Villa’s Race for Europe 22/23

[VillaChris]

12 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said:

Well we certainly *can* - Sheffield Wednesday have beaten Newcastle this season! - but it's a massive task - out of 29 games this season they've only lost 3 of them, and they've won the last 5. 

It's more likely than not that we won't win it, but it's important that if that happens we rally around the team and not get too downhearted. We'd still be in with a chance of 6th/7th. 

Haven't we beaten Newcastle three years running at VP? Of course different players but that sort of run at away grounds tends to play on clubs minds as we've seen with us at West Ham year in year out.

I think it will be a low scoring draw, feels about right for where we both are currently. It's very annoying Newcastle have suddenly won 5 on the spin just as we've hit form as they were in very indifferent form around the cup final and I was hoping they'd struggle to recover from losing that game but clearly not, that Forest last minute penalty changed everything for them.

[Delphinho123]

2 minutes ago, TheMelvillan said:

I know - sickening isn’t it

Not sure about that. Guimaraes, Botman, and Isak were not cheap. It’s a mixture to be honest. They’ve bought well and they have been coached into being a good side. 

[VillaChris]

Just now, Delphinho123 said:

Not sure about that. Guimaraes, Botman, and Isak were not cheap. It’s a mixture to be honest. They’ve bought well and they have been coached into being a good side. 

That's what we need to do in the summer. Find three players of that quality as Newcastle just continued the momentum from end of last season and signing Botman and Isak has given them more depth in key positions.

Forest was third game in the week and we looked very leggy at 0-0 so that's the warning for next season if we do make europa and don't have many options to change first 11 as they'll be plenty of Sun-Thurs-Sun situaitions.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

In honesty, logic still tells me we will finish 8th, 7th at a push.

I think Brighton will get 6th. Liverpool up for debate but they are capable of a run.

[avfc1982am]

At the end of the day, everything is in our own hands. We keep winning with 6 pointers in virtually all our remaining games and we go to Europe next season. Newcastle isn't an unwinnable game as they haven't won at VP since 2013. Stay positive UTV. 

[VillaChris]

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

In honesty, logic still tells me we will finish 8th, 7th at a push.

I think Brighton will get 6th. Liverpool up for debate but they are capable of a run.

Brighton may not win another away game this season. Chelsea away next week so Lampard going in there might mean they get some home wins at least. They have Forest away three days after their cup SF which will complicate energy levels and also got to play Arsenal away still. I'd like to think we can be a point above them going into final day and then it's a case of playing out a draw at VP which we're more than capable of.

At home Brighton have Man. City, Man. United, Wolves, Everton and Southampton so more winnable games there.

[The_Steve]

28 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

The really annoying thing with Newcastle is that it doesn’t have much to do with their new found wealth at all and more due to seemingly good coaching and a good team ethos.

The best signings they’ve made - Trippier, Bruno and others have been from Saudi money. You can even extend that to Pope. Isak cost over £60m. They’ve spent big money. And yes, good coaching helps, but they’ve benefited from freakish purple patches from Almiron too. Joelinton was a £40m signing under Bruce. They’ve always had good players, but kudos to Howe for making it work. But it’s never been just about the coaching. 

Howe has spent over £250m since becoming manager.

[Adam2003]

31 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

The really annoying thing with Newcastle is that it doesn’t have much to do with their new found wealth at all and more due to seemingly good coaching and a good team ethos.

To an extent… that’s still a £450m squad with £200m+ dropped just last year. I think until Chelsea this year no-one had ever spent as much in a calendar year as Newcastle in 2022. But agree they haven’t just gone for galacticos, they have built a team.

[VillaChris]

Just now, The_Steve said:

The best signings they’ve made - Trippier, Bruno and others have been from Saudi money. You can even extend that to Pope. Isak cost over £60m. They’ve spent big money. And yes, good coaching helps, but they’ve benefited from freakish purple patches from Almiron too. Joelinton was a £40m signing under Bruce. They’ve always had good players, but kudos to Howe for making it work. But it’s never been just about the coaching. 

Howe has spent over £250m since becoming manager.

Saint Maximn came in under Bruce aswell didn't he? Almiron was a Benitez signing and been there 5 years now.

If you ignore where the Newcastle money has come from then actually they're a textbook example of how to build a squad as you climb the premier league table so we need to take heed of going forward.

[The_Steve]

Just now, VillaChris said:

Saint Maximn came in under Bruce aswell didn't he? Almiron was a Benitez signing and been there 5 years now.

If you ignore where the Newcastle money has come from then actually they're a textbook example of how to build a squad as you climb the premier league table so we need to take heed of going forward.

Over £250m spend in three windows is still a lot. They spent over £100m to stay in the league. You’d expect them them to make progress with such spending. They’ve massively overspent on the likes of Anthony Gordon though. I think the squad is still pretty thin in places so it will be interesting how they invest in the summer. Some of the form players they have won’t be able to sustain it e.g. Burn.

[IrishVilla10]

39 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

The really annoying thing with Newcastle is that it doesn’t have much to do with their new found wealth at all and more due to seemingly good coaching and a good team ethos.

Completely agree. They’ve spent money but on paper half their squad doesn’t look great at all. Howe etc have done a brilliant job 

[VillaChris]

Just now, The_Steve said:

Over £250m spend in three windows is still a lot. They spent over £100m to stay in the league. You’d expect them them to make progress with such spending. They’ve massively overspent on the likes of Anthony Gordon though. I think the squad is still pretty thin in places so it will be interesting how they invest in the summer. Some of the form players they have won’t be able to sustain it e.g. Burn.

Has Targett played at all this season, completely forgotten about him. He did initially decent job for them but clearly been deemed not good enough since so they'll probably sell him on for about 15m to bottom half club.

Everyone spends these days, Spurs dropped 60m or so on Richarlison in the summer and Porro will be 40m in the summer.

Newcastle still got a bit to do as likes of Jacob Murphy and Longstaff will only take you so far but they've developed their squad very well over last 12 months. When they were taken over people thought they'd be spending stupid amounts on likes of Coutinho and Ings, we did that instead but at least we're on the right track now. Next trick will be to have capable options on the bench as Newcastle could have all of Wilson, Almiron and Gordon on bench v us so those are decent options to put on after an hour.

[bannedfromHandV]

10 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

The best signings they’ve made - Trippier, Bruno and others have been from Saudi money. You can even extend that to Pope. Isak cost over £60m. They’ve spent big money. And yes, good coaching helps, but they’ve benefited from freakish purple patches from Almiron too. Joelinton was a £40m signing under Bruce. They’ve always had good players, but kudos to Howe for making it work. But it’s never been just about the coaching. 

Howe has spent over £250m since becoming manager.

And we and Everton and Nottingham Forest, plus the ‘big six’, West Ham - we haven’t spent money no? 
 

They’ve spent money, obviously, but how many of their signings would have been completely out of reach without the saudi backing? One or two at best, it’s not been anything like city buying Robinho etc and just storming it.

[Lerner's Driver]

There are a lot of similarities between us and Saudi Arabia atm, but I think it is only realistic to say they are ahead of us in their transformation.

They've had their dip as well, so their wave is climbing again. As per some of the other comments, I agree that we can win, just not sure we will.

Obviously it would be great to do them, but I won't be gutted if we don't, happy to see the gradual improvements and trust the process.

Edited April 9, 2023 by Lerner's Driver

[The_Steve]

1 minute ago, VillaChris said:

Has Targett played at all this season, completely forgotten about him. He did initially decent job for them but clearly been deemed not good enough since so they'll probably sell him on for about 15m to bottom half club.

Everyone spends these days, Spurs dropped 60m or so on Richarlison in the summer and Porro will be 40m in the summer.

Newcastle still got a bit to do as likes of Jacob Murphy and Longstaff will only take you so far but they've developed their squad very well over last 12 months. When they were taken over people thought they'd be spending stupid amounts on likes of Coutinho and Ings, we did that instead but at least we're on the right track now. Next trick will be to have capable options on the bench as Newcastle could have all of Wilson, Almiron and Gordon on bench v us so those are decent options to put on after an hour.

Don’t get me wrong, the calculus of the league means you have to spend, especially how tight the past few years have been. I think Howe has shown to be an astute manager, especially with an actual budget and plugging the defensive leaks we saw under Bournemouth. And getting the most out of average players is too a sign of good coaching. I don’t like Newcastle, but I can respect the coaching of their team. Willock has also been a great signing for them.

Targett is ironically happy to sit on the bench at Newcastle though, but I won’t complain as they probably slightly overpaid for him, but it worked for both parties at the time. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Completely agree. They’ve spent money but on paper half their squad doesn’t look great at all. Howe etc have done a brilliant job 

When we hated the Manager, Newcastle spent no money and it was all down to Eddie Ten Haag, now we love our Manager, Newcastle have spent trillions

* It's OBS a combo of both but still.

I pointed out the spend whilst we were under SG.

I love fans. Lol

Edited April 9, 2023 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[The_Steve]

3 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

There are a lot of similarities between us and Saudi Arabia atm, but I think it is only realistic to say they are ahead of us in their transformation.

They've had their dip as well, so their wave is climbing again. As per some of the other comments, I agree that we can win, just not sure we will.

Obviously it would be great to do them, but I won't be gutted if don't, happy to see the gradual improvements and trust the process.

The progress is what I’m focused on, and even the media is having to pay attention and acknowledge it. A top 8 finish still makes us a very attractive proposition for players to play under a manager like Unai. A few quality signings in the summer and I think we can focus on cementing ourselves in or around the top 8.

[AvonVillain]

7 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

A few quality signings in the summer and I think we can focus on cementing ourselves in or around the top 8.

I think you might have misspelled: focus on winning the league

[pete101]

Is it possible city get sanctioned this season? Points deduction or European ban? 

If 5th was to get ya champions league, we are definitely in the running 

[mjmooney]

1 hour ago, fightoffyour said:

Would be good if Southampton managed to hang on long enough that they have something to play for still by then.

They'll probably play better if they're already relegated. Often happens that way once the worst has happened.