Zatman Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, VillaChris said: We should be getting 10 points on the board by end of August imo, that would settle things down big time. Bournemouth away- I get people are scarred by Watford on opening day last season but our pre season prep was a joke compared to what we're doing now so I expect us to be ready and beat likely 20th prem team by a couple of goals. Everton home- We've matched up very well against them since coming back up and Everton have look of team who'll have 4-5 signings in on August 31st. Palace away- Tricky but we won there last season and not sure they'll have a Gallagher replacement in. Also having disrupted pre season as looks like half their squad didn't want to get vaccinated..... West Ham- Nightmare match up for us in recent times but we'll be playing them after european fixture and their record was mediocre for Sunday games last year (although of course they beat us in one of them...) This would be real statement of intent game to win. Given September has us playing Arsenal, Man. City and Leicester we can't afford a mediocre start. Hopefully Diego and Kamara can look good in actual league games as they have done in the early friendlies but Digne and Coutinho have been with us since Jan so no excuse for them, Digne was playing really well end of last season aswell once the injuries cleared up. Except Bournemouth away last time we have struggled against the new boys first home game Newcastle smashed us plus Stoke beat us on promotion plus West Ham Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: Except Bournemouth away last time we have struggled against the new boys first home game Newcastle smashed us plus Stoke beat us on promotion plus West Ham All those teams finished mid table in the end didn't they so they were actually pretty good promoted teams rather than Fulham/Norwich types. I think Bournemouth will finish rock bottom with manager and inexperienced group of players for prem. We really should be beating them. Our record is pretty good v bottom half teams under Gerrard at least, very few defeats and mostly wins under him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, VillaChris said: All those teams finished mid table in the end didn't they so they were actually pretty good promoted teams rather than Fulham/Norwich types. I think Bournemouth will finish rock bottom with manager and inexperienced group of players for prem. We really should be beating them. Our record is pretty good v bottom half teams under Gerrard at least, very few defeats and mostly wins under him. Stoke stayed up on the last day I think, they were in the bottom 3 when Whelan scored vs us. Watford were relegated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: Stoke stayed up on the last day I think, they were in the bottom 3 when Whelan scored vs us. Watford were relegated Stoke finished 12th with 45 points in 08/09. Their home form was amazing aswell for newly promoted team, won 10 games so more than us and a couple of other top half teams. Yeah Watford was just hopeless performance but compare our pre season prep to what is happening now and it's a huge difference so that has to count for something. I'm sure Bournemouth will come out flying first 20 minutes but we just need to be compact and give nothing away and I'm sure we'll be fine if we get the first goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 hour ago, DaveAV1 said: Yes they need a starting point and will look at basic form in big markets like horse racing but after a fairly cautious start I’d imagine they revert to their standard method of following the money. Well they also have to track betfair otherwise they create arbitrage opportunities where someone bets with bookie and lays the bet on betfair locking in risk free profit. Betfair is driven by betting so it's all linked. Starting point is set and then it changes based on betting from there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 Id be concerned if we don't beat Bournemouth - or at least avoid defeat. Under Stevie G we have thrived on these sort of fixtures. I know opening day after promotion - but surely we have too much for Bournemouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaFaninLondon Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 First three games we have to be aiming for 9 points, at the very least 7 points, that sets us up nicely for a relatively tough run where we play West Ham, Arsenal, City and then Leicester. I want us to turn up and batter Bournemouth on August 6th which we are capable of doing, Watford was horrendous last season and I don't want a repeat. We didn't do well last season against the top 6 sides, or even the top half teams, and we need to improve on that next season. We also had a poor record against the relegated teams last season, winning three and losing twice, this season that needs to be at least 5 wins if not winning all 6. To finish top half and maybe push for the top 7, we should be looking to take around 40 points from the bottom half teams and 15-20 points from the top half teams. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 4 hours ago, hippo said: If we finish 15th - Stevie G will only have had 1.75 seasons in the prem. It would seem like we appointed a rookie then gave him the boot just as was getting more experienced. . We potted DS because we were starting to have look of bottom six team though. It might be mildy acceptable if we were suddenly throwing 3-4 under 20s all into starting line up in one go but we're putting Coutinho, Digne, Kamara and Carlos all in the 11 from what DS had. While I don't think it's been wholly convincing so far under Gerrard I think we'll comfortably finish higher than 14th-15th unless we have even worse injury run than last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KMitch Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 TBH, this is the least excited I've been about the Villa since the Lerner days and I'm extremely apathetic with regards to the upcoming season. I'm anticipating another boring mid-table finish with a lot of Jekkyl and Hyde performances. I'm fully aware this is me being an ungrateful, entitled, armchair fan considering that we were on the brink of administration just a few short years ago and we just signed flippin' Coutinho in May, but I've never seen a team with this much star power on paper look so toothless and mentally weak. I'm still hoping Gerrard can turn things around, but I'm not convinced. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulMcGrath_5 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 12 minutes ago, KMitch said: TBH, this is the least excited I've been about the Villa since the Lerner days and I'm extremely apathetic with regards to the upcoming season. I'm anticipating another boring mid-table finish with a lot of Jekkyl and Hyde performances. I'm fully aware this is me being an ungrateful, entitled, armchair fan considering that we were on the brink of administration just a few short years ago and we just signed flippin' Coutinho in May, but I've never seen a team with this much star power on paper look so toothless and mentally weak. I'm still hoping Gerrard can turn things around, but I'm not convinced. I think the fact that hardly anyone on here is predicting higher than 7th speaks volumes. Points tally and league position aside - I just want to see some decent football - large parts of last season were so tepid. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Condimentalist Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 8 minutes ago, hippo said: I think the fact that hardly anyone on here is predicting higher than 7th speaks volumes. Points tally and league position aside - I just want to see some decent football - large parts of last season were so tepid. 7th would be our best finish in 12 years and mark the upper echelons of what most people would have thought realistic two or three years ago. I'd be absolutely chuffed with 7th and it would be great fun getting there because it would mean winning plenty of games. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 2 minutes ago, Condimentalist said: 7th would be our best finish in 12 years and mark the upper echelons of what most people would have thought realistic two or three years ago. I'd be absolutely chuffed with 7th and it would be great fun getting there because it would mean winning plenty of games. Yep, to finish 7th you normally need to win 19 games, so 50% of all games will be a win, and then some draws on top as well. (Only West Ham have managed 7th with only 16 wins in the last 10 years) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 43 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said: He only told the key players, though. Not the entire squad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 (edited) 26 minutes ago, ender4 said: Yep, to finish 7th you normally need to win 19 games, so 50% of all games will be a win, and then some draws on top as well. (Only West Ham have managed 7th with only 16 wins in the last 10 years) Yep - the point I was making was not many on VT think we will finish 7th Edited July 19, 2022 by hippo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted July 19, 2022 So, 7th is our stated aim - and there will be absolutely fierce competition for 7th this season - we'll have to beat Leicester, Newcastle, Wolves and West Ham to get there, let alone the likes of Brighton and Palace that we finished behind last season. 7th is the stated target though - get to Europe through 7th and then see what happens - with Newcastle's likely growth, trying to get there this season might be really important. I think it'll be really difficult - but I'm looking forward to us giving it a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 59 minutes ago, PaulMcGrath_5 said: Well there you have it, we don't have to guess anymore. The pressure is on themselves. The good thing is that, hopefully, it's a rocket up the arse to let them know that standards can't drop throughout the season at any time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobzy Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 9 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: So, 7th is our stated aim - and there will be absolutely fierce competition for 7th this season - we'll have to beat Leicester, Newcastle, Wolves and West Ham to get there, let alone the likes of Brighton and Palace that we finished behind last season. 7th is the stated target though - get to Europe through 7th and then see what happens - with Newcastle's likely growth, trying to get there this season might be really important. I think it'll be really difficult - but I'm looking forward to us giving it a go. Can't wait for us to finish 9th and there be an absolute meltdown on here. Woop woop. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted July 19, 2022 Share Posted July 19, 2022 6 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: Well there you have it, we don't have to guess anymore. The pressure is on themselves. The good thing is that, hopefully, it's a rocket up the arse to let them know that standards can't drop throughout the season at any time. Yeah a rocket up the arse should get us 7th. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted July 19, 2022 Moderator Share Posted July 19, 2022 1 minute ago, bobzy said: Can't wait for us to finish 9th and there be an absolute meltdown on here. Woop woop. I think anything in the top 11 will be okay - it'll be the bottom of the group we're competing in, but still in the right group if that makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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