Popular Post JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted January 3, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) 21 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: If any club in a relegation battle lost their first and second choice keeper and their main striker you would fancy them for the drop. We’re second favourites for relegation now. Really is horrible luck. I strangely have faith we will be ok. As i think we have talent in the squad who haven't had a look in for various reasons. As well as ambitious owners who (I hope) will pull out all the stops to keep us here. ALSO, Deano has finally shown flexibility with the system. Lessons learned all round IMO to pull together in the right direction. Hopefully the team spirit is back, it goes a long way. In principle though, obviously you are right. Edited January 3, 2020 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 We have to hope a kind of siege mentality sets in, if we can just get on one good run and pick up 3 or 4 wins it can see us as good as home, but every team in and around us will be thinking the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 3 hours ago, turvontour said: Does anyone know why we play Watford twice in a few weeks? Meaning we play them on this run of beating Spurs, Man U etc. As opposed to when they were awful up until mid Dec. Also, why did we play Norwich twice before playing Watford? I don't know why they switched to this pattern of fixture list, but it's been the same for a few seasons now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chips'ngravy Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 3 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: I strangely have faith we will be ok. As i think we have talent in the squad who haven't had a look in for various reasons. As well as ambitious owners who (I hope) will pull out all the stops to keep us here. ALSO, Deano has finally shown flexibility with the system. Lessons learned all round IMO to pull together in the right direction. Hopefully the team spirit is back, it goes a long way. In principle though, obviously you are right. Fair play for being a glass half full kind of guy but losing Heaton is a massive blow. The first 4 months of last season were a traumatic period from a goalkeeping perspective with Nyland making unforced errors on an almost weekly basis. It's easy to take for granted just how dependable Heaton has been for us. Other than the Bournemouth game I'm struggling to think of an occasion where you can lay the blame on him for conceding. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 There's a (not very comprehensive) explanation of how the fixture list is compiled here: https://www.premierleague.com/news/419044 Quote What is "sequencing"? That's the methodology we use which is all about breaking the season down into a number of constituent parts, which are called sets. We break it down into five sets, which are reversed in the second half of the season. Are there any rules you have to adhere to? There are the "golden rules" of sequencing. In any five matches there should be a split of three home fixtures, two away, or the other way around. Wherever possible a club will not have more than two home or away matches in a row, and will be home and away around FA Cup ties. We will also strive to prevent any club from having to start or finish the season with two home or two away matches because it would be unfair for a team to finish with two aways, especially if they are looking for points. Around the Christmas period, if you are at home on Boxing Day you will be away on New Year's Day, or the equivalent date. And we will also try to maintain a Saturday home-away sequence throughout the season wherever possible. Do clubs from the same area play at home on the same day? Most clubs will have a partner club they cannot clash with. There are the obvious ones – Manchester United and Manchester City, Liverpool and Everton – and then when you get into London it gets a bit more complex and less obvious. What happens next? Around March, the Premier League sends to each of its member clubs a form asking them to fill in three things: 1) Are there any dates you wish not to be at home? That is answered in conjunction with the local police. 2) Which club do you want to pair with? 3) Are there any teams you do not wish to play at home on Boxing Day? Can you satisfy all of the requests? From looking at the sequence we know how many of these dates we can meet. When we can't, the Premier League will ask the club which of the requests are most important. We cannot accommodate everything but, on average, we satisfy higher than 85 per cent every year. I guess any quirks in the schedule are down to dealing with clashes and individual club requests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 BBC on Liverpool game - Salah scored one and assisted one, but man of the match - Henderson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigel Posted January 3, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2020 We have to be careful here that this double blow doesnt derail the season. It would be easy to start feeling sorry for yourself when the pressure next hits! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 49 minutes ago, Nigel said: We have to be careful here that this double blow doesnt derail the season. It would be easy to start feeling sorry for yourself when the pressure next hits! I've been one of the fans supporting Wesley whole-heartedly since the start of the season, but I don't think it will feel like a complete 'double blow' when fans and players have probably had their doubts over Wesley doing the business up top. That's not to say I don't think he was playing well, but I just feel like some players will, perhaps, see it as a silver-lining that he's been taken out of the firing line, and that someone else will be given a chance (new or current player) up top. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spoony Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Well this is all turning into a nightmare. This window is completely make or break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberman Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I may be in a minority here, but I'm pretty happy with the season so far. We're outside the relegation zone, with 21 from 21 which is where I hoped we'd be going into the second half (although I would have expected that to have us a couple of places higher). Yes - there are plenty of 'if my aunty had balls' moments from the first half - I'd like VAR not to be f'ing us up so much. Hopfully this will even out over the rest of the season. We are due some to go our way. I'd like us not to throw away leads so regularly and to improve on closing out games. I'd like us not to be crap for 15mins after half time. I'd like us to be able to play against 10 men. I'd like it not to be the most competitive season at the bottom in years. But we are the smallest of margins away from being comfortably mid-table. We all know the stats on teams promoted via the playoffs and the massive rebuilding job that's been done, so this is OK so far. I think Nyland will be OK, Wesley was always likely to drop to back-up in Jan anyway and we know how good McGinn will be when he comes back. I trust that Jan recruitment will be effective. No doubt plenty more squeaky bum time to come, but I think we'll be fine. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 2 hours ago, rubberman said: I may be in a minority here, but I'm pretty happy with the season so far. . The aim was 17th, we are currently 16th so I'm with you, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tayls Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 33 minutes ago, av1 said: The aim was 17th, we are currently 16th so I'm with you, Erm, does somebody else want to tell him or shall I? 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Tayls said: Erm, does somebody else want to tell him or shall I? Ok I got it wrong. We're still on track though so my point remains the same Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Still pretty unfussed. I like the squad and the staff. We have been a bit unlucky but thats ok. If we dont stay up I am confident we know how to get back up again and our owners have deep enough pockets to handle whatever FFP bollox comes our way. Looking forward to seeing who we recruit this month now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 It's time to ignore FFP and do what needs to be done this window. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avfc1982am Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 39 minutes ago, villalad21 said: It's time to ignore FFP and do what needs to be done this window. What do you recommend? Mass suicides?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 For me, the only players we can't deal with losing to long-term injuries are Mings and of course Grealish. Keep them two away from bad injuries and we've got a good shout of staying up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villarocker Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 8 hours ago, Nigel said: We have to be careful here that this double blow doesnt derail the season. It would be easy to start feeling sorry for yourself when the pressure next hits! I don't think the pressure has gone away at all. We won at Burnley but they were all over us in the second half and we could have easily conceded a few if their forwards had their shooting boots on. Staying up was always the agenda for me and now we are halfway through the season I think we can all agree we're in a dogfight. I don't doubt for one minute that the players we bring in this month will be players already established in this country and most likely with Premier League experience and in their mid to late 20s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 5 wins will keep us up. Who are we beating then? I'll go for wins at Bournemouth and Newcastle and home wins v Palace, Sheffield United and.....Manchester United. Important we can get some more away wins as that will make the task easier from the difficult home run. I think we're capable of getting draws out of Southampton and at home to Spurs (if Kane is out), Wolves (europa) and Arsenal. I'm expecting us to have a good transfer window which would give us a boost. We've seen how we've struggled for half a season in seeing out leads against better teams so I'm fully expecting a couple of experienced heads in this month. It's feasible we could lose our next three and still stay up comfortably given my forecast above although would prefer us not to risk losing to likes of Watford. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob182 Posted January 4, 2020 Share Posted January 4, 2020 (edited) Watford 3-0 up at halftime and end up drawing 3-3 against Tranmere. Means nothing for the league, but it’s still funny Edited January 4, 2020 by Rob182 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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