briny_ear Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Looks like Stiliyan Petrov has now given his answer to this question - not quite in the same terms as the poll, but John Terry's comments certainly seem to have been used to a positive effect. Petrov: Fighting Fit By Dan Harrison Stiliyan Petrov reckons Villa's recent victories have answered questions over their fitness. After last month's 7-1 defeat at Chelsea, John Terry claimed his team knew Villa would tire in the latter stages of the contest. But late goals in games against Everton, Portsmouth, Hull City and Birmingham City have disproved the former England skipper's theory. The Villa captain insists the criticism has made Villa stronger, as they've embarked on an impressive run of four wins and a draw since the loss at Stamford Bridge. "People were wondering if we were going to get tired but in the last couple of games we have shown we are getting even fitter", said the Bulgarian. "John Terry's comments have made us even stronger, made us work even harder and made us concentrate more. That's what will drive us in the next two games. "We need one big push now. The fans have been great to us all season and I hope we will give them something to cheer." Petrov admits Villa would have taken the current scenario - fifth place with a realistic chance of finishing in the top four - at the start of the campaign. And he believes there is plenty of character in the dressing room to boost the team in their crucial final two games against Manchester City and Blackburn Rovers. "We have never been closer, and we shouldn't let it slip away," Petrov added. "If someone had said at the start of the season that with two games to go we would still have a chance of fourth spot, we would have taken that. We're there now and we have to make sure we take it. "We have players who want to win things and move this club forward. We have a lot of characters in the team." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's funny how for such a tired team who don't rotate we've managed to put some good wins together and are still in the mix for 4th with 2 games to go. Haven't heard many complaints about our best players playing all the games on here recently. I would of thought such a tired team with a manager who doesn't rotate players would have fallen completely away by now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's funny how for such a tired team who don't rotate we've managed to put some good wins together and are still in the mix for 4th with 2 games to go. yep, we've beaten some really top sides in the last few weeks haven't we? :? Change the record fella. When we finally miss out on 4th, maybe on saturday, I believe it will have been down to MON's lack of squad rotation more than any other factor. Or do you think the players that came out and said they were "out on their feet" and "knackered" were making it up? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hanky Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's funny how for such a tired team who don't rotate we've managed to put some good wins together and are still in the mix for 4th with 2 games to go. yep, we've beaten some really top sides in the last few weeks haven't we? :? Change the record fella. When we finally miss out on 4th, maybe on saturday, I believe it will have been down to MON's lack of squad rotation more than any other factor. Or do you think the players that came out and said they were "out on their feet" and "knackered" were making it up? Jon I can't agree with your second point. I think comparing all the sqauds that are in the mix for fourth (regardless of money spent), we are probably the ones that are overachieving to an extent. I don't think it will be the reason we missed out. To be honest, it is brilliant that we are still in it with a couple of games to go as I was expecting us to be mathematically out by now (a couple of weeks ago). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's funny how for such a tired team who don't rotate we've managed to put some good wins together and are still in the mix for 4th with 2 games to go. Haven't heard many complaints about our best players playing all the games on here recently. I would of thought such a tired team with a manager who doesn't rotate players would have fallen completely away by now. Or maybe, if the team had been rested/rotated and subs had been used, we would have secured 4th spot by now. We have had a run of games playing teams, with the exception of Everton, that we would expect to be beating given our resources. I think in all of these games we have looked a bit turgid but our resilience, strong defence and Milners energy have carried us home. Certainly, at the weekend, we looked second best for most of the second half against a poor, but also dogged, Blues side but that resilience carried us through. Football at the top level is about fine margins and I feel a bit more energy and a capability to play a consistently higher tempo could have carried us into 4th spot this season. The resilience and doggedness may still get us there. Whatever, the end result (for this season) will have been good BUT it could, I believe, have been better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 It's funny how for such a tired team who don't rotate we've managed to put some good wins together and are still in the mix for 4th with 2 games to go. yep, we've beaten some really top sides in the last few weeks haven't we? :? Change the record fella. When we finally miss out on 4th, maybe on saturday, I believe it will have been down to MON's lack of squad rotation more than any other factor. Or do you think the players that came out and said they were "out on their feet" and "knackered" were making it up? Change the record? How do we know we'd still be this close had we rotated our best players more? Most of the players on our bench get slated everytime they make an appearance but all of a sudden they're good enough to keep us close to the top 4 if they play every so often. I don't personally believe the players we have in our squad are good enough to step in for periods and help us continue to stick with the top 4. MON has had 3 summer transfer windows to sign players and one of those was after we finished 11th in the league. It's not an easy task to buy players who are good enough to get you into the top 4 and keep them happy being just a bit part player every now and then. No doubt we need a stronger squad in order to rotate more often but i'm not sure why people think thats so easy to achieve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 Well it's been a month now and since that game we've taken 13 points from 15 - pretty impressive considering before the Chelsea game we were dropping points to Sunderland and Wolves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 When we finally miss out on 4th, maybe on saturday, I believe it will have been down to MON's lack of squad rotation more than any other factor. I'm a bit confused now. I thought it was playing a Centre Back at Right Back that did it (not that it's actually happened yet so the above comments are perhaps just a bit premature) :confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 When we finally miss out on 4th, maybe on saturday, I believe it will have been down to MON's lack of squad rotation more than any other factor. I'm a bit confused now. I thought it was playing a Centre Back at Right Back that did it (not that it's actually happened yet so the above comments are perhaps just a bit premature) :confused: No, no, it's the utter lack of tactical nous and his appalling use of subs that made us miss out. In fact, I can't understand how we even manage to hand in a team sheet with that buffoon in charge! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barry'sboots Posted April 28, 2010 Author Share Posted April 28, 2010 It seems that this site tends to polarise people when trying to make their point. Some tend to defend MON and his tactics (or in my view lack of them) to the hilt whilst others tend to view him as a complete fool. If we look at the season's results it has been good - domestic cup runs (although we only beat teams below us in terms of spend, wages etc.) and challenging for fourth, but with a Plop side that have been appallingly managed, a Spuds side that have been turned around over a 12 month period by Arry but have still invested more heavily than us and a Citeh side that have spent a lot of money but have had to put these players together and compete instantly. We have probably been the least entertaining side in that top 7 but our resilience (in defence and with Milners energy) IMO has carried us through. MON has done some things really well - built a very resilient side with a good defence and some very good young english talent. Equally, IMO, he has done some things poorly - his lack of flexibility, inability to rest players and inability to use his bench. If he could have been a bit more adventurous on these latter points I think I would have enjoyed this season much more EVEN IF we had not as close to fourth position, although I do think it would have helped get us there. This is obviously speculation/a personal view and no-one can say whether it would OR INDEED wouldn't have enabled us to make fourth spot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CrackpotForeigner Posted April 28, 2010 Share Posted April 28, 2010 no-one can say whether it would OR INDEED wouldn't have enabled us to make fourth spot. No, but some people will try to say that anyway. Ultimately we can only judge over a whole season. ALL managers suffer setbacks in individual matches. As fans we need to TRY to be supportive when that happens and not call for heads to roll straight away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big_John_10 Posted April 29, 2010 Share Posted April 29, 2010 If he could have been a bit more adventurous on these latter points I think I would have enjoyed this season much more EVEN IF we had not as close to fourth position So you'd rather the manager was adventurous and lose more than do what we do and finish higher in the league? You might enjoy it more if you got yourself a black and white shirt and starting shouting "ho'way the lads!" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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