Eastie Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Yea I think if we lose tomorrow play offs is over with as a lot of these players don't look up to it. I think next season is more realistic. like someone said above this squad will finish bottom in premier league But what If we lost to qpr and then beat burton , Leeds and Cardiff ? Then it would be far from over - we are not yet halfway and it's too soon to write off our hopes even if we lose tomorrow . Barnsley were 24th and bottom last Christmas and still won promotion - there's still a long long way to go . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) 19 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said: It pains me to say it but your right. We need to look at the bigger picture and if we do go up are we good enough to stay up? Even with a few additions I don't think we will be strong enough. As it stands we are definitely a championship side and I can't see that changing too much over the next year or so. Next season is more important than this season believe it or not. I just can't see us making the play offs tbf but who knows. If we fail this season then fail again the following season that will be a disaster. RG for me its like a knight getting back on his horse to fight, but the wounds haven't healed from his sick bed. Steve needs to see it all for himself and just lately he has.....and build us back slowly and stronger. Edited December 17, 2016 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 2 minutes ago, Eastie said: But what If we lost to qpr and then beat burton , Leeds and Cardiff ? Then it would be far from over - we are not yet halfway and it's too soon to write off our hopes even if we lose tomorrow . Barnsley were 24th and bottom last Christmas and still won promotion - there's still a long long way to go . There is and we all deep down have hope.....but why put pressure on what has been a "sick animal" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nabby Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: You watch a team like blose with some pretty poor players play more like a team, we don't look a like a team even with better players Tuesday it was clear to see we have some talented players but nothing resembling a cohesive team unit. We don't pass well , zero link up play they looked like they had just met each other in the tunnel. The defence with Elphick looks dodgy , Midfield is Jedinek putting in tackles and blocks but not much else and the attackers dropped too deep , then did nothing when they got the ball.Less said about Gabby the better . Bruce says no wholesale changes in Jan but at the very least he needs to get some kind of functioning MF in place and I don't think we have one with the current squad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 2 minutes ago, Nabby said: Tuesday it was clear to see we have some talented players but nothing resembling a cohesive team unit. We don't pass well , zero link up play they looked like they had just met each other in the tunnel. The defence with Elphick looks dodgy , Midfield is Jedinek putting in tackles and blocks but not much else and the attackers dropped too deep , then did nothing when they got the ball.Less said about Gabby the better . Bruce says no wholesale changes in Jan but at the very least he needs to get some kind of functioning MF in place and I don't think we have one with the current squad None of that can keep being swept under the carpet by a win at home.....and in view of your comments about the window, its why i think you can forget promotion this year and it will be a gradual rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 3 minutes ago, TRO said: There is and we all deep down have hope.....but why put pressure on what has been a "sick animal" Pressure comes with playing for a big club like Aston Villa - these players must be able to handle it and the expectations at this club - a far cry from the likes of Bristol city or Fulham . When big clubs slide they tumble fast but also as Steve round said if we get this club moving in the right direction we will take some stopping . Confidence is huge and now is the time we will see if Bruce's strong words have hit home . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 12 minutes ago, Eastie said: But what If we lost to qpr and then beat burton , Leeds and Cardiff ? Then it would be far from over - we are not yet halfway and it's too soon to write off our hopes even if we lose tomorrow . Barnsley were 24th and bottom last Christmas and still won promotion - there's still a long long way to go . I hear what your saying but can't see that happening as much as I would love it 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 1 minute ago, Demitri_C said: I hear what your saying but can't see that happening as much as I would love it The one thing for sure is we can kiss automatic goodbye after Newcastle and Brightons wins . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Eastie said: Pressure comes with playing for a big club like Aston Villa - these players must be able to handle it and the expectations at this club - a far cry from the likes of Bristol city or Fulham . When big clubs slide they tumble fast but also as Steve round said if we get this club moving in the right direction we will take some stopping . Confidence is huge and now is the time we will see if Bruce's strong words have hit home . but confidence comes from getting the better of your opponent and winning......i struggle to see where the confidence is coming from. Edited December 17, 2016 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 8 minutes ago, TRO said: but confidence comes from getting the better of your opponent and winning......i struggle to see where the confidence is coming from. Until the Norwich game we weren't doing too badly on a run of results but that was a massive blow to not only lose but perform in such a dreadful way - tomorrow will show us whether we can bounce back and move forward - a repeat of last Tuesday cannot be tolerated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 34 minutes ago, Eastie said: The one thing for sure is we can kiss automatic goodbye after Newcastle and Brightons wins . We should have kissed that goodbye some time ago to be fair. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Thing is, we're doing OK - nothing more - There's plenty of us thought going back up this year was a near impossible ask given the manner of our relegation long before Xia arrived on the scene. If there's a few more optimists seeing their hopes of automatic promotion disappear then I can't see that being a bad thing. There were also more than a few looking forward to League 1 next year too i seem to remember. Nothing is off the table at this point obviously but I'm actually quite pleased overall that we are in touching distance of the play-offs. We're unbeaten at home (Seriously did ANYONE expect that to be true at Xmas?). We must have all said to someone at some point "I just want to see us win a game of football!!" over the last few years. I still think if we can manage to lose under 10 games all season we'll be in the play-off places. Im amazed we are in with a shout of it. Tomorrow is far from a must win game imo - but it is the next game in our run of 8 points from 11 away games. Basically, it's not rocket science to see where things need to improve. Tomorrow would be a good place to start but after the performances against Wigan and Norwich I'm not getting my hopes up. Roll on January and some midfielders. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Bruce has given us a chance of the playoffs. It's slipped a bit this week but that's the nature of this league. If we can get 7 pts from next 3 We will be within touching distance at the half way mark. It'll be hard but we will then have virtually all playoff rivals at home in the 2nd half. If we sort our away form out we will be fine but at one time or other we will need 7/8 wins on the bounce. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 12 minutes ago, VILLAMARV said: There were also more than a few looking forward to League 1 next year too i seem to remember. This is a good point, to be fair. It must be right around 12 months that I was having an argument on here with several posters who were sincerely arguing that we would fall below Portsmouth. Not that I blame them, really. It was hard to see an end to the awfulness last year. It's mostly stopped now. We're doing better in basically every department. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodders0223 Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 2 hours ago, Eastie said: But what If we lost to qpr and then beat burton , Leeds and Cardiff ? Then it would be far from over - we are not yet halfway and it's too soon to write off our hopes even if we lose tomorrow . Barnsley were 24th and bottom last Christmas and still won promotion - there's still a long long way to go . I just don't think we are good enough to put a run together. Our away form and too many poor and weak players will cost us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 1 minute ago, rodders0223 said: I just don't think we are good enough to put a run together. Our away form and too many poor and weak players will cost us. We put a run togetherness just to get it down to 3 pts and had a very hard run of away games. We need to sort your other points but it's not that far away. Even under RDM we deserved more than we got. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 2 hours ago, Eastie said: The one thing for sure is we can kiss automatic goodbye after Newcastle and Brightons wins . We were never in the race for automatic promotion. I'd say there at LEAST 6 better sides than us in this league and we are sat in 14th place halfway through the season. Time for a reality check. We aren't that good. What we do need to do is add a midfield in January and then strengthen again in the summer. We won't have Newcastle or Brighton to contend with next season and I wouldn't be too worried about the teams that drop out of the Prem IF we can get our act together. I reckon we can have a stab at top 6 next season. It'll be tough but Bruce knows how to build a team for promotion, he just needs a couple of windows and backing from Dr Tony. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted December 17, 2016 Share Posted December 17, 2016 Well we shall see tomorrow what we are all about. I've rarely been impressed this season so far, but I can live with the fact that there was and still is so much repair work to be done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 We will move with in six points of the play offs today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Way too early to write off our chances but, we are now 9 points adrift whereas we were 3 points adrift a week or so ago. That is brutal and so we need to start realising that this is a tough league where anyone can beat anyone and stop having games where we don't turn up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts