doing our best to win Conference is just as key to that objective; winning the competition gives us more chance of securing CL as it adds to England's coefficient scores for that fifth place. Although I highly doubt it's this simple/straightforward - surely there's a mathematical scenario where by winning the competition puts us in CL and losing in the final leaves us 5th and England missing out on the extra CL spot!
  14. I was sent an email about uploading my season ticket to my wallet a few weeks ago or so... But I haven't done so. Once or twice a year I can't make a game so lend my ticket to a friend or family member without faff of following club rules. When we inevitably do go fully digital, those days will be gone I assume.
  15. I was looking at the SPL and began wondering why I like some teams more than others almost 'naturally' even though I have zero affiliation with them and couldn't name a single player. Which got me thinking about narrowing that down to Derbies... Who would you choose to win (no sitting on the fence draws!) if it was the Ultimate Derby Weekend in World Football?! Even if you hate them both! 1. Man City vs Man Utd 2. Liverpool vs Everton 3. Spurs vs Arsenal 4. Newcastle vs Sunderland 5. Celtic vs Rangers 6. Sheffield United vs Wednesday 7. Forest vs Derby 8. Inter Milan vs AC Milan 9. Galatasaray vs Fenerbahçe 10. Real Madrid vs Barcelona (pushing 'derby' to 'rivalry' with this one) Personally, I'd want all 'home' wins (that's why I put then in that order!) but I'm not sure why I favour certain teams over others. Some I actively dislike like Newcastle, yet I still prefer them to Sunderland for some reason for example! Who would be your winners?
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