Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:20 am
Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:28 am
Barclay1 wrote:I've put Villa to win the title, but is it too obvious a choice?? Will there be complacency? They are buying Anything that moves which is often not the best way. How are they gonna keep everyone happy? Will there be tears at the end of the season?
Sun Jul 23, 2017 11:55 am
Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:16 pm
Sun Jul 23, 2017 1:58 pm
AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:02 pm
AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:04 pm
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:36 pm
pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
Sun Jul 23, 2017 2:59 pm
davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
We certainly had a strong defence when we won the Championship but did we have the killer goalscorer? What we had I think was a team where there were a number of players who scored around 8 or 9 goals in the season.
Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:09 pm
pembroke allan wrote:davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
We certainly had a strong defence when we won the Championship but did we have the killer goalscorer? What we had I think was a team where there were a number of players who scored around 8 or 9 goals in the season.
We had 5 players scoring more than 10 goals each which was better than just one person scoring 15/20 goals and everyone else scoring just a couple each! Defence is paramount in championship look at Huddersfield won majority of games by odd goal .
Sun Jul 23, 2017 3:53 pm
davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
We certainly had a strong defence when we won the Championship but did we have the killer goalscorer? What we had I think was a team where there were a number of players who scored around 8 or 9 goals in the season.
We had 5 players scoring more than 10 goals each which was better than just one person scoring 15/20 goals and everyone else scoring just a couple each! Defence is paramount in championship look at Huddersfield won majority of games by odd goal .
Who were the 5 who scored more than 10 goals each?
Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:05 pm
Sun Jul 23, 2017 4:11 pm
Sun Jul 23, 2017 9:01 pm
Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:35 am
Mon Jul 24, 2017 12:50 pm
Blue_Barber wrote:I don't get this Villa champions thing they've added two players one ageing CB who I personally think will be found wanting in the Championship, and a midfielder that doesn't set the world alight other than that it's still the same team with the same manager.
I don't see them getting autos and they'd be lucky IMO to get to a playoff spot
Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:18 pm
pembroke allan wrote:davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
We certainly had a strong defence when we won the Championship but did we have the killer goalscorer? What we had I think was a team where there were a number of players who scored around 8 or 9 goals in the season.
We had 5 players scoring more than 10 goals each which was better than just one person scoring 15/20 goals and everyone else scoring just a couple each! Defence is paramount in championship look at Huddersfield won majority of games by odd goal .
Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:19 pm
ealing_ayatollah wrote:pembroke allan wrote:davids wrote:pembroke allan wrote:AV3 wrote:As a Villa fan, I wish I shared your confidence. I'm far from convinced that we'll finish top 2. Bruce seems set on playing men behind the ball and allowing the opposition to have possession. This limits your ability to create chances which is shown in our performances under him last year. I think we only won by 2 clear goals twice. That is not the form of a top 2 side. I understand him doing this when managing a side on a shoestring but given the quality he's been able to buy here, he should be way more adventurous.
Villa are not buying for fun this window. 4 have come in, including another loan for last seasons keeper. That's only 3 new faces with up to 10 or 11 due to go the other way.
I'm new to the championship and don't claim to be an expert but my feeling is that it will be very tight next year with no runaway teams like there has been for the past few years. Villa certainly aren't going to walk it and I'd be surprised if Boro did either. For neutrals it could be great. For us fans it could be torture for the next 9/10 months
I seem to recall our championship winning team won a lot games by the odd goal
What is needed is strong defence but with a killer goalscorer to get vital goals when opportunities come
We certainly had a strong defence when we won the Championship but did we have the killer goalscorer? What we had I think was a team where there were a number of players who scored around 8 or 9 goals in the season.
We had 5 players scoring more than 10 goals each which was better than just one person scoring 15/20 goals and everyone else scoring just a couple each! Defence is paramount in championship look at Huddersfield won majority of games by odd goal .
I don't think we actually had anyone that scored more than ten that season - let alone 5? We just had lots of one - nil wins.
Mon Jul 24, 2017 1:50 pm
Mon Jul 24, 2017 2:48 pm
Mon Jul 24, 2017 3:42 pm
Mon Jul 24, 2017 5:46 pm
Blue_Barber wrote:I don't get this Villa champions thing they've added two players one ageing CB who I personally think will be found wanting in the Championship, and a midfielder that doesn't set the world alight other than that it's still the same team with the same manager.
I don't see them getting autos and they'd be lucky IMO to get to a playoff spot
Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:04 pm
Mon Jul 24, 2017 6:28 pm
Blue_Barber wrote:But AV there's nothing that says championship hardened - the players of use to you are the seasoned,prem underrated, players for instance the burnleys of this world have a very over achieving squad that can hang on their prem position BUT are always built to compete in the championship - used to be the same for West Brom and Watford - even Sunderland of the early 2000s - you could possibly say that weirdly while playing in the Orem recently having known their constraints they've built a decent Championship level side (although I think they've got another relegation in them) - I just think Villa are set up for the Championship
Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:16 pm
AV3 wrote:Blue_Barber wrote:But AV there's nothing that says championship hardened - the players of use to you are the seasoned,prem underrated, players for instance the burnleys of this world have a very over achieving squad that can hang on their prem position BUT are always built to compete in the championship - used to be the same for West Brom and Watford - even Sunderland of the early 2000s - you could possibly say that weirdly while playing in the Orem recently having known their constraints they've built a decent Championship level side (although I think they've got another relegation in them) - I just think Villa are set up for the Championship
As I said mate, I don't see Villa's problems being in defence. The problems are further up the pitch. In fairness, I don't think it's the players either. We have Hourihane & Lansbury in midfield, both of whom were going great guns for Barnsley & Forest respectively, before joining in January. Since coming to Villa, it looks like they are being restricted in getting forward.
I get the idea that you need to be able to defend well and nick 1-0s or 2-1s but it is a dangerous and risky game to play. I felt that far too many games last season were drawn the we should have won. looking at the top half last season, nearly all teams were playing football and going for it. I wonder whether this idea of soaking up pressure/surrendering possession in non-dangerous areas is becoming a tad dated? This is how Bruce sets his sides up to play and it's pretty painful to watch at times - Especially if it looks like promotion hopes are fading.