Adam2003 Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 7 minutes ago, VillaChris said: 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. For me it’s less about our players saying it and more opposition players who have said it’s the actual gameplan when you come to Villa Park - start well and the fans will turn. To the point of this thread, teams are now coming here with that gameplan gone! I’m sure it will all level out though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 (edited) 36 minutes ago, VillaChris said: 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. Traitor Edited October 5, 2020 by Dave-R Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Chelsea has been known to be very hostile at times with it's own players and bad with other things we shall not go into. I think its improved there but some years back seen all sorts of problems with the crowd. Then theres Birmingham City which we shall not talk about one bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gilbertoAVFC Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 There's home advantage and home disadvantage. It's hard to say and depends on the opposition/time of kick-off (night games = better atmosphere imo). I would imagine that yesterday where there was minimal pressure and we started so brightly, we would've been fine and crowd would only have spurred them on. Same with Liverpool last year. But then when we play the inferior sides at like 3pm, it is often dire if we haven't blown them away early doors. I mean, even if we are 2-0 up to Burnley you'd find it hard to see much going on from the fans. Maybe that will change when we return! I'm always one of those people who says something if someone around me is being abusive towards our own team but has got me into a few confrontations - therein lies the problem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 5 minutes ago, Dave-R said: Traitor Has its benefits, seen us win there in 2008, 11 and 13! The two occasions I've been in the away end we've lost both. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave-R Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 2 minutes ago, VillaChris said: Has its benefits, seen us win there in 2008, 11 and 13! The two occasions I've been in the away end we've lost both. I spose it's a day out you wouldnt of had any other way, do you ever make your mum go to Villa games been as she puts you through such torture. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 9 minutes ago, Dave-R said: I spose it's a day out you wouldnt of had any other way, do you ever make your mum go to Villa games been as she puts you through such torture. Yes when I was about 8. Nearly got kicked out of the Holte End for celebrating one of the Bergkamp goals in the famous 3-2 win in 1998. What's even worse is I used to go to Uni in Stoke and she came up to watch Arsenal play there when Stoke used to kick them off the pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.Bear Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Yes probably. Let's be honest, our home fans are awful. If we concede. they will keep on singing for a few minutes but if we havent equalized or go 2-0 down the atmosphere becomes toxic. Either silence or groans at every missed pass or poor play. I genuinely believe we're one of the worst crowds in the country for this. The only time the home fans are useful is if we're winning but you can say that about every team in the world. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 In view of last night, I could hazard a guess... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 25 minutes ago, R.Bear said: Yes probably. Let's be honest, our home fans are awful. If we concede. they will keep on singing for a few minutes but if we havent equalized or go 2-0 down the atmosphere becomes toxic. Either silence or groans at every missed pass or poor play. I genuinely believe we're one of the worst crowds in the country for this. The only time the home fans are useful is if we're winning but you can say that about every team in the world. I think its hard for players who are simply no good enough....the patience does wear thin. The Jack Grealish's , Brian Littles and Andy Gray's wallow in it.....they absolutely love it. This lot would love it now.....imagine what last night would have been like 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Yes it does. Players like Luiz and Trezeguet visibility used to get affected when the fans got on their back. When ever we got the ball the crowd would urge us to attack at a million miles an hour leading to us to trying to force the issues and usually messing it up. Very good players can handle big crowds and even relish it. Players that have a lot of potential but are still a work in progress can suffer from the pressure. I honestly thought we would we be massively disadvantaged without the crowd but it’s turned out to be the other way around. Crazy. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danishlad Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 (edited) When you play in front of 40,000 fans you can’t communicate with each other on the pitch. You simple can’t hear each other or the coach. You have know the tactics and show awareness, there is nobody to help you. I think the team has benefitted from being able to communicate and help each other. Edited October 6, 2020 by Danishlad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 Well we have been playing in front of big crowds since 1874, 7 league championships, 7 fa cups, 1 European cup, 5 league cups ....... I reckon we are better with big crowds !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tommo_b Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 It’s not the empty stadium, it’s the longer grass that’s helped. 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I wonder if Sheff utd forums have exactly the opposite views ? Teams hop in and out of form all the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bannedfromHandV Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I think it’s evident that they are performing better without the pressure of the fans being present, sadly. What I’ve been trying to work out is whether that’s just a natural thing or whether we, as a fan base need to look at ourselves more closely. You hear ex players talk a lot about how great VP is when the teams doing well but equally how difficult it is when we’re not doing so well, I’m sure it’s said about other grounds and fans too but it comes up a lot with us it seems. I remember when I first started going football, it wasn’t so ‘life or death’, it wasn’t all about the result but we’ve allowed it to become as such these days, I don’t know what the solution is and of course the result/performance will have a bearing but perhaps when we do return to the stadiums we can try to be less negative! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daweii Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 (edited) I think currently it's hard to say. Maybe we are playing better in empty stadiums because we do extremely passionate fans, but that passion turns toxic fast. When we're on a losing streak those fans are part of the reason after a while. That said I don't think correlation necessarily means causation just yet. Yes our good form has coincided with fans being banned from the stadium, but I think all clubs have their section of [word removed] waffles that get overly negative the moment anything goes wrong. And yet not all clubs are benefiting from the crowd ban so I am more likely to dismiss this as a source of our current form. What I feel is more likely is what Smith, Grealish and Mings have said. During lockdown when we couldn't really train properly, the team still had meetings, still watched over games and learned via osmosis. Not all training has to be physical, it can be mental and it feels like we did that. Our weaknesses were presented to the players and they couldn't run away from it, they couldn't hide from it and go do shooting drills instead of tackling the problem, they had to face these issues and figure out how to solve them. Since those lockdown training sessions we have been solid at the back, confident in our forward play and 100x more creative than ever before. So has lockdown helped us? Sure, but I think the ways it has helped us are in permanent ways on and off the field. I truly believe that this team are still doing training in a similar way to how they did during lockdown. They learned a lot about how just having meetings and tackling problems helped. Now maybe I'm wrong, maybe it is the fans, maybe the ban gets lifted, we go 1-0 down to Burnley and lose 6-0 because the fans are shitheads and started groaning and shouting at the players. It could still be the fans, but right now I'm leaning towards our current form being more than that. Edited October 6, 2020 by blandy swearing 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mjvilla Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 I think yes and no. The new signings have made a huge difference obviously. But it's the things they bring, the huge workrate with added quality. Fans react to what you do on the pitch, particularly at VP I find, and VP would've loved the workrate and fight the players have shown win or lose IMO. They have shown no fear and no nerves. And this is just part of the personalities signed not just the fact that the fans aren't there. If anything, after a good result I think the players would build a rapport with the fans and increase performance levels. Also, I know it's very different, but I've played in front of a few hundred before now and I can honestly say I didn't notice them. You're so focused on what's on the pitch, everything else becomes a blur. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
est1874 Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 16 hours ago, R.Bear said: Yes probably. Let's be honest, our home fans are awful. If we concede. they will keep on singing for a few minutes but if we havent equalized or go 2-0 down the atmosphere becomes toxic. Either silence or groans at every missed pass or poor play. I genuinely believe we're one of the worst crowds in the country for this. The only time the home fans are useful is if we're winning but you can say that about every team in the world. A bit overstated IMO. Try to imagine the Old Trafford crowd, 6-1 down to Spurs. Or City 5-2 down to Leicester. Did our home crowd lose hope and faith after conceding an early goal? Yes absolutely, but that was after years of witnessing the team do the exact same thing, and manager after manager who seldom had the ability to reverse a losing scoreline and turn defeat into victory. It's a vicious circle of course, but I don't think it's fair to call the Villa Park atmosphere toxic out of context. Our whole bloody club culture has been toxic for a decade. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slowandlow Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Too many variables to be drawing conclusions for me. Think we got 17 points from 14 home games with fans and 7 points from 5 home games without fans last season so not a great difference, especially considering we played teams completely and utterly on the beach in the post covid period. We werent great after lockdown in all truth we just werent as abysmal a Watford and Bournemouth. Both are hardly clubs renowned for crazy passionate supportive fan bases. This season the team is fundamentally different so wouldn't want to compare vs the with fans scenario from last year. Genuinely don't think villa fans are more difficult to play in front of than most other clubs despite what cretins like Martin keown claim. Just an easy/tired stick to beat us with. Not saying were constantly marvellous by any means, just that we are no different to vast majority of fan bases 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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