Relegation Thread Version...99?!

[Mantis]

What scares me is there seems to be something fundamentally bad with the club, there is no way at all we should have lost that game, or even drew. A draw/loss from 2-0 up should be a freak once in every 2-3 season occurrence, because that's footy. It happens to us all the time. What is scary is the manager and all the coaching staff have changed, as well as 2/3 of the squad, but this poisonous mist still hangs over us and I don't know what will shake it off. 

It's got to the point where I think the only way we will ever get top 6 again is through massive FFP breaking investment. The odds of us doing a Swansea or even Stoke and being a good mid-upper table team (Swansea and Stoke!!??!! For *****  sake) is improbable at best.  Makes me heartbroken I tell you. This football club deserves so much more it's like we are cursed. I am just praying now we survive again.

 

To be fair, this hasn't happened IIRC since Man United at home almost 3 years ago, although this one felt a lot worse.

 

I do agree that there's a poisonous air about the club though.

[Arj Guy]

Wonder do Chelsea and Stoke fans have such a thread so early on?

Stoke and Chelsea haven't been in relegation battles for the past 5 years.

 

no but they have made worst starts, one has worst defence and the other hasnt got a win. Its just petty to start such a thread after 5 games

Chelsea should not be mentioned in this thread. Stoke have had tough fixtures. We haven't 

[Zatman]

Wonder do Chelsea and Stoke fans have such a thread so early on?

To be fair mate we haven't just had a bad start, we've had a bad 5yr. 

In my humble opinion we don't have a player that will score 10 goals this season, that's pretty grim. What's worse is that all our hopes seems to rest on the shoulders of 2 19r olds.

true but this is a different team than the last 5 years except a few players. Only really Guzan, Gabby and Westwood has been involved in them battles that played today

some slack needs to be cut at this moment as the players arent going to gel after 5 games

[Zatman]

Wonder do Chelsea and Stoke fans have such a thread so early on?

Stoke and Chelsea haven't been in relegation battles for the past 5 years.

 

no but they have made worst starts, one has worst defence and the other hasnt got a win. Its just petty to start such a thread after 5 games

Chelsea should not be mentioned in this thread. Stoke have had tough fixtures. We haven't 

we have played the 2nd, 3rd and 5th place team at the moment on the form table plus away at Bournemouth which newly promoted teams always have their tails up 1st game

[Rugeley Villa]

way too early for this but i will give my opinion. before the season i was unsure but after watching us pre season and so far this season i think we will be in for another struggle but maybe not quite as bad as previous seasons. on paper we should stay up but that means nothing, my worry is replacing someone who kept us up three years on the bounce and imo we have not replaced him although with the money we had from the sale we have improved the overall team. make no mistake we are one of the poorer teams in the league.

[Wainy316]

We look a lot better in defeats his year than we did last year if that counts for anything.

[Rugeley Villa]

thats how far we have fallen by saying yeah we are still losing but not as bad as last season. i see us picking up two points from our next four which could possibly see us in the bottom three, confidence will be the issue then and we dont have enough steel in the side to battle our way to wins like your leicester's do. 

[Guest av1]

Wonder do Chelsea and Stoke fans have such a thread so early on?

To be fair mate we haven't just had a bad start, we've had a bad 5yr. 

In my humble opinion we don't have a player that will score 10 goals this season, that's pretty grim. What's worse is that all our hopes seems to rest on the shoulders of 2 19r olds.

 

true but this is a different team than the last 5 years except a few players. Only really Guzan, Gabby and Westwood has been involved in them battles that played today

some slack needs to be cut at this moment as the players arent going to gel after 5 games

The gelling bit I completely agree with, what worries me is that I simply don't believe any of our strikers are going to score the goals we need. 

[VillaChris]

Last couple of years we've been lucky that 35-36 has been the cut off point, think it could be pretty much 40 this year.

Last time out Burnley didn't win a game until November and QPR looked very poor early on. This time out all three promoted teams have won a game already and all look to have goals in them. I do expect Norwich to drop though as they've had an easy start and not convinced their first 11 is good enough over 38 games. Sunderland to me are certainties so two spots open after that.

Worry is you can play well all you like but the main things that get you points on the board in this league are reliable goalscorers (he's gone) and ability to see out games especially by defending set pieces correctly (something we're not very good at).

We can dominate first halfs like today, Sunderland and Palace all we like but when it's 1 point from 9 I'd be pretty concerned by that.

[VillaJ100]

What scares me is there seems to be something fundamentally bad with the club, there is no way at all we should have lost that game, or even drew. A draw/loss from 2-0 up should be a freak once in every 2-3 season occurrence, because that's footy. It happens to us all the time. What is scary is the manager and all the coaching staff have changed, as well as 2/3 of the squad, but this poisonous mist still hangs over us and I don't know what will shake it off. 

It's got to the point where I think the only way we will ever get top 6 again is through massive FFP breaking investment. The odds of us doing a Swansea or even Stoke and being a good mid-upper table team (Swansea and Stoke!!??!! For *****  sake) is improbable at best.  Makes me heartbroken I tell you. This football club deserves so much more it's like we are cursed. I am just praying now we survive again.

 

To be fair, this hasn't happened IIRC since Man United at home almost 3 years ago, although this one felt a lot worse.

 

I do agree that there's a poisonous air about the club though.

Its not so much the 2-0 reversal mantis, it's the repetitive losing points from the 75th min onwards. For the last 5 seasons.

The BBC website earlier said we have already lost 7 points this season in the second half. If we kept hold of them, we'd be 3rd. 

I know we can never expect to hold onto all points from a drawing/winning position in a second half, football isn't like that. But the correct tactical changes and solidifying would have gained at least 3 of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LondonLax]

I said at the start of the season I'd snap your hand off for 17th and I've not seen anything so far to change that view. 

[markavfc40]

I think we'll be fine as I think the longer the season goes on the better we will get. We have a lot of new players, an inexperienced manager and new coaching staff. It was always going to take time for it all to gel and need us as supporters to show some patience. I think we have enough promise in the side though to mean we will be well outside the relegation places come next Spring.

I do think though that we have already thrown away 6 points this season, three today, two against Sunderland and a point against Palace. Whilst on the one hand it is reassuring to know we have been very close to securing more points we clearly can't keep throwing away points as we will inevitably continue to struggle.

Edited September 13, 2015 by markavfc40

[VillaChris]

Not good habits though early on, losing points due to late goals. Those tend to be difficult to shake off if you're low on confidence and struggling to win.

[bobzy]

We've essentially replaced our entire team so, understandably, results aren't going to be great at the start of the season (if they were, that would be the freak incidence).  However, we've also had a reasonably "easy" start to the season yet we're sat on 4 points after 5 games.

 

I think we'll stay up, and I'm more confident about that this season than any of the previous 4 (where I've still been relatively confident).  We'll have a hard time over the next few games too, though.

[markavfc40]

Not good habits though early on, losing points due to late goals. Those tend to be difficult to shake off if you're low on confidence and struggling to win.

It is not ideal but we have been in every game we have played this season and can easily make an argument we have deserved far more. It is obviously far better and more easily corrected if you are conceding goals due to poor individual mistakes rather than being dominated in games and deservedly coming away with nothing.

There is a fair bit that needs to be fixed but for me we are not far away. Looking at today as an example I think even something as little as Gana being available makes a big difference. Or bringing on Hutton for Gil when 2-0 up and pushing Bacuna further forward. Both those things, fractions really, I think could have secured three points instead of none.

With everyone fit I see us with a new back four compared to last season and the front six containing at least 3 new players. All of that is going to take time to gel but for me we have the makings of a solid back line and some very exciting and creative players in front of them and a nice mix of experience and very promising potential.

I accept it is going to take a leap of faith for some but I do think if we as fans can show a fair bit of patience it will be rewarded.

Edited September 13, 2015 by markavfc40

[CarewsEyebrowDesigner]

Another long season ahead. Don't really care, though. Football feels so far removed from reality that I may as well be watching a soap opera, or to be more precise I may as well be watching one of those reality tv shows in which rich people be rich together.

Edited September 13, 2015 by CarewsEyebrowDesigner

[jackbauer24]

Someone mentioned it on here previously, but does it not worry people that we're pretty much pinning our hopes of surviving on Grealish and Traore who have less than 50 top flight games (in whatever league) between them?! However good they may prove to be I still think it highlights how much trouble we're in. People aren't thinking we'll survive because we've got players that just need to find their feet, they're thinking we'll survive because two youngsters might reach the potential that they obviously haven't shown yet! Another words hope over any evidence.

Based on the first five games our fight is with Sunderland not to be bottom come Christmas. We're yet to see a good, even solid, 90minutes, and that includes pre-season. Tim Sherwood has got a lot of people worried wih his selections and tactics and shows little sign he's got a grasp on how to set us up. He's also used the term "we go again" a few too many times for my liking

[Richard]

Three worse teams ? Not sure at the moment 

[villa89]

Three worse teams ? Not sure at the moment 

(at least) Sunderland, Watford, Bournemouth, Norwich will all finish below us.

 

 

 

Edited September 14, 2015 by villa89

[Gary Thomas]

At 70mins the Villa fans were doing olays for every touch and the world looked wonderful at 2 0 - just saying we need to keep some perspective.  It was a poor second half by us and we had had a horror show for 20min but most of the things that we got wrong - as much as they hurt - are fixable IMO - e.g. tactical subs, reacting to obvious imbalances on the pitch, retaining structure and improving possession when under pressure, getting key players back e.g. Gana.  I think we'll be OK and we will get stronger over the course of the season.

Edited September 14, 2015 by Gary Thomas