Villa’s Race for Europe 22/23

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, Pinebro said:

No it isn't because its' different to get in a middle of the season into a toxic dressing room and create a feel good vibe than being in charge a whole season.

Using this season as a measuring stick to predict next season is too simplistic.

A lot of factors needs to be taken into account. Other teams that are likely to improve. How our recruitment will go. What players we will keep.

xG post Emery has us around 9th-10th. In other words we have aquired more points than we should based on numbers. We've ridden a wave and had a lot of 50/50 games go in our favor. I believe over a whole season it would balance itself out.

That being said. With a strong transfer window things could change but our squad per now is not strong enough for a top 6 finish next season imo.

Just shows what a lot of tosh “xG” is.

[Frodo]

 

[rubberman]

1 hour ago, Pinebro said:

No it isn't because its' different to get in a middle of the season into a toxic dressing room and create a feel good vibe than being in charge a whole season.

Using this season as a measuring stick to predict next season is too simplistic.

A lot of factors needs to be taken into account. Other teams that are likely to improve. How our recruitment will go. What players we will keep.

xG post Emery has us around 9th-10th. In other words we have aquired more points than we should based on numbers. We've ridden a wave and had a lot of 50/50 games go in our favor. I believe over a whole season it would balance itself out.

That being said. With a strong transfer window things could change but our squad per now is not strong enough for a top 6 finish next season imo.

We obviously have no idea how our, or others, recruitment will go, but I think it is safe to assume we will certainly be going for it and recruiting strongly - and hopefully successfully. As things stand at the moment, going on the evidence from Emery's time in charge, we will be competitive for a place in the top 6. We are very likely to improve as much, if not more, than our competition over the course of a full season of Emery input, with his recruitment and pre-season.

Yes - there is likely to be a lot of change before the season starts, but for me: Citeh will obviously be the favourites. Then Utd, Liverpool, Arsenal and Newcastle are likely to be up there but I can see continued inconsistencies from all of them and this is where we need to be challenging. Brighton I doubt will be the same force again (possibly losing players and maybe De Zerbi). Spurs and Chelsea will still be a mess.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

A great and exciting position to be in on the last day of the season playing at home with an opportunity for Europe.

The league has been so tight in many respects from European qualification to the relegation battle.

As predicted by many it's down to the last day.

If Villa play well we win, if we play as we did against the Barcodes we will win comfortably. Let us hope it is a comfortable win.

A win sets Villa up with so much confidence for pre-season/next season where that winning formula and philosophy will further become part of the Villa culture.

UTV.

[bannedfromHandV]

It’s going to be interesting to see how the team performs under pressure. We haven’t really been under pressure in the past few months, it’s all been a bit of a pipe dream. Even when we got as high as 5th temporarily the fixtures we had coming up kept a hint of reality in that it was going to be really tough to make it to Europe. Now the whole season is on the line, I hope the players rise to the occasion.

[StewieGriffin]

We saw Man Utd at home as a toughie, Unai prepared the players and we tore into them. First game bounce maybe...

Spurs away... controlled the game, ruthless in the second half.

Chelsea away, tactical masterclass. Again.

Newcastle at home, tough game despite the run we'd been on. Unai prepared the players and we absolutely destroyed them in a way that no-one else has managed all season.

Spurs at home... crucial game against a good side (albeit with obvious flaws)... Unai prepared the players and we battered them for an hour or so...

Liverpool away, probably the tougher of all of these games listed... We should have won, but we were prepared and we took it to them and then stood up to their comeback.

I've got little doubt we'll get about Brighton early, and whether they rest players or not, they aren't prime Barcelona - despite how great a season they've had, despite all their (deserved) plaudits, they're only 4 points ahead of us after 37 games, and we had a moron in charge of ⅓ of our games. They aren't (much) better than us.

What might be interesting is how we cope playing at home against a team who play a very similar game to ours, as we haven't really come up against that yet, but we can absolutely effing well do them if our manager gets it right, and why wouldn’t he? He's spent 6 months getting it bang on.

[Rustibrooks]

on the beach maybe? 

[Wainy316]

5 years ago today I walked away from Wembley feeling the worst I'd ever felt following a football game with the expectation that the club could go bust.

That this thread even exists 5 years later is amazing.

[fightoffyour]

12 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

5 years ago today I walked away from Wembley feeling the worst I'd ever felt following a football game with the expectation that the club could go bust.

That this thread even exists 5 years later is amazing.

Yet we're almost certainly better off now than if we had won that match. Funny old game.

Edited May 26, 2023 by fightoffyour

[Wainy316]

2 minutes ago, fightoffyour said:

Yet we're almost certainly better off now than if we had won that match. Funny old game.

Fulham have given us two of the most club enhancing defeats we have ever suffered.  Praise be to Fulham.

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, bannedfromHandV said:

It’s going to be interesting to see how the team performs under pressure. We haven’t really been under pressure in the past few months, it’s all been a bit of a pipe dream. Even when we got as high as 5th temporarily the fixtures we had coming up kept a hint of reality in that it was going to be really tough to make it to Europe. Now the whole season is on the line, I hope the players rise to the occasion.

I think there was a lot of pressure/hype leading up to and around the Newcastle game. Not just from our side either. We had/have their supporters coming on to VT in anticipation of it.

This game does have a tangible benefit to winning it, other than the three points. So in that sense it is a bit different. 

But I really feel that there was almost a do or die atmosphere around the Newcastle game. A sort of “show us what you’re made of” mentality.

And it could be argued that following the setback against Wolves, Spurs was a similar occasion and going to Anfield with them wanting Champions League football and going toe to toe with them is probably a bit of a pressure cooker.
 

[The Fun Factory]

41 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

5 years ago today I walked away from Wembley feeling the worst I'd ever felt following a football game with the expectation that the club could go bust.

That this thread even exists 5 years later is amazing.

This. That is why I don't get the it's better we don't qualify for Europe so we can do better next year idea. In football, you have to grasp the opportunity in front of you. We haven't played in Europe for over 10 years and as you said we were days from administration just five years ago.

[Guest av1]

1 hour ago, Wainy316 said:

5 years ago today I walked away from Wembley feeling the worst I'd ever felt following a football game with the expectation that the club could go bust.

That this thread even exists 5 years later is amazing.

Exactly mate. It’s been some turnaround. 
 

I hope more than anything we can get the win we need on Sunday, but if not we shouldn’t forget that this season has been remarkable. 
 

 

[Wainy316]

2 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

This. That is why I don't get the it's better we don't qualify for Europe so we can do better next year idea. In football, you have to grasp the opportunity in front of you. We haven't played in Europe for over 10 years and as you said we were days from administration just five years ago.

Exactly, and if West Ham can get to the final then it's a very winnable trophy for us.

[villa4europe]

2 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

This. That is why I don't get the it's better we don't qualify for Europe so we can do better next year idea. In football, you have to grasp the opportunity in front of you. We haven't played in Europe for over 10 years and as you said we were days from administration just five years ago.

Yeah **** that

Said in the Chelsea thread that I think footballers are lazy and skive at every opportunity, villa fans discrediting the ECL and buying in to this Thursday to Sunday drop off stuff fans those flames 

We should buzzing our tits off for the ECL rather than undermining it

[duke313]

3 hours ago, The Fun Factory said:

This. That is why I don't get the it's better we don't qualify for Europe so we can do better next year idea. In football, you have to grasp the opportunity in front of you. We haven't played in Europe for over 10 years and as you said we were days from administration just five years ago.

I think, the main argument against Europa Conference qualification is that if we are not in Europe next season and playing Europa games on Thursdays, we would, have a realistic opportunity to push for top 4 as Newcastle have this season. 

[Made In Aston]

23 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Yeah **** that

Said in the Chelsea thread that I think footballers are lazy and skive at every opportunity, villa fans discrediting the ECL and buying in to this Thursday to Sunday drop off stuff fans those flames 

We should buzzing our tits off for the ECL rather than undermining it

Any European competition will be good for the development of younger players like Duran, Archer and Iroebunam, as well as give fringe players some game time. We just need to make sure the squad is big enough to rotate so fatigue doesn't negatively impact our league form. 

[villa4europe]

15 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Any European competition will be good for the development of younger players like Duran, Archer and Iroebunam, as well as give fringe players some game time. We just need to make sure the squad is big enough to rotate so fatigue doesn't negatively impact our league form. 

I'm sure emery gave saka and ESR their debut in the EL vs a bum team from the Czech Republic

The potential of it with our youth set up is huge 

[WallisFrizz]

 

[rubberman]

6 hours ago, duke313 said:

I think, the main argument against Europa Conference qualification is that if we are not in Europe next season and playing Europa games on Thursdays, we would, have a realistic opportunity to push for top 4 as Newcastle have this season. 

This is such a poor argument though. If we finish 8th this year, then make 5th and CL next year, we'll be even less well equipped to cope with trying to compete in Europe's top competition and the league. Better to take a step, build the squad and compete in the junior competition with less at stake. If that means a year or 2 longer before we hit the CL then I think we'll be more prepared when we get there. I want it to be a long term involvement, not a one off.