Season 1/5 over, positives so far

[TimTheVillain]

Fans' rating: 6 out of 10.

Owner's rating: 10 out of 10.

6/10 about right, 10/10 confused.com

[JUAN PABLO]

Positives for me

Gabby - looks a 20 million poind player again  - Ok so If downing is 20 , Gabby is 40  ;-)

Given  - will be goalkeeper of the season , we are getting clean sheets ..

Defence as improved , which I thought it would .

Petrov - as started to get a good shot on him again and lasting 90 mins .

Ireland _ think he will come good , the fans appreciated the effort and it was good to see his reaction .

Bannon - obviously

disapointments - 

Nzogbia , but Im sure he will come good . Hes been a good player for a few seasons .

Delph - loses the ball to much for me , but he has to play to see what he can do , just wished we had bought a fit leader of a midfielder to give him a rest at times.

signing Jenas -  whats the point

7/10    but should disapointed we didn't  beat Noocastle and Wolves which woud have given us a 9/10 ...

[picicata]

The we haven't played anyone argument is a weak one. At a club we've significantly downsized so are in no position to assume we should pick up points against anyone.

Exactly.

Also, we have played seven different teams and have still not played the likes of Norwich, Swansea and Sunderland. This league is a sea of average and it only takes a little extra to be slightly better than average - and in Bent and Gabby we have what most of the other 'average' teams in the league do not.

[JUAN PABLO]

The we haven't played anyone argument is a weak one. At a club we've significantly downsized so are in no position to assume we should pick up points against anyone.

Exactly.

Also, we have played seven different teams and have still not played the likes of Norwich, Swansea and Sunderland. This league is a sea of average and it only takes a little extra to be slightly better than average - and in Bent and Gabby we have what most of the other 'average' teams in the league do not.

nor Albion ;-)   

[JUAN PABLO]

I always thought we struggled against the shite teams anyway , we could never break them down even with Young and wanker Downing .     

[Ryu]

The main negatives people seem to be focusing on are failing to beat newcastle and wolves at home. And while these were disappointing results, they are decent, solid sides and we won't be the only team who fail to beat either of them.

What I think would help us separate ourselves from a lot of the teams around us is turning some of our away draws into wins. Hopefully if Bent really finds his form this can happen.

[Chinchilla Bathhouse]

To those still peddling the “easy start” line, would you rather be like Bolton?  Playing pretty much the whole top five in the first two months of the season and getting spanked every week?  Sure it gets them out of the way, but your players have been chasing shadows for weeks, they’ve barely had a chance to establish any style of play, your new signings haven’t bedded in and confidence is on the floor.  Suddenly your next few games (against supposedly weak opposition) have become massive.  Try telling Bolton that their next match (against Wigan) is easy; it's certainly isn't now.  The pressure’s on.  Would you really prefer that?

I consider it a bonus that our start to the season has seen us avoid the big guns.  After an unsettling summer it’s given us the opportunity to find our feet a little.  It’s meant that we’ve been able to make mistakes and not get severely punished.  At times we’ve been about as bad as I’ve seen us in years, and you could argue that we should have been soundly thrashed at least twice…yet we haven’t been.  Even at our very worst, we’ve managed to stay unbeaten, which to me implies that things are possibly not as bleak as some people on here want to believe.   Now we're going into the City game having at least started to find a bit of form.

Anyway, you know the saying that winning when playing badly is the sign of champions?  By that logic, isn’t drawing when playing badly the sign of a comfortable mid-table finish?

[Brend'Watkins]

A negative I have is the loss of the organic 'Villa vitality' food in the lower Holte.  The burger there at half time with a cup of proper coffee was well worth every penny of the £5.00 charged. 

[LeeB]

It's October, it's still red hot and the Villa haven't lost.

What more d'yer want?

[PeterWithe]

Its a lot quicker to get served in the pubs around the ground.

[Richie]

Quick Jar McGrath. Agree that I'd rather be in our position than Bolton's.

What worries me is the fact that the only team who hasn't spanked them in the last month or so is us !

[TopDeck113]

I'll give it a generally positive 7/10.

The stand out features are:

- The defence looks more solid with a great keeper as the last line.
- Gabby is back in goal-scoring form.
- Unbeaten in the league.  They say that the league table doesn't lie after 10 games. I reckon we'll probably get a win, a draw and our first defeat in the next three games, 15 points after 10 games will probably see us between 8th and 10th, which is about right.

There are some disappointments and areas for improvement, but considering the doom and gloom that there's been for months now, at present I'd rather look on the bright side of life.

[Legion]

Positives

[nigel]

How about McLeish?

I think Alex McLeish is turning into a big positive.
He has bought the players together again and slowly but surely the players are begining to gel.
We have to show some patience guys.
On Saturday confidence was begining to show.
Well done AMcL

[Villanation]

1) Reaffirming we have one of the very best players in the Premiership with Gabriel Agbonlahor.

2) For me probably the best signing in the transfer window in Shay Given.

3) Barry Bannan is starting to look like he has the potential to be a real quality player.

4) Dion Dublin picked Petrov's goal on MOTD 2 as the best goal of the bunch, when was the last time a Villa goal was even considered in the running, and great to see that Dixon bloke squirming and muttering with complaints about Dublins decision, I swear that bloke knows nothing about football.

5)  We look set up well for this time in the season for the big test v Man City, this game is a cup final, can't wait, lets get this England crap out the way and get down to the real business, cautiously confident with a couple of reservations. ( this time last season I would have written this game well and truly of)

A couple of negatives, N'Zogbia needs to give himself a boot up the jacksy, I'm still concerned about our RB/LB positions when they come under real scrutiny.