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Smells like team spirit?


The_Steve

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As brutal and depressing as things have been for Villa fans over the last 4 years, and the general mediocrity of the last 20 years, when things do go well, there is a joy and excitement and satisfaction that is hard won, and because it is rare, the feeling is so much more meaningful than the relieved cheering of Manchester United fans yesterday when their newly assembled mercenary crew scored 4 goals in a cake walk win against a crap side like QPR.

 

Aston Villa Forever

 

Hear hear. 

 

And also, yes, people are right, this is a more interesting topic than puns, so I'll try to add something productive. The policy this summer has obviously been to add people whose careers have stalled elsewhere in various ways, either through relegation (Senderos & Richardson), injury (Cole) or ridicule (Cleverley). I feel like the logic may have been to sign people with a 'point to prove', and it's this determination that's helping us. It really does seem to have been a successful window that has just strengthened the team, so bravo for that. 

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As brutal and depressing as things have been for Villa fans over the last 4 years, and the general mediocrity of the last 20 years, when things do go well, there is a joy and excitement and satisfaction that is hard won, and because it is rare, the feeling is so much more meaningful than the relieved cheering of Manchester United fans yesterday when their newly assembled mercenary crew scored 4 goals in a cake walk win against a crap side like QPR.

 

Aston Villa Forever

 

Hear hear. 

 

And also, yes, people are right, this is a more interesting topic than puns, so I'll try to add something productive. The policy this summer has obviously been to add people whose careers have stalled elsewhere in various ways, either through relegation (Senderos & Richardson), injury (Cole) or ridicule (Cleverley). I feel like the logic may have been to sign people with a 'point to prove', and it's this determination that's helping us. It really does seem to have been a successful window that has just strengthened the team, so bravo for that. 

 

 

Soooooo... We're kind of like Dortmund then?

 

Oh boy! :D

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Is it a sign of how desperate we are for even the slightest bit of success,  how utterly soul destroying it has been to be a Villa fan the last 4 years,  how starved we are of positivity that we have four decent results and we see so much expectation on this site?

 

For me we have 10 points and means we are closer to 40 and have 34 games to get 30 points and we are 8 points ahead of some teams we may be battling against come January / February.

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I said it a lot last season, but I guess it is coming to fruition now. Playing pretty or attractive football does not necessarily mean you win or even that it is "good football" - good football is taking 3 points, no matter what. Gabby's goal on the weekend won't win goal of the season, but our performance could be argued as our best in a long time. 

 

We look like a team that knows that now, a team with some street smarts and a decent balance of talent and physicality. I'm not going to get too excited, 40 points is still the target for now especially with the club in limbo, but I think that helps us even more. Nobody expects us to do anything, we were written off by pundits and even more so after we brought in our band of merry rejects. We're the underdog against every team and we have nothing to lose.

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For me we have 10 points and means we are closer to 40 and have 34 games to get 30 points and we are 8 points ahead of some teams we may be battling against come January / February.

Sadly, this is how I'm viewing it too.

Not for me.

My expectations are always tempered slightly before the start of the season and I tend to try and move with the flow, whether that be positive or negative. I recall, for example, O'Leary's first season. Expecting little and coming rather close to "glory" in the end.

I know the landscape is somewhat different now, but the theory still holds true. There's not much stopping us being this years "surprise package" and challenging for top 8. At the same time 40 points may be more realistic a target, but I'm certainly not going to set the bar that low this early on. What a depressing thought.

I'd rather handle the oncoming disappointment than to start off disappointed. Especially with the start we've had.

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Nice article in Daily Mail

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2756172/Aston-Villa-prove-money-isn-t-Premier-League-starting-XI-beat-Liverpool-cost-Mario-Balotelli.html#comments

 

 

Manchester United: £228.8million. Chelsea: £186m. Manchester City: £154.95m. At a combined cost of half a billion pounds, this trio had the most expensive starting XIs over the weekend's fixtures.

Yet Aston Villa downed Liverpool on Saturday with a starting side which was compiled spending an astonishingly low £13.6m, less than 10 times the amount of those Premier League superpowers (and less than Mario Balotelli).
Sat in second place behind leaders Chelsea, Villa are becoming the Robin Hood of the Premier League, stealing points from the rich clubs and keeping them for the poor.
 
They are joined by the Merry Men of Swansea, whose starting XI this weekend cost just £24.18m, and Southampton, at £45.3m, in third and fourth, keeping ahead of the big-spending clubs with their early-season form. How long can they keep it up?
Swansea's entire 25-man Premier League squad was built by spending just £52.73m, Southampton only £89.2m and Villa £139.5m.
It means that so far this season Swansea have spent just £5.9m per point they've won so far, Southampton £12.7m and Villa £13.9m.
While the richest clubs in the league shower money on world stars, these three are managing to muscle their way at the top end of the table on a comparatively frugal budget.
Manchester United  have now become the most expensively-assembled squad in the league after splashing huge sums on the likes of Angel Di Maria, Juan Mata, Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera, overtaking rivals City and Chelsea.
Liverpool have over-taken Arsenal and Tottenham after their summer splurge and have gone over the £200m mark.
But it is Villa, Swansea and Southampton who are keeping up with Chelsea and setting the early pace.

 

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