2021/22 expectations

[DaveAV1]

4 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Yeah people have decided Arsenal are a joke. And in the context of title challenging they are. But I think they're still way ahead of us at the moment 

Certainly in recent, even medium term history they have been way ahead of us, no doubt. You’re probably right that they are still ahead of us but the gap seems to be narrowing. Whether that gap continues to narrow and by how much is the big question. 
 

With a pessimistic hat on we’ve lost our best player and our mini rebuild and continued overall progress will always have an element of uncertainty. How long will new signings need to settle, will they settle/fit in etc?
 

Taking an optimistic view, our recruitment team is now very good and hopefully the type of signings, on the whole should settle fairly quickly. We’re also fishing in a much better pool than we have in the past. So overall it’s fairly reasonable to take the view that we’ve lost an exceptional player, albeit with a less than exceptional injury record, but on paper we now have a stronger squad, that’s  less reliant on one player. There is also another couple of weeks or so to further strengthen the squad. 

Of course there are similar unknowns with Arsenal and for that matter the other teams. All in all my glass is half full, I’ve got a whiskey chaser sitting next to it and last orders are nowhere near being called. Not to mention the new barmaid has one less button done up than usual. Things are looking good. 

[ender4]

3 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

 

but seriously, beat Man Utd this season its agony every year. 

VAR and PGMOL say no.

[ismail-villa]

8th and a cup I reckon. Would be a good season!

[mikeyp102]

For me the point from losing position is an interesting one and is something we do need to alter. Personally think it’s a mentality thing. When we take the lead, we are a very confident side and move the ball so much quicker. But when we go behind we drop into our shells. This mirrors some players, El Ghazi, Conor even McGinn, who if they score early look world beaters, but if they don’t the longer the game goes on the worse they can be. 
Jack was the leader in that he was the teams talisman, but he wasn’t a strong willed captain. Mings is a leader on the pitch, but I think we lacked others. 
Ings will help improve that aspect and I think that’s one reason why we want Ward Prowse as well. 

[ender4]

1 minute ago, mikeyp102 said:

For me the point from losing position is an interesting one and is something we do need to alter. Personally think it’s a mentality thing. When we take the lead, we are a very confident side and move the ball so much quicker. But when we go behind we drop into our shells. This mirrors some players, El Ghazi, Conor even McGinn, who if they score early look world beaters, but if they don’t the longer the game goes on the worse they can be. 
Jack was the leader in that he was the teams talisman, but he wasn’t a strong willed captain. Mings is a leader on the pitch, but I think we lacked others. 
Ings will help improve that aspect and I think that’s one reason why we want Ward Prowse as well. 

Yep, how many times have we seen Man Utd losing a game with 80 minutes gone and you just know they will score at least 1 goal, probably 2 to win the game.
 

Having the refs on your side for a late penalty obviously helps, but still impressive mindset from the players.

[villa4europe]

15 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Rightly the club are targeting youth but that doesn’t guarantee first team starters in the future.  Plus developing youngsters can generate a good revenue stream if we can keep selling the players that don’t succeed for a few million here or there.

The point is that it’s rare to have more a couple of home grown players ever in the first team, so to believe 5 or 6 will be first team starters is extremely unlikely.

i think 3 of them will be, chuk, barry, kesler and no pressure for them but for us to have a crack at CL all 3 need to be international level quality 

that is how we will do it, if they fail to reach those heights then so will we...and you're right about the likelihood of it happening is very low but then the likelihood of CL is also very low

[Peter Griffin]

14 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Yep, how many times have we seen Man Utd losing a game with 80 minutes gone and you just know they will score at least 1 goal, probably 2 to win the game.

Man Utd are masters at it. I think SAF built that mentality into the DNA of the club and they haven't lost it. It is no surprise that OGS has it as he was the man to come on late in games and score the goals that brought them back into games. I would LOVE to see Villa build that mentality. Currently, we are too soft and opposition teams know that. But, we are getting better and hopefully we will see more improvement next season. It wasn't that long ago we couldn't win away from home and Smith got that monkey off our back

Edited August 12, 2021 by Peter Griffin

[VillaChris]

18 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Yep, how many times have we seen Man Utd losing a game with 80 minutes gone and you just know they will score at least 1 goal, probably 2 to win the game.
 

Having the refs on your side for a late penalty obviously helps, but still impressive mindset from the players.

Lack of options on the bench really and Smith really really reluctant to do anything up to 70th minute most games. Davis coming on v Fulham when we were losing 1-0 showed what can happen with impact player coming on so really no excuses this season as with everyone fit we should have two attacking players on the bench who can make a difference in games we're drawing or losing.

Certainly getting nowhere near top 6/7 getting just 7/8 points from losing positions, need to get that figure up to around 20.

[Peter Griffin]

4 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

24 minutes ago, ender4 said:

 

Lack of options on the bench really and Smith really really reluctant to do anything up to 70th minute most games.

Smith used to be awful at substitutions. He always left them too late and then very often (imo) made the wrong player substitution. He improved last season and made subs earlier in a game. But when we are not 'in the game' he tends to take too long to change things around. Hopefully, with more strength in depth we will see him try a few more changes mid game. Also, with Jack gone we no longer have to have a game plan centred around Jack. This may give Smith a little more freedom to try something new.

[ender4]

3 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Smith used to be awful at substitutions. He always left them too late and then very often (imo) made the wrong player substitution. He improved last season and made subs earlier in a game. But when we are not 'in the game' he tends to take too long to change things around. Hopefully, with more strength in depth we will see him try a few more changes mid game. Also, with Jack gone we no longer have to have a game plan centred around Jack. This may give Smith a little more freedom to try something new.

I think this was partly because we didn’t really have any decent options on the bench.  As you say, with more depth on the bench, making substitutions should improve.

[Woody1000]

9 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Man Utd are masters at it. I think SAF built that mentality into the DNA of the club and they haven't lost it. It is no surprise that OGS has it as he was the man to come on late in games and score the goals that brought them back into games. I would LOVE to see Villa build that mentality. Currently, we are too soft and opposition teams know that. But, we are getting better and hopefully we will see more improvement next season. It wasn't that long ago we couldn't win away from home and Smith got that monkey off our back

I’d say it’s a little unfair to say we’re too soft, as I feel this is a massive area of improvement last season compared to the year before.

I’d say the amount of clean sheets achieved last season would back up that point.

[Mark_1989]

Hope I’m wrong, but my prediction is that Smith won’t see the season through.

[Follyfoot]

Just now, Mark_1989 said:

Hope I’m wrong, but my prediction is that Smith won’t see the season through.

England job?

[sparrow1988]

1 hour ago, Peter Griffin said:

I agree, jt is only half the story but as we scored 55 points last season and 50 of those game from games we did not fall behind in suggests that we have a problem we need to address. Considering the Baggies even managed to get 12 points from loosing positions and they were awful. We must improve of that and be able to grind out more points from loosing positions. Those extra 6 or 7 points could be the difference between 7th and Europa qualification and 10th and midtable.

It does suggest it but if one looked a bit deeper in to the stats that you posted then maybe it might not be as big a problem. For example how in total how many points could we possibly have accumulated from losing positions? I don't have the stats to hand but for example, if the total amount of points available from losing positions was 9 (it is most likely a lot more) then 5 points is a fantastic return.

Also you have to consider at what point the team went behind. Was it in the 1st or 90th minute? United have a great record but they nearly always conceded an early goal before waking up. It was a marked trend in a lot of their matches.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Chunks says we are finishing top 6:

Quote

 

Prediction 1: Aston Villa to break into the top six

“They lost Jack Grealish but they have strengthened their squad amazingly.

“I would love to see Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins up top and they have got Leon Bailey and Buendia and the rest of the team they had last season. They could potentially get top six.”

 

talkspurt

I'd be cool with top 8 and good cup runs.

Top 8 and a Cup win would be brilliant.

Edited August 12, 2021 by blandy
link added

[Peter Griffin]

21 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

I’d say it’s a little unfair to say we’re too soft,

Maybe a little unfair but I mean we are too soft for top 7 in the PL. And yes Smith has improved us last season

[Peter Griffin]

19 minutes ago, Mark_1989 said:

Hope I’m wrong, but my prediction is that Smith won’t see the season through.

I hope you are wrong too but I think there is a good chance he may leave. I think CP and NSWE will give him as much time as possible but if we are down around the bottom three in Oct/Nov I think he is gone. If he keeps us away from there I expect he will see out the full season, even if we are in or about 15th and if so he will probably be replaced next summer.

[BOF]

2 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

Point won after falling behind in a game

1. Manchester United – 31 points
2. Leicester City – 20 points
3. Wolves – 16 points
4. Liverpool – 13 points
5= West Ham – 12 points
5= Arsenal – 12 points
5= West Brom – 12 points
8= Chelsea – 11 points
8= Leeds – 11 points
8= Tottenham – 11 points
11. Newcastle United – 9 points
12= Everton – 7 points
12= Southampton – 7 points
14. Burnley – 6 points
15= Manchester City – 5 points
15= Aston Villa – 5 points
15= Crystal Palace- 5 points
18= Sheffield United – 4 points
18= Brighton – 4 points
20. Fulham – 2 points

That doesn't suggest that we are grinding out too many results. Only 4 teams below us and 3 of those were relegated. The only reason Man City is in the bottom half of that table is that they rarely fall behind in a game hence very little opportunity to come back from a loosing position.

 

EDIT: Sorry, only two of the teams below us were relegated 

Your data is incorrect. Not that we were brilliant. But we gained 8pts from losing positions last season.

Chelsea 1-1 (1pt)
Fulham 3-1 (3pts)
WBA 2-2 (1pt)
Spurs 2-1 (3pts)

[Peter Griffin]

9 minutes ago, sparrow1988 said:

I don't have the stats to hand but for example, if the total amount of points available from losing positions was 9

I don't know the stats but we did lose 15 games so that is 45 points we could have gained from losing positions. We drew 7 games. I am not sure how many of these were games we were losing but I am guessing some of them. I think it is safe to say that there were about 50 points available to get from losing positions and we got 5. I think we need to be making that '5' closer to 15 next season 

[Peter Griffin]

3 minutes ago, BOF said:

Your data is incorrect

It appears to be, my source is below. Either way, we were good

 

https://www.planetfootball.com/quick-reads/man-utd-1st-ranking-every-pl-club-by-points-won-from-losing-positions/