villalad21 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 55 minutes ago, LeedsFanJustVisiting said: though he is questionable at defending. That's very correct. He's defending have always been dodgy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hooter Posted December 10, 2018 Visiting Supporter Share Posted December 10, 2018 (edited) 18 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: 1) I hope so, it might help if you lose or draw this weekend and as it'll feel like we're catching you that bit more. You're still far off in the distance when you look at the league table. 2) Hope you do, John McGinn will run riot. And Bolasie. And El Ghazi. This isn't Steve Bruce's one man army anymore. The transformation has been staggering and we're playing the best football at Villa I've seen since the 90s. Where I really fear Leeds will have success is closing down, and dispossessing, any of the defence or Hourihane, who sits deep for us. They are a bit shakier than the rest of the side. I'd put my balls on both teams scoring. I don't think I've seen us double up on anyone this season, it isn't what MB does. He adapts to what he sees in front of him, Blades we had way less possession than usual, he explained why afterwards. Interesting thing is he and Smith have already had a look at each other once. Looks like Bamford and Izzy Brown will be fit by then so we've plenty of attacking options, would be handy if Ayling was back too. He spends ages each week at his press conferences talking about his ideas, (as well as climate change and all sorts of other stuff !!) he is a very decent and humble bloke, you 'll probably find his pre match conference interesting, it'll last 45 minutes and involve a detailed analysis of his thoughts on Smith, if you are interested (and he never rubbishes anyone, but you can see some damned with faint praise, Wilder "he is trying some really interesting ideas, ideas I tried but could not make them work...) Fact is having listened to utter gobshites like Steve Evans and Heckingbottom, this is a glorious time for us, to listen to a polite, erudite expert, trying to explain to us what he's up to. Probably not entirely dissimilar to you listening to anyone after that clearing in the woods Bruce. Edited December 10, 2018 by hooter 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Junxs Posted December 10, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 10, 2018 On 08/12/2018 at 19:33, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: This is Cardiff/Wolves "will drop points" all over again. Well, after beating Wolves we were just 4 points off Cardiff with 10 games to go, and we were a massively similar 10 points behind after 22 games played.. but as we all know it all went downhill for Bruce after that Wolves result. But the point im making is we were 10 points behind last year at a similar stage and got to touching distance with still another 10 games left. Under Smith I am confident we will do it. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 1 hour ago, Junxs said: Well, after beating Wolves we were just 4 points off Cardiff with 10 games to go, and we were a massively similar 10 points behind after 22 games played.. but as we all know it all went downhill for Bruce after that Wolves result. But the point im making is we were 10 points behind last year at a similar stage and got to touching distance with still another 10 games left. Under Smith I am confident we will do it. If we strengthen well and wisely in January which I am confident we will, I think there is no reason why we cannot make the top 2. This time round I know that we mean business, compared to last year where we looked the business but was just waiting for it to f*** up at any time under Bruce in which it did more often than not. We are the real deal this time round. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted December 10, 2018 Share Posted December 10, 2018 2 hours ago, Junxs said: Well, after beating Wolves we were just 4 points off Cardiff with 10 games to go, and we were a massively similar 10 points behind after 22 games played.. but as we all know it all went downhill for Bruce after that Wolves result. But the point im making is we were 10 points behind last year at a similar stage and got to touching distance with still another 10 games left. Under Smith I am confident we will do it. After 31 games we were second. The run in January was incredible and shot us up the table. I’m really excited with how we are playing at the moment but I think the end of January will tell us if top 2 is possible. As I’ve said before after the Leeds games we have 7 or so go games that we expect to win. Bolton and Swansea aside all of our other games under Smith have been difficult games on paper and I think we have done a lot better than we all expected. With Derby, Boro and Albion We’ve shown we can mix it up with all the better team on their turf. Something we couldn’t do last season. It would be hard to stomach if we now go and drop points to teams where we are expected to win. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KenjiOgiwara Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 We feel like winners, so I am gonna stick my head out and predict we will win the league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 10 hours ago, Junxs said: Well, after beating Wolves we were just 4 points off Cardiff with 10 games to go, and we were a massively similar 10 points behind after 22 games played.. but as we all know it all went downhill for Bruce after that Wolves result. But the point im making is we were 10 points behind last year at a similar stage and got to touching distance with still another 10 games left. Under Smith I am confident we will do it. Good point, big difference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 Looks like top 2 is not the aim. “The reality is that we are still not in the top six, so we must get there," he said. “That is our aim and we must work hard for that. Anwhar El Ghazi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wilko154 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 17 minutes ago, villalad21 said: Looks like top 2 is not the aim. “The reality is that we are still not in the top six, so we must get there," he said. “That is our aim and we must work hard for that. Anwhar El Ghazi. I think the current aim is top six, the overall goal for the season is top two. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 11, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 11, 2018 19 minutes ago, villalad21 said: Looks like top 2 is not the aim. “The reality is that we are still not in the top six, so we must get there," he said. “That is our aim and we must work hard for that. Anwhar El Ghazi. No, it simply looks like he is stating the obvious. Opposed to all this "We will win this league nonsense" at present. If and when we do break into the top 6, then we can start talking top 2. Doesn't in any way mean that isn't the long term aim, the manager has said as much. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Junxs Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 11 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said: After 31 games we were second. The run in January was incredible and shot us up the table. I’m really excited with how we are playing at the moment but I think the end of January will tell us if top 2 is possible. As I’ve said before after the Leeds games we have 7 or so go games that we expect to win. Bolton and Swansea aside all of our other games under Smith have been difficult games on paper and I think we have done a lot better than we all expected. With Derby, Boro and Albion We’ve shown we can mix it up with all the better team on their turf. Something we couldn’t do last season. It would be hard to stomach if we now go and drop points to teams where we are expected to win. Gosh wow, yes I forgot about that. So went from gameweek 22 where we were 10 points behind to gameweek 31 where we were 4 points ahead (Cardiff with a game in hand) And like you say this amazing mini run we are on has come against the better sides in the league, lets see how well Norwich and Leeds do in their harder runs - plenty of points to be dropped and more than half the season still to play. Bring it on, I'm excited. I love football again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed Posted December 11, 2018 Visiting Supporter Share Posted December 11, 2018 11 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said: After 31 games we were second. The run in January was incredible and shot us up the table. I’m really excited with how we are playing at the moment but I think the end of January will tell us if top 2 is possible. As I’ve said before after the Leeds games we have 7 or so go games that we expect to win. Bolton and Swansea aside all of our other games under Smith have been difficult games on paper and I think we have done a lot better than we all expected. With Derby, Boro and Albion We’ve shown we can mix it up with all the better team on their turf. Something we couldn’t do last season. It would be hard to stomach if we now go and drop points to teams where we are expected to win. You do have a nightmare feb/March though I wouldn’t fancy having that run of fixtures from the 9th feb to the 30th March you have sheff united home brentford away West Brom home Stoke away Derby home Birmingham away Forest away boro home blackburn home not mention your last 2 games are away at Leeds & home to Norwich. good thing is with Leeds once we get passed yourselves we’ve played most of the top 8 away barring Boro & the rest have to come to Elland Road. What I think you’ll find now teams, are noticing you’re in form, teams won’t come to win at Villa Park they’ll come not to lose. You may say we aren’t blowing teams away so must mean we’re going to drop off, that’s not the case. It’s more that teams come to nick a point as they know if they opened up we’d blow them away. I imagine you’ll face the same until the end of the season. I feel we play better away as teams are expected to come out at us & we have more space Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weedman Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 37 minutes ago, BigRed said: What I think you’ll find now teams, are noticing you’re in form, teams won’t come to win at Villa Park they’ll come not to lose. You may say we aren’t blowing teams away so must mean we’re going to drop off, that’s not the case. It’s more that teams come to nick a point as they know if they opened up we’d blow them away. I imagine you’ll face the same until the end of the season The best defensive team in the league with the best defensive manager in the league set up not to lose on their own turf recently against us. We won 3-0. Defensive teams won't be a problem for us, with our ropey defense it's the attacking teams that will cause us more problems so if teams are about to get scared and set up more defensively I'd say that bodes pretty well for us 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 I see Leeds fans are still obsessed with us then. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRed Posted December 11, 2018 Visiting Supporter Share Posted December 11, 2018 Just now, bannedfromHandV said: I see Leeds fans are still obsessed with us then. Not really, joined the other week just like seeing the view from the other side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merson08 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 54 minutes ago, BigRed said: What I think you’ll find now teams, are noticing you’re in form, teams won’t come to win at Villa Park they’ll come not to lose. You may say we aren’t blowing teams away so must mean we’re going to drop off, that’s not the case. It’s more that teams come to nick a point as they know if they opened up we’d blow them away. I imagine you’ll face the same until the end of the season. I feel we play better away as teams are expected to come out at us & we have more space To be fair, were not even half way through so every team still has every team to play against. I understand what your saying, but you have said that your top 8 fixtures are mainly at home and then later that Leeds prefer to play away as teams are expected to attack. Taking this into perspective you have tough games coming up against the top 8 at Elland Road. Where as Villa are at home but Villa Park is becoming our fortress. This team feels like we can play anyone at Villa Park now. Its going be any interesting conclusion to the season and there are going to be many twists and turns to come yet, for both of our teams. Either way Villa fans are liking football again which is the most important thing! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted December 11, 2018 VT Supporter Share Posted December 11, 2018 I think we will know in 2 games time if there is anything to fear in this league. So far it has to be forest that impressed the most. They have money behind them atm too and could well step it up 2nd half like ourselves. Norwich caught us at the right time and away from home. I'm still not sure about these tbh, this league has a tendency to allow decent runs even though the team are not playing out of this world. The sheer amount of games will catch them up I think. Leeds look suspect too. This will be a good time for their game though as the players will have got the new hi tempo game more drilled, reckon they will have a good Christmas and New year. However I'll be shocked if they get through march unscathed. I know the Leeds lot bang on about injuries keeping out a lot of players but the fact is this team has been the one the get the results....and fatigue will catch up with the mainstay players. We know well what happens then after oneils days. Stoke are the other dark horses for me. Big well stocked squad. If they hit form over Christmas they will be hard to stop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 17 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said: I see Leeds fans are still obsessed with us then. I think alot of teams in this league are obsessed with us They have that inferioriy complex syndrome. We are the biggest club in England's second largest city, we as a club have such a bigger potential than any clubs in this league and it's what making other clubs obsessed with us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Merson08 Posted December 11, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted December 11, 2018 (edited) 3 minutes ago, villalad21 said: I think alot of teams in this league are obsessed with us They have that inferioriy complex syndrome. We are the biggest club in England's second largest city, we as a club have such a bigger potential than any clubs in this league and it's what making other clubs obsessed with us. Come on now lads, its nice to have opinions of different clubs. He hasn't insulted anyone in particular or the club. He is more than welcome to air his opinions. Also this opinion was shared with Steve Bruce, Tony Xia, Roberto Di Matteo et al and it didnt get us as a club very far and its nice to have the modern day modesty to our club. The past is nice to have but the future is brighter. Edited December 11, 2018 by Merson08 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted December 11, 2018 Share Posted December 11, 2018 1 minute ago, Merson08 said: Come on now lads, its nice to have opinions of different clubs. He hasn't insulted anyone in particular or the club. He is more than welcome to air his opinions. He is welcome here, didn't mean him in particular in my post. Just stated alot of those smaller clubs in this league have a inferiority complex against us, and from what i've seen on their forums it's true. We get hate for no reason, even Leeds fans are calling us "Vile" on their forum 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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