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February Optimism Gauge


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Optimism Gauge  

46 members have voted

  1. 1. Where do you think we will finish this season?

  2. 2. How do you feel about this season?

    • Very Optimistic
    • Optimistic
    • Average
    • Pessimistic
    • Very Pessimistic
      0

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  • Poll closed on 07/02/23 at 23:59

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Slight dip down for me in expectations. It's not that I feel bad about Emery or Purslow or whoever else is involved in recruitment, but getting SO outspent by the likes of Chelsea and not getting Gallagher or similar is a bit of a reality check. I guess a small, naive part of me had indeed felt that Emery could just snap his fingers like the Basque Olentzero and give us a new superstar forward or attacking midfielder. It's back to the mental Midlands for me. I think we'll be fortunate to finish between 11-15 this year. That should be counted as reasonable.   

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In the modern version, Olentzero is depicted as a lovable character, widely attributed to being overweight, having a huge appetite and thirst. He is depicted as a Basque peasant wearing a Basque beret, a farmer's attire with traditional abarketa shoes and smoking a pipe. Whether he has a beard or not is not yet an established tradition. Sometimes his face is stained with charcoal, as a sign of his trade as a charcoal-burner. On Christmas Eve, groups of people or children carry effigies of Olentzero around on a chair through the streets, singing Olentzero carols and collecting food or sweets (not unlike the American trick or treat) and the traditions surrounding the holiday of Santa Ageda in the Basque Country where oles egitea "asking for alms" is practised. At the end, it is customary in some places to burn the Olentzero, for example in Lesaka.

 

Edited by Marka Ragnos
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3 hours ago, Marka Ragnos said:

Slight dip down for me in expectations. It's not that I feel bad about Emery or Purslow or whoever else is involved in recruitment, but getting SO outspent by the likes of Chelsea and not getting Gallagher or similar is a bit of a reality check. I guess a small, naive part of me had indeed felt that Emery could just snap his fingers like the Basque Olentzero and give us a new superstar forward or attacking midfielder. It's back to the mental Midlands for me. I think we'll be fortunate to finish between 11-15 this year. That should be counted as reasonable.   

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There is no reality check. We didn’t buy anyone late in the window because there wasn’t the right player available for Emery.

We topped the form table for January with the starting 11 we have now plus Duran, Carlos and Traore added. We will certainly be above 15th, that’s madness. 

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54 minutes ago, Steero113 said:

There is no reality check. We didn’t buy anyone late in the window because there wasn’t the right player available for Emery.

We topped the form table for January with the starting 11 we have now plus Duran, Carlos and Traore added. We will certainly be above 15th, that’s madness. 

Speaking as someone who comfortably and forever dwells in unreality, I can’t argue. 
 

It’s a monthly gauge. It goes down. It goes up. My March gauge may be more hopeful?

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Still extremely optimistic about Villa long term.  

Results under Emery have been fantastic so still hopeful of top ten finish this season.  

Disappointed with the window to give Emery some extra tools for the rest of the season and losing Ings while not replacing means I’ve gone from very optimistic to optimistic on the remainder of this season, so that’s tempered that a bit because of likely injuries, form issues, bookings and lack of options.  

Overall though, great owners and great elite manager, so very optimistic long term.

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I'm not making any predictions, I'm just enjoying the ride.

We have unbelievably good owners after a decade of real worry.

We have a world class coach/manager after a decade of getting this appointment wrong.

We have the finances in place to sign some superb players, but what we currently don't have is the stature to attract top players.

We need a top scouting team and a top negotiator with a big contact list to drive us forward. I like Lange as an individual but he lacks the contacts and gravitas to lead our next stage of progression.

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On 02/02/2023 at 05:58, nick76 said:

Still extremely optimistic about Villa long term.  

Results under Emery have been fantastic so still hopeful of top ten finish this season.  

Disappointed with the window to give Emery some extra tools for the rest of the season and losing Ings while not replacing means I’ve gone from very optimistic to optimistic on the remainder of this season, so that’s tempered that a bit because of likely injuries, form issues, bookings and lack of options.  

Overall though, great owners and great elite manager, so very optimistic long term.

I was in the same boat - then listened to Emery's presser and am back feeling confident again.  I think I was probably Optimistic at the start of Jan, Very Optimistic in the middle of Jan, bottom of the Optimistic band on 31st Jan and now probably back near the top of the Optimistic band again after the presser.

Avoiding injuries are key but I thought Emery sounded quite confident in Duran (whilst trying not to raise expectations too much), like he thought we can expect Carlos back soon(ish) and that maybe he can get Bertie firing as well.  He just exudes an aura of professionalism, confidence, attention to detail and intelligence / knowledge.  If the players have anything about them at all then he's going to be the man to get it out of them (as already witnessed in the improved form of several players).  If he was disappointed by the transfer window I thought he did a very good job at hiding / disguising that.  He admitted that we were after a couple of players but deals just weren't possible in the transfer window (certainly seemed to imply that he was expecting more success in the summer) but that he is happy with the core squad and is only looking to add quality. 

I'm now looking at 8th or 9th and I think that would really set us up well for next season (especially when you consider where we were 1/3 of the way through the season).  The fact that that is even slightly tinged with a "well maybe if...." is pretty incredible.  I also went into the start of this season expecting to finish 11th - 13th.

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To be honest, I was disappointed at our January transfer activity (or lack of it). Don’t understand why we sold a decent striker to West Ham, who on one view are rivals in a bottom half battle. I accept Emery’s explanation of the strategy and he has done well so far but I wonder if today was reaping the consequences of such an inactive window.

I’m thinking if we are going to be gifting 4 goals at home to a shit team like Leicester, we aren’t going to get into the top half. Look who we have to play next two games.

Edited by briny_ear
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I think we all got carried away with our expectations of what might happen in January - we made two good signings, but sounds like a lot of attempted signings didn't happen, which I don't blame on the club.

The Leicester result wasn't down to lack of Jan signings, but does feel bitterly disappointing when we have a wounded angry Man City to play at their place followed by the league leaders next up, the odds of getting anything out of those games feels pretty low.

Especially if we continue to play out of the back whilst both teams run at us in packs of three, we will crumble like a 50 year old biscuit. Our whole defence looks w*nk at the moment. Cash and Digne need to be benched, but not sure i have much faith in Moreno either.



 

 

Edited by VillanousOne
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