Eastie Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 10 minutes ago, VillaChris said: That's just how Rowett teams play, they're not noted for dominance of possession. When you look at it we're both similar, neither score that many goals despite having lots of forward players, both teams prefer the opposition to have the ball, lots of experienced players in both squads and both grind out wins. I can see us and Derby having a battle for second. Bristol and Cardiff will both fall away. Mad playing them last home game at VP, that will be our biggest game in years I'd imagine. I think Fulham could still figure but agree with villa derby Leeds and boro making the 2nd to 6th spots - don’t see Cardiff , Bristol or sheff utd lasting the pace Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Coming off the back of two very good and very different wins against what were on paper, good teams. John Terry, Andre Green and Henri Lansbury all returning to fitness leaving just one long term absentee. Played most of the top teams away from home already, played Bristol City twice and got Brentford (apparent bogey team) out of the way too. Over the next few weeks we'll have got Sheff Utd out of the way too, although they already appear to be heading south anyway. Not sure there's many teams that wouldn't trade places with us right now outside of Wolves and Derby, definitely an encouraging way to start 2018! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 43 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: Coming off the back of two very good and very different wins against what were on paper, good teams. John Terry, Andre Green and Henri Lansbury all returning to fitness leaving just one long term absentee. Played most of the top teams away from home already, played Bristol City twice and got Brentford (apparent bogey team) out of the way too. Over the next few weeks we'll have got Sheff Utd out of the way too, although they already appear to be heading south anyway. Not sure there's many teams that wouldn't trade places with us right now outside of Wolves and Derby, definitely an encouraging way to start 2018! I honestly don't think Derby are that good. Altho we have the big teams at home, no doubt they will come to ours to win which may play into our game plan. Likewise with the likes of Sheff Utd away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 1 hour ago, bannedfromHandV said: Coming off the back of two very good and very different wins against what were on paper, good teams. John Terry, Andre Green and Henri Lansbury all returning to fitness leaving just one long term absentee. Played most of the top teams away from home already, played Bristol City twice and got Brentford (apparent bogey team) out of the way too. Over the next few weeks we'll have got Sheff Utd out of the way too, although they already appear to be heading south anyway. Not sure there's many teams that wouldn't trade places with us right now outside of Wolves and Derby, definitely an encouraging way to start 2018! So are you saying Bruce has no excuse for not finished 3rd? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyp Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 (edited) Be interesting to see can Cardiff turn this around. Warnock only knows one way when faced with advertisy, start effing and blinding players . The modern player, in the main, doesn't tend to respond to that positively. They surely must be bottom 3 form wise ? Edited January 2, 2018 by Johnnyp mistake Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 23 minutes ago, Johnnyp said: Be interesting to see can Cardiff turn this around. Warnock only knows one way when faced with advertising. Start effing and blinding players . The modern player, in the main, doesn't tend to respond to that positively. They surely must be bottom 3 form wise ? Buy something? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 38 minutes ago, villarocker said: Buy something? He does the shake and vac Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 All to play for now and things can change quickly - 6 weeks ago sheff utd were top , now they are 17 points behind wolves - Cardiff lost 3 in 22 and now lost 4 in 4 - let’s hope we gain consistent results and the others slip 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 5 hours ago, omariqy said: I honestly don't think Derby are that good. Altho we have the big teams at home, no doubt they will come to ours to win which may play into our game plan. Likewise with the likes of Sheff Utd away. They don't look all that on paper but they keep picking up the points. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 OK so we got 7 points from the first 7 games (21 points) which is relegation form. We then got it together and managed a staggering 28 points from 12 games (36 points) which is title winning form! Then injuries kicked in and the opposition got tougher and we managed a measly 3 points from 5 games (15 points). Poor form which could have continued and extended to a further 2 tough games but instead we won them both so ended December with 9 from a possible 21 which is more respectable albeit still poor. So lets say we are getting over injuries and confidence is returning. Along with a couple of signing we could see another run like the one which got us 28 points from a possible 36. Do that are we are right in there for automatic promotion. So as is stands as difficult as this season and the football has been to stomach at times we're right in the for 2nd place!! Only Wolves are currently meeting the magical 2 points a game you need for automatic promotion. So its feasible that an average less than that could still have a team finishing 2nd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 6 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: OK so we got 7 points from the first 7 games (21 points) which is relegation form. We then got it together and managed a staggering 28 points from 12 games (36 points) which is title winning form! Then injuries kicked in and the opposition got tougher and we managed a measly 3 points from 5 games (15 points). Poor form which could have continued and extended to a further 2 tough games but instead we won them both so ended December with 9 from a possible 21 which is more respectable albeit still poor. So lets say we are getting over injuries and confidence is returning. Along with a couple of signing we could see another run like the one which got us 28 points from a possible 36. Do that are we are right in there for automatic promotion. So as is stands as difficult as this season and the football has been to stomach at times we're right in the for 2nd place!! Only Wolves are currently meeting the magical 2 points a game you need for automatic promotion. So its feasible that an average less than that could still have a team finishing 2nd. Good post. I said a couple of months ago I thought 86 points would be enough to secure automatic promotion, in fact I have a wager with someone on here on it and I still maintain that. I am perhaps even more confident of that as we have seen there are 5 or 6 teams below Wolves or are all much of a muchness and I don't see anyone breaking away and it being really tight to the last games. Two points per games here on in will be enough I think and I am still confident we will do it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted January 2, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2, 2018 Wolves now on 61pts (if they carry on and beat Brentford). That’s title winning form so far, so I expect them to carry on. 2nd place though is do-able but probably... 5 teams I would say so I reckon we’re more than in the mix. Come on Villa! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 Great page to follow on twitter. The below focuses on the expected goals stat. We really should be right there with Wolves based on our xG. We are definitely underachieving and Derby are massively overachieving. It backs up my view that Derby are not as good as they seem to look. https://twitter.com/EFLStats/status/948327380073971718 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 2, 2018 Share Posted January 2, 2018 14 minutes ago, omariqy said: Great page to follow on twitter. The below focuses on the expected goals stat. We really should be right there with Wolves based on our xG. We are definitely underachieving and Derby are massively overachieving. It backs up my view that Derby are not as good as they seem to look. https://twitter.com/EFLStats/status/948327380073971718 Interesting. Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supermon Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 I did a predictor thingy and got to us finishing on 86 points for the season, I was a little generous on one or two games but thought it was fair. I wonder what position that'd get us Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 56 minutes ago, supermon said: I did a predictor thingy and got to us finishing on 86 points for the season, I was a little generous on one or two games but thought it was fair. I wonder what position that'd get us I think that would be 2nd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted January 3, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2018 All this points per game nonsense is starting to tire me. All we need is at least 1 point or goal difference ahead of whoever finishes 3rd. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 12 minutes ago, sidcow said: All this points per game nonsense is starting to tire me. All we need is at least 1 point or goal difference ahead of whoever finishes 3rd. The most accurate forecast of all 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
omariqy Posted January 3, 2018 Share Posted January 3, 2018 1 hour ago, sidcow said: All this points per game nonsense is starting to tire me. All we need is at least 1 point or goal difference ahead of whoever finishes 3rd. Agree to an extent. Wolves will run away with it by the looks of it. 2nd place will be much closely fought as there is not outstanding candidate. Could be a new low points total for 2nd place imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 3, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2018 12 hours ago, Eastie said: All to play for now and things can change quickly - 6 weeks ago sheff utd were top , now they are 17 points behind wolves - Cardiff lost 3 in 22 and now lost 4 in 4 - let’s hope we gain consistent results and the others slip A lot of people said, myself included, that the battle wasn't with Cardiff and Sheffield Utd. As good a job as they're doing, they were always likely to fall away as the season went on. It's why the shouts of how "Sheffield Utd being 2nd shows how much better we should be doing" didn't really mean anything unless the season ended in November. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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