LondonLax Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 I think our best chance of Europe is with the league cup. We have given ourselves too much to do in the second half of the league, even if we do start to pick up some more regular wins. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 You know what lets just get to 40points and see what happens!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghost Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 People are saying that we are starting to get noticed by the media now. In one sense I guess that's good. It's almost like validation - we are putting in good performances for the most part and people are acknowledging that. But on another level I almost wish they don't notice us and we fly under the radar. Then we find ourselves in the Top 10 and the media are like "WTF just happened? Where did they come from?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstonMartin82 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 I don't think you can really accuse Milner of not working his socks off. Milner was one of my favorite players... didn't stop him jumping ship at the earliest opportunity for some extra cash though. Didn't stop him jumping from Leeds to Newcastle... Newcastle to Villa etc etc... he's a mercenary if ever there was one and I'm enjoying watching players who we didn't buy for £10+ million and who aren't as motivated by $$$. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Regardless of the result against Chelsea it would be nice to see a big crowd against Spurs. Lambert coming in on the back of McLeish where many fans deserted us and not getting off to the best of starts in terms of results has yet to in the main see the team get the support in terms of home crowds it deserves under him. I think Lambert can build something special with us and it would nice to see a few more fans get themselves down to VP and really enjoy what is likely to be an exciting ride and be a part of getting behind this quickly evolving young and exciting side. It could add that bit more backing to the momentum already gained and push us forward that little bit quicker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonic_bouma Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Milner is not motivated by money ridiculous to label the guy just coz he wanted to win trophies Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 I think ambitious is the better word rather than mercenary. Each move he made was a step up in career terms, can't really blame him for that although I do take personal pleasure in seeing him both being nothing more than a bit part player at City and having also regressed as a footballer. He should have stayed here for one more season, he was progressing beautifully as a central midfield player. I'm convinced that after one more season of excelling here at CM could have seen him move to United and become a regular in their midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danwichmann Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Milner was one of my favorite players... didn't stop him jumping ship at the earliest opportunity for some extra cash though. Didn't stop him jumping from Leeds to Newcastle... Newcastle to Villa etc etc... he's a mercenary if ever there was one and I'm enjoying watching players who we didn't buy for £10+ million and who aren't as motivated by $$$. Without wanting to derail the thread completely off topic if you can't see reasons other than money to move from Villa to Man City, you've got to be blind. He's won trophies and played Champions League football, and it's probably helped him play a bigger part in the international set up as well. He might of improved his salary every time he's moved, but you can just as easily say he has moved to bigger clubs with more ambition as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AstonMartin82 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Chaps, my point is not about Milner... my point is buying players for £10m plus brings a certain type of player. Buying £1m players who want to prove themselves and grow themselves along with the club brings another type of player. We have those players at the club now... MON's signings were the first type. Let's not misinterpret the point as the whole money and Man City thing has been done to death. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Regardless of the result against Chelsea it would be nice to see a big crowd against Spurs. Lambert coming in on the back of McLeish where many fans deserted us and not getting off to the best of starts in terms of results has yet to in the main see the team get the support in terms of home crowds it deserves under him. I think Lambert can build something special with us and it would nice to see a few more fans get themselves down to VP and really enjoy what is likely to be an exciting ride and be a part of getting behind this quickly evolving young and exciting side. It could add that bit more backing to the momentum already gained and push us forward that little bit quicker. mark you are making some fantastic posts chap, apart from politics threads obviously ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 mark you are making some fantastic posts chap, apart from politics threads obviously ;-) The feelings mutual mate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fazilla Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 Regardless of the result against Chelsea it would be nice to see a big crowd against Spurs. Lambert coming in on the back of McLeish where many fans deserted us and not getting off to the best of starts in terms of results has yet to in the main see the team get the support in terms of home crowds it deserves under him. I think Lambert can build something special with us and it would nice to see a few more fans get themselves down to VP and really enjoy what is likely to be an exciting ride and be a part of getting behind this quickly evolving young and exciting side. It could add that bit more backing to the momentum already gained and push us forward that little bit quicker. It is interesting to note that when MON came to VP we had some fantastic crowds. It has been disappointing to hear the away fans singing empty seats but I am more excited about Villa under Lambert than I ever was with MON. I could see that Martin was leading the club towards financial ruin. When you see that the team we put out yeasterday included 6 from the academy, was the youngest in our prem history and cost only 13 million, you can see that the foundations being put into place are sustainable and rock solid. His transfers remind me of Sir Ron. Instead of Andy Gray read Christian Benteke, instead of Morty read Ashley Westwood. Both managers demanded a fantastic 110% work ethic. I reckon there are alot of fans who have not been to VP who are beginning to realise that in Lambert we could have the real deal. Wouldn't it be great if they could buy their half seaon tickets and really get the place rocking again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMcKenna Posted December 16, 2012 VT Supporter Share Posted December 16, 2012 The feelings mutual mate It's a love in :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 When Lambert was appointed all I wanted was to watch proper football played by developing young players. It takes time to coach a new style of play and to gel new players. Lambert has repeatedly told us that he was not worried with our poor start because he watches our players every day in training and knows what's coming. I'm enjoying watching this season unfold, anything could still happen but for the first time in four seasons I'm proud of the way the whole club seems to be pulling in the right direction. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted December 16, 2012 Share Posted December 16, 2012 In the match thread when I saw our team being announced I really felt Liverpool would hammer us by the same score line, or more. Thankfully that didn't happen with Lambert getting both team selection and tactics spot on. Liverpool didn't expect the velocity of our play and Benteke scaring the living day lights out of plop's defence. A sign of fear is when any defence starts to stand off a forward and they did this particularly after the first fifteen minutes when we settled into the game. Our team then benefitted and took advantage of the fear, maybe even respect, which Benteke and to a lesser extent Weimann created. Actually the best and most complete performance from a Villa team for some considerable time, even better than the one against Man City in the cup for obvious reasons and for the very first time in many a season, I have now reserved excitement about our future. It is however only reserved excitement for the following reasons. We played against a Liverpool team without a recognised striker. Yes I know all about bugsy and how good he is but he is more of a link striker than anything else. With that striker Liverpool probably would have taken one or two of their chances in the first fifteen minutes. It should not however detract from our performance which I have already desribed above, My second reason is expectation! Due to one fantastic performance Europe and top four is now being mentioned on here and the media are starting to note our apparent improvement. Strictly speaking it is much better to have that than talking about relegation but I am concerned that the added expectation will filter down to the young players and they might start to believe in their own publicity? The manager will not only have to deal with that but also teams now targeting and man marking Benteke. I can understand the euphoria, indeed it is most welcome, but we should also temper our enthusiasm with the realism that we do still have a long way to go yet before we place the expectation of Europe on our young players when they are still dealing with the threat of relegation. Regards Liverpool, there's no need to make excuses for them. I think it's obvious to all they're a side in semi transition despite the obvious quality they possess. We beat the side in front of us, convincingly. That's really all that matters. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raver50032 Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Keep up the good work Paul... The stats suggested we got a battering before we went ahead, but we stayed solid. Which was nice. As their manager acknowledged, we could have been a few goals down early doors, but we weren't and we capitalised on it with some really sexy goals and tenacity. I almost expected a man with a brolly to be waiting for Benteke when he scored his second of the game - it felt like 'half an Atkinson' goal to me... And that Benteke back heal for Weimann - maybe our goal of the season so far. . All we need now is for Dirty Leeds to knock Chelsea out of the Cup and we have a lot to be optimistic about in the New Year... Assuming the world doesn't end this Friday. Up the Villa - made my Birthday weekend... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa_shere Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 PL is improving our team by the week. My fear is the panic on here after we lose back to back game or if we stay floating around 15-18 during March. I still think the main thing for this season is survival, even if we finish 17th i'd consider that a OK finish considering the massive change in squad. As for attendance, i think we'll see more fans come back between now and the semi final and even more after that if we win and people will want to get their booking history up incase we get to the final. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shillzz Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 If we'd started the season playing like we have done since going to Sunderland then we'd be comfortably in mid-table. And that's absolutely fine as far as I'm concerned; a new manager with plenty of new and young players is always going to take time to find his best side and get them playing how he wants. The future looks bright though, and as long as we can hang onto our Premier League status this year, then I can only see this team getting better and better. Despite the canned optimism, there are so many things to be positive about at the moment: Benteke could be the best striker we've seen at the club since Yorke, and was bought for less than O'Neill paid for Reo-Coker. Westwood looks every bit as accomplished as any midfielder we've seen at the club in the last decade. Lowton, Baker, Weimann, Clark and Bannan all look like they have big futures ahead of them. We have the youngest team in the league. All in all, I couldn't be happier with the work that Lambert is doing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morpheus Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Regards Liverpool, there's no need to make excuses for them. I think it's obvious to all they're a side in semi transition despite the obvious quality they possess. We beat the side in front of us, convincingly. That's really all that matters. I wasn't making excuses for them at all. The tone of my post really was to try and balance our own expectation level when some posters are now mentioning qualifying for Europe on the basis of one very good performance. I thought that was apparent in my post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SikhInTrinity Posted December 17, 2012 Share Posted December 17, 2012 Morpheus, the guy who mentioned top-4 was messing around, but not surprised you take it literally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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