Villa Park - Atmosphere [merged]

[nick76]

57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

But the moments of the game were just slick passing in the middle of the pitch not when defence was involved.

Ok fair enough, I don’t really remember it being like that in those moments but maybe it was from a different perspective.

57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

We were totally crap at passing before emery came.

Completely agree

57 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Just cant understand why people are moaning when that is one area of our game thats improved

Just as the players are learning so are the fans to this completely different way that we’ve never experienced as villa fans.  It also doesn’t help as discussed in other threads that a lot of these players can’t play this new method so looks forced or uncomfortable sometimes hence the summer transfer window is key, and fans feel that uncomfortable times or issues.  Both fans and players are going through a culture change and I think both are getting better game by game. But I take your point about the moans and groans, I just don’t think it’s as bad as some are making out.

Edited March 5, 2023 by nick76

[Demitri_C]

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

Ok fair enough, I don’t really remember it being like that in those moments but maybe it was from a different perspective.

Completely agree

Just as the players are learning so are the fans to this completely different way that we’ve never experienced as villa fans.  It also doesn’t help as discussed in other threads that a lot of these players can’t play this new method so looks forced or uncomfortable sometimes hence the summer transfer window is key, and fans feel that uncomfortable times or issues.  Both fans and players are going through a culture change and I think both are getting better game by game. But I take your point about the moans and groans, I just don’t think it’s as bad as some are making out.

I dont think this fans that groaning will change tk be honest.  Some will koan eve if successful that the footballs not good to watch

I get groaning when we losjbv like stevange but yesterday it wasnt needed. We were controlling the game- wasnt pretty to watch but the 3 points is whats needed

[Sid4ever]

Yesterday was an epiphany for me.  Happy with the way we were playing, they went down to 10 men, and younger me wanted us to go for their throats, we had the space and the players.  But then older me, thought Unai wants 3 pts and if  we pass it forward quickly and exploit the space but have to pass it back then that’s fine, it’s 3 pts and a clean sheet.  So maybe yesterday I appreciated what this great coach wants to do with this great club.

[Delphouneso]

 

 

Following McGinn's comments in the week Cash has now also subtley suggested the fans need to stfu when we're building out from the back and get behind the team.

[SuperTed]

On 05/03/2023 at 13:10, AndyM3000 said:

It's been like this whenever I've gone recently, completely puts me off going.

Can we get a VillaTalk block in the new North Stand? If you moan you get the ban hammer 

I don’t know if localising VillaTalk members would make it any better my good man

When someone’s moaning my first thought is usually “Hm, wonder if they’re on VillaTalk?”

[mattyvilla]

i don't necessarily think the poor atmosphere is a Villa thing , i see it all round the country. Top level football seems to have evolved to a keep the ball at all costs type of game , very clearly Emery want to play possession low risk football , the sort of football that we used to see in europe. The gungho days have gone for now and the fanbase need to adjust.

[mikeyp102]

5 hours ago, mattyvilla said:

i don't necessarily think the poor atmosphere is a Villa thing , i see it all round the country. Top level football seems to have evolved to a keep the ball at all costs type of game , very clearly Emery want to play possession low risk football , the sort of football that we used to see in europe. The gungho days have gone for now and the fanbase need to adjust.

I’d agree re the atmosphere, the away support is the loudest at most grounds. It’s harder on home fans. 
 

Id disagree that Emery plays low risk football. Passing it out from the back and inviting the press is very risky, as we’ve seen ourselves this year. 

[DJBOB]

Ironically low risk football would be to get it FAHWAD and run the channels.

Not a lot of risk when you just lump it up.

[Mic09]

24 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

Ironically low risk football would be to get it FAHWAD and run the channels.

Not a lot of risk when you just lump it up.

Not sure if that's true statistically. Emery demands for the players to play in small spaces and keep the ball.

Lumping it and hoping Watkins beats 2 or 3 defenders does nothing but invites pressure as opposition get the ball. 

[maqroll]

7 hours ago, mattyvilla said:

i don't necessarily think the poor atmosphere is a Villa thing , i see it all round the country. Top level football seems to have evolved to a keep the ball at all costs type of game , very clearly Emery want to play possession low risk football , the sort of football that we used to see in europe. The gungho days have gone for now and the fanbase need to adjust.

I thought Brentford fans last night were really good. Non stop signing, on their feet, flares (I know, flares, boo) but I still like to see them if they don't get too out of hand.

 

[WallisFrizz]

35 minutes ago, maqroll said:

I thought Brentford fans last night were really good. Non stop signing, on their feet, flares (I know, flares, boo) but I still like to see them if they don't get too out of hand.

 

I thought they were alright too but the pundits were saying they were really flat until their second goal. They are living the dream though, unbeaten in months and almost constant progress over the last few years. That generates atmosphere in itself.

[avfc1982am]

40 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Non stop signing, on their feet, flares

A foot fetish and 70's apparel??? Weird lot down there.

[Wainy316]

25 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

I thought they were alright too but the pundits were saying they were really flat until their second goal. They are living the dream though, unbeaten in months and almost constant progress over the last few years. That generates atmosphere in itself.

Haven't lost since we dicked them have they?

[The Fun Factory]

On 05/03/2023 at 19:54, Sid4ever said:

Yesterday was an epiphany for me.  Happy with the way we were playing, they went down to 10 men, and younger me wanted us to go for their throats, we had the space and the players.  But then older me, thought Unai wants 3 pts and if  we pass it forward quickly and exploit the space but have to pass it back then that’s fine, it’s 3 pts and a clean sheet.  So maybe yesterday I appreciated what this great coach wants to do with this great club.

And then I realized... like I was shot... like I was shot with a diamond... a diamond bullet right through my forehead. And I thought, my God... the genius of that! The genius! The will to do that! Perfect, genuine, complete, crystalline, pure. And then I realized they were stronger than we, because they could stand that these were not monsters, these were men... trained cadres..
 

[mattyvilla]

4 hours ago, mikeyp102 said:

I’d agree re the atmosphere, the away support is the loudest at most grounds. It’s harder on home fans. 
 

Id disagree that Emery plays low risk football. Passing it out from the back and inviting the press is very risky, as we’ve seen ourselves this year. 

Ok fair comment , but it will become low risk when he has players who are better in possession

[maqroll]

1 hour ago, WallisFrizz said:

I thought they were alright too but the pundits were saying they were really flat until their second goal. They are living the dream though, unbeaten in months and almost constant progress over the last few years. That generates atmosphere in itself.

Yep, these are their gravy days.

[wedge]

This is stolen (from myself) from the Project B6 thread in this forum but it pretty much sums up where I'm at and my response to the 'I'm only going to vocally support the team inside the stadium if they do things to get me off my seat etc' mentality:

 

We're all Villa fans, and when we go to Villa Park we go to support the team (I assume), do we only offer vocal support when things are going well then? I'd argue the team needs its supporters more when things aren't going well! It's easier to be loud and vocally supportive when things are going swell, but I do believe that a fervent crowd can spur a losing team on, I hear talk of how the Holte (when a gigantic standing terrace in the 70s and 80s) at times almost seemed to suck the ball into the net by itself when Villa were attacking it!

 

The usual counter-argument to this is that 'professional footballers on £XYX per week shouldn't need a loud stadium to perform' which I minorly understand but I think almost completely misses the point.

 

Maybe I'm a deluded idiot but at the end of the day whether we win the day's game 5-0 or lose it 5-0 I'm still going to wake up the following day a Villa fan, I'm not going to go and support PSG or Bayern Munich or Real Madrid so when I'm inside the stadium on a Villa matchday I'm going to burst my lungs in support of the Villa, maybe because there's a childish part of my DNA that realises it's the only bloody thing I can do to help. 

 

In addition, I know they're playing away tonight (but it would be the same at one of their home games) but Dortmund have just gone 2-1 down on aggregate from a leading position and still all that can be heard at Stamford Bridge is their fans, different geographical footballing fan culture I know to us in England but ion mainland Europe it's almost like what's happening on the pitch is irrelevant they're just going to sing and bounce and have fun in the stadium for 90 minutes regardless!

Edited March 7, 2023 by wedge

[Risso]

Away fans are always going to sing much more than home fans. There's the feeling of being surrounded and outnumbered that brings it out of people. Also it's easier to get everybody to join in when you've only got one block in a stand. And at Villa Park, it's not like it's absolute silence for 90 minutes, it's just the songs are more sporadic when the team isn't playing very well. That's the same at every single ground I've ever been to.

[est1874]

1 hour ago, Risso said:

Away fans are always going to sing much more than home fans. There's the feeling of being surrounded and outnumbered that brings it out of people. Also it's easier to get everybody to join in when you've only got one block in a stand. And at Villa Park, it's not like it's absolute silence for 90 minutes, it's just the songs are more sporadic when the team isn't playing very well. That's the same at every single ground I've ever been to.

wedge has given you examples where that isn't the case. 

The main problem for me though is not when we're behind. It's that every stand apart from the Holte basically refuses to sing at any point. You say you're in the Trinity, I'm there most of the time too, Upper Trinity. It's **** atrocious, don't pretend it's not. The others are even worse.

Most games it's like the North Stand and Witton don't even exist after kick-off. They'll sing a bit for the first minute of the game and after that all you can hear from that half of the stadium is the away fans. 

[ender4]

34 minutes ago, est1874 said:

It's that every stand apart from the Holte basically refuses to sing at any point. You say you're in the Trinity, I'm there most of the time too, Upper Trinity. It's **** atrocious, don't pretend it's not. The others are even worse.

I wonder which block in the Upper Trinity you sit in? High up in the Upper stand or lower down in that stand?

Reason i ask is that i sit in the Upper Trinity most games, but buy them on a game by game basis (as i'm on waiting list for season ticket). So I sit in different blocks each time and the atmosphere and singing can massively vary, say between A1 and A5. Even the front of the Upper Trinity changes from the back of the Upper Trinity. 

Generally i've found the atmosphere in the Upper Trinity to be good with a few exceptions in certain games. In some sections there are lots of day-trippers, excitement from first time visitors taking photos and selfies, and a real buzz of an atmosphere. Not the same atmosphere as the Holte who are singing their usual songs, but still a good atmosphere.  Then there are pockets which are joining the Holte in singing, and other smaller pockets which sing their own random songs.  I've tried the DE and North and Upper Trinity is much better and more fun.