Are we a boring outfit?

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There is a bit of sub-discussion going on in the match thread and rather than derail from that, it seems to be an interesting enough topic to be worthy of its own thread. Perhaps a Mod could transfer over some of the comments? Perhaps I should stop making demands of the Mods? All valid questions.

The premise stems from a bit of an off the cuff "funny" report in the Mirror on where the Villa stand in the current pecking order, which describes us as boring. I think we're anything but boring. As the case with the Frazier Nelson column in the Telegraph about the city as a whole being a misguided and stereotypical hatchet job, based on London centric media ignorance, so too is this opinion of Aston Villa.

I have found Lambert's reign exciting thus far. Sometimes this excitement has manifested itself in an "oh no, my brakes don't work!" sort of way, but it's been exciting nonetheless.

I like the approach we have taken with building a young squad with a core ethos running through the side that leads me to believe the players genuinely want to be here. I look at the likes of Bacuna, Okre, Delph et al and I am genuinely excited by their potential.

Last season was one of the most bizarre affairs I can think of. How do you go from smashing 4 past Norwich, 3 past Liverpool, to getting walloped heavily in three successive games after? How do you conspire to lose to a 4th division outfit, after smacking Man City in an earlier round?

It makes no sense. It was great, it was awful. It wasn't boring.

Boring for me implies a dreary predictability; we're anything but predictable. We're not always going to get it right and this season we have seen in recent games a struggle for goals and openings, but we're learning and those expecting a counsel of perfection are wrong.

For me, the boring tag was applicable in the latter days of Gregory and in the middle season of O'Leary's reign. 2004/05 was as tediously forgettable as any season I can think of, sandwiched in between a very good tilt at the Champions League places and a relegation battle.

McLeish played the worst football I have ever seen at the Villa and I suppose a boring tag might seem applicable in retrospect, although at the time I was lost if a maelstrom of despair at just where we were heading to.

But this Villa team, boring? A team than can give the side currently running away with the league a good hiding on their own patch? That can better Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, only to be Kevin Friended? That have players who can win matches with effortless free-kicks? That has one of the best out and out centre forwards in Europe bullying all and sundry? Ok.

We should all be craving some boringness, some cosy mid-table stability, wrapped in a blanket of 1-0 home wins and 1-0 away defeats. Sat in yawn inducing mediocrity where we are able to say with a nigh on certainty "we'll win this 1-0. We'll keep a clean sheet here".  Not with this Villa.

I don't think anybody is suggesting we're as good a side as we had in the late 70's or under Saunders or Atkinson or Little- far from it. But success and excitement are not exclusive bedfellows. See George Grahams Arsenal. Hopefully Lambert is building something that can see us competing in the league where we would hope to be or winning a trophy or two, but to say we're boring while we stumble around with the likes of West Brom? Nah.

If we were boring, you'd be able to tell me what is going to happen on the 25th. I hope we'll win, scratch that, I hope we smash them. But then we're as likely to score four, as concede four, as to grind something out as to be ground out.

[eastie]

Interesting to note you say you thought lamberts reign has been very exciting in the match thread but now it's only exciting ?

Unpredictable would best describe it , with high and lows along the way but far from very exciting - indeed some of the football especially at home has been turgid in the extreme ., whilst on our day we can be extremely good to watch .
 Are we boring - sometimes
Are we exciting- sometimes .

Given the choice of top 6 and Gregory type football or  what we have seen under lambert I would take the 1-0 wins and top 6 personally.

[Concrete John]

The press generally pay little attnetion to us, so will just see a few 0-0s and other low scoring games and come to the 'boring' conclusion.  In fairness we possibly have been during this recent patch, but over the course of 38 games I think we'll provide good value for money entertainment wise.

[richard moore]

You know my views Ads and a good idea to get a separate thread going. I say at the macro level we are though you can highlight examples of excitement down at the micro level of individual games. If I had to rank the decades I have been watching the Villa, this decade would be bottom of the pile (my first game was circa 1971). If I had to rank periods of five years, again this would be down near the bottom. However, I'm willing to admit that my increasingly old git stance and the fact that most football bores me these days - I can't stay awake during an England match and fast forward through most of MOTD quite frequently - has something to do with it!

Certainly, as I said elsewhere, other fans I meet think we're boring and worse, an irrelevance. I'd like to say that doesn't matter but it hurts you know to sit in a pub with a load of cockney Spurs fans and see them treat us that way. The only player they'd heard of was Benteke. We just don't really seem to have a say in things anymore and I could weep sometimes when I watch clips from the Villa Memories thread

[Sexual Ealing]

I imagine a passing neutral might come to that conclusion due to our always being around in the PL era but rarely actually doing much to grab their attention.

[saunders_heroes]

I imagine a passing neutral might come to that conclusion due to our always being around in the PL era but rarely actually doing much to grab their attention.

That's not true. We've done as much if not more than the likes of Tottenham have done in the PL era, but I think people are judging us on where we're at right now, and let's face it we're a non entity at the moment. I look at this forum and see stuff that "Ads" (and others) post about us being "exciting" but I find myself shaking my head in disbelief. I think this is one of the poorest era of Villa teams I've ever seen and so do most if not all of my mates and work colleagues think as well. I just can't see it when I'm told we're "exciting".
Perhaps I'm just having a mid life crisis and I'm a grumpy old git, but I find Villa under Lambert boring, and we've become a team who are just happy to make up the numbers.

[richard moore]

I imagine a passing neutral might come to that conclusion due to our always being around in the PL era but rarely actually doing much to grab their attention.

That's not true. We've done as much if not more than the likes of Tottenham have done in the PL era, but I think people are judging us on where we're at right now, and let's face it we're a non entity at the moment. I look at this forum and see stuff that "Ads" (and others) post about us being "exciting" but I find myself shaking my head in disbelief. I think this is one of the poorest era of Villa teams I've ever seen and so do most if not all of my mates and work colleagues think as well. I just can't see it when I'm told we're "exciting".
Perhaps I'm just having a mid life crisis and I'm a grumpy old git, but I find Villa under Lambert boring, and we've become a team who are just happy to make up the numbers.

I agree totally, which won't surprise anyone. As I said above, I only have to spend about 10 minutes on the Villa Memories thread to be reminded that everything you have said here, for me, is true. But I'm probably having the same latter mid life crisis as you (I'm 51 and 52 next week, be warned Villa always lose on or around my birthday, you see you can't even rely on them for that. Perhaps that makes them exciting after all!!!)

[Ads]

Why is my name in-between bunny ears? Does your disbelief stretch to my existence? 

As stated, the initial premise was that we are boring. I don’t think we’re middling, I think we’re barmy and erratic, which is an exciting combination and yet an equally terrifying and maddening one too.

Your critique of the side is incredibly harsh and has been for a number of years, sometimes that criticism is justified, often in my opinion its not. Our quality is not the topic of discussion though, it is whether we are boring.

[eastie]

Why is my name in-between bunny ears? Does your disbelief stretch to my existence? 

As stated, the initial premise was that we are boring. I don’t think we’re middling, I think we’re barmy and erratic, which is an exciting combination and yet an equally terrifying and maddening one too.

Your critique of the side is incredibly harsh and has been for a number of years, sometimes that criticism is justified, often in my opinion its not. Our quality is not the topic of discussion though, it is whether we are boring.

Maybe he's just missing bunny from stoke

[richard moore]

In between bunny ears???!!! Can I have whatever you're on Ads?! What are you on about....

[Ads]

  I look at this forum and see stuff that "Ads" (and others) post about us being "exciting" but I find myself shaking my head in disbelief.

[saunders_heroes]

Why is my name in-between bunny ears? Does your disbelief stretch to my existence? 

As stated, the initial premise was that we are boring. I don’t think we’re middling, I think we’re barmy and erratic, which is an exciting combination and yet an equally terrifying and maddening one too.

Your critique of the side is incredibly harsh and has been for a number of years, sometimes that criticism is justified, often in my opinion its not. Our quality is not the topic of discussion though, it is whether we are boring.

My criticism of Villa started as soon as we started to go backwards. What's so shocking about that? I'm entitled to my opinion and I'll continue to give it. To me your description of this Villa team as "exciting" is just bizarre as I find this era under Lambert and Lerner one of the dullest periods ever. No offence but you come across as a message board version of the sort of dressed up nonsense the official site comes up with on a daily basis.
By the way I meant nothing when I quoted your username. It was just a way of highlighting your name.

[Clampy]

I wouldn't say we're exciting. I wouldn't say we're boring either.

[eastie]

I wouldn't say we're exciting. I wouldn't say we're boring either.

Spot on.

[Ads]

Why is my name in-between bunny ears? Does your disbelief stretch to my existence? 

As stated, the initial premise was that we are boring. I don’t think we’re middling, I think we’re barmy and erratic, which is an exciting combination and yet an equally terrifying and maddening one too.

Your critique of the side is incredibly harsh and has been for a number of years, sometimes that criticism is justified, often in my opinion its not. Our quality is not the topic of discussion though, it is whether we are boring.

My criticism of Villa started as soon as we started to go backwards. What's so shocking about that? I'm entitled to my opinion and I'll continue to give it. To me your description of this Villa team as "exciting" is just bizarre as I find this era under Lambert and Lerner one of the dullest periods ever. No offence but you come across as a message board version of the sort of dressed up nonsense the official site comes up with on a daily basis.
By the way I meant nothing when I quoted your username. It was just a way of highlighting your name.

Dull why?