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Do the team find it easier playing at an empty Villa Park?


VillaChris

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Well haven't contributed to any other thread as I'm still a bit spellbound at what I saw tonight!

However couldn't help thinking back to early June when people were debating whether having no fans would help or hinder us in a relegation battle. The general view was it would hurt us massively. Also was debate on which players would really shine without crowds getting on their backs.

Anyway perhaps it's too small a sample size and we need to judge over full season but the facts are we've held on pretty comfortably against Liverpool and Arsenal now at VP, two teams we've beaten combined once in last 22 years infront of 40k crowds at VP.

Of course the atmosphere can spur us on like it did in the Leicester game but on the flip side I always feel when we play Man. United there's a nervous energy in the crowd that transmits to the players and that means we lose concentration and make stupid errors.

You could say that was issue for any game we were leading v a top side last season e.g. Spurs game.

Interesting how we continue to do v the on paper better teams infront of empty stands. Of course it was a huge shame we couldn't have everyone cheering and joining in with Sweet Caroline at the end and that's certainly something the players would've missed as they love it when the Holte is rocking at final whistle.

Does seem to be the view from ex players in media we're one of the worst crowds for turning early in games but I think that's OTT. Arsenal are much worse and I bet most of their players are enjoying playing infront of empty stands at the Emirates. Think they've won all their home games BCD.

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Villas history does put pressure on the team more than maybe other clubs. It’s channeled through the fans in the stands.

i don’t know how we channel it but we need to find the essence of the Barmy Army

irrespective of the match just have a good time and a laugh and let the players feed off it. Hugely impacts England cricket in a positive way for sure. 
 

Maybe we need to play games in Barbados and the Gold Coast. Always helps! 

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I think it’s more or less impossible to say really. The statistics would of course suggest that it is. However I’d suggest that possibly last season, when the pressure was generally coming from a negative stance, we gained from not having that extra pressure in the run in. Now of course with a good transfer window and an amazing start to the season, then the energy is all positive and so a vibrant Villa Park would be a massive plus. 

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They do seem a hell of a lot better without us, which is actually pretty depressing. 
 

Maybe it’s a lesson in why you don’t pile pressure onto and abuse your own players particularly when the going gets tough. But football fans will sadly never learn that. 

Edited by Spoony
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I always get the feeling of a preseason friendly with these matches. Players seem willing to try things they otherwise wouldn’t.

The league does seem to be getting similar results to some of the results you see in preseason. 

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Yes I said it a few days ago on another thread that I reckon we would have been relegated if we had a full Villa Park.  In some games towards the end of the season we weren't playing that great and it would have turned pretty poisonous after about 20 minutes.  Instead the players got more and more confident as they were largely cut off from the kind of negativity that was on here.

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Not only will it be less pressure on the lads. Also remember that we have had a team the last few years with a LOT of new faces. The first eleven has never really been set. A well gelled team can often find each other and communicate without talking. We haven't had that. 

Now we are in a position where we obviously improved out first team, but the new faces and matches we play, are in an easier situation to communicate and drop their shoulders. I think the effect of  no fans for us atm. is substantial. 

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Definitely has a training ground feel to it, they just play without fear and go for stuff, they don't worry about hackles, they play as instructed as well rather than responding to 'shoooot' etc.

You'd hope the dipsticks who boo all the time might cotton on

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13 hours ago, VillaChris said:

Does seem to be the view from ex players in media we're one of the worst crowds for turning early in games but I think that's OTT.

It’s not OTT and ex players have told me the same. We are a great crowd when things are going well and building momentum but when we aren’t it’s toxic. So for example I would say the VP crowd is a big asset during say the ten-game unbeaten run, but a hindrance in a relegation battle.

So I would say right now it’s helping us but in a couple of months if we have plenty of points the crowd would be an asset again.

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1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

A well gelled team can often find each other and communicate without talking. We haven't had that. 

That’s a great point about them just being able to talk to each other right now! Especially someone like Douglas Luiz still learning the language...

Edited by Adam2003
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19 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

That’s a great point about them just being able to talk to each other right now! Especially someone like Douglas Luiz still learning the language...

You can even hear the coaches shout at them, so it's easier to get directed mid match. I suspect that's almost non-existent in a regular PL match. 

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When you have an heat map that looks like this id say yes to we find it better to have no crowds, less pressure unlike what Liverpool must of felt.

 

20201005_135340.jpg

 

Edited by Dave-R
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Our fanbase have always been part of the problem. Great atmosphere when things are rocking, but awful when anything goes wrong. I think that's particularly tough on a young squad.

No doubt these young players are benefiting from having loads of matches without pressure from the fans, being able to hear the shouts from the touchline.

Another thing I'd say - the sheer volume of matches favours teams with younger squads. Younger players recover quicker.

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54 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

It’s not OTT and ex players have told me the same. We are a great crowd when things are going well and building momentum but when we aren’t it’s toxic. So for example I would say the VP crowd is a big asset during say the ten-game unbeaten run, but a hindrance in a relegation battle.

So I would say right now it’s helping us but in a couple of months if we have plenty of points the crowd would be an asset again.

True but look at someone like Keown. I always remember at times when we're going through bad spells and he always brings up "Villa Park crowd turns quickly" but you never hear him say that about Arsenal (in fairness he played at Highbury compared to Emirates where it wasn't as brutal) or even Everton.

And all the ex Liverpool players who bang the Anfield is amazing drum when there's plenty of mundane games when the atmosphere would be negative although not so much in recent years.

Villa Park has been electric for plenty of our night games in last 2-3 years and we've got plenty of good results from them so it's not always negative.

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1 minute ago, VillaChris said:

True but look at someone like Keown. I always remember at times when we're going through bad spells and he always brings up "Villa Park crowd turns quickly" but you never hear him say that about Arsenal (in fairness he played at Highbury compared to Emirates where it wasn't as brutal) or even Everton.

 

Well agreed, because I think Villa Park turns faster and more nastily than those. That proves the point...

Agreed with your later point that when things are going well there is nowhere better on earth. 

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6 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

Well agreed, because I think Villa Park turns faster and more nastily than those. That proves the point...

Agreed with your later point that when things are going well there is nowhere better on earth. 


My mum is an Arsenal fan so been to plenty of games at Emirates in last decade and I honestly think it's a more toxic place when Arsenal aren't playing well. Saw that in the late Wenger years when they were booing players like Eboue off the pitch.

Think Richards is another one in media who bangs on about VP being tough to play at but tbh that 15/16 side deserved everything they got and probably got off pretty lightly for most of the season until fans really lost patience after the 6-0 defeat to Liverpool in the February.

 

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Hourihane said in the summer that some players cannot handle the pressure of playing for Villa because of the size of the club. The likes of Liverpool, Chelsea, Man City, Man Utd, Arsenal mostly buy players that are used to pressure but Villa shop i a different market and a lot of their players won't have experienced an atmosphere quite like Villa Park. 

Personally, I do think that the home faithful are part of the problem when things aren't quite as we want them to be. But, isn't it like that at other stadiums? Villa fans do not have exclusive rights to moaning and groaning when things go wrong.

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