One For The Road Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 5 minutes ago, Rightdm00 said: When leicester won the league they were able to name a unchanged starting 11 for the last 20 games or so. We would need that level of consistency for any chance at 60+ points. The last 4 games says hello. No Mings yesterday, no Konsa for 2 games, no Trez, no Barkley. 11 points from 15. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 20 minutes ago, avfcDJ said: I am also loving it. I think this is our transition season from struggling to competing for top 8. Next season.... You are probably right. It may take another season or two, but I have the distinct feeling that we are on the up again. I think top 6 is looking increasingly possible and who knows where reaching for the stars might take us? I'm just going to enjoy the ride and see where it takes us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Liverpool won't put out anything like a first choice team. Klopp usually wants to get knocked out of FA cup as soon as possible. They've also got Man. United at home a week later which is shaping up to be a huge one for title race. Can see Klopp resting all his front 3 and playing likes of Minamino and Origi. Way Hause has played he's capable of keeping those quiet. Think we can beat Liverpool with a few regulars rested or if they're out suspended. Think we can beat them in any case. They can carry on bleating about the number of games they have to play, their need for more substitutes and their injuries. We will just keep on playing and winning games. They will not fancy coming to Villa Park again, after what happened to them last time and we would be doing them a favour by knocking them out of the FA Cup. They will also have one less excuse to offer, if they don't retain the title. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rightdm00 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 5 minutes ago, One For The Road said: The last 4 games says hello. No Mings yesterday, no Konsa for 2 games, no Trez, no Barkley. 11 points from 15. I consider our key players Jack, John, Ollie, Emi, and Douglas. They go down and our quality level drops immensely. Bigger clubs have the same problem but on a much smaller scale. ManU has like for like replacements everywhere but for Fernandes. Liverpool, with Jota, could replace Mane or Salah long term. I don't feel the level of player we need can be found at a reasonable value during the winter window. Definitely don't want the club overpaying on the hope we can make the top 4. Just going to have to roll the dice. We have been lucky so far, long may it last. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 14 minutes ago, One For The Road said: I don't care what Liverpool do. I just want to beat them. Again. I think we can beat them with Heaton, Hause, AEM, Nakamba, Barkley and Trez all starting. That's heavily rotated from what we've been putting out last few weeks but I reckon it could do the job. Wouldn't go as far as to include Davis or Taylor in 11 though as that would drag quality down a fair bit. Have likes of Grealish and McGinn on the bench aswell. We'll probably put out a strong line up anyway given it's on a Friday and we don't play Spurs until the next Wednesday so enough of a rest period. Just depends on suspensions as we certainly need likes of Grealish and McGinn to beat Spurs. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Guess that's what the last decade has done to many! Yep. My boy is 16 now and I've been taking him down VP for about 8yrs, so although he's been to Wembley a few times and therefore got good memories in isolation, we've pretty much been rubbish for the entirety of his time as a fan. There's lots of fans that have simply never known us to be competitive in the top flight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 A win against Man Utd and I will be a true believer in the possibility of qualifying for the Champions League. What an accomplishment it would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thug Posted December 29, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted December 29, 2020 The most important thing for me over the last few games has been that finally Jack hasn’t been a shoe-in to be MOTM. More and more players have stepped up to the plate and actually making me think about who my vote will go to. Who would’ve thought at the end of last season that players like Hause, and AEG would be serious contenders for MOTM for a team challenging for the top 4 at Christmas? And it’s not even been lucky. In fact luck has been a bitch to us and we could easily be sat pretty at the top of the pile. Our transformation has been nothing short of remarkable, and praise be to anyone that’s involved. 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 3 hours ago, John said: You are probably right. It may take another season or two, but I have the distinct feeling that we are on the up again. I think top 6 is looking increasingly possible and who knows where reaching for the stars might take us? I'm just going to enjoy the ride and see where it takes us. Oh we are definitely on the up 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest av1 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 1 hour ago, maqroll said: A win against Man Utd and I will be a true believer in the possibility of qualifying for the Champions League. What an accomplishment it would be. Tbh mate, I'd argue that the fact we are even seriously talking about the possibility of Europe is a huge accomplishment in itself. What a bloody season this is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hank Scorpio Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 5 hours ago, VillaChris said: Who plays out wide out of interest if Trez and AEG are out at the same time if Traore has to fill in as CF? Jack and......? We're still one attacking player light in the squad, surprised people are still arguing that. I don't disagree but we only have so much money and squad spaces. Who knows! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 Whatever happens this season now, we have seen where we could be. Our only limitations are based on squad size and needing more bodies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 29, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 29, 2020 Talk of Spurs-Fulham potentially getting Covid postponed. I have genuine fears that this season won't get completed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted December 29, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2020 10 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Talk of Spurs-Fulham potentially getting Covid postponed. I have genuine fears that this season won't get completed. It’s possible but it does raise the additional problem of how do you decide on a final table. Do you scrap this year and just go with the end of last season? Or do you say it’s where people are now? Or do you say it’s on a point per game standing? Now they have started, and concluded last season during the height of lockdown and a pandemic... the precedent is somewhat set. It would be just our luck though wouldn’t it!? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted December 29, 2020 Moderator Share Posted December 29, 2020 They've said that before week 19 it'd be voided and after week 19 it'd be points-per-game. Chelsea's FA Cup game with Morecambe is in danger and there's a great deal of concern over the mixing of the Premier League (bubbles and constant testing) and the Lower leagues (let us know if you've got a cough lads) in the early rounds of the cup. If that game gets postponed, it's hard to see where the fixture would fit into Chelsea's calendar. Hopefully we have as few postponements as possible and we can find a way to muddle through - but be prepared for an enormous amount of moaning from the teams that are still in a lot of competitions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 10 minutes ago, alreadyexists said: It’s possible but it does raise the additional problem of how do you decide on a final table. Do you scrap this year and just go with the end of last season? Or do you say it’s where people are now? Or do you say it’s on a point per game standing? Now they have started, and concluded last season during the height of lockdown and a pandemic... the precedent is somewhat set. It would be just our luck though wouldn’t it!? No way the season doesn’t get finished. The Euros could be in doubt though. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 5 hours ago, av1 said: Yep. My boy is 16 now and I've been taking him down VP for about 8yrs, so although he's been to Wembley a few times and therefore got good memories in isolation, we've pretty much been rubbish for the entirety of his time as a fan. There's lots of fans that have simply never known us to be competitive in the top flight. Pretty scary that so can understand how people always think things will start going wrong soon. I wasn't around for the 80s or early 90s but can still remember seasons like 96/97 where finishing 5th was seen as big underachievement then the Gregory years where finishing 7th was huge disappointment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alreadyexists Posted December 29, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted December 29, 2020 21 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: They've said that before week 19 it'd be voided and after week 19 it'd be points-per-game. Chelsea's FA Cup game with Morecambe is in danger and there's a great deal of concern over the mixing of the Premier League (bubbles and constant testing) and the Lower leagues (let us know if you've got a cough lads) in the early rounds of the cup. If that game gets postponed, it's hard to see where the fixture would fit into Chelsea's calendar. Hopefully we have as few postponements as possible and we can find a way to muddle through - but be prepared for an enormous amount of moaning from the teams that are still in a lot of competitions. I hadn’t heard the pre/post game week 19 plan, that’s very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 41 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Talk of Spurs-Fulham potentially getting Covid postponed. I have genuine fears that this season won't get completed. Who's had the Covid outbreak? Our match v Spurs may be in doubt if it's them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberman Posted December 29, 2020 Share Posted December 29, 2020 After the fixtures were announced I did a forecast and posted that we would be 5th by Christmas, before dropping to finish 10th. I thought that was slightly optimistic and never thought we'd be there with 2 games in hand. Assuming we manage to finish the season, it could be anywhere from 3rd to 10th now, but I've started to see us mentioned as European contenders in the press. An amazing season already - let's hope it continues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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