Title race 2023/4

[stewiek2]

11 hours ago, villa4europe said:

I still think man city's £500m bench comes in to play in March and wins them the league 

But to say we're not in it is madness 

Of course it does. People scratch their heads at Peps reluctance to freshen things up then second half of the season he switches it up and they have practically half a fresh team to push on whereas the rest of us have to continue with the same 11. He'll bemoan the lack of options, injuries then do his usual and flip it, bring de Bruyne back as well and it's inevitable.

He's a walking talking lying cock.

Edited December 18, 2023 by stewiek2

[The Fun Factory]

36 minutes ago, Adam2003 said:

I think about this every time people suggest adding in January as some sort of no-lose solution so I’m sure he’ll be exactly the same!

Won't we be constrained by FFP as well? I can't see us making any big signings.

[maqroll]

1 hour ago, Hank Scorpio said:

If we are top at Christmas, always buy from a position of strength. 

So what will the management do in January? Do we go huge and try and push on and ignore FFP? 

Or just stay as we are?  

If we can bring in quality, we will try to, no matter the position. 

[HalfTimePost]

21 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Won't we be constrained by FFP as well? I can't see us making any big signings.

Meh, we always will be but £40m on the line to secure Top 4. If the right player is available, we'll go for it.

I think a RB and maybe somebody to fulfil what we hoped Zaniolo would fulfil in the 8/10 role on the left, Particularly if Ramsey stays rusty for a while too

I wonder if we could get Olise or Eze out of Palace

 

[villa4europe]

7 hours ago, Kiwivillan said:

City won't win because they haven't replaced Gundogan and Mahrez, Gvardiol isn't that good and Walker isn't good enough anymore to be starting every game. Arsenal have improved from last season with Rice and could add more clinical striker in Jan and us and Liverpool are in the mix

No they haven't got gundogan

The point is that when rodri who has started 20 games gets tired in March they've got kovacic who has started 13 games this season and nunes who has started 2

Declan Rice has started 23, when he gets tired he has to keep starting

Saka has started 22 games, Grealish 13 Doku 10

Its not just about the quality which I agree has dipped man city still have the numbers in depth 

[Pinebro]

Not having Kamara against United is gonna really, really suck

[Mark Albrighton]

We managed to be already 3-1 up against Man Utd in Unai’s first game with Kamara sat on the bench (coming on in the 78th minute).

Yeah, it was at Villa Park. It can be done at Old Trafford.

If we’re missing McGinn as well, then that will increase the trickiness of the task, although once again, McGinn didn’t feature until the 70th minute in the victory at Villa Park.

[Kiwivillan]

26 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

Not having Kamara against United is gonna really, really suck

Credit to your persistence to these we doomed posts before games. Why not instead it's going to be tough without Kamara but if anyone can find a way it's Emery. 

We missed Kamara against Bournemouth away and should've been either against 10 men or 2-1 up early on but for bad reffing. Bournemouth then went and spanked Manure at OT soon after

[TomC]

7 hours ago, tomav84 said:

konsa seemingly being our 1st choice RB now means that i'll be absolutely staggered if we're not in the market for a new RB in jan

I think that Unai planned on using Konsa at RB from day one, at least in matches where he uses the asymmetrical formation and the RB doesn't attack. He was going to go Pau-Mings-Konsa as the back 3 in attack. He has Cash for when he wants to go forward on the right.

I don't see him changing Konsa. If he can find an upgrade to Cash at the right price, he might, but that player is going to play only when the tactics call for it.

 

[Jareth]

Absolutely loving this momentum

[John]

We gained points on Liverpool and Manchester City this weekend, we are sneaking past them on the rails just like Leicester did, when they won the title. Nobody was convinced that they could maintain a title challenge and it seems many pundits feel the same about us, good! If we can win our next home game and Arsenal draw at Anfield next weekend, then we will go into Christmas in pole position. What a nice Christmas present that would be for us all and who knows, we might just stay there. One thing that's for sure is that I wouldn't want to bet against us, Coral now have us as 11/1, so it seems they have learned something from Leicester and we're not Leicester, we are Aston Villa and we have done it before, just ask an Ipswich fan! 

[turvontour]

Pundits part not understanding what we are doing and part trying to dismiss it in their own minds.

Villa will tail off because they don't have any squad depth. They only beat Man City because they had a couple of injuries and a suspension.

??????????????

[Kiwivillan]

14 minutes ago, turvontour said:

Pundits part not understanding what we are doing and part trying to dismiss it in their own minds.

Villa will tail off because they don't have any squad depth. They only beat Man City because they had a couple of injuries and a suspension.

??????????????

Squad depth thing cracks me up. American guy on ESPN asked Steve Nicol very well phrased question after asking why can't Villa challenge for title and response being if Watkins gets injured they only have untested Duran. The guy asks Nicol so who should they buy in January window at striker with that player knowing he's playing second fiddle to Watkins. Nicol(paraphrased): They need to go and sign a young up and coming youth striker who's happy to take his chance when it arrives. 

Huh???

 

On the other hand you have more on to it pundits that say the beauty of Emery system is you have multiple players that can play several roles and easily interchange seamlessly because the squad has bought into Emery process

Edited December 18, 2023 by Kiwivillan

[Jareth]

I thought MOTD2 were very good in their coverage, they can see what's happening.

[welshvillan]

Anyone else just happy with 6th ? Over the moon with 5th? In dreamland with 4th?

I guess I am just ever the pessimist 

[Kiwivillan]

2 minutes ago, welshvillan said:

Anyone else just happy with 6th ? Over the moon with 5th? In dreamland with 4th?

I guess I am just ever the pessimist 

You're just not paying attention to calendar year form and we're all recovering from battered supporters syndrome.

[rubberman]

Up to 6.8% chance (from 4.1% last week) for the title according to Opta. 78.5% chance of top 4.

Coming from less than 1% a few weeks back, it's quite the charge we're on.

[Vive_La_Villa]

United are shit. We can go there and get a result. But it’s still Old Trafford so I’d happily take a point tbh. Main thing is we win the next 2 homes games. 

Edited December 18, 2023 by Vive_La_Villa

[Vive_La_Villa]

13 minutes ago, welshvillan said:

Anyone else just happy with 6th ? Over the moon with 5th? In dreamland with 4th?

I guess I am just ever the pessimist 

Start of the season 100%. Now I’d be gutted if we don’t make champs league whether it’s via 4th or 5th.  Would still congratulate the team and everyone involved if got 6th. But it would still hurt.

[MarkLillis]

Football has changed a lot since the last time we were in this position in 1998.

What hasn't changed is back then (like now!) nobody thought we could win it.....and they were proved emphatically right.

I cant get that season out of my mind, pre Xmas and post Xmas were night and day. The second half of this season will NOT be like that this time.

I believe we will keep getting results and i believe pundits will keep trying to find reasons (like the imaginary "poor" away form) why we wont stay the course.

All we can do as a club and as fans is enjoy the moment and live in it.

So ignore all the WBA, Blues and Wolves fans telling you to stop getting carried away and carry on dreaming!

Edited December 18, 2023 by MarkLillis