18/19 Race for Promotion

[Demitri_C]

I've seen enough to know we are not going up under bruce. Has had a great set of games and I think he is doing worse than any of the other two seasons.  Come December we are going to drop loads of points with those games.

No win in bloody 5 is pathetic esp when you consider the level of opposition.

 

 

[ender4]

5 points behind second already (6 points if including goal difference) after 6 games played. 

Whilst you can't win a league in August/September, you can definitely lose it.  

We saw last season how hard it is to catch the top in this league once you fall behind - it can take 6-7 wins in a row to catch a 6 point gap.  

[danceoftheshamen]

Our defence is so poor that not only have i completely given up on promotion but i actually fear for our survival this season and that's despite the undoubted attacking strengths we "should" have. I say this as regaardless of how good our attacking players are they spend half their time on defensive duties so are somewhat nullified regardless.

[AVTuco]

LOL at this topic.

[praisedmambo]

On 03/09/2018 at 07:19, Demitri_C said:

I've seen enough to know we are not going up under bruce. Has had a great set of games and I think he is doing worse than any of the other two seasons.  Come December we are going to drop loads of points with those games.

No win in bloody 5 is pathetic esp when you consider the level of opposition.

 

 

My word I've only just braved a look at the table and see that Reading and Ipswich are the bottom two. We have been shit.

[AvfcRigo82]

2 hours ago, praisedmambo said:

My word I've only just braved a look at the table and see that Reading and Ipswich are the bottom two. We have been shit.

Yep. Damn players not performing.

Squad out!

[TRO]

On ‎15‎/‎08‎/‎2018 at 13:41, Demitri_C said:

So sky have again decided to show all away games on sky for us. It's like they like to see us try and lose.

We were away to Bolton, Yeovil,  they have also chosen Blackburn, Norwich and now bristol city away on sky.

With only brentford at home. It really pisses me off that they don't show games at villa park when they atmsophere at a rammed villa park should be on show for other clubs to see.

The statistics for last two years have been ridiculous its like they want us to lose being away all the time.

So biased.

The Duke of Cambridge has influence.

[One For The Road]

On 03/09/2018 at 21:40, danceoftheshamen said:

Our defence is so poor that not only have i completely given up on promotion but i actually fear for our survival this season and that's despite the undoubted attacking strengths we "should" have. I say this as regaardless of how good our attacking players are they spend half their time on defensive duties so are somewhat nullified regardless.

We won't go down. There are too many poor teams and we do have some decent attacking options.

Obviously no chance of promotion though, which considering FFP could mean next season is even worse.

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

Let’s look at the squad burnout factor under Beisla, but we’ll have to ignore the times he’s thrown a strop and walked out because there’s no data!

LOL

[alreadyexists]

Couldn’t care less about Leeds. Literally other than the two times we play them, I’ve no interest in their results at all.

 

[AvfcRigo82]

On 09/09/2018 at 12:26, One For The Road said:

We won't go down. There are too many poor teams and we do have some decent attacking options.

Obviously no chance of promotion though, which considering FFP could mean next season is even worse.

I remember hearing those exact words when we where in the Premier League.

[John]

Our only hope is that we bring in a decent out of contract centre half from somewhere or that we start playing Axel there and we can somehow limp along until the new year keeping within striking distance of the top six.

If we can get this team playing to something approaching their potential that should not be beyond us. We need an unbeaten run and to find some confidence. It's too early to give up just yet. Let's see where we are after twelve league games before we throw in the towel and that straw I'm still clutching to... 

[ender4]

We are basically hoping that our loan signings are so amazing that they counter the current rubbish and drag us into the promotion places by themselves. 

[VillaChris]

Difference last season is we could hang on to the 1-0s when we were leading. We had plenty of grit and that got us to brink of automatic promotion.

This season it's all very different. We can't hold a 1-0 against a terrible team like Reading.

Despite our attacking options looking great on paper (much better than last season when you think regulars like Hogan and Davis now struggle to make the bench) it wouldn't shock me if we miss out on the top 6 which would be a disaster.

That said I imagine we'll change the manager in next few months (personally I'd have done it in the last week) and that will probably lift the team for a bit results wise.

[wilko154]

I think Bruce is just getting the players prepared for the master plan which he will unveil after the international break

                            Nyland

   Elmo               Chester                     Hutton

                          Jedinak

                          Grealish

Bolasie  Kodjia   Davis  Abraham  El Ghazi

[One For The Road]

21 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I remember hearing those exact words when we where in the Premier League.

We have too much fire power to worry about survival in this league.  I wouldn't back us to finish as high as I thought we would at the start of the season (which was 9th) but I think we will be comfortably mid table.

11th or 12th is my guess based on our defence and goalkeeping options.

[AvfcRigo82]

1 hour ago, One For The Road said:

We have too much fire power to worry about survival in this league.  I wouldn't back us to finish as high as I thought we would at the start of the season (which was 9th) but I think we will be comfortably mid table.

11th or 12th is my guess based on our defence and goalkeeping options.

And current manager.

[Guest av1]

6 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Difference last season is we could hang on to the 1-0s when we were leading. We had plenty of grit and that got us to brink of automatic promotion.

This season it's all very different. We can't hold a 1-0 against a terrible team like Reading.

Despite our attacking options looking great on paper (much better than last season when you think regulars like Hogan and Davis now struggle to make the bench) it wouldn't shock me if we miss out on the top 6 which would be a disaster.

That said I imagine we'll change the manager in next few months (personally I'd have done it in the last week) and that will probably lift the team for a bit results wise.

Agree entirely Chris.

Now because I've made my feelings about Bruce on here clear, this will probably just sound another needless dig, its not, but the imbalance of the team and how Bruce normally likes to set up isn't compatible.

Like you said, last year we were very compact, and generally hung on to slender leads. I don't really see that this season, we have a scary front 3 (once Bolasie and Abraham come in), but very little the other way.

I'm not saying we should go completely gung ho, but cleary our strenght is in attack so we need to play a much more aggressive style of play to counter the weaknesses at the back. 

I'm not sure Bruce will/can do a complete 180 degree turn on a philosophy he has employed for 20yrs as a manager. 

[Keyblade]

9 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Difference last season is we could hang on to the 1-0s when we were leading. We had plenty of grit and that got us to brink of automatic promotion.

This season it's all very different. We can't hold a 1-0 against a terrible team like Reading.

Despite our attacking options looking great on paper (much better than last season when you think regulars like Hogan and Davis now struggle to make the bench) it wouldn't shock me if we miss out on the top 6 which would be a disaster.

That said I imagine we'll change the manager in next few months (personally I'd have done it in the last week) and that will probably lift the team for a bit results wise.

It helped immensely that we had John Terry at the heart of the defence and captain of the team as well as the likes of Snodgrass. 

We now have a terrible defence that gets carved open with ease and we don't create much offensively so naturally we've seen more draws and defeats than wins.

Either we patch up the defence (I don't see how) or we go all out attack is the only way I see us at least getting back to last seasons level.

[A'Villan]

I don't fully understand the drama surrounding our season to be. I think we're in with a real good shot at promotion. As long as Bruce doesn't lose the players, we're not too poorly positioned.

Defensive frailties have cost us so far but that's not something I expect to see persist under Bruce unless he loses the players. If he can keep them on side then I imagine we will see an improvement in organisation and the impending inevitability of conceding will be replaced for the most part by the kind of football that Bruce is renowned for. Difficult to beat.

Momentum resides with a side that has an effective game plan and players working toward a common goal. In contrast it's especially difficult to gather when inefficiencies in approach are combined with a deficit on the scoreboard. That is what we saw against Sheffield United. After 25 minutes not only was the momentum firmly in Sheffield's favour the scoreboard was too.

While bitterly disappointed I can't say I expect to see this kind of result and performance continuing as standard for the remainder of the season, even if personnel stays as is. Let's not forget that we have put ourselves in positions to of accrued more points than we have currently, and a better goal difference. In some fixtures despite being exposed and conceding we have also created more than enough chances to put the score and odds in our favour. Unfortunately we didn't and what might've been a match we could write-off as a blip is seemingly now more an indication of what quality teams can do to us. I could well be wrong but I don't think that is going to be the case, unless as I said earlier, Bruce loses the players belief and drive.

Personally I give credit to Sheffield for their efforts in the first 25 minutes, they were full of vigor and used one another well, once the second goal went in they were well and truly in rhythm and had every incentive to keep it going. They played some nice football and they executed well in build up and in finishing. While I want to express my concern for what is happening at Villa I also think that Sheffield could of caused any team in this division problems with the way they started the game, even though it's hard to argue the notion that we were merely exposed as lacking in setup and preparation.

I am not convinced that Bruce is destined for another failure this season. While I don't want him as our manager any longer, I'm guessing that we won't continue getting caught out and punished as badly as we have been in the start to this campaign, and that we will find our feet in being able to pressure our opponents with efficient attempts at goal. The latter is something we've done reasonably well in some fixtures, only to come up short in adding to our tally.

While it might be the case that our performances are symptomatic of a Villa side lacking the quality to contest automatic promotion thus far, I think there are signs of what we are able to do well that shouldn't be ignored or discredited just because we haven't made the kind of start we were all hoping for. Hopefully Bruce gets defensive responsibilities sorted in a way where we aren't so easily picked apart and played around by opponents. That would make a huge difference in how things pan out from here.