Mark Albrighton Posted September 28, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 28, 2017 10 minutes ago, One For The Road said: I couldn't care less if we are in the top 6 or not in September. As long as we are there in May, that's so that matters. Merely tempering any expectations some may have for being in the top six during the upcoming international break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
One For The Road Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 6 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said: Merely tempering any expectations some may have for being in the top six during the upcoming international break. I'm sure most of us will just be happy to be winning games and heading up the table. Whether or not we are in the top 6 this weekend makes no difference to me. Although I guess it does for some. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 We had 6 winnable games this month and even though we are all buzzing from a Tuesday only a win on Saturday will get Bruce up to his minimum target. We need to average 2 points a game but fell behind so Bruce needed 14+ this month to claw a bit back. A win will set us up for a tough October. We can't afford a bad month now as you only can get away with 1 maybe 2 tops and August was one. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kingman Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 3 hours ago, AshVilla said: I think Wolves will struggle over the winter months with their foreign legion Said this only yesterday to a pal of mine. Bit of a shock for some of the Spanish/Portuguese lads going to Sunderland/Middlesbrough on a Tuesday night in the winter months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 25 minutes ago, Kingman said: Said this only yesterday to a pal of mine. Bit of a shock for some of the Spanish/Portuguese lads going to Sunderland/Middlesbrough on a Tuesday night in the winter months. I don't think they will struggle. Mendes is involved. Wolves is a stepping stone for their signings, they are in the shop window and they know it. I think they are all determined to make the big time. I think Wolves have been quite clever in their business Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 28, 2017 Share Posted September 28, 2017 I was looking for 4 wins this month. After a very dodgy start we should do that against Bolton. Way I see it this month has been all about getting in contention for top 6. We are in the mix for play offs while last year we were miles off at this stage. Next month though will be a test: Wolves (a) Fulham (h) SHA (A) Preston (a) Three away games in that run. I think that will tell us how far off or close to automatic promotion we'll be. Good test for SB aswell. Can he get us to go to Wolves and control the game or will it be camped on our penalty area hanging onto a point for dear life? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 Same goes for everyone up the top. Wolves, Leeds, Cardiff and Sheffield Utd will all have their off days and their tough games. Cardiff have a potentially easier couple of months ahead than the rest after only losing to Preston away and drawing with Fulham (a) and Weds (only points dropped at home so far). They've put everyone else away so far and to be fair Leeds, Wolves, Sheff Utd and us of course. Weds, Sunderland, QPR and Burton are the only teams in the bottom half they've played. Tricky October with Millwall, 'Boro and Ipswich lying in wait but after that winnable games on paper through Nov and up to Xmas with Bristol City and Norwich their only other top half opponents. 5 of the top half (as it stands) to play before Xmas but only 1 of the other 5 teams that currently sit in the top 6. Sheff Utd's performances against Wolves and Weds will do them the world of good and show they mean business against the bigger teams after losses away to 'Boro and Cardiff and at home to Norwich. 7 of the top half to play before Xmas, 2 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Not drawn a game yet. Leeds beat Ipswich at home and lost away to Millwall and Cardiff in their last 3 games. Goalless home draws with Preston and Fulham show they are hard to break down (as they were last year I seem to recall) but they have a lot of the top teams yet to come and that Ipswich game aside their wins have so far been against Forest, Burton, SHA, Sunderland and Bolton. 6 of the top half to play before Xmas, 2 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Wolves have so far lost to Cardiff and Sheff Utd, drawn with Brentford and Bristol City and won their other 6 games against 'Boro, Millwall, Derby, Hull, Forest and Barnsley. Still 6 of the top half to play, including us, Fulham, Norwich and 3 of the other 5 teams in the top 6 Preston have the win against Cardiff and creditable away draws at Leeds and 'Boro to give them confidence against the bigger teams. But away games at Fulham, Wolves, Ipswich, Bristol City and their home game with us is a tricky October/Nov with 7 of the top half yet to play before half way at Xmas and 3 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Ipswich have played 1 game less than the others (9) and arguably have had the easiest start of the lot. No Shame in a spirited loss away at Leeds and a defeat at home to Fulham imo, though losing away to QPR is the blot on the copy book. Their away win at Millwall is the only one of their 6 wins against anyone 19th or above, i.e. their other 5 wins have come against the bottom 5 clubs. Still have 8 of the top half to come and 4 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Outside the top 6 we get to Bristol City who, since their abhorrent loss to SHA, are now 8 games unbeaten in the league (10 in total). @They've drawn against every side from the top half they have faced so far (5) and beaten Barnsley, Bolton, Derby and Reading along the way. Cup wins against Stoke and Watford aside they still have to prove they can beat the big teams for me. 7 of the top half teams to come before half way at Xmas and still 5 of the top 6 And then us. Terrible return of 1 point from 3 games wasn't the start we were looking for. Appalling performance against Cardiff followed up by another demoralising loss at Reading, yet we're unbeaten since then. However we have only played Cardiff out of the top teams and 'Boro, Bristol City and Norwich the only other teams in the top half we've faced yet. 7 of the top half teams to come before half way at Xmas and still 5 of the top 6. same as Bristol City. I think we still have a lot to prove and so does Bruce. However, as long as we pick up the 3 points against Bolton we'll be heading in the right direction and despite our misgivings about us people wont be looking forward to playing us imo. 7 points from 3 games against the bottom 6 so far and 4 points from 3 games against other teams in the bottom half. 11 out of a possible 18 against bottom half teams. 5 points from 12 against the top half teams so far. It's all to play for obviously and totally in our own hands. I don't think there's a team to be feared among them and as much as I've not joined in the calls for Bruce's head yet he seriously needs to carry this on through October and November to even think about being here at Xmas. He cant do any more than beat what's ahead of him and we're starting to do that. Long may it continue. UTV. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
obanken Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 (edited) The next four games after Bolton will be the test to see how far we have come, and potentially a month which could be crucial for Bruce. I predict 6 points which will be ok, but still 2 points behind a 2 point average. Would rather draw 3 against Wolves, Fulham and Preston than to only win one of them. Edited September 29, 2017 by obanken Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eholm Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 6 hours ago, VILLAMARV said: Same goes for everyone up the top. Wolves, Leeds, Cardiff and Sheffield Utd will all have their off days and their tough games. Cardiff have a potentially easier couple of months ahead than the rest after only losing to Preston away and drawing with Fulham (a) and Weds (only points dropped at home so far). They've put everyone else away so far and to be fair Leeds, Wolves, Sheff Utd and us of course. Weds, Sunderland, QPR and Burton are the only teams in the bottom half they've played. Tricky October with Millwall, 'Boro and Ipswich lying in wait but after that winnable games on paper through Nov and up to Xmas with Bristol City and Norwich their only other top half opponents. 5 of the top half (as it stands) to play before Xmas but only 1 of the other 5 teams that currently sit in the top 6. Sheff Utd's performances against Wolves and Weds will do them the world of good and show they mean business against the bigger teams after losses away to 'Boro and Cardiff and at home to Norwich. 7 of the top half to play before Xmas, 2 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Not drawn a game yet. Leeds beat Ipswich at home and lost away to Millwall and Cardiff in their last 3 games. Goalless home draws with Preston and Fulham show they are hard to break down (as they were last year I seem to recall) but they have a lot of the top teams yet to come and that Ipswich game aside their wins have so far been against Forest, Burton, SHA, Sunderland and Bolton. 6 of the top half to play before Xmas, 2 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Wolves have so far lost to Cardiff and Sheff Utd, drawn with Brentford and Bristol City and won their other 6 games against 'Boro, Millwall, Derby, Hull, Forest and Barnsley. Still 6 of the top half to play, including us, Fulham, Norwich and 3 of the other 5 teams in the top 6 Preston have the win against Cardiff and creditable away draws at Leeds and 'Boro to give them confidence against the bigger teams. But away games at Fulham, Wolves, Ipswich, Bristol City and their home game with us is a tricky October/Nov with 7 of the top half yet to play before half way at Xmas and 3 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Ipswich have played 1 game less than the others (9) and arguably have had the easiest start of the lot. No Shame in a spirited loss away at Leeds and a defeat at home to Fulham imo, though losing away to QPR is the blot on the copy book. Their away win at Millwall is the only one of their 6 wins against anyone 19th or above, i.e. their other 5 wins have come against the bottom 5 clubs. Still have 8 of the top half to come and 4 of the other 5 teams in the top 6. Outside the top 6 we get to Bristol City who, since their abhorrent loss to SHA, are now 8 games unbeaten in the league (10 in total). @They've drawn against every side from the top half they have faced so far (5) and beaten Barnsley, Bolton, Derby and Reading along the way. Cup wins against Stoke and Watford aside they still have to prove they can beat the big teams for me. 7 of the top half teams to come before half way at Xmas and still 5 of the top 6 And then us. Terrible return of 1 point from 3 games wasn't the start we were looking for. Appalling performance against Cardiff followed up by another demoralising loss at Reading, yet we're unbeaten since then. However we have only played Cardiff out of the top teams and 'Boro, Bristol City and Norwich the only other teams in the top half we've faced yet. 7 of the top half teams to come before half way at Xmas and still 5 of the top 6. same as Bristol City. I think we still have a lot to prove and so does Bruce. However, as long as we pick up the 3 points against Bolton we'll be heading in the right direction and despite our misgivings about us people wont be looking forward to playing us imo. 7 points from 3 games against the bottom 6 so far and 4 points from 3 games against other teams in the bottom half. 11 out of a possible 18 against bottom half teams. 5 points from 12 against the top half teams so far. It's all to play for obviously and totally in our own hands. I don't think there's a team to be feared among them and as much as I've not joined in the calls for Bruce's head yet he seriously needs to carry this on through October and November to even think about being here at Xmas. He cant do any more than beat what's ahead of him and we're starting to do that. Long may it continue. UTV. Very good analysis VM. Provides a real sense of perspective around our recent upturn and the level of opponents it has gone against. Great to see us winning games and getting points but still not convinced Bruce will maintain this level of accumulation over the next 2 months. IMO our best hope is playoffs under Bruce and for me that us simply not good enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 6 hours ago, obanken said: The next four games after Bolton will be the test to see how far we have come, and potentially a month which could be crucial for Bruce. I predict 6 points which will be ok, but still 2 points behind a 2 point average. Would rather draw 3 against Wolves, Fulham and Preston than to only win one of them. Huge month for everyone and everything Villa. Next 6 games we have 2 of the top 6, 2 of the better teams in the pack right now imo in Fulham and Sheff Weds and 2 of the bottom 3. The 2 local derby's, away. Between them Fulham come to VP after we hopefully deal with the expectation to beat Bolton. After our trip to the sty it's a midweek jaunt up to Preston away who we know from experience will be tough to beat and with Robinson and DJ doing well for them it just adds that bit of spice to what looks like a pretty big game atm. 3 days after that one it's Sheff Weds at home. Simply put, for me, we need to be beating Bolton and SHA. Beating Fulham and Weds at home starts to look necessary for a promotion push. Visiting Wolves and Preston and coming away with something is also critical given our respective league positions and that for me, we need to beat some of the better teams so far this year. At the moment it's a bit of an unknown quantity how we'll do against them considering Cardiff are the only team we've played and we barely showed up. Not that if we lose one it will be a calamity but we need to put the first 3 games behind us sometime and the easier looking games for us on paper are drying up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VILLAMARV Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 5 hours ago, eholm said: Very good analysis VM. Provides a real sense of perspective around our recent upturn and the level of opponents it has gone against. Great to see us winning games and getting points but still not convinced Bruce will maintain this level of accumulation over the next 2 months. IMO our best hope is playoffs under Bruce and for me that us simply not good enough. Ive said before about Bruce, his 4 promotions - 2 were through the playoffs. The other 2 he finished in 2nd place, 3 points ahead of 3rd. He's never won this league, he's never got a team promoted with much breathing space, it's always gone right to the wire. We all want promotion. We should be aiming for top 2. At worst, being in touching distance of the top 2 by Xmas will be ok by me. I think we should be expecting a top 5 finish as a minimum requirement and hoping for the top 2 at this stage. That's kind of where I am at anyway. I also think we should be careful what we wish for. Play offs might be a failure in terms of our financial needs, wage bill and our ambition as a club and as supporters. But in the context of us as a club in the last 18 - 24 months it would be a significant improvement. Maybe not as significant as we would like, but an improvement none the less. The whole Rowett/Zola/Redknapp/Cotterill saga going on over the way there should be a stark reminder of how things can turn out when standards are set to an unrealistically high level in the pursuit of perfection. I hope we can kick on, like we all do, because if we're serious about promotion we need to show it against the better teams now. The crunch time is here. And, right now, I'm more excited than nervous and Villa haven't made me feel like this in a long long time. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 I think Cardiff will fall away especially with that absolute fossil Warnock in charge. No real evidence for this though just gut feeling. Feel the same way about Sheffield United as well to be honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted September 29, 2017 Share Posted September 29, 2017 2 hours ago, VillaJ100 said: I think Cardiff will fall away especially with that absolute fossil Warnock in charge. No real evidence for this though just gut feeling. Feel the same way about Sheffield United as well to be honest. I read or heard something the other day (so can't confirm), that since taking over at Cardiff Warnock has spent £3m If true, to have them looking as strong as they currently do suggests to me that he is a better manager than some give him credit for. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 8 hours ago, VillaJ100 said: I think Cardiff will fall away especially with that absolute fossil Warnock in charge. No real evidence for this though just gut feeling. Feel the same way about Sheffield United as well to be honest. Thought as much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 9 hours ago, av1 said: I read or heard something the other day (so can't confirm), that since taking over at Cardiff Warnock has spent £3m If true, to have them looking as strong as they currently do suggests to me that he is a better manager than some give him credit for. Yep he isn't that bad a manager but can they keep it up? I am not sure Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted September 30, 2017 VT Supporter Share Posted September 30, 2017 Fulham winning last night is a bit ominous; They will be contending at the end of the season. It shows how its wrong to focus on individual teams this early in the season. With all sights on Cardiff, Wolves and Leeds the others are being overlooked slightly. Its all about points now. Even against the top sides 1 point is 2 points lost! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 On 28/09/2017 at 23:35, KHV said: I don't think they will struggle. Mendes is involved. Wolves is a stepping stone for their signings, they are in the shop window and they know it. I think they are all determined to make the big time. I think Wolves have been quite clever in their business Some Wolves fans don't think are playing well and the result earlier in the week had been coming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHV Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Yep he isn't that bad a manager but can they keep it up? I am not sure The championship is such an unpredictable league, it wouldn't come a complete surprise if they did keep it up. Warnock is an excellent championship manager, I think they have a chance if they can keep people fit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 5 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Thought as much. Haha I don't know why really I just doubt they will be fighting for top 2 come the end of the season, probably make the playoffs though. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted September 30, 2017 Share Posted September 30, 2017 1 hour ago, KHV said: The championship is such an unpredictable league, it wouldn't come a complete surprise if they did keep it up. Warnock is an excellent championship manager, I think they have a chance if they can keep people fit. I would fancy our chances against them at villa park with our current form. They wont be able to bully us as they did earlier in the season with the likes of big kodj amd davis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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