Villa Park - Atmosphere [merged]

[Vive_La_Villa]

So seems like we’re becoming a better team away from home. Are our fans hindering the way Unai is trying to play with players that struggle to do it?

[Villan_of_oz]

Sorry if this has been mentioned before but has anyone else noticed how Unai specifically talks about the fans in every press conference, and imo it's not just lip service.

He talks like it is his job is to make us happy, which it is but it's often overlooked. A lot of managers and lot more players would do well to have this mentality. 

I wish I could go to a match at Villa Park, if he manages us long enough I may just have to sell everything and do it one day.

We must care about Unai, because he cares about us.... 

There is no greener grass.... Anywhere!

 

 

 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Villan_of_oz

[punkiller1981]

8 hours ago, Spoony said:

I completely agree with the highlighted bit. I got worried with that bad run. If we’d have lost today I think some would have turned. We need to back Unai all the way. If he fails/gets turned on I think i will just give up. 

I completely agree, some of us need to get a grip and understand we have an elite manager who is at the start of a transformation process and the will be some ups and downs at times but in the long run we will be a much more competitive side than we have been in 25 years. We really do need to support emery and understand it will take time but what he has achieved already is beyond what previous managers could get out of mostly the same players. If emery can’t get a tune out of some of these players it’s because they are poor either mentally or physically.

[M_Afro]

5 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

Sorry if this has been mentioned before but has anyone else noticed how Unai specifically talks about the fans in every press conference, and imo it's not just lip service.

He talks like it is his job is to make us happy, which it is but it's often overlooked. A lot of managers and lot more players would do well to have this mentality. 

I wish I could go to a match at Villa Park, if he manages us long enough I may just have to sell everything and do it one day.

We must care about Unai, because he cares about us.... 

There is no greener grass.... Anywhere!

 

 

 

I have noticed this too. I wonder if he is doing it because he is wary of the fans and their ability to turn quickly.

I know that some people don’t like to hear it but after 10 years or so of appalling senior director management prior to NSWE, our fans are at the end of their tether. There is an impatience, that although understandable, is deeply damaging to our performance. This is why we struggle at home as our away support has always been top level.

I don’t think Dean is a top coach (another unpopular opinion) but he managed to galvanise our support like no other. That created a powerful force that carried us from eleventh in the Championship to eleventh in the Premier League in two and a half seasons. At times during that run our whole club was totally united under Dean’s leadership. It was so powerful. I think a similar thing is happening at Newcastle at the moment. Sadly, although understandable, as things started to go wrong with Dean and then disastrous under SG the impatience of the fans returned.

I think that Unai can see this. Whenever we play out from the back you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and there’s always a good few people shouting to get the ball forward. It just doesn’t help and the anxiety spreads through the team. It will take time for Unai to really make a sustainable difference. Most fans can see this and will remain patient but unfortunately the impatient minority often make the most noise. We just need to trust the manager and get behind the team. If we do that, then our ceiling is seriously high.

[Dodgyknees]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

I have noticed this too. I wonder if he is doing it because he is wary of the fans and their ability to turn quickly.

I know that some people don’t like to hear it but after 10 years or so of appalling senior director management prior to NSWE, our fans are at the end of their tether. There is an impatience, that although understandable, is deeply damaging to our performance. This is why we struggle at home as our away support has always been top level.

I don’t think Dean is a top coach (another unpopular opinion) but he managed to galvanise our support like no other. That created a powerful force that carried us from eleventh in the Championship to eleventh in the Premier League in two and a half seasons. At times during that run our whole club was totally united under Dean’s leadership. It was so powerful. I think a similar thing is happening at Newcastle at the moment. Sadly, although understandable, as things started to go wrong with Dean and then disastrous under SG the impatience of the fans returned.

I think that Unai can see this. Whenever we play out from the back you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and there’s always a good few people shouting to get the ball forward. It just doesn’t help and the anxiety spreads through the team. It will take time for Unai to really make a sustainable difference. Most fans can see this and will remain patient but unfortunately the impatient minority often make the most noise. We just need to trust the manager and get behind the team. If we do that, then our ceiling is seriously high.

Spot on

[CVByrne]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

I have noticed this too. I wonder if he is doing it because he is wary of the fans and their ability to turn quickly.

I know that some people don’t like to hear it but after 10 years or so of appalling senior director management prior to NSWE, our fans are at the end of their tether. There is an impatience, that although understandable, is deeply damaging to our performance. This is why we struggle at home as our away support has always been top level.

I don’t think Dean is a top coach (another unpopular opinion) but he managed to galvanise our support like no other. That created a powerful force that carried us from eleventh in the Championship to eleventh in the Premier League in two and a half seasons. At times during that run our whole club was totally united under Dean’s leadership. It was so powerful. I think a similar thing is happening at Newcastle at the moment. Sadly, although understandable, as things started to go wrong with Dean and then disastrous under SG the impatience of the fans returned.

I think that Unai can see this. Whenever we play out from the back you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and there’s always a good few people shouting to get the ball forward. It just doesn’t help and the anxiety spreads through the team. It will take time for Unai to really make a sustainable difference. Most fans can see this and will remain patient but unfortunately the impatient minority often make the most noise. We just need to trust the manager and get behind the team. If we do that, then our ceiling is seriously high.

I think Unai should say this to the fans. You have to get behind the team and get behind them when building from the back. 

I really think as the team gets more used to building from the back and when we add in two new players to the back 4 who are better than any of the 4 we currently have at passing under pressure we'll see a big uptick in home performances next season. 

[Condimentalist]

7 hours ago, M_Afro said:

I have noticed this too. I wonder if he is doing it because he is wary of the fans and their ability to turn quickly.

I know that some people don’t like to hear it but after 10 years or so of appalling senior director management prior to NSWE, our fans are at the end of their tether. There is an impatience, that although understandable, is deeply damaging to our performance. This is why we struggle at home as our away support has always been top level.

I don’t think Dean is a top coach (another unpopular opinion) but he managed to galvanise our support like no other. That created a powerful force that carried us from eleventh in the Championship to eleventh in the Premier League in two and a half seasons. At times during that run our whole club was totally united under Dean’s leadership. It was so powerful. I think a similar thing is happening at Newcastle at the moment. Sadly, although understandable, as things started to go wrong with Dean and then disastrous under SG the impatience of the fans returned.

I think that Unai can see this. Whenever we play out from the back you can hear the anxiety in the crowd and there’s always a good few people shouting to get the ball forward. It just doesn’t help and the anxiety spreads through the team. It will take time for Unai to really make a sustainable difference. Most fans can see this and will remain patient but unfortunately the impatient minority often make the most noise. We just need to trust the manager and get behind the team. If we do that, then our ceiling is seriously high.

Agree with this, and it goes back beyond the NWSE regime, even though things were amazing under Smith.

The home support needs to have a look at itself IMO - booing the team at half time, getting on the players backs for playing how the manager wants - this being the most credentialed manager we've ever had. 

Unfortunately we've never had a manager have success doing anything other than counter attacking so people aren't used to it and panic. 

I think there's a bit of a PR job to do from the club to educate some elements of the fan base that this is a deliberate way of playing to help maintain control and draw the opposition, and not just taking needless risks. 

[villa4europe]

Because they generate pressure based on their own expectations and have no patience

In the build up to the Leicester game there were several posts here that we had to win it in order to get europe and we have to get europe this year because if we don't Newcastle will pull away from us and also Brighton Brentford and Fulham are better than us but Chelsea and Liverpool won't be this bad next season and blah blah blah

Said before elsewhere I think some fans rightly or wrongly and probably because football costs so much money can't accept being mid table and there not being any major significance on the results or progression each year, for £600 they want the idea that we can do something and then are disappointed when we don't... But that's maybe unfair because our online and social media element are even worse

[abdulaziz1]

On 24/10/2022 at 18:15, KMitch said:

I think a lot of us are just jaded...  I'm sick of Aston Villa being a "sleeping giant" and being disappointed or consistently underperforming year after year.  I've been a Villa supporter since 2006 and in that time I've seen us:

• Miss out on the Champions League 3 years running under O'Neill
• Purposefully bomb out of the UEFA Cup in our last appearance by playing kids and not prioritizing the competition
• Lose 2 cup finals because of horrific refereeing decisions
• Be relegated because years of poor business decisions by Lerner finally caught up with us
• Lose a relegation play off final with one of the most expensively assembled Championship squads of all time
• Be days away from administration because a fraud of an owner ran us even more poorly than Lerner did

I look back on the highs and there aren't many...

• Winning 10 games in a row in the Championship
• Winning the promotion playoff Wembley
• Landing Coutinho on loan from Barca and subsequently signing him on a permanent deal 

Being a Villa supporter means we're used to coming up short, being kicked in the teeth, and constantly being disappointed by our club over and over again.  We know how good things can be, we can see the fact that we finally have owners who not only have money, but the business savvy to realize our ambitions as well, but it really would be great to finally start showing progress toward that end again.  

Am I entitled?  Yes.  Am I toxic?  Probably.  Do I care?  Not at all...

-Winning the playoff that year would’ve got us back the Championship in a very bad management.

-Through that we’ve been bought by one of the best owners around football clubs.

-We stayed up when almost no one gave a chance.

-We’ve beaten the champions (Liverpool) as their worst result for the last 50 years.

-Getting Emery is the best part, Coutinho wasn’t.

I don’t think we can consider people who were angry at the time toxic. Nor when it looked clear that Gerrard wasn’t good for example. It’s when there is short term issue and fans start going against it. I don’t think our fan base are, as much as they suffered they’re still looking forward. Sometimes we only see our issues and not following other teams. There are much worse.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Our fans aren’t toxic. There’s just a lot of idiots that like to shout abuse at our own players throughout a game.. But it’s the same across the country I think. 

Edited February 26, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa

[Vive_La_Villa]

10 hours ago, CVByrne said:

I think Unai should say this to the fans. You have to get behind the team and get behind them when building from the back. 

I really think as the team gets more used to building from the back and when we add in two new players to the back 4 who are better than any of the 4 we currently have at passing under pressure we'll see a big uptick in home performances next season. 

Telling the fans to get behind the team will never go down well at all. Dangerous thing to say imo.

[Demitri_C]

19 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Telling the fans to get behind the team will never go down well at all. Dangerous thing to say imo.

Fir most managers i agree but we have a elite manager now if he is saying the fans will listen.

From what ive seen so far even after the three defeats the fans have firmly been behind unai. I think the fans will give him time like they did with smith.

Generally very well liked. Our fans can be toxic at times at villa park and very moany when moves break down. I hear and see that all the time

[Mantis]

To a certain extent I feel like we'll always be prisoners of our own potential.

[macandally]

It seems to be a reoccurring theme at Villa Park for me now, wherever I sit I am next to the idiot who spends the game slating the players, management, tactics and standards, usually with his  kid doing the same, giving sage advice of why everyone is crap and why he would do it better.

I am in my 50’s, it never used to be that bad, now it is rife.  Bizarrely for my 50th my wife bought me hospitality, and I ended up sat in front of some drunken idiot who kept saying “I am paying your wages” at full volume for 90 minutes, You cannot even escape it in the posh seats

[fruitvilla]

@Marka Ragnosasks a fair question ... what do we mean by toxic?

For me, it is where the crowd/Villa fans negatively influence the team's performance. Of course, this is a two-way street. Who has more influence on their actions in the heat of the moment (should they be aware of them)? I would argue it is the fans. Here at VT, the continued negative comments about players and the team sometimes dressed up as constructive criticism do not directly affect the team's performance. But of course, it may influence people who go to the match.

[TRO]

I think we play much more open at home, maybe to please the fans.....I get that....but the onus is on us to do so too.

Away, we are more cautious and catch teams on the break, to score the goals.

I don't think it has as much to do with the fans, as some make out....The noise I hear on match day is positive.

If we stop conceding silly goals, the fans will get behind the team...its hard to be partisan, when we are playing sloppy football.

It is our job, to get behind the team, but we are reactionary too, that has to be factored in.

[The Fun Factory]

Villa Park was built on the back of a double-winning season.

It has largely been a series of disappointments ever since.

[nick76]

On 26/02/2023 at 22:33, fruitvilla said:

@Marka Ragnosasks a fair question ... what do we mean by toxic?

For me, it is where the crowd/Villa fans negatively influence the team's performance. Of course, this is a two-way street. Who has more influence on their actions in the heat of the moment (should they be aware of them)? I would argue it is the fans. Here at VT, the continued negative comments about players and the team sometimes dressed up as constructive criticism do not directly affect the team's performance. But of course, it may influence people who go to the match.

I disagree somewhat.  I come on here and discuss players and everything but at the ground I’m willing the team on.  Yes there are going to be negative people at the ground but I find on the whole the discussion is held here but at the ground the majority are pushing the team on.  

I can be highly critical here sometimes but I’m chanting positively at the ground.  

Do I get nervous and/or groan sometimes when we an incident happens?….of course.  

Do I go quieter or silent when things go against us in rapid succession…of course, that’s just natural.  

Do I do everything I can even when losing….I try.  Can I do better? Of course, who can’t!  

Do I feel the majority are the same? From what I’ve seen at the ground? Yes.  

Are there a minority of idiots complaining all game, every game? Of course, just like every ground.

Villa Park is not toxic, we’ve suffered for years, and yes that can come out especially fans expecting to go from winning positions to conceding silly goals and losing because it happens too often.  That’s not the fans fault, like against Arsenal…Villa fans were singing Villa till I die at the very end, very loud.  

Villa Park is not toxic!

Cant relate what fans say on here to what they do at the ground.  I come on here to air grievances or positives…an analysis of what I see with Villa fans.  During the game at the ground, my focus is pushing the team and I see that from many fans.

[Zatman]

On 26/02/2023 at 22:48, Vive_La_Villa said:

Our fans aren’t toxic. There’s just a lot of idiots that like to shout abuse at our own players throughout a game.. But it’s the same across the country I think. 

The constant moaning that we keep the ball 

Then same idiots complain we didn't keep it when we knock it long to nobody

[danceoftheshamen]

I think after years of dodgy form we are all a bunch of nervous wrecks. This facilitates knee jerk reactions on a match day. This is exacerbated by the petrifying likelihood that at any moment in a game we are highly liable to gift the opposition a ridiculous, self inflicted goal. 

So for me, getting rid of that, would help a lot.