Demitri_C Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Just now, Mark Albrighton said: I suppose the thought is if we’re going to have a stuttering start (which, hey, seems what we just do), it’s better that it’s points dropped against the better sides. I’d be more concerned if we had lost the two games against Bournemouth and Palace instead and still had Newcastle and Liverpool away to come. Yeah i guess but i think had it been more into seaain we might not havw taken such heavy losses like this. I did expect losses in those two games but i expected more of a competitive game in both games. In both we have given up to quickly. Simply not good enough in both games 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 11 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Is it? We have lost 8-1 in those two games Agree with what @Mark Albrighton says, that it's better the points dropped are against the better sides than those who we should be finishing above. My other point is that I'd much rather have Liverpool & Newcastle coming to Villa Park in the end stretch of the season than right at the beginning. Getting the hardest fixtures out of the way earlier 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 We have more or the same amount of points than Newcastle and United had after 4 games last season 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted September 3, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3, 2023 2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said: Yeah i guess but i think had it been more into seaain we might not havw taken such heavy losses like this. I did expect losses in those two games but i expected more of a competitive game in both games. In both we have given up to quickly. Simply not good enough in both games I can make my peace with the Newcastle one. Horror show, Mings injury, opening day, them out for revenge at home. It’s shit, but there you go. Today is a bit more troubling, but we’ll move on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaAlex Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Nothing too much to worry about. Before the season there was three away games I wasn't looking forward to:- Man City Liverpool Newcastle We've played two of them now. Not great results or performances but imo toughest games of the season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan95 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Maybe we need to accept that it's going to take a bit of time until we can properly challenge some of these teams Our CB partnership is basically new to the league, Diaby has looked bright but still new to the league, Duran is raw. Generally we seem to have quite a young team too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post andym Posted September 3, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted September 3, 2023 1 hour ago, VillaChris said: Man. United finished 3rd with that logic last season They lost away to Newcastle, Arsenal, Man. City and Liverpool by a combined score of 18-5 anyway. Today has been a bad day but need to get focused and beat Palace and get something at Chelsea. At least 10 points from first 6 is a good start in anyone's book. Man U lost 7 of their games away to top 9 last season, including some right beatings. They were awful on the road. Our performances at Newcastle and Liverpool haven't been good enough overall, although early injuries to CBs won't have helped, and i think we've missed really good chances at key times. We are going to lose games, and lose some badly; every team in this league bar Man City is susceptible to that. It doesn't help we've had two of the strongest home performers last year up early (and in Newcastle's case, they are a bogey team for us at their ground) when we are at our weakest depth wise due to injuries. We need players back, in particular, we are missing a lot of running power down the left with both Moreno and Ramsey out. Add in Buendia, and i don't think Alexander-Arnold would have had the time he did today to pick us apart today. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 14 minutes ago, villan95 said: Maybe we need to accept that it's going to take a bit of time until we can properly challenge some of these teams Our CB partnership is basically new to the league, Diaby has looked bright but still new to the league, Duran is raw. Generally we seem to have quite a young team too. We saw today the difference between finishing 6th or 7th in the league and finishing 2nd. 60 points should still be a realistic target for us, 75-80 points simply isn't and nowadays 2nd tends to be around 85-90 points. 6th for me is still a very good season with hopefully at least one strong cup run in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 The best thing we can say is that we had a worse start last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted September 3, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted September 3, 2023 Doesn't look like we can handle top teams. At all. Europa league is a good target for us this year. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 We’ve just gone above United. It’s back on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amed Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Top 10 still! Happy with that after the break and 3 away games out of 4! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villaphan04 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Outside of Man City, every team in the race for Europe can beat each other. If City don't win the title by at least 10 points (not including any ahem off the field issues) then something has gone badly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Ok, we have had some terrible performances but we have also played very well at times. The two matches we have lost are away to Newcastle and away to Liverpool. On paper those are ’fair enough’ matches to lose. Annoying as the performances were they are not ‘dropped points’ from fixtures like those. We now get a couple of weeks off to regroup and regain some important injured players. We can still very much go on to have a great season from here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 1 hour ago, LondonLax said: The best thing we can say is that we had a worse start last season. Last season was 4 losses from first 5 (to Bournemouth, Palace, West Ham and Arsenal) so we're talking a totally different level of inteptness. Beat Palace and we're on 9 points. Gerrard was sacked stuck on 9 points in mid October 12 games into the season. Ultimately beat Palace and get a point at Chelsea and we're on course for another 60 point season so with europe I'm not really sure what people's expectations are, do people genuinely think we can reel off a 70-75 point season comfortably with all the extra games and disruptive injuries? We actually have a pretty good run of fixtures right up to December so I expect us to be in 25-30 point range going into the packed xmas schedule so that should have us in the top 6 or very close to. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulberto21 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 2 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said: I can make my peace with the Newcastle one. Horror show, Mings injury, opening day, them out for revenge at home. It’s shit, but there you go. Today is a bit more troubling, but we’ll move on. Against Newcastle we looked dangerous every time we went forward. Today we looked toothless . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 (edited) Sadly that was a really predictable outcome today. For me we are not anywhere near good enough defensively for a top 4 finish. Mings injury ensured that in game 1. For me he is our best defender by some margin and it will repeatedly cost us aginst the better teams this season. As for attack? Well at the moment sadly Watkins is a dud and Bailey is largely poor, albeit with the odd decent game at home i guess. He is far too casual though for a top 4 side. So as soon as we had to change things round when Carlos got injured, it was effectively game over as a contest. You can't play Liverpool away with a patched up unsettled defence & two duds out of three up top. Poor performance against a much better team. Got exactly what we deserved. As for top 5? Mings' injury & the persistent missing of sitters will kill any chance of that. Edited September 3, 2023 by danceoftheshamen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 After 4 games I still don’t really have an idea of how good Villa actually are this season. Beaten two poor teams comfortably but also lost comfortably to two very good teams so I guess could say Villa are around mid table atm? Was a tough watch for large parts of today and the last 25 mins against Newcastle. Thought at the start of the season Liverpool would finish top three and not seen anything to change my mind so playing them at Anfield was always going to be a tough ask. We are not on the same level as them it’s as simple as that. Think the next few fixtures will provide a better idea of Villa are at. Palace (who I see as a mid-table), Chelsea and Brighton (two teams like Villa aiming to be in the top 6) if we can get a decent points total from that then would set us nicely for some favourable fixtures over the next couple of months. Ramsey and Moreno are due back soon and with them back I think we will be a different team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxjackle Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 So far we've won the games I thought we'd win and lost the ones I thought we'd lose. The wins were in style, and the losses were away to two of the leagues best teams and in each we had to change the defence due to injuries. My only worries so far have been injuries and that is tempered by that I dont have an expectation/hope of being top 4 this season- which I imagine some might have. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCollins29 Posted September 3, 2023 Share Posted September 3, 2023 Consider the start we had with SG and we finished 7th. Hold your horses 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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