Quote from: Pat McMahon on December 15, 2018, 09:30:35 PMGot back home and have eaten and warmed up so feeling more charitable now.All in all today is probably a point gained as I thought Stoke were the better team and we had to come from behind twice. I think some posters are being harsh on them as they played decent football and used the width well. Generally they were better in midfield than us Joe Allen and Woods in particular. Too many of our players were below par but unlike others I thought Whelan was better than most and did some good defensive work. He also played what looked like the best ball of the first half, curled behind their defence. Nyland also made a few good saves and held just about everything he could, though is starting to look more comfortable with the ball at his feet. I don’t have confidence in him though. The front 3 were average today and I don’t think we won a meaningful ball in their half for about an hour. The wide players also didn’t protect the full backs as they should have done meaning we were always vulnerable down the flanks. I knew it was another our day with a shit journey up, realised my seat in K4 was on the right of the Holte and there was an ongoing feud between a bloke and several stewards all through the first half just behind me. He had called McClean a “non poppy wearing terrorist c@#t” and refused to back down when given a warning by the police. It veered off into “I was in the army and he supports terrorists” territory for a while and even the bloke’s daughter was beseeching him to calm down. Journey home was shit too - bad weather and slow traffic punctuated by two signs warning of people and then animals on the M40. I was waiting for the inevitable thud to finish off the day.Play offs is the best I can see us achieve this season. We are too weak defensively.Blimey....thought My day at villa park was just average Glad it wasn't as bad as yours...!
Got back home and have eaten and warmed up so feeling more charitable now.All in all today is probably a point gained as I thought Stoke were the better team and we had to come from behind twice. I think some posters are being harsh on them as they played decent football and used the width well. Generally they were better in midfield than us Joe Allen and Woods in particular. Too many of our players were below par but unlike others I thought Whelan was better than most and did some good defensive work. He also played what looked like the best ball of the first half, curled behind their defence. Nyland also made a few good saves and held just about everything he could, though is starting to look more comfortable with the ball at his feet. I don’t have confidence in him though. The front 3 were average today and I don’t think we won a meaningful ball in their half for about an hour. The wide players also didn’t protect the full backs as they should have done meaning we were always vulnerable down the flanks. I knew it was another our day with a shit journey up, realised my seat in K4 was on the right of the Holte and there was an ongoing feud between a bloke and several stewards all through the first half just behind me. He had called McClean a “non poppy wearing terrorist c@#t” and refused to back down when given a warning by the police. It veered off into “I was in the army and he supports terrorists” territory for a while and even the bloke’s daughter was beseeching him to calm down. Journey home was shit too - bad weather and slow traffic punctuated by two signs warning of people and then animals on the M40. I was waiting for the inevitable thud to finish off the day.Play offs is the best I can see us achieve this season. We are too weak defensively.
If we don’t go up through play offs I’ll literally eat my hat.
We are not going up automatically. How are 6 other teams going to fail and let us in. Besides, 48 points minimum will get us to 81 points. I cannot see that being enough for 2nd. Top 6 yes.
I went to my first villa game for several years today. I was looking forward to seeing Smith's brand of attacking football but there wasn't much of it going on. Also I couldn't help noticing how quiet it was for a decent attendance and wondered if this is how it has become while I've been away.