Promotion 2016/7

[TRO]

On 7/18/2016 at 11:53, markavfc40 said:

Looking at what came out of today’s press conference in China Di Matteo said that he was looking for us to get promoted within two years. Given that he also said the club needed to be completely rebuilt I think that is a realistic timescale. I just hope as a fan base we allow him that time and don’t become impatient if we aren’t in the mix this season.

 

For what it is worth I think it is a huge ask to think we will come up this season and I think we need to be realistic. Di Matteo inherited a shambles and it will take more than a few months and one transfer window to fix.

 

I completely agree with that.....

This job is much more difficult than even we are admitting to......Promotion in the first season is not going to happen IMO

We need to show some proper character and progress to enable us to sign better quality......There is still a big question mark hanging over our club despite the changes. We are all hoping for improvement, but we must wait and see that it happens.

I think we need to show some proper improvement from within our own ranks, that with existing players and youth.

Irrespective of the funds available, (prior to RDM) , We have not shown a prudency in the transfer market( thats just my personal opinion), so I am unsure at this point how that route is going to bail us out.

For me this is going to be a long slow haul back to respectibility, if in fact, we can see,month to month, that that is the path we are on.

Edited July 23, 2016 by TRO

[philgetaway]

20 hours ago, Zatman said:

that also means winning 26 games. we won 3 last season 

Yeah fair point, and that does read like a lot - 26 games.  But in theory it's just over half the fixtures in this marathon league.  Plus 1 of our wins last season was against Norwich, and we didn't lose to Newcastle, two sides some claim are in better shape than us!  But yeah, you obviously have to win games to get promoted. 

It really is a marathon. There are SEVEN games in April.... SEVEN.... 21 points for the taking.  With our current squad depth and a January window, I'd like to think we would be at least in the playoffs. 

 

[AVTuco]

If we get no more notable additions, anything can happen. We may bounce back, if RDM is so much better than Sherwood, Garde etc. We may be in the middle of the pack, which is probably the most likely outcome (and ok with me, being a pessimist by nature). If things start to go poorly from the start it's not out of question that we'll go down with these players too. I'd like to be more confident that one of the first two happens, therefore I think we need to do more.

Edited July 23, 2016 by AVTuco

[VillaChris]

One look at our team today....we ain't getting promoted with that lot no chance.

Let's remember we have what two pre season games after this...Amavi for one is going to be under cooked. He hasn't played a minute of pre season on top of being out for 9 months.

I don't see likes of him and Adama playing first game. Why is Grealish benched?

[Blasterpocket68]

2 hours ago, philgetaway said:

Yeah fair point, and that does read like a lot - 26 games.  But in theory it's just over half the fixtures in this marathon league.  Plus 1 of our wins last season was against Norwich, and we didn't lose to Newcastle, two sides some claim are in better shape than us!  But yeah, you obviously have to win games to get promoted. 

It really is a marathon. There are SEVEN games in April.... SEVEN.... 21 points for the taking.  With our current squad depth and a January window, I'd like to think we would be at least in the playoffs. 

 

Lol not a chance of promotion / 

 

 

[HanoiVillan]

On 7/22/2016 at 15:32, Grasshopper said:

AVFC is broken.

Lerners policies effectively gave us a board, management staff and players that was only going one way, downwards.

The fact that it took 4/5 years only broke the fans patience, The managers and the players.

So where are we now?

New owner

new board

new manager & staff

BUT

the SAME f***ing players

We need to get rid of as many bad eggs as possible.

Anyone not scarred can stay, Youthers and returnees plus a couple of newbees is the only way forward.

In an attempt to make my opinion as clear as possible.

Toon & Norwich will know they can bounce back.

Last seasons top 8 (excl. Promoteds) will believe they can go up.

Teams From 9-16 will believe they can improve.

The Survivors will a, know how its done b, will believe they can do it again

The promoted from L1 will be on a high giving it all they've got

Then there is us, AVFC breaking over a period of 4years, finally broken so badly we managed 3 wins all season.

And some are saying, x will be ok at this level, y a second chance and z wont leave cos nobody wants him/them.

Dr X & RDM have the hardest job from all 92 clubs in the leagues

Rip it up and start again

otherwise it was a waste of time buying us

Your poem doesn't even rhyme. 

[Grasshopper]

33 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Your poem doesn't even rhyme. 

How did you know

that an Artist I am though?

[HanoiVillan]

1 minute ago, Grasshopper said:

How did you know

that an Artist I am though?

It's written through that post like a stick of rock. 

[Dr_Pangloss]

There's lots to do, even though friendlies aren't the best place to judge, it still appears as though the side has poor shape and players who lack tactical awareness and an ability to take control of games.

Despite some suggesting we have a relatively strong midfield I see this area of the pitch as the chief culprit. We need more quality/creativity in the centre of the park and more width. We also need more quality up front and sign a proper, mobile, number 9.

Depth is also something we need more of, the squad looks light and as pointed out above, it's a long campaign with more games than the premier league. We really do need to pull our finger out on the signings front.

Edited July 23, 2016 by Dr_Pangloss

[Richard]

Forget promotion. The inactivity of those charged with making our squad better means we should have a relegation thread 

[Phumfeinz]

Squad needs a lot more work if we're wanting to push for promotion.

[dounavilla]

Will remain optimistic but I'm slightly worried.

If we manage to sign a striker and a good winger I'll be feeling more comfortable. 

[7392craig]

I'm not going to be optimistic or pessimistic, I'm going purely on what I've seen in pre-season. So far it's not good. Literally nothing has changed in our play. The midfielders only play sideways and backwards, the defence is opened easily enough and there is nothing dangerous about our attack, it's slow and obvious with little movement. And still our only outlet is Hutton. Alan Hutton. Maybe things will be different by the end of the window, but my money is on Sheffield turning us over. I really want to see us dominate a game from start to finish, but it looks like RDM will need a season or two to create a squad capable of doing so.

[AshVilla]

No chance,

We do not carry enough threat all we have is Ayew nullify him and we struggle to score

I wouldn't blame him if he wanted out it must be annoying having to carry the team on his shoulders every game he will be burnt out by christmas

Where are the threats from the wide positions? our fullbacks can only attack or defend but not both from CM we look the usual negative villa with nobody bursting forward into the area to provide a goal threat

Unless were going to do a leicester and win 10 - 20 games 1 - 0 we have no chance of getting promoted when was the last time we hammered a team in a competitive match by more than two goals? 

Edited July 23, 2016 by AshVilla

[AVTuco]

3 hours ago, VillaChris said:

One look at our team today....we ain't getting promoted with that lot no chance.

Let's remember we have what two pre season games after this...Amavi for one is going to be under cooked. He hasn't played a minute of pre season on top of being out for 9 months.

I don't see likes of him and Adama playing first game. Why is Grealish benched?

Outside chance? 10%?

[dounavilla]

9 minutes ago, AVTuco said:

Outside chance? 10%?

50/50 ?

[Dr_Pangloss]

There's still too many of last season's lot in the first team. I think many accepted that a clear out was needed and for one reason or another it hasn't happened yet. Being saddled with so many of poor performers from last season, with only 3 new signings, is not really the position many of us thought we'd be in with 2 weeks to go before the start of the season.

I think it is legitimately cause for concern plus the performance today smacked too much of the sort of stuff we saw last season.

[The Fun Factory]

10 hours ago, TRO said:

I completely agree with that.....

This job is much more difficult than even we are admitting to......Promotion in the first season is not going to happen IMO

We need to show some proper character and progress to enable us to sign better quality......There is still a big question mark hanging over our club despite the changes. We are all hoping for improvement, but we must wait and see that it happens.

I think we need to show some proper improvement from within our own ranks, that with existing players and youth.

Irrespective of the funds available, (prior to RDM) , We have not shown a prudency in the transfer market( thats just my personal opinion), so I am unsure at this point how that route is going to bail us out.

For me this is going to be a long slow haul back to respectibility, if in fact, we can see,month to month, that that is the path we are on.

Villa have no automatic right to go straight back up but we will have one of the largest budgets in the division so even with all our problems RDM should be looking at plays offs minimum target IMO. 

If we can shift out some of the rubbish from last season and get a few more decent signings before September then I will be quietly conifdent of having a decent season. That doesn't mean that we will walk the division though, it is going to be tough.

[VillaChris]

Midfield still looks rubbish to me.

Who of Gana, Westwood, Veretout, Bacuna is getting 10 + goals this season?

Hopefully a couple of them will clear off before end of August but we need a midfielder who can chip in and I don't see it.

Same old problems as last season, whenever a team plays quick 1-2s they get through our midfield so easily and are on our defence.

Won't be as much of a problem in the championship as in the prem but you still have decent teams like Derby and Newcastle who'll expose this.

With Tshibola being an unknown quantity we really need to get in an experienced CM imo who can show leadership and get a goal or two.

[cyrusr]

10 hours ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

There's still too many of last season's lot in the first team. I think many accepted that a clear out was needed and for one reason or another it hasn't happened yet. Being saddled with so many of poor performers from last season, with only 3 new signings, is not really the position many of us thought we'd be in with 2 weeks to go before the start of the season.

I think it is legitimately cause for concern plus the performance today smacked too much of the sort of stuff we saw last season.

I get the pessimism in that respect. Personally I would want to have had a bigger clear out. However:

1) What happened last season was a combination of poor board, management and players. We have new (albeit untried and tested I accept) board and management and as such there is significant progress in that sense. So already (IMO of course) we are already on a step up from last season.

2) The championship is a mixed bag. They are a lot of variables which will take into account who will be challenging for promotion or not. What we can take from last season is that 3 of our victories were against "championship teams or equivalent". Birmingham - obvious. Norwich - now championship and how they played that day, were destined for relegation (we were terrible and we best them! Hell, even Gabby scored!). And Bournemouth in their first game. It is arguable that they were all "championship sides and lasts years team beat them. Now our team as it stood were no where near good enough for premier league BUT what evidence is available, however limited, suggests that team could beat championship sides.

I am of the opinion that even if we had Lerner and a different manager we would be a mid table side in the championship. The league is tight and making the improvements we already have to me says that we can challenge at least for the play offs.

Given what has been said to it is clear the fundemental promise Dr Xia/RDM needs to have given is that we will challenge for promotion. There is utterly no point trying to avoid relegation from the championship, it is unrealistic. The rhetoric is to get back up asap; the longer we are in the championship the harder it will be.  We do not  need/want to be there.

The point is that whilst the current squad may have a lot of flaws; it is still a decent Championship side. Good enough for promotion? As it was, probably not but with the changes already made (in team spirit alone) have probably helped a lot. Few more personnel changes and yes we will be challenging. Already the noises from preseason are a lot better than last year.  

Besides, if we don't challenge for promotion, why are we even bothering? Why is RDM and Dr Xia bothering? The clear goal is to get  back up to premier league ASAP. Those previous awful premier league teams (Derby, QPR, Sunderland) have done ok in the championship and of course RDM did it with West Brom. He was made manager when they went down and then got them back up at first attempt with changes to the squad but not wholesale.