Vive_La_Villa Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said: I'd say that's far from Newcastle's biggest problem. They look absolutely **** all over the park. They'd be losing these games with pope in goal too True but Pope can bail teams out. He did it time after time for Burnley. I agree they do look shit all over the park though. Such a contrast from the team last season or even the one at the start of the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Stevo985 Posted January 2 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted January 2 Just now, Vive_La_Villa said: True but Pope can bail teams out. He did it time after time for Burnley. I agree they do look shit all over the park though. Such a contrast from the team last season or even the one at the start of the season. Just look at last night. Dubravka was brilliant. But they got absolutely pummeled. As good as Pope is I don't think he'd be making much difference at all 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Just now, Stevo985 said: Just look at last night. Dubravka was brilliant. But they got absolutely pummeled. As good as Pope is I don't think he'd be making much difference at all Fair enough. I didn’t see the game last night. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinRichardsonsMoustache Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 I think all of the traditional top four or five clubs all beatable atm. While we dropped points to Sheffield United, the fact we took points off Arsenal and Citeh is perhaps more important. Nobody is running away with it and, unless KDB and Haarland return and push Citeh towards an unbeaten streak, they'll all sputter towards the line. It is a bit like that Leicester title-winning season in that the other clubs aren't able to get their sh*t together consistently enough. I don't want to say this but it feels like this season is a bit of an aberration and our best chance to go in there and disrupt things. Especially given Newcastle's problems. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 2 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2 1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said: Fair enough. I didn’t see the game last night. Liverpool had an xG of 7.5 The highest ever recorded in the prem. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turvontour Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 Not sure whether we want a draw or Brighton win tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted January 2 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2 2 minutes ago, turvontour said: Not sure whether we want a draw or Brighton win tonight. I honestly don't think it's relevant to us 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 3 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said: Fair enough. I didn’t see the game last night. They came at Newcastle, like a pack of Hyena's....The urgency, and intesity, was class leading. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villarule123 Posted January 2 VT Supporter Share Posted January 2 I'd be so much more relaxed if we had more of an idea if 5th place gets you a CL spot. I've had a funny feeling all season that we will need to win the Conference final to get that spot confirmed. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) 28 minutes ago, villarule123 said: I'd be so much more relaxed if we had more of an idea if 5th place gets you a CL spot. I've had a funny feeling all season that we will need to win the Conference final to get that spot confirmed. I think top 4 will be a bridge too far....5th or 6th for me...but I would love top 4. I think you are right with the rest. Edited January 2 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) 4 hours ago, KevinRichardsonsMoustache said: I think all of the traditional top four or five clubs all beatable atm. While we dropped points to Sheffield United, the fact we took points off Arsenal and Citeh is perhaps more important. Nobody is running away with it and, unless KDB and Haarland return and push Citeh towards an unbeaten streak, they'll all sputter towards the line. It is a bit like that Leicester title-winning season in that the other clubs aren't able to get their sh*t together consistently enough. I don't want to say this but it feels like this season is a bit of an aberration and our best chance to go in there and disrupt things. Especially given Newcastle's problems. Its tight right now, but endurance, will be the dividing factor. Some of the others have the mental resillience too, where as we are still developing. I still think our attacking prowess has got us this far, but like Spurs we have conceded a few too many. There is no doubt, we have a golden opportunity, to re-establish ourselves, amongst the Elite.....but I think our slip, is showing a tad....and the Man U game, was an indication. A lot depends on what we do in Jan, and if we can get some key players back fit, will play a big part. I know, we are being compared with Leicester, in 2015, but they only conceded 36 goals all season, we are on 27 now....they only lost 3 all season, we have lost 4 now.....all the rest of their stats we can do....23 wins is doable, 68 goals is doable...81 points is a stretch, I guess. But top 4 would have me in clover. Edited January 2 by TRO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post nick76 Posted January 2 Popular Post Share Posted January 2 1 hour ago, TRO said: I think top 4 will be a bridge too far....5th or 6th for me...but I would love top 4. I think you are right with the rest. Mate, I don’t get this view as we currently stand. Emery got 85 points from 42 games in 2023. Why do you think we suddenly are going to fall away? If we get 75 points or more we get Top4, that’s 33 points from 18 games. Our run rate this season is 2.1 ppg. Even if we don’t get that we still have space ppg wise because rate required is less than 2 needed. Added to that the last ten years, Top 4 averages 70-71 points…is this season going to be an outlier…hmmm. Added to that Spurs losing three players to Asia Cup and AFCON, Liverpool losing Salah and then with the injuries those teams have, and we have our players coming back from injury plus some recovery time this month, we should be positive about Top4…. Added to that we have Emery… 6 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) I think it's just natural Villa pessimism. We would have to drastically underperform both Unai's tenure at Villa and Unai's career in order to miss out top 4. It's not impossible of course. Key injuries could derail us greatly at certain positions. But it's definitely a very pessimistic view to think we won't be able to keep top 4. Of the last 18 fixtures, we face the top half 9 times and the bottom half 9 times so it's not as if our strength of schedule is overly difficult in comparison. The underlying stats say we are overperforming a touch but definitely within the top 4. But you do end up out performing your stats when you have a striker who has found a touch of being clinical (Ollie) and an elite keeper (Emi). Edited January 2 by DJBOB 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan95 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 2 hours ago, TRO said: They came at Newcastle, like a pack of Hyena's....The urgency, and intesity, was class leading. Liverpool were very good, as shown by the 7.5 xG, but Newcastle were able to put the ball in their net 3 times (albeit only 2 counted) so they can be got at. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 3 hours ago, TRO said: I think top 4 will be a bridge too far....5th or 6th for me...but I would love top 4. I think you are right with the rest. Why is it bridge too far? We have 2nd most points in 2023. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ender4 Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 3 hours ago, DJBOB said: I think it's just natural Villa pessimism. We would have to drastically underperform both Unai's tenure at Villa and Unai's career in order to miss out top 4. It's not impossible of course. Key injuries could derail us greatly at certain positions. But it's definitely a very pessimistic view to think we won't be able to keep top 4. Of the last 18 fixtures, we face the top half 9 times and the bottom half 9 times so it's not as if our strength of schedule is overly difficult in comparison. The underlying stats say we are overperforming a touch but definitely within the top 4. But you do end up out performing your stats when you have a striker who has found a touch of being clinical (Ollie) and an elite keeper (Emi). I guess the only thing is that we have had injuries but not to anyone critical. At some point we might lose Martinez or Watkins for a long stretch in which case we are extremely screwed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 (edited) Top 4 is the aim and what I think fans are rightly expecting, but it's worth noting we're currently 8 points clear of 6th and 11 points clear of 7th. Even if we have a poorer second half of the season we're still in a good position to finish 5th or 6th, either of which would be progression. Edited January 2 by Mantis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 6 minutes ago, Mantis said: Top 4 is the aim and what I think fans are rightly expecting, but it's worth noting we're currently 8 points clear of 6th and 11 points clear of 7th. Even if we have a poorer second half of the season we're still in a good position to finish 5th or 6th, either of which would be progression. Listening to Goldbridge YT from yesterday he thinks Manure best hope is 6th and battle for 6th between Manure Brighton Wham Chelsea and Newcastle. So saying the top 5 already set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 1 hour ago, ender4 said: I guess the only thing is that we have had injuries but not to anyone critical. At some point we might lose Martinez or Watkins for a long stretch in which case we are extremely screwed. Like Spurs if they lost Kane... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted January 2 Share Posted January 2 4 hours ago, nick76 said: Mate, I don’t get this view as we currently stand. Emery got 85 points from 42 games in 2023. Why do you think we suddenly are going to fall away? If we get 75 points or more we get Top4, that’s 33 points from 18 games. Our run rate this season is 2.1 ppg. Even if we don’t get that we still have space ppg wise because rate required is less than 2 needed. Added to that the last ten years, Top 4 averages 70-71 points…is this season going to be an outlier…hmmm. Added to that Spurs losing three players to Asia Cup and AFCON, Liverpool losing Salah and then with the injuries those teams have, and we have our players coming back from injury plus some recovery time this month, we should be positive about Top4…. Added to that we have Emery… Yes with the weakness of Chelsea and Man u I think top 4 is definitely on. We could do with one or two reinforcements in January but we shown we can beat anybody. There's nothing to fear . 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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