Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said: While I'm not happy with recent form and being 10 points behind Cardiff. From reading this site you'd think the season had already ended and we had missed promotion. I think you‘re being a bit HARSH there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 hour ago, lexicon said: 10 points is 'way off'? Don't be silly. At present, we're one game away from the half way point. Worst case scenario and we don't score, we'll be 6 short of the half way target. Not way off. Currently 7 points off the 2 ppg target, again, not way off. It's hyperbole Jonah, plain and simple. We're not doing quite as well as expected but we're not propping up the table either. you do realise that 7 PTS OFF the 2ppg total means 7 wins on the trot to catch up 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) 48 minutes ago, peterms said: Our points total is closer to Brentford in 13th than Cardiff in 2nd position. It feels like quite a distance off an automatic spot to me. It's also a more challenging task than at the start of the season - catching up 10 points on Cardiff, and 6 on Bristol City and 4 on Derby, while also not being caught by the 4 teams who are within 2 points of us. And doing that with only half the games left in which to do it. The quality of the play in many of the games doesn't suggest that we are going to be able to make that level of improvement. I suppose other teams might collapse like Sheff Utd have, with 4 defeats in the last 5 games, but it's pretty unlikely. The need for an automatic spot, as we've discussed ad nauseam, is because our pretty poor record against the teams likely to be in the playoffs doesn't inspire confidence of getting promoted via that route. It almost hurts that you have to actually explain this to someone Edited December 18, 2017 by Grasshopper 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesBCFC Posted December 18, 2017 Visiting Supporter Share Posted December 18, 2017 59 minutes ago, peterms said: Our points total is closer to Brentford in 13th than Cardiff in 2nd position. It feels like quite a distance off an automatic spot to me. It's also a more challenging task than at the start of the season - catching up 10 points on Cardiff, and 6 on Bristol City and 4 on Derby, while also not being caught by the 4 teams who are within 2 points of us. And doing that with only half the games left in which to do it. The quality of the play in many of the games doesn't suggest that we are going to be able to make that level of improvement. I suppose other teams might collapse like Sheff Utd have, with 4 defeats in the last 5 games, but it's pretty unlikely. The need for an automatic spot, as we've discussed ad nauseam, is because our pretty poor record against the teams likely to be in the playoffs doesn't inspire confidence of getting promoted via that route. However it's not long ago we were even on points (think you were even above us) which shows just how quickly things can change. At the moment we have so many injuries that on Wednesday against Manchester United we can only fill the bench by using about 4 youth team players, with our coming fixtures you could easily be above us come full time of our game at Villa Park. I'm an advocate of giving managers time and we are currently reaping the rewards with Lee Johnson at the moment. But with that said, there isn't/wasn't the expectation of promotion this season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farlz Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 minute ago, Farlz said: Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. is there an out ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 18, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 hour ago, pacbuddies said: Perhaps he doesn't wish to confuse you! You still haven’t answered. Imagine not being able to understand your own post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, Farlz said: Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. Great, more people behind the scenes that join Bruces merry men. Can he play up front? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 4 minutes ago, Farlz said: Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. I wonder how long it will take till the latest excuse comes out SB „I‘m gradually getting my prefered coaching staff all in, Phelan, is someone I‘d also like on board, these changes take time, I‘m sure we‘ll be there or thereabouts once settled in“ 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 1 hour ago, lexicon said: 10 points is 'way off'? Don't be silly. At present, we're one game away from the half way point. Worst case scenario and we don't score, we'll be 6 short of the half way target. Not way off. Currently 7 points off the 2 ppg target, again, not way off. It's hyperbole Jonah, plain and simple. We're not doing quite as well as expected but we're not propping up the table either. It's not hyperbole at all, i think it's hyberbole to suggest we aren't way off. 10 pts is a big gap in this league. On september 1st, the gap was 7 points, nearly 4 months later and now the gap is 10. There's absolutely no sign of us closing it, so how is that not being way off? Just blind hope to suggest we can close it. 6 short doesn't sound much but when you average 1.3 goals a game that's going to not get you there. Also the exact quote was 70-80 goals with 70 being that minimum amount. Again, you say 7 points is not that much but it is when you look at our average. To get back on track to a 2pt per game average we would need to win the next 7 consecutive games. Confident of that? I think its laughable to suggest we are not way off. We aren't propping up the table, we are just way off where his targets were set. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael118 Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) For those questioning the 2 ppg and automatic promotion target set by Xia... Quote Tony Transcript Are Villa on Track for Promotion? Nov 30, 2017 I think it's fine to say we didn't start as well as we expected this season. But after the close of the transfer window we have been getting better and better. We set a target of two points every game to achieve automatic promotion and for the last few games we have been hitting that target. I think the Sheffield Wednesday game was something we didn't expect. But after that we have showed good character and bounced back. We are very close to the target we set. There's still a long way to go. I think the next two months are crucial to us. We hope we can keep climbing up a little more by the first half of the season. http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/holte-end-hero-speaks-tony-13973634 Edited December 18, 2017 by Michael118 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterms Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 5 minutes ago, JamesBCFC said: I'm an advocate of giving managers time Me too. Assuming you appoint someone for the long term, that is. I don't think anyone saw Bruce as a long term appointment, just someone who the club felt was likely to deliver promotion by virtue of having done it before from this division. The talk from the club was about building three teams - one to get up, a team to consolidate, and a team to challenge, all in the context of a goal of Europe in five years from 2016. I guess most people assumed that the manager as well as many players would have to be replaced in order to achieve that. If we don't get promoted this season, then as people have discussed, the prospect is of losing the better players, being constrained by FFP and limited in what we can spend, continuing to play what is often quite dismal football, and generally become a team that hovers around the playoff spots with a squad which gradually becomes what you would expect at that level. If the club had appointed a different type of manager at the outset instead of gambling on getting straight back up, it might all feel a bit more positive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 2 minutes ago, Michael118 said: For those questioning the 2 ppg and automatic promotion target set by Xia... http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/holte-end-hero-speaks-tony-13973634 Yep right from the owners mouth. The target was automatic promotion with an average of 2 pts per game. Miles off it at the moment. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reivax_Villa Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 14 minutes ago, Farlz said: Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. Nice to know but this should have been done at Pre-Season. What impact can he have to our team now? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) 9 minutes ago, Michael118 said: For those questioning the 2 ppg and automatic promotion target set by Xia... http://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/holte-end-hero-speaks-tony-13973634 Firmly stated by the man ultimately responsible. Constantly denied by those sitting in front of a Monitor desperately in need of a dose of windoleen, a keyboard in need of replacing and a user who is lacking in realism Edited December 18, 2017 by Grasshopper better wording 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 (edited) 26 minutes ago, Farlz said: Steve Agnew set to join the coaching staff apparently. Was with Bruce at Hull. Wonder if Nixon will do a piece on this for his paper? I hear Nixon and Agnew has some history, didn't pan out too well... Think Nixon might have been the crook in that story, even thou he denied it. Edited December 18, 2017 by sne Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Would anybody though change him right now (Dec 18) - and gamble on luring a suitable replacement who can hot the ground running ? Not to defend him - he hasn't done as well as I hoped or thought he would. But I just can't see who we would bring in right now who would improve the current results to get us promoted. Come May the club would have greater choice in the field of candidates as replacements - changing him now would IMO result in a 'who is available' approach - and could quite feasibly result in us starting next season with a manager that wasn't anyones first choice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted December 18, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted December 18, 2017 5 minutes ago, Grasshopper said: Firmly stated by the man ultimately responsible. Constantly denied by those sitting in front of a Monitor desperately in need of a dose of windoleen, a keyboard in need of replacing and a user who is lacking in realism Who exactly is denying this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 Wow did not realise that about winning the next 7 games in a row. What concerns me is that even a similar run that we have seen recently (before the Millwall game) would not be enough to get us where we need to be. That run was very good and was against, for the main, lower opposition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted December 18, 2017 Share Posted December 18, 2017 8 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: Who exactly is denying this? I don't know, but @Grasshopper ought to be able to identify him given the rather precise description we have of his computer. If you're a poster who doesn't favour sacking the manager immediately, and you have floor-length curtains, you may want to check carefully behind them this evening. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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