vandaq Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Vandaq? I promise you that not one single person on VT will disagree with you. What ever made you think that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Avenue Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Agree, 3 points at home to Malaga would represent a good start to the campaign. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanxamillion Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 well at 2000 to 1 for the title i'm having a tenner each way. nobody fancied us in 1980 / 81 as liverpool were dominating things back then. we'll surprise quite a few methinks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Electric Avenue Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Does e/w get you top 5 ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skruff Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Really looking forward to it, it's the "generalprøve"(don't know the english for it, sorry) before the season starts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hanxamillion Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Does e/w get you top 5 ? No just second at half ....and maybe third place at quarter. will check with the bookies first but it's been a while since I placed a bet on them. Going forward we look very promising As long as we score 1 more than the other team we'll be just FINE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vandaq Posted August 2, 2013 Share Posted August 2, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Vandaq? I promise you that not one single person on VT will disagree with you. What ever made you think that? Oh I am sure there is someone out there Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa-revolution Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Malaga match is going to be great, that is when the season "starts" for me, even if some will disagree with that. Vandaq? I promise you that not one single person on VT will disagree with you. What ever made you think that? Oh I am sure there is someone out there Sorry vandaq I was forgetting the Mods, especially Trent & BOF who can be most disagreeable at times Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adw95 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 I think as an upward trend finishing around 10th would show great progress, considering the way Lambert is changing his squad people shouldn't (but can if they like, it's not a bad thing) get too ahead of themselves in terms of how we finish. For example in O'Neill's first two seasons we went from 16th to 11th to 6th, in those two season we spent (don't quote me) around £35 million on 13 players of which 4 were free (including Carew swap for Baros). Some of these players were experienced and needed no time to "bed in" to a team aiming to push up the league. This is surprising similar to Lambert spending (again don't quote me) £34 million on 15 players of which possibly two were free (one not even bought by him), the difference being these players are generally younger, have less experience than O'Neills' signings and may not fit into the league immediately. So a slower form of progress should be expected in my opinion. I am optimistic, uncharacteristically so, but don't want to get too ahead of myself in the event that we don't do as well as people are expecting. I'll be as pleased as anyone to see us finish higher than 10th though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 I think as an upward trend finishing around 10th would show great progress, considering the way Lambert is changing his squad people shouldn't (but can if they like, it's not a bad thing) get too ahead of themselves in terms of how we finish. For example in O'Neill's first two seasons we went from 16th to 11th to 6th, in those two season we spent (don't quote me) around £35 million on 13 players of which 4 were free (including Carew swap for Baros). Some of these players were experienced and needed no time to "bed in" to a team aiming to push up the league. This is surprising similar to Lambert spending (again don't quote me) £34 million on 15 players of which possibly two were free (one not even bought by him), the difference being these players are generally younger, have less experience than O'Neills' signings and may not fit into the league immediately. So a slower form of progress should be expected in my opinion. I am optimistic, uncharacteristically so, but don't want to get too ahead of myself in the event that we don't do as well as people are expecting. I'll be as pleased as anyone to see us finish higher than 10th though. Lambert isn't O'Neill though, and also its only like eight more points or so to get to eighth or ninth than what the team did last year and I'd be surprised if the improvement wasn't that good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adw95 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Lambert isn't O'Neill though, and also its only like eight more points or so to get to eighth or ninth than what the team did last year and I'd be surprised if the improvement wasn't that good Are you saying Lambert is better or worse, I'm unsure? It depends how other teams perform as well, I'm not sure we will reach a position that high... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers13 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Lambert isn't O'Neill though, and also its only like eight more points or so to get to eighth or ninth than what the team did last year and I'd be surprised if the improvement wasn't that good Are you saying Lambert is better or worse, I'm unsure? It depends how other teams perform as well, I'm not sure we will reach a position that high... Ah sorry should've clarified I'm saying Hes better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 (edited) I think there is little to choose between most clubs outside the top 6 - if we have a good season then its quite possible we could finish top 8 , i would certainly expect and hope for a top 10 finish One thing for sure i believe we will be the highest midlands club - Albion and stoke will both be bottom 8. Edited August 3, 2013 by Eastie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adw95 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 Ah sorry should've clarified I'm saying Hes better. Can't say I agree with that, but I'm in the minority so I think I'll shut up now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVTuco Posted August 3, 2013 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2013 Ah sorry should've clarified I'm saying Hes better. Can't say I agree with that, but I'm in the minority so I think I'll shut up now For your own sake on this board, yes you should shut up now. However, for the sake of this board, you shouldn't. At least I want to see what happens when you start that discussion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVillain Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 (edited) Ah sorry should've clarified I'm saying Hes better. Can't say I agree with that, but I'm in the minority so I think I'll shut up now Stiliyan Petrov (Celtic, £6.5m) Didier Agathe (Celtic, Free) Chris Sutton (Celtic, Free) John Carew (Lyon, Swap) Ashley Young (Watford, £9.65m) Shaun Maloney (Celtic, £1.1m) Moustapha Salifou (FC Wil, Undisc) Zat Knight (Fulham, £3.5m) Harry Forrester (Watford, £250 000) Eric Lichaj (Unattached, Free) Marlon Harewood (West Ham, £3.5m) Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham £8.5m) Wayne Routledge (Tottenham, £1.5m) Curtis Davies (WBA, £10m) Steve Sidwell (Chelsea £5.5m) Brad Friedel (Blackburn, £2.5m) Brad Guzan (Chivas US, £1m) Nicky Shorey (Reading, £4m) Luke Young (Middlesbrough, £5m) Carlos Cuellar (Rangers £7.8m) James Milner (Newcastle, £12m) Arsenio Halfhuid (Excelsior, nominal) Emile Heskey (Wigan £3.5m) Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough £10m) Fabian Delph (Leeds United £6m) Habib Beye (£2m) Andy Marshall (free agent) Stephen Warnock (£6m) James Collins (West Ham United, £5m) Richard Dunne (Manchester City, £6m) I have bolded those who were (imo) either a waste of signing fee/wages and/or never played for us. His net spend is 80mil + while in charge. This does not include the wasted wages (which I suspect would at minimum double that figure). Take out the bolded ones and that 14 signings that were (imo) decent, and 16 that were not. Add this to the FACT that he was so rigid in his formations and first 11 (which cost us a title shot imo - remember the John Terry interview before our match with them in in 09/10 season? He said we would tire in the second half and lo and behold we did - and gave 3 points away at a crucial part of the season) I think we underachieved quite a lot. MON just wasn't able to move and bend with the times and (imo) had lost his touch, shown by the fact that he couldn't repeat his 'feats' at Sunderland. Yes. I would say that you sir are indeed in the minority LOL EDIT: Just realised that my post had nothing to do with the topic. I think we will finish top 10 - outside shout at cup glory for Europe the season after. Edited August 3, 2013 by AshVillain Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 (edited) I'm going to go for 10th. I'm really excited about the squad, and the way that we play. I do feel that we are still going to be a little fragile at the back, but I also feel that it is down to tactics rather than personnel - Lambert doesn't do 'cautious', and while it might see us take a couple of hidings against some of the better sides, I do like the way that we 'give it a go'. It's more exciting to win 3-2 than 1-0 anyway! Edited August 3, 2013 by Woody1000 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MessiWillSignForVilla Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 I reckon it'll be between 8th-14th, with it being more likely in the bottom half. Despite being very excited by the signings I haven't seen any of them actually play, so I can't be sure they'll improve us massively. We'll stay clear of relegation though as our current players will have more confidence from the off. Also other teams around us have strengthened quite well which doesn't help us, so I just don't see top half being realistic, with my prediction of up to 8th being at a push and we have some good form/lucky results. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Avfc96 Posted August 3, 2013 Share Posted August 3, 2013 9th to 13th. I also think we will have a decent cup run, maybe to the quarters. I also think we will claim a few scalps like we did last year against the big teams. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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