Straight off, I have to say I haven’t even seen the goals, let alone the highlights of this game.
I’ve been up to my neck in it at a car plant shutdown, which has involved more than 12 hours a day for the last week or more; hence eating and sleeping has had to be my priority (it’s a hard life isn’t it?).
So I can only go with comments I’ve read on here and other sites, where it seems we were really quite good for the first hour, only for us to collapse when Boro equalised, which led to us not being able to keep the ball or even pass it.
Whichever way you look at it, it seems we have a massive fragility problem, where we don’t believe we can win a game once the opposition score. Which er, is exactly the same as last season, isn’t it???
It’s for this reason that I don’t think we have a chance of getting promoted as things stand, as I’ve said previously.
Perhaps though, I’m being unfair.
After all, Middlesborough are now a Premier league team and we’re deservedly Championship level.
They’re on the way up from their already advanced Championship level and have improved with some decent buys, whereas we’re about to find our real level.
Which is the part that worries me.
We’re apparently equal second favourites to be promoted, along with Norwich, with Newcastle being the absolute favourites.
It’s something that will only add to the expectation and again, I don’t think the squad is up to it, as they’re overall a load of bottlers, in my opinion.
Well, it certainly was the case last season and from the sound of it seems the case yesterday, anyway.
My hope was that whatever manager came in, he’d be able to instil a strong fighting mentality and although it is of course very early days, I’m not convinced we’ll get it under RDM.
Still, as I said, they’re Prem and we aren’t.
And us getting beaten at home to a Premier league team is only to be expected?
Hmm, I’m not in the slightest bit convinced, myself.
A team that hopes to be promoted next season should be fighting to the death, regardless of the opposition, even this early in proceedings.
I’m seriously worried, as I suggest 🙁
Think you’ve summed it up pretty well Bager123
And I stand by what I’ve been saying from the beginning, we need a handful of signings in asap
I really hope this is a very busy week for us😁
It depends what you are expecting. If you are concerned we will suffer a second relegation, I would not worry, it is possible but there are some crap teams in this division.
If you are worried we will not achieve promotion stop worrying now. We won’t get any where near it with the present squad. So relax until Xmas and see who is bought in the winter Window.
If we get the right signings in now I think there’s a good chance we will imo
Dr X won’t spend he’s potless
badger
why is it that villa fans are nearly all of same thoughts on
hutton cissko bacuna westwood rudi half a team never mind lescott scabby and richards yet last 3 managers plus black and now rdm play them yet results stay the same
the doc is going to have to bite the bullet and sign 4/6 players more at least to get promotion one season is all we can afford to be out of top league or we can kiss good bye to stoke baggies, who are signing above 10m players as norm
What I don’t understand is we are third favourites to win championship behind Newcastke and Norwich. How do bookies come to that conclusion
Do bookies decide the odds off the top of their heads? Or is it dictated by what the punters are betting on?
Bookies have odds compilers. These guys assess the real likely league table and the perceived likely league table and from their list the bookie prices an over round book (meaning if you bet varying amounts on every team you would lose money whoever wins).
These odds are fixed before a ball is kicked and the bookie has no chance to alter prices before the off. What he will hope to do is encourage more bets as the season unfolds on teams other than the losers on his book by people betting in play.
Villa are third on the perceived table, but on the real table they are about 10th.
I suggest a handicap bet on Brighton and Wolves who are likely to over-achieve.
Thanks for explaining but far too complex for me to understand. IV never really understood betting odds tbh. Thankfully I don’t bet but interested to see who’s favourite.
No idea
Should we be worried? Worried about what exactly?
If it’s about getting back in the Prem on the first go then no. No point in worrying about that because we’re not going to do it.
Worried about going down to Div 1? Then I’d say probably not.This team should be good enough to avoid relegation but not much else.
I agree with most of the comments above about us needing some new blood but it may take more than this window to get those new players in.
So basically I agree with OLL In the meantime we all might as well relax and see what happens.
Agree with Pat57 and OLL. Never thought we could achieve promotion this season but am yet to be convinced RDM is the right manager but, unlike some, am keeping an open mind. Like the look of the whole back room team with Clarke and Bond involved though.
Would like to have seen more activity in the transfer market but agree with Dr. T. – quality over quantity.
My major concern is that RDM appears to be persisting with the failures from last season with whom the Villa fans have lost faith. This is a risky strategy as a string of poor results involving these players is likely to quickly recreate last season’s toxic atmosphere – not a good scenario!
See Vertout likes the money he is on at Villa! Would it be a such a bad thing if he stayed?
If we stick with what is pretty much the same team as last season I won’t be relaxing and seeing what happens… I think we all know what that is gonna be!!!
its not the defeat that alarms me. its the way we tried to play the game. forget the goals we conceded against a poor bro which are no better than a team, most would bet on a quick return to championship.they should have won more convincing they missed a few sitters.
but all that aside, we have one striker playing. two other creative players given free roles that are picking up the ball way too deep. meaning they aren’t in the box when we did get any types of balls in the box, we had just gestede.but when the opposition attacked us. you had little to no cover for our full backs.
i don’t care ppl might not agree with me. i watch us ignore gestede never giving him a supply of crosses he NEEDS. i also believe they have a striker which THIS new STYLES requires lined up. gestede can’t play the system villa played against bro. the striker that can play that system needs speed and intelligent and able to bring in others. sumat like ayew. and murphy.
i saw more errors mistakes more problems with the system we tried to play. we have to be able to attack teams sitting deep and breaking fast on us. just like saturday against bro. was a good opponents in that respects. but lets not give them the credit for our mistakes. we over committed fullbacks, we were wide open to counters. we constantly tried to play through packed defense down the middle. our best striker playing far too deep shit the list is endless
Testing
I’m taking every step as we go before I make a knee jerk reaction, Wednesday Sunday then the mighty Rotherham mid week. The window ain’t closed yet so there’s still business to be done I’m staying optimistic despite being beaten by a better team over the weekend. UTV
In summary, a few posters above think we could achieve promotion with a few more good signings before the off. The majority do not think those signings will happen. Therefore it seems to be to general view that we are in for a period in which the management try re-inventing the wheel, or trying to get better performances out of last year’s participants.
To do that we need to build a team spirit. IMO that will be nearly impossible with this group of players despite the best efforts of Tommy Elphick. They all seem to be of a ‘down tools and blame others’ character. So we are either going to see one of the greatest feats of man-management in the history of sport or a belated acceptance of the need for radical squad change.
This is Moyes talking about Sunderland –
“You’re not going to change it in one transfer window. We want to get the right players at the right price, players who will do their time with us, improve and make the team better.
“You’ve got to remember where Sunderland have finished in the last few years, so this has now got to be a building job.”
Think this is exactly where Villa are too – but unfortunately now a league lower.
We have been in free-fall for 5 years and I expect it to take 5 years to be anywhere near where we once were…. We will not be promoted this season as the squad is still poisoned and simply lost its bottle, everyone will also see us as their cup final …. We tried a massive overhaul of the squad last year and look where that got us…
Lets be realists, we have a lot more stress and pain for the next few seasons before getting anywhere near promoted, this will take a long time !
Love Dr. T’s twiiter response to Holloway’s predictions – particularly the f***ed pundit jibe. Insert any letters you like – very clever.
I agree hitch fairplay to the doc but there will be some on here agreeing with the comments made by Holloway.if I didn’t know I would of expected those remarks by a certain nobby savage.
Giddy – I’ve never been in the ‘straight back up corner’ but I think we have enough to finish above half way which would be OK given the history of the last five years.
The danger is RDM not realising how toxic the influence of some of last year’s players could be – Flabby, Lescott, Richards and Bacuna being the main culprits. It’s all very well using the ‘clean slate’ arguement but the fans are not going to forgive some players that easily
Gosh how sad. We are now happy to finish halfway in the championship. Next season finishing half way in division 1 will be seen as progress! Pathetic
OohAh – please point out where I said that I was happy with the situation. I haven’t been happy for 5 years – I’m just being a realist which is actually a very sad situation. On the other hand I haven’t seen you bigging up our chances this year so I presume your expression – ‘pathetic’ – is directed at the position Villa are in and not my post!
It sounded like y thought mid table in the championship was acceptable. IV not talked up the team as nothing to talk uo
He should get of Twitter and stop being everybody’s mate! I’d be more impressed if he he starts spending. Where’s the 30-40m that was promised
Yeah me to,good point!
I doubt very much he has that much to spend oohah I suspect our new owner is all front and bullshit in comparison to what wolves will do we will be poor relations in the midlands now sorry for the negativity lads hope I’m wrong but I doubt it
Agree Muzzvill Dr X will be no better than Lerner I’m afraid
It’s the we’ve already failed before it begins gets me,shabby & Co are dead to the fans & RDM knows that already hence very limited usage in the friendlies.we can only hope some takers out there see there potential lol I’ll have to have a drink to sort my deluded head out.
Ps I hope the club accept celtics latest bid for sinclair & stop friggin faffing about.
villa squad isn’t mid table, i don’t care what you say. if we finish 12 or below this championship league, i won’t be happy or content with that. RDM job is to use the players available to him and get a system to suit these players.or go out and find the players he wants or knows can improve us
look around the league, whether you think the villa squad is shit would you like to swap squads with blue noses or preston, ?? i think not. we have the quality somewhere in the squad. i beg rdm to use a nucleus of the under 21 which played arsenal last year. if you watched that game, villa have some decent players lurking in the shadows of the first team.
RDM needs to bed in them youth and committed players he feels can do the jobs, along with his signings. if you look around the league whether you like it or not, we are 2nd favorites because we have the best resources in money to spend and players available to the manager. so no pressure
i will not be happy with anything other than top 6 and i have taken in accounts the decline of previous seasons. we need to shrug off the memories of them and wins can do that. you could see we are punch drunk when middlesbro scored their first. mistakes started, miss placed passes, heads started to drop, players went into hiding. once we start off with 3 points last season will be history
Some surprisingly ‘measured’ comments on here after the ‘Boro result [not seen anything of the game myself] – I’d expected a lot more doom & gloom!
Reality may have set-in for most of us: we realise that Villa would do well to finish in the top six or eight this season unless there’s some further major surgery in the next few weeks.
As others have said though, I do wonder whether the management team have quite realised just how poor some of the ‘old guard’ were last season, and the obvious [to fans] near-impossibility of getting them to change that around?
I fear that it may take some really poor results in the next couple of weeks before RDM & Co are finally convinced that fresh blood is urgently needed.
It shouldn’t need bad results for us to spend they should be doing it anyway. What if we win first two games then no chance of any signings and we will struggle. Dr X is no better than Letner he bought the club for sod all and has invested sod all
looks like clark is on his way to newcastle, i would be sad to see this clark or okore would be the ideal partner to elphick
It’s great news Clarke is crap did u see him in euros complete rubbish. Newcastke are bonkers signing him
football is a game of opinions. clearly he rated much more by other clubs. tony pulis is a great judge on defenders and he rates him. i would rather see lesscots fook off before the likes of clark. just my two bobs for wot its worth
A month ago I posted about Prem teams buying players off rising rivals not because they needed the player themselves, but to screw up the team the player left. I think there could be a rarer version of this. The Torpedo. Benitez may think he is taking a key player from a promotion rival but he is in fact taking a dud who may hole his ship below the water line.
I thought RDM said Gana was the only 1 with a release clause!!
There is a very good reason not to splash the cash for 40M or so. If the player bought is stepping down from a starting place in a higher ranked club, then there is something wrong with him. If the player is stepping up to Villa or moving sideways he isn’t worth an 8 figure fee.
Suppose we did buy half a team of Prem quality players and started to p*** the Championship what then? Come Xmas the Prem sharks doing poorly would be tapping them up for the Jan window.
So it requires a stealthy approach, and taking players who are good footballers, but out of favour where they are now because they have been displaced by a new arrival. The selling club will be keen to deal. After the first day of the Prem a few bench warmers will start grumbling to their agents.
So basically we are still a selling club
@OLL
Interesting point and it echoes the Moyes comment I posted earlier –
‘We want to get the right players at the right price, players who will do their time with us, improve and make the team better.’
It’s ‘do their time’ which is the important bit for me. We need good players but we also need some spirit and stability going forward. We need players who are going to stick with us but to do that RDM has to convince them that the club will be going somewhere.
Like most fans I wanted to see instant action, the dross out and a shed load of new players in, but we have to trust that RDM and his team have a plan. Perhaps evolution not revolution is the way after all.
Here’s hoping.
three players we have already signed where important ones, team lacked a spine last season. this backbone was needed to be addressed, if i looked at the squad now only position we are short of quality FOR CHAMPIONSHIP is the striker role.
its clear to me that RDM isn’t gonna supply gestede with crosses he needs, thats not the style of football he wants to play, so gestede is probably now only gonna be a bit part player, or join the long list of players we need to sell.
finding a striker to play the lone ranger, that’s gonna cost, so i can see us using most of the transfer kitty up, finding this player.
clark to newcastle is a double whammy, weaken ourselves and strengthen our main rivals.
also as predicted, we can’t get rid of our deadwood.all players at villa are paid very good wages. too good for the average clubs to offer same wages, as the current deadwood are receiving. vertede and sanchez both refusing to take hits in wages for new challenges elsewhere.
this double edge sword is buying players, attracting them to villa we offer better wages than our rivals. then when it comes to selling them, we can’t find them a way out as most players are on good wages too good for their abilities.
also doesn’t matter when we lose a charles insomina we just add more to the list. gabby, lescotts and richards just a few to mention.while they have players like these earning (about) 210k wages a week between them, new signings are dependent on lowering this wage budget on none first teamers. its a catch 22.
need to start making most of the youth, making players better, coaching players to improve the sell ability
Apparently Clark has a 5 mil release clause in his contract. Totally contradicts what RDM has said!!
Im beginning to have serious concerns!!
Clause or no clause it’ll be down to Clark himself if he wants to move which he hasn’t hinted yet.I’m on the fence with him as I wouldn’t see him as that greater loss.
Hasn’t RDM already come out and said Clark had committed himself to Villa? If he goes it says a lot for his loyalty but also what he reckons Villa’s chances are this season!
No nore would I but my point is why say 1 thing then it turn out to be bull shit.
Why say no 1 else has a release clause then a few hours later Newcastle trigger 1.
I think we could without the lies this season eh!!
Has it ever crossed your mind it was the first he knew about it & thought no one else did have these clauses.
Do you not think then he should really find out what is going on re his players before opening his mouth and being made to look like a fool?
Again maybe he was given the wrong information has he got to double check everything he’s told????