Pre match thread

[HKP90]

14 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Yeah i was going to comment on that. I would be very worried if our manager was speaking like this. Its like he has no faith in them and expects them to go down.  Very demoralising if i was a Bournemouth player

Think he's probably trying to take the pressure off the team, who will be in uncharted waters. That said, I do think it could backfire, and reduce squad belief/morale. Hope so anyway. Don't mind them having a good season, and I have a lot of time for Parker, but hope they have a mare on Saturday. 

Of course he could be trying to put pressure on his board to pony up for more players. We'll see.

[LondonLax]

Just need Rudy Gestede to come on and nick a goal from a corner and we’re on our way for the season

[ender4]

10 hours ago, VillaChris said:

This was the team they put out in their friendly v Real Sociedad on Saturday:

Travers

Mepham

Hill

Kelly

Smith

Lerma

Cook

Zemura

Christie

Anthony

Solanke

Really should be beating that. 1-3 feels right.

Yes on paper we have much the stronger team.

What we don't have is consistency (yet) and a proven way of playing.

We need to get through these first 3 games with a settled team and picking up lots of points. That will give us the confidence for the harder teams. 

[VillaChris]

36 minutes ago, LondonLax said:

Just need Rudy Gestede to come on and nick a goal from a corner and we’re on our way for the season

Probably shows winning the first game is futile sometimes. We got 14 points from last 37 games after that one....

Can also remember us going to Arsenal under Lambert and playing brilliantly. Benteke scored a couple and I was thinking we'd have a comfortable mid table season. We finished 16th.

That said feels under Gerrard we do need a good start otherwise pressure will grow on him quickly and we certainly have a decent run of teams in August to get 2-3 wins.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

It's another Watford-esque banana skin feel to this fixture...

However unlike last preseason we haven't a very good preseason this year besides what the doom mongers suggest. Villa have created competition for places, better players than last season and have worked in improving style of play etc.

I'm optimistic.

UTV

[Herman22]

Well thank **** it’s almost Villa time again. Well done to the English women!

I think the starting 11 against Bournemouth will be interesting. And no matter who starts the bench will be pretty good too. I think I’d go with this to start:

Martinez

Cash Carlos Mings Digne

Kamara

Luiz McGinn

Bailey Watkins Couthino

That leaves Buendia, Ings, JJ, Archer to come on if we need to change things in attack. And Chambers, Konsa, Young, Hayden, Tim etc. to come on if we need to shore things up or see out the game. Plus Sanson who’s had a very decent preseason. 

Man it is nice to have a panel for once. 

[Tomaszk]

Hoping the gaffer will get me excited again with his press conference this week.

Another 3-0 humping of a Parker team early season will do nicely.

Things don't sound good on the South coast....

Quote

"We’re six days out from the start of the Premier League season and we’re way short of where we need to be,” Parker explained, following his side’s 2-1 friendly defeat to Real Sociedad.

“That’s just the cold, hard facts. We barely have any defenders. We’ve lost eight players at the start of the season. At this present moment in time, this squad is much weaker than it was two months ago when we got promoted.

Of course, no disrespect to what we’ve got, but I didn’t anticipate to be where we are this close to the start of the season.”

GREAT chance of six from six first two games I would say.

[PaulMcGrath_5]

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

Hoping the gaffer will get me excited again with his press conference this week.

Another 3-0 humping of a Parker team early season will do nicely.

Things don't sound good on the South coast....

GREAT chance of six from six first two games I would say.

Pretty sure I read earlier that Fredericks and Rothwell were both out injured too. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

7 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Hoping the gaffer will get me excited again with his press conference this week.

Another 3-0 humping of a Parker team early season will do nicely.

Things don't sound good on the South coast....

GREAT chance of six from six first two games I would say.

Having said that, it seems Parker is moaning about his squad again.

Why I find this ironic is because I remember him doing the exact same when Fulham came up last time.

I'd argue he could have stayed at Fulham and probably built a better squad in the time he's been gone?

[Vive_La_Villa]

20 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Hoping the gaffer will get me excited again with his press conference this week.

Another 3-0 humping of a Parker team early season will do nicely.

Things don't sound good on the South coast....

GREAT chance of six from six first two games I would say.

Doesn’t sound great for Bournemouth at all and we really should be beating them. Could be worse for them though, they could have Gerrard as their manager  

 A couple of neutral friends of mine have said they reckon it will be a draw. Newly promoted club giving their everything.

[pas5898]

Soooo excited for the first away of the season.

Then again, I felt like this before Watford away, only to be crushingly disappointed within 15 minutes of kickoff.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Don’t know how they play but both Moore and Solanke are 6 foot plus so expect their main threat will be in the air. It’s why Mings will be very important for us.

[Zatman]

On 30/07/2022 at 20:00, MWARLEY2 said:

Just had a look on a Bournemouth forum. No strenghtening with an aging championship centre back partnership of Hill and Mepham. 

Playing ultra defensively as they have no choice

 The board have barely given them anything and are taking the money and running. 

A very different game on the horizon to Watford last season. 

Mepham is 24 and Hill is a rugged veteran at 20  

[Reivax_Villa]

I don't care how, but I expect a win.

We have a full strength side.

[Rustibrooks]

Like @useless said, I think its mind games. I'm sure Parker knows we were soft last year, so he's probably putting that out there in the hopes we don't take them seriously. This game is a good test for our teams mentality in my opinion,  we should be winning this comfortably to be honest. 

 

I wish I could go, but I didn't nab any tickets so I'll be watching from the couch lol.

[Vancvillan]

Think we'll try and hold them at arms length for the first half, keep the ball and take the wind out of their sails. Wouldn't be surprised to go in 0-0 at half time.

Second half we start to stretch them, create a few chances and get a couple of goals. Got a decent bench to mix things up too.

2-0 Villa, Watkins and Carlos (Bailey assist).

[tomav84]

i cannot begin to describe how pessimistic bournemouth fans are. most don't even want parker as manager. lowest ever points total has been predicted by a few i've spoken to

we should be absolutely murdering them

[Vancvillan]

4 hours ago, tomav84 said:

i cannot begin to describe how pessimistic bournemouth fans are. most don't even want parker as manager. lowest ever points total has been predicted by a few i've spoken to

we should be absolutely murdering them

Yeah, just took a look at the Cherries forum. Not optimistic in any thread except the predictions, where only one person has them losing to Villa out of the first five or six posts. Cognitive dissonance at it's finest.

Edited August 2, 2022 by Vancvillan

[Lerner's Driver]

14 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Hoping the gaffer will get me excited again with his press conference this week.

Another 3-0 humping of a Parker team early season will do nicely.

Things don't sound good on the South coast....

GREAT chance of six from six first two games I would say.

Ahhh, that old Villa chestnut of taking our chances, whether more urgently on the pitch, or more strategically off it.

There they are, the pesky little buggers, sitting up, begging to be taken, just like our future King and what do we do? 

Well, let's say in all likelihood, it probably won't be Bournemouth getting pegged back on Saturday.

Far more likely is that Buendia will start on the bench, Couthino will show some nice touches and come 5pm, we will feel that crushing sense of humiliation and disappointment that we all know and love.

[a-k]

18 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Don’t know how they play but both Moore and Solanke are 6 foot plus so expect their main threat will be in the air. It’s why Mings will be very important for us.