Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: kipeye on October 24, 2024, 10:03:18 AM
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Am I the only one who worries about Villa more when we are doing well? I don't mean I'm happy in any way when we are doing badly and I post very little at these times as I can't stand whingers. I can't help the ambivalence when we are so good as everyone starts to notice and I'm waiting for them to turn when we have a bad result. I can't explain it but I guess it's PTSD after all these years.
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I'm the same. When fans of other teams praise us, I say "it's going well now" and "we're waiting for it to go wrong" to try and cushion the mockery when it goes to shit.
Have at that, psychologists.
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Not really. But I've never been one to be hubristic and strut about when we are doing well.
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I'm not worried at all. We're improving all the time.
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I'm worried that I'm not worried anymore. It makes me uncomfortable.
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I am worried when teams like Bayern continually appoint crap managers and are always linked with ours as a result. I want to continue being glass half full but our history of the last 40 or so years has lead me to this mindset.
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I still worry at the start of each game but not any other time.
I'm certainly not worried about someone messaging me with a cry-laughing emoji after 'I see Villa are shit again'. At such a point I think I'll have noticed that too. And I only know a couple of people who might do that anyway, and it wouldn't hurt if they did.
I am of course deeply fearful of the gods.
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We are in the best place we have been in since I was a teenager (1982 etc), but I still look at the table and think we are on 17 points, half way to safety!
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I’m certainly not worried but I am still in self-deprecation mode ie still not looking beyond getting to 40 points & believing every game that fans seem confident about will be a huge banana skin.
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We're playing great football and as long as that continues I couldn't care less
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…… but I still look at the table and think we are on 17 points, half way to safety!
Ha ha, that’s me as well. It must be a regional character trait to have a hangdog, glass half empty outlook to life.
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We as supporters need to make the transition and get used to Villa being an established top football club consistently competing at the highest level. UTV
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Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not even worried about mockery from other fans, despite what I said before. Yet I do still have a fear of it all falling apart. So what an I worrying about? My future unhappiness? Being a football fan is weird.
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Or that might just be me!
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Thinking about it a bit more, I'm not even worried about mockery from other fans, despite what I said before. Yet I do still have a fear of it all falling apart. So what an I worrying about? My future unhappiness? Being a football fan is weird.
I don’t worry about fans of other clubs, I worry about ours. I hate it when things start to go wrong and the atmosphere starts to turn. I don’t even want to think about going back there.
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Unai has transformed the club and has also been working hard on changing the mindset of the supporters. He knows the importance of a 12th man and the positivity they can bring to the team.
It worked with me. I do not worry any more.
The squad, work ethic and the knowledge that Unai has about 10 contingency plans in place for all eventualities gives me confidence.
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I worry that we’ll be playing all this great football and getting great results etc but not winning any silverware.
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I worry that we’ll be playing all this great football and getting great results etc but not winning any silverware.
This is it for me, trophies in the cabinet please.
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As one of life's worriers, I'm always worried
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"Don't worry, be happy"
Not my mantra but..................
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I worry that we’ll be playing all this great football and getting great results etc but not winning any silverware.
Yes, we need a trophy. However, remaining in a CL spot is more important than winning any of the domestic cups to the future prospects of the club. So, win a trophy, yes, that would be brilliant but CL spot as well would be utterly fantastic. Would anyone take 8th and win the League Cup?
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I probably would. I'd definitely take 8th and FA Cup.
Obviously, I want The Quadruple, but I reckon I'd feel so much more relaxed if we'd won a trophy since John Major was Prime Minister and only twats owned mobile phones.
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How about 3rd and the Champions League?
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Goo on then.
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The only worry I have is that Carlos' much improved form is a false dawn. I shouldn't feel that way as he's showed himself very capable of late but I do keep getting flashbacks of Ipswich and I start shuddering.
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No. Time for the worried thread was during the 2010s when our reps based in Wellington, Islamabad and other far-flung places would fill a thread with hundreds of pages in the wee hours, while the rest of us, "in the west" were having nightmares about Ashley Westwood becoming the new Mark Kin-se-lla, complete with pointing finger and wondering could life ever be joyful under Messrs McLeish, Lambert, Garde et al.
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I certainly get more tense during matches when we're doing well, as i'm thinking of what could be and i don't want it to slip. I also get more hysterical when things go a bit tits up, like one or two of the home games when we went 2-0 down back around January time. I also get more pissed off when we get bad injuries to good players during these periods. If we're a bit 9th - 16th i don't really get too arsed about it all, although still enjoy watching the games, if anything enjoy watching the games more as i'm less tense. But the wins are more enjoyable when your on a run and it's not just another 3 points to safety or respectability.
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I have found that it doesn't matter anymore as to which underpants I wear and the shirt and where I park my car and how I walk to the ground etc etc etc. What matters is that better teams win more than they lose. I feel liberated from all the irrational monkeys on my shoulders and it never worked anyway.
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Not worried one bit, didn't worry what other fans thought and I ain't starting now
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
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I think that ship has probably sailed.
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A lifetime of ups-and-downs... but I genuinely think this time is different. My worry will be in two or three seasons if we've been there or thereabouts and not won any silverware.
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
A teenager isn't as good as he thinks he is. Big wows.
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves, even Liverpool beat Bologna 2-0.
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Yeah, it’s like having a stunning missus. It’s bloody fantastic, but there’s plenty more to worry about.
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The only thing I ever worry about is when I can’t afford to go any more, or the people I enjoy going with can’t. Loving the football under Unai, and winning most weeks of course, but it wouldn’t be results or what division we were in that would make my give up.
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Yeah I worry on two levels. One is how long can we hold onto Unai for and what happens when we leave.
Two is, what happens if were so successful we all end up entitled wankers
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Emery is here for a good few years barring anything left field happening so just enjoy the ride. We've waited a long time for this renaissance period.
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Emery is here for a good few years barring anything left field happening so just enjoy the ride. We've waited a long time for this renaissance period.
Yeah I think the same - but thats how my mind works - if it seems to good to be true it normally is
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I am enjoying it. Of course I am a bundle of nerves during the game but between games I am more relaxed about the Villa than I ever have been. Enjoy it while you can, we are on a great ride, no idea what it will bring but we are capable of beating pretty much anyone.
UTV.
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My worry that the club hasn’t kept up with Emery’s genius.
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On the pitch - currently ace and long may it continue.
Off the pitch - currently leaves a lot to be desired.
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We have a great squad and genius manager / team, but as per above i worry. It's definitely PTSD
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In a nutshell, not while Unai is here!
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I think our self deprecating mentality and thinking the worst thoughts (like it will all come crumbling down) is proving to be unfounded as we seem to just keep getting better and better
For everyone's sake
SUE
The Owners
The players ambitions
Us fans
This team has to win a trophy(s) or we will be labelled the nearly mean just like Arsenal.
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Like Arsenal?! Since we last won a trophy (the League Cup) they've won three titles and eight FA Cups. I'll have a bit of failure like that.
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I meant that last few years since Emery left them - apologies
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
Who the hell is Rory Wilson?
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
Who the hell is Rory Wilson?
Ask Dan Bardell
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
Who the hell is Rory Wilson?
Ask Dan Bardell
OK, I'm guessing this is some kind of "in-joke" as I have no idea who that is either.
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
Not Villa man and boy then. My youth was VP first team for home games then away games if I could go but if not down the reserves as we used to call them
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
Not Villa man and boy then. My youth was VP first team for home games then away games if I could go but if not down the reserves as we used to call them
Yes, I grew up near VP and used to go to the reserves as a kid in the 80's. Live thousands of miles away now so obviously don't do that anymore.
Over the years I have flown tens of thousands of miles to watch Villa games. (lived in S. America, Australia and Thailand previously to name a few)
With so much football now for the first team alone, it's hard enough making the time for those games, given the time difference etc....
Not sure how any of that means I'm not "Villa man and boy".
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the Rory Wilson saga worries me.
Who the hell is Rory Wilson?
Ask Dan Bardell
OK, I'm guessing this is some kind of "in-joke" as I have no idea who that is either.
Dan is a Sky anchor man
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
Not Villa man and boy then. My youth was VP first team for home games then away games if I could go but if not down the reserves as we used to call them
The reserves used to play at Villa Park on a Saturday 3pm if we were away , they used to let us in free (Trinity only open)
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
Not Villa man and boy then. My youth was VP first team for home games then away games if I could go but if not down the reserves as we used to call them
The reserves used to play at Villa Park on a Saturday 3pm if we were away , they used to let us in free (Trinity only open)
The Central League I think it was called. Used to enjoy going there for night games. 50p entrance.
I can still smell the Bovril, pipe smoke and the freshly cut grass now.
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Wilson is a teenager who won't sign a contract. Bardell is a man on the internet who dresses like a teenager.
Cheers, not living in the UK I don't bother with any of the sideshow stuff. Far too many vloggers and bloggers these days.
Don't watch the youth team either. Just don't have the time or interest tbh. If they are good enough, I'll watch them when they make the grade.
Anyway, not worried about much other than how the atmosphere will be if/when we don't qualify for the Champions League. Be it this season, next or whenever, I can't see fans getting excited for a Europa Conference group game against Halmstad after this. :)
Not Villa man and boy then. My youth was VP first team for home games then away games if I could go but if not down the reserves as we used to call them
The reserves used to play at Villa Park on a Saturday 3pm if we were away , they used to let us in free (Trinity only open)
The Central League I think it was called. Used to enjoy going there for night games. 50p entrance.
I can still smell the Bovril, pipe smoke and the freshly cut grass now.
Yes and they had a handout team sheet . The Youth team around 1980 was good won the Youth Cup
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I certainly get more tense during matches when we're doing well, as i'm thinking of what could be and i don't want it to slip.
Like today. Fuck fuck fuckity fucking fuckfuck fucking fuck.
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Yes, today was a classic example of what worries me these days.
The other thing I worry about is the dearth of trophies. It’s been so long and as things stand with our emphasis on a European competition that we’re unlikely to win - what else is there for us?
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No. This is easily the best Villa side anybody has seen in 4 decades. Inferiority complexes are deeply unattractive.
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Yes, today was a classic example of what worries me these days.
The other thing I worry about is the dearth of trophies. It’s been so long and as things stand with our emphasis on a European competition that we’re unlikely to win - what else is there for us?
Which is why I keep banging on about the importance of the Palace game.
The only trophy we can realistically win is the League Cup, since the football gods have decreed the FA Cup shall never return to B6.
We simply have to go for it next week and in the subsequent rounds.
Finishing 4th will be amazing, if we can manage to do it again, but it's still not a trophy.
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No. This is easily the best Villa side anybody has seen in 4 decades. Inferiority complexes are deeply unattractive.
Not the same thing Ads, but I get your point.
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Yes.
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Worried: no. Stressed: yes. That is what having successful team does, and in a completely different way to being relegation-threatened.
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Worried? Not really. But we do need to try and build a defensive structure again. We concede too many and so many are woeful goals.
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Not worried but there are some problems with the set up and some performances that need sorting out.
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Depends on what you mean by worried.
Are you worried we will finish midtable? No
Are you worried we might not get CL again? Yes
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At the moment we are more midtable than CL spot. Drawing at home twice to midtable teams and drawing away to bottom area team and loosing to other teams battling for CL spots. Not worried though, I thin we will come back stronger in not too long, long term also look good enough. As it stands chances for a result at Anfield next week are slim.
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Worries that we have been rumbled to a degree , time will tell but it feels like Emery needs to rethink some stuff
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The worst week in more than two years. It's the first time I have felt this deflated since October 2022.
I just hope we can get back on track
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Worried some of you have access to the franchise. Jaysus.
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Well Ads, we have a fully fit squad for the first time in 14 months and have had a 4-1 thumping away at Spurs after giving up on the league cup in mid-week so we could rest players up. Liverpool away next.
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We had a fully fit squad for 23 minutes away at Newcastle and got hammered 5.
I don't quite understand how people assume that you rest for the following game, as if cumulative fatigue isn't the bigger issue. We rested in the week for April and May.
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For the first time in his reign i sense there is a tiny bit of pressure on Emery now . He needs to sort that defence out to start it's been our chilles heel for far too long. The Mings/Konsa CB pairing needs to return ASAP .
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For the first time in his reign i sense there is a tiny bit of pressure on Emery now . He needs to sort that defence out to start it's been our chilles heel for far too long. The Mings/Konsa CB pairing needs to return ASAP .
Definitely one of the biggest issues is the volume of goals we leak.
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The defence needs sorting. The concern is that we simply struggle to keep clean sheets and when our attacking players are off form we can’t compensate.
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Not in the slightest bit worried. I was worried when we were constantly fighting relegation for seasons and when we were in the bottom half of the Championship with financial issues lingering over us.
We've hit a bit of a slump.at the moment and a few players are struggling with their form. I think it will be a tough couple of months ahead, but then we could really pick up.again for the run-in.
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
Its more the fact one win in 5 not exactly top 4 form ads. Also the manner of the loss. Think people would have been ok losing a close game. But to get spanked by 4 again people will understandably be upset
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We are leaking goals and fuck up against a shit spurs. With the no show in the LC it’s just fucking typical villa
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We'll be fine.
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
Its more the fact one win in 5 not exactly top 4 form ads. Also the manner of the loss. Think people would have been ok losing a close game. But to get spanked by 4 again people will understandably be upset
Particularly given they didnt even play well
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
Its more the fact one win in 5 not exactly top 4 form ads. Also the manner of the loss. Think people would have been ok losing a close game. But to get spanked by 4 again people will understandably be upset
Particularly given they didnt even play well
Unless you're Alan Smith
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Next 4 in the league include 2 winnable home games and 2 difficult away games. 8 points+ from that would restore my faith that top 4 is still on. Otherwise we might just have to win the bloody UCL thing to qualify next year.
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
Its more the fact one win in 5 not exactly top 4 form ads. Also the manner of the loss. Think people would have been ok losing a close game. But to get spanked by 4 again people will understandably be upset
Particularly given they didnt even play well
Unless you're Alan Smith
Yeah he was odd - they created very little other than the goals.
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I don't quite understand how people assume that you rest for the following game, as if cumulative fatigue isn't the bigger issue. We rested in the week for April and May.
People do understand that.
People also want to see us win something and the season after smashing the glass ceiling of 4th seemed an ideal time to tick that particular bucket list item off. And the club hasn't half used the narrative of the top 4 to gouge supporters so supporters will be a bit less willing to shrug off a 4-1 loss away to a club who will be trying to take 4th from us.
Look people don't like losing, especially to them lot, and the fact that it came after our contrasting efforts in the league cup sort of underlines the sore point.
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For the first time in his reign i sense there is a tiny bit of pressure on Emery now . He needs to sort that defence out to start it's been our chilles heel for far too long. The Mings/Konsa CB pairing needs to return ASAP .
There is ZERO pressure on Emery and to suggest it (even a tiny amount) is flat out laughable. I pay very little attention to the routine pile ons you seem to generate on here, but with comments like this it's clear that you are a troll. Pressure on the manager who is leading us to the knock-out rounds of the actual champions league? Pressure on the manager who has us sitting in the top 6 level on points with Arsenal and Chelsea after 10 games?
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
That might be true of some nonsense - references to Moscow come to mind. But there is a bit of an issue. We’ve had a pretty benign start to the season and our form is not great, neither attack or defence are really functioning right. So it might only be the second defeat since August, but we’ve only played 3 sides in the top 10 and we’ve one point to show for it.
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For the first time in his reign i sense there is a tiny bit of pressure on Emery now . He needs to sort that defence out to start it's been our chilles heel for far too long. The Mings/Konsa CB pairing needs to return ASAP .
There is ZERO pressure on Emery and to suggest it (even a tiny amount) is flat out laughable. I pay very little attention to the routine pile ons you seem to generate on here, but with comments like this it's clear that you are a troll. Pressure on the manager who is leading us to the knock-out rounds of the actual champions league? Pressure on the manager who has us sitting in the top 6 level on points with Arsenal and Chelsea after 10 games?
There is pressure on every PL manager. Emery isn't immune from it .
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This thread was a lovely idea and on days like today is idiotic.
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For the first time in his reign i sense there is a tiny bit of pressure on Emery now . He needs to sort that defence out to start it's been our chilles heel for far too long. The Mings/Konsa CB pairing needs to return ASAP .
There is ZERO pressure on Emery and to suggest it (even a tiny amount) is flat out laughable. I pay very little attention to the routine pile ons you seem to generate on here, but with comments like this it's clear that you are a troll. Pressure on the manager who is leading us to the knock-out rounds of the actual champions league? Pressure on the manager who has us sitting in the top 6 level on points with Arsenal and Chelsea after 10 games?
There is pressure on every PL manager. Emery isn't immune from it .
Coopersmuppet: blocked.
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
That might be true of some nonsense - references to Moscow come to mind. But there is a bit of an issue. We’ve had a pretty benign start to the season and our form is not great, neither attack or defence are really functioning right. So it might only be the second defeat since August, but we’ve only player 3 sides in the top 10 and we’ve one point to show for it.
Ive stated why its not nonsense. We sacrificed both games in those european for nothing as we didnt win the following game. Thats the point i and one or two others have said.
Had we won today it wouldnt have been a moscow where we rested players for no reason.
The palace game we could have had a few players on the bench keep them fresh and maybe give them 15-20 mins. Ollie just looked so poor today. Maybe 15 mins midweek would have benefited him. Who knows
I agree with the rest of your post though its pretty spot on we your summary on our start of the season.
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Not worried at all.
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I'd rather be in the Champions League every year than win the League Cup. It's miles more fun, as a fan. Nobody cares about the League Cup. It's been massively devalued since we last won it and 2011...if that filth can win it, what's the point.
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On the plus side we’ll know which direction we’re heading pretty sharpish. Liverpool away, Palace home, Chelsea away. We are going to need to raise our game significantly, hopefully today jolts us a bit.
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I'd rather be in the Champions League every year than win the League Cup. It's miles more fun, as a fan. Nobody cares about the League Cup. It's been massively devalued since we last won it and 2011...if that filth can win it, what's the point.
I'd rather win silverware its almost 30 years now , champions league will be fun this year but we aren't winning it .
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I'd rather be in the Champions League every year than win the League Cup. It's miles more fun, as a fan. Nobody cares about the League Cup. It's been massively devalued since we last won it and 2011...if that filth can win it, what's the point.
Winning a trophy is more fun for me
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
In my opinion its really bad that the last trophy we won was in 1996. If you want to be a big club you need to win far more than that.
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
In my opinion its really bad that the last trophy we won was in 1996. If you want to be a big club you need to win far more than that.
A Peace Cup disbeliever!
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
That might be true of some nonsense - references to Moscow come to mind. But there is a bit of an issue. We’ve had a pretty benign start to the season and our form is not great, neither attack or defence are really functioning right. So it might only be the second defeat since August, but we’ve only player 3 sides in the top 10 and we’ve one point to show for it.
Ive stated why its not nonsense. We sacrificed both games in those european for nothing as we didnt win the following game. Thats the point i and one or two others have said.
Had we won today it wouldnt have been a moscow where we rested players for no reason.
The palace game we could have had a few players on the bench keep them fresh and maybe give them 15-20 mins. Ollie just looked so poor today. Maybe 15 mins midweek would have benefited him. Who knows
I agree with the rest of your post though its pretty spot on we your summary on our start of the season.
Yes but it doesn’t stack up. When O’Neill did it he had been playing his strongest side in Europe, in the main, to have a real go at the competition. He then did a complete u-turn to prioritise a couple of league games and it backfired in both competitions. It was also later in the season with more tangible consequences in terms of the league.
Emery has been entirely consistent with what he’s done in the League Cup, it wasn’t about prioritising this specific game. It was about trying to manage workload across the season. Both results sucked, but the decisions were entirely consistent and independent.
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
In my opinion its really bad that the last trophy we won was in 1996. If you want to be a big club you need to win far more than that.
This is very very true
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
In my opinion its really bad that the last trophy we won was in 1996. If you want to be a big club you need to win far more than that.
A Peace Cup disbeliever!
Simod and Intertoto say hi
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
That might be true of some nonsense - references to Moscow come to mind. But there is a bit of an issue. We’ve had a pretty benign start to the season and our form is not great, neither attack or defence are really functioning right. So it might only be the second defeat since August, but we’ve only player 3 sides in the top 10 and we’ve one point to show for it.
Ive stated why its not nonsense. We sacrificed both games in those european for nothing as we didnt win the following game. Thats the point i and one or two others have said.
Had we won today it wouldnt have been a moscow where we rested players for no reason.
The palace game we could have had a few players on the bench keep them fresh and maybe give them 15-20 mins. Ollie just looked so poor today. Maybe 15 mins midweek would have benefited him. Who knows
I agree with the rest of your post though its pretty spot on we your summary on our start of the season.
Yes but it doesn’t stack up. When O’Neill did it he had been playing his strongest side in Europe, in the main, to have a real go at the competition. He then did a complete u-turn to prioritise a couple of league games and it backfired in both competitions. It was also later in the season with more tangible consequences in terms of the league.
Emery has been entirely consistent with what he’s done in the League Cup, it wasn’t about prioritising this specific game. It was about trying to manage workload across the season. Both results sucked, but the decisions were entirely consistent and independent.
Probably the most convincing counter argument on this. I wont spend too much time on this as paulie will do his nut in! My point was where we ended up finishing i was just highlighing we sacrificed a cup game which resulted in us exiting and then backfired as we failed to win the next game which is exactly what happened this evening. This was always my worry.
I do think unai could have named a stronger bench in the cup. I do think we would have won the palace game at least even if we lost today. Oh well its done now. Just hope unai takes the domestic cups more seriously next season as i want a trophy in my lifetime!
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Yes, about everything, pretty much all the time.
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
Memories are memories. Phil King gets brought up almost as much Savo's belter. Probably more
Following us away in Europe is the most fun you can have as a fan. The atmosphere and appetite for the games at home is incomparable to the League Cup.
I'd rather be in the Champions League every single year than win the League Cup just once.
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Yes, about everything, pretty much all the time.
Are you a lion or a mouse?
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
Memories are memories. Phil King gets brought up almost as much Savo's belter. Probably more
Following us away in Europe is the most fun you can have as a fan. The atmosphere and appetite for the games at home is incomparable to the League Cup.
I'd rather be in the Champions League every single year than win the League Cup just once.
I agree with Ads - but - this last week we have reduced our chances of either goal this season... So maybe the approach didnt work?
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Not worried...yet.
We do need to get the home winning form up and running soon. 9 points v Palace, Brentford and Southampton is doable if not perhaps on present form.
3 wins from first 5 away is still better than what likes of Newcastle and Spurs are achieving on the road.
We aren't winning the league and I'd be more than happy with 5th this season so today was just a very bad second half and maybe a reminder that we might need to start freshening up the first 11 now as we really haven't rotated that much in the prem this season and we have talented players on the bench desperate for a chance.
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
Following us away in Europe is the most fun you can have as a fan.
well it is if you are in the closed shop club who can get tickets (needs sorting) . That said i'm enjoying the games on TV and keeping my powder dry for other stuff in life
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
Memories are memories. Phil King gets brought up almost as much Savo's belter. Probably more
Following us away in Europe is the most fun you can have as a fan. The atmosphere and appetite for the games at home is incomparable to the League Cup.
I'd rather be in the Champions League every single year than win the League Cup just once.
Last year and the year before I'd have posted exactly what you did Ads. I was all about top 4. I just feel now that we have smashed that off the list we need to address that near three decades trophy doubt.
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As long as Emery and his team are here, and happy, I wont worry as they will sort
They are walking a near impossible tightrope - to try and improve the team with a near 0 spend. And they've done amazing at it.
For this season, Im not convinced we got the mix quite right, too much for the future in our signings maybe? Maybe trying to change to much in the way we build our play. I dont know - but they will put it right.
Wonder if we could have got another forward player on loan - a bit liek Zanilolo but not shit - as that would have taken some pressure of Bailey and Jayden who currently both look like they have the weight of the world on them
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As long as Emery and his team are here, and happy, I wont worry as they will sort
They are walking a near impossible tightrope - to try and improve the team with a near 0 spend. And they've done amazing at it.
For this season, Im not convinced we got the mix quite right, too much for the future in our signings maybe? Maybe trying to change to much in the way we build our play. I dont know - but they will put it right.
Wonder if we could have got another forward player on loan - a bit liek Zanilolo but not shit - as that would have taken some pressure of Bailey and Jayden who currently both look like they have the weight of the world on them
My biggest worry is if we not get CL this year is players want moves to CL clubs. Emi, maatsen, ollie for example. We just dont know what impact this would have on them if lets say we dinish 7th or 8th and end up in conference again.
Top 5th has to be the aim this season for us
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I’m beginning to think we’re looking like Everton in a good suit
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I’m beginning to think we’re looking like Everton in a good suit
What do Everton look like?
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I cant tell who is being serious and who is taking the piss anymore.
Everton in a good suit? Lolololol.
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Surely, Everton in a good suit is just to impress a Judge
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Everton are gubbins. Felt sorry for that poundland Bebeto up-front yesterday, hit the bar from point-blank range and got VAR'd-off later.
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Yes, about everything, pretty much all the time.
Did you lock that back door , did you turn the hob off . (I'm the same btw)
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Not at all worried, there's 3 or 4 sides worse than us so we will stay up.
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Was wondering if it's time to think about 3 centre backs (Mings Torres and Konsa) with wing backs and Kamara/Onana in frontof them? The organisation of Mings will make such a difference.
We need to move that ball so much quicker too, when we do it, there's no team can match us but it's too infrequent.
Would be nice to see the real Ollie Watkins back too,
somethings just not right with him at the moment.
Put the spurs game to bed and move on, it not panic time yet but slight concern at certain players levels this year.
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Dont think it would have been that bad had we beaten Bournemouth. But to get one point from the last two is really poor results.
We cant even blame fatigue for yesterday
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We'd be 3rd if we beat Bournemouth but then if my aunty had bollocks ...
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I do like these new slumps that are a first league defeat since August. They're better than the old ones, although you still get the same level of bollocks spouted after them. Still, can't have it all.
I accept that "slump" may have been the wrong phrase to use. It's probably that a few players just aren't quite hitting the very high standards they have been in recent seasons.
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We'd be 3rd if we beat Bournemouth but then if my aunty had bollocks ...
I think that should be discussed on the poltics thread
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I’ll never be worried while we have a coach like Emery. How we managed to finish 4th last season with the injuries we had is still unbelievable.
The league will be much tighter this season and things will go back and forth but there’s not another coach I’d rather have to steer us through it.
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I'm not worried we are in a good place.
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In 50 years time will it be on the club honours list that we finished 7th, 4th and ???. If we win a mere League cup at least it's another pot in the cabinet and another notch on the bed post!
In my opinion its really bad that the last trophy we won was in 1996. If you want to be a big club you need to win far more than that.
A Peace Cup disbeliever!
Simod and Intertoto say hi
We never won the Simod Cup. It was discontinued before 1996 anyway.
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Discuss.
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Poor for a while now.
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Yes and if you are mot you are lyjng to yourself. This teams gone backwards
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why does he play that useless bailey
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Yes and if you are mot you are lyjng to yourself. This teams gone backwards
Tbf we lost three in a row last season too.
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Yes, we appear to have become shit again.
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To a man utter garbage
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Yeah, this slump is worrying. Virtually a full strength squad, and we’ve gone properly to shit. And Emery seems completely unable to get things sorted.
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Yes and if you are mot you are lyjng to yourself. This teams gone backwards
Tbf we lost three in a row last season too.
I know mate but we look so bad compared to then. We are so slow and shit
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Yeah, this slump is worrying. Virtually a full strength squad, and we’ve gone properly to shit. And Emery seems completely unable to get things sorted.
I really hope we haven't broken another one.
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There was no outlet ball tonight. Defenders literally had minutes on the ball, but the midfield and forward provided no outlet.
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I think failing to get the Joao Felix deal over the line has done us hard. He's not even playing at Chelsea. We're desperate for that killer ball
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The problem is that we haven’t played that well, bar the odd game, since January. The start of this season our results in the league were fine, but we’ve had benign fixtures. We’ve had some good night’s in the Champions League but our poor performances are starting to drag us down. We’re defensively sloppy - tonight another prime example and we’ve lost our spark in attack.
We’ve also got far too many players out of form. I think Doug and Diaby are really big losses from our squad.
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I don’t agree about Diaby, Paul. He was mostly shite.
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Diaby had pace and a decent shot on him but I don't think he would have been much use tonight.
Bruges were physical fuckers which Diaby was so crap against, weak as piss. And they didn't allow much space for us to play passes into space which was when Diaby was mainly effective.
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Emerys can piss off once a better opportunity comes if the players dont get their fucking act together
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He offered a different option and was involved in 19 goals (scored or assisted). Regardless of whether he didn’t hit the heights we wanted that gave us some output. Philogene might not be a direct replacement, but has proximate to it and he’s giving us nothing. I don’t particularly blame him, he’s a kid who’s had a good season in the Championship it’s quite the gamble.
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Yes and if you are mot you are lyjng to yourself. This teams gone backwards
Tbf we lost three in a row last season too.
And the year before when we finished 7th.
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I think mentality is the issue. The players are talented and fit. I think now we've got into a position where results are expected, we struggle.
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I think though its not just the losses its the level of performances they have been veey mediocre. Its likley to be four defeats this weekend at liverpool
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Quite simply, this slow pace shite is killing us. We look far better with quick pass and move. That tonight was as bad as anything Steve Bruce/Steve Gerrard produced. Utterly clueless
So yes, I'm worried.
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Quite simply, this slow pace shite is killing us. We look far better with quick pass and move. That tonight was as bad as anything Steve Bruce/Steve Gerrard produced. Utterly clueless
So yes, I'm worried.
I agree wholeheartedly phil. This teams slow, dull takes 100 passes before it gets near the box and its just painful to watch.
Where was that dynamic fast paced football of last year? We have lost it.
This teams weaker than last season thats for sure. We will bw lucky to finish in top 7 if we continue like this
Im going to try not go over board but i dont see how anyone isnt worried. The signs have been there most of the season
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I was like this under MON at times, teams say "break us down" and there's times, we can't.
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It can’t be a coincidence that there are so many players out of form - McGinn, Watkins, Bailey, Konsa, and Pau all come to mind.
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I agree with the points being made but I'd ask where this move to such slow paced, pedestrian football is coming from? I'm assuming that the players aren't taking it upon themselves to play this way and that it is emanating as a gameplan from Emery and the coaches.
This being the case I'd like to ask, why? What is the thinking behind it? What are the benefits of such an interminably turgid approach?
I just don't get it.
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I agree with the points being made but I'd ask where this move to such slow paced, pedestrian football is coming from? I'm assuming that the players aren't taking it upon themselves to play this way and that it is emanating as a gameplan from Emery and the coaches.
This being the case I'd like to ask, why? What is the thinking behind it? What are the benefits of such an interminably turgid approach?
I just don't get it.
I agree Bobby. It makes no sense. Why have we changed the way we play to play more like bruce football?
We look horrible at the moment
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We did the slow paced thing in Europe last year, where we put in some woeful displays in. I suspect it’s a calculated risk to try and conserve energy.
However, two issues with it. Firstly you need to be really controlled and precise - we’re not that. Also it might be clouding the players thinking, because we’ve really incoherent in the league and just appear unclear what to do.
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It’s strange how things have evolved this season. There is no doubt that teams are better prepared against us than the last season or so. But in the last two games we have had no answer to a team that pressed the life out of us all game, and tonight a team that sat off and closed the space.
Coupled with out of form players and little movement ahead of the players with the ball, we are in trouble at the moment.
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Agree the slow build up us killing us. We draw them forward but we take so long to move the ball up the pitch that they've got all the time in the world to get back behind the ball.
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Did we have to choose this moment, Trumpageddon, to have our first proper slump under Emery. Honestly. Just when we need a distraction.
What's happened? Much was made of our 150th anniversary. It's now rapidly approaching and something just smells a bit 'off' around the place.
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Did we have to choose this moment, Trumpageddon, to have our first proper slump under Emery. Honestly. Just when we need a distraction.
What's happened? Much was made of our 150th anniversary. It's now rapidly approaching and something just smells a bit 'off' around the place.
Probably Heck in his new '150 Aftershave'. If Trump had been in the team tonight we'd have dodged the bullet..
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Given the resources handed to Emery , the wage bill etc , the pressure to perform and keep performing is there, its real . This is a real test for him now to sort this out because the way we play currently has been rumbled , the system is no longer working. The defence has been poor for well over 12 months . Over to unai to work his magic
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It’s strange how things have evolved this season. There is no doubt that teams are better prepared against us than the last season or so. But in the last two games we have had no answer to a team that pressed the life out of us all game, and tonight a team that sat off and closed the space.
Coupled with out of form players and little movement ahead of the players with the ball, we are in trouble at the moment.
Thing is, last season when teams pressed us we were able to stretch the game with Bailey and Diaby. We can’t do that now.
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It’s strange how things have evolved this season. There is no doubt that teams are better prepared against us than the last season or so. But in the last two games we have had no answer to a team that pressed the life out of us all game, and tonight a team that sat off and closed the space.
Coupled with out of form players and little movement ahead of the players with the ball, we are in trouble at the moment.
Thing is, last season when teams pressed us we were able to stretch the game with Bailey and Diaby. We can’t do that now.
Just makes no sense to me selling onw of our best players last ywar and mot replacing him at all.
Thinking philiogene could replace him - i just dont get it
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If you're talking about Diaby, he wasn't even in our top 6 best players. He was completely ineffective for a massive chunk of the season.
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The thing of Martínez drawing the opposition player forward with his foot on the ball at the edge of the box, and taking his time doing it...do other teams do that?
It's kinda getting old now, rarely leading to much vacation of space to beat the press.
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Every team has bad spells. Emery has had very few bad spells abd we tend to get out of them very quickly. Would you really want anyone else in charge?
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If you're talking about Diaby, he wasn't even in our top 6 best players. He was completely ineffective for a massive chunk of the season.
Yeah but i think most of the team was. Think fatigue and poor form from the side effected him.
He is was the player that sped up our attacking play. I dont believe its no coincidence since he went this has led to us playing a slower brand of football.
I think we are missing him. We need another player like him. Dont think Philogene is that player right nkw
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He offered a different option and was involved in 19 goals (scored or assisted). Regardless of whether he didn’t hit the heights we wanted that gave us some output. Philogene might not be a direct replacement, but has proximate to it and he’s giving us nothing. I don’t particularly blame him, he’s a kid who’s had a good season in the Championship it’s quite the gamble.
I think the arguments for/against Diaby always come down to his decent assists and goals return against those who saw how ineffective he was when not doing that. Physically dominated and like lots of wingers, not much use off the ball.
No proper club came in for him during the summer and he's taking it easy in Saudi now. Like Luiz he wanted off when a nice offer came, I'm not going to dwell too much on their absences.
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Every team has bad spells. Emery has had very few bad spells abd we tend to get out of them very quickly. Would you really want anyone else in charge?
If we'd have been beaten by Bayern and won at Bruges, would we see this level of negativity?
Same number of points.
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Every team has bad spells. Emery has had very few bad spells abd we tend to get out of them very quickly. Would you really want anyone else in charge?
If we'd have been beaten by Bayern and won at Bruges, would we see this level of negativity?
Same number of points.
nah, its the trend of dire performances now and a system that looks obsolete
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He offered a different option and was involved in 19 goals (scored or assisted). Regardless of whether he didn’t hit the heights we wanted that gave us some output. Philogene might not be a direct replacement, but has proximate to it and he’s giving us nothing. I don’t particularly blame him, he’s a kid who’s had a good season in the Championship it’s quite the gamble.
I think the arguments for/against Diaby always come down to his decent assists and goals return against those who saw how ineffective he was when not doing that. Physically dominated and like lots of wingers, not much use off the ball.
No proper club came in for him during the summer and he's taking it easy in Saudi now. Like Luiz he wanted off when a nice offer came, I'm not going to dwell too much on their absences.
It really does frustrate me that young players like diaby who are so much better thah the saudi league but just gone for money and not challenge himself.
He gave up CL football for league one football in theory.
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It’s not dwelling on their departures as much as saying they gave us options and their output hasn’t been replaced.
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Every team has bad spells. Emery has had very few bad spells abd we tend to get out of them very quickly. Would you really want anyone else in charge?
If anyone is saying they want someone else they’re mad. Unai does need to get it working though, I’m not convinced he’s sure on his best team at the moment or the right structure to get us clicking again.
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It’s not dwelling on their departures as much as saying they gave us options and their output hasn’t been replaced.
Yeah i agree
Not point teying to resign him based on how he wants the easy life. But its quite clear we need a similar player to him.
Id love madueke from chelsea. But i thjnk they wouldnt sell. Break the bank and get mbeulo in my opinion. He isn't sayin no to CL football
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It’s not dwelling on their departures as much as saying they gave us options and their output hasn’t been replaced.
For me I think its a form thing. For 6 months last year Luiz, and then Bailey were world class. Theres a good chance neither will consitently hit those levels. This helped elevate the team. A little like Duran had / is on. All 3 have been written off at points.
No one is in that zone - and maybe some like Diaby could have as he obviously had the quality. His stats, considering those limitations show that. The problem is - what option do we have now if Youri, or Bailey isnt quite ticking.
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We'll be fine.
I hope.
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It’s not dwelling on their departures as much as saying they gave us options and their output hasn’t been replaced.
For me I think its a form thing. For 6 months last year Luiz, and then Bailey were world class. Theres a good chance neither will consitently hit those levels. This helped elevate the team. A little like Duran had / is on. All 3 have been written off at points.
No one is in that zone - and maybe some like Diaby could have as he obviously had the quality. His stats, considering those limitations show that. The problem is - what option do we have now if Youri, or Bailey isnt quite ticking.
Luiz was outstanding under Emery for a lot longer than 6 months. His partnership with Kamara wasn't far off the best in the division. The replacements havent done badly at all but that was an elite pair.
Diaby's pace helped us stretch teams but a player going to Saudi at the peak of his career is not one we should be worrying about.
We are in a sticky spot for sure. Maybe Liverpool away coming at the right time after a really poor week. We have lacked balance in the team all season that results were glossing over. Emery needs to correct that.
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We'll be fine.
I hope.
But you always predict 0-2
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Every team has bad spells. Emery has had very few bad spells abd we tend to get out of them very quickly. Would you really want anyone else in charge?
If anyone is saying they want someone else they’re mad. Unai does need to get it working though, I’m not convinced he’s sure on his best team at the moment or the right structure to get us clicking again.
Agreed, but it does feel a little as if we've been sussed out by other teams.
Bruce and Smith were hammered for lacking a plan B (never saw evidence of Gerrard having a plan A, let alone plan B), but Emery doesn’t seem to have one at the moment. He's getting away with at the moment because of the last 18 months, but he needs to be asked some questions here. The last few performances have steadily got worse.
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We'll be fine.
I hope.
But you always predict 0-2
Sometimes I go for 2-0.
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We seem to have lost our mojo.
Unai needs a serious think about out shape and style of play.
Have they performed above themselves in the last 2 seasons and are returning to their norm?
Is it just a dip in form - individually or collectively?
We seem to have become much more passive this season - by design, or have we been worked out?
There's no accounting for Mings' brain fart today - not something that Emery can be blamed for.
Consistency is the hardest thing to achieve in football.
Pretty sure Unai & Co will be burning the midnight oil trying to analyse why and how we've dropped our performance levels.
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We seem to have lost our mojo.
Unai needs a serious think about out shape and style of play.
Have they performed above themselves in the last 2 seasons and are returning to their norm?
Is it just a dip in form - individually or collectively?
We seem to have become much more passive this season - by design, or have we been worked out?
There's no accounting for Mings' brain fart today - not something that Emery can be blamed for.
Consistency is the hardest thing to achieve in football.
Pretty sure Unai & Co will be burning the midnight oil trying to analyse why and how we've dropped our performance levels.
I just think too many are off form at the moment. Actually thought we started OK tonight with only a couple making a few errors. By the end of the half though, most of them were giving possession away far too easily.
I think it could be a tough couple of months ahead, with a late push towards the end of the season.
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Players off form, some think they can play crap and stay in team, havent strengthened the first team since last year and havent addressed the right back issue.
Some of the key issues we are having at the moment. It feels like we blew a massive opportunity to kick on but we look worse than last season
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I can't remember so much moaning online from Villa fans. Even when we had a genuinely shit team. Social media is poisonous this morning.
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I’m not thrilled by performances of late and as I’ve said I think lack of midfield control is the primary issue. But some of the reactions, even when people have had a chance to calm down post game, are mad. Questioning the character of players, questioning Unai’s capability etc. Unai needs to address some things, but I’m sure he can. Bloody hell.
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I understand the immediate post match anger, especially when it was as piss poor as last night but yes, I agree. I think the worst are the ones who barely say a word when we win but are all over this place like a rash when we lose.
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We've had pretty much a steady upward trajectory since Unai took over, these last two weeks are the first proper bump (and none of it is terminal to our season).
The performances against Bayen, Bologna and Fulham show what this squad is capable of, so it's down to Emery and his team to ensure we hit those heights again.
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I’m not thrilled by performances of late and as I’ve said I think lack of midfield control is the primary issue. But some of the reactions, even when people have had a chance to calm down post game, are mad. Questioning the character of players, questioning Unai’s capability etc. Unai needs to address some things, but I’m sure he can. Bloody hell.
He needs to sort the defence. It's been miles below par for getting towards a year now.
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I'm a Villa fan, of course I'm worried. In my Villa supporting life I've seen us go from title challengers to relegation contenders in double quick time, more than once. There is always this nagging doubt that good times are only ever fleeting.
I didn't see last night thankfully but I saw Spurs and Bournemouth. It was the losing control that cost us both games. We need to find a way to own that midfield again.
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theirs a simple explanation for me, we've become to big for our boots
i've noticed especiallly watching live the central defenders strolling around in a arrogant fashion as if they are Baresi/Maldini,
out of Mings, Carlos, Konsa and Torres theres only one of them that can properly play and thread a ball through to the midfield regulary and thats Torres and even he's giving it away in stupid positions now, just do the job you can do and not the one you cant
Konsa passes the ball back to the goalie more than any other defender in the prem league, Carlos always good for a blooper and Mings well last night says it all, yet they stride about thinking they've made it,
they are decent defenders all with their qualities but they think playing Champs league now they are above it all, you can see it the way they play the ball around and getting no where, playing out from the back means just that playing OUT were playing back from the back normally at the start of games it does my head in
i dont know if the conserving energy is a thing but either way its producing walking football for the over 50's, were walking around thinking were an elite Italian team of the 1990's, the balls not moving forward fast enough, it was for most of last season but we've slowed it down to snails pace were not creating chances and the football has become boring to watch its not working, we need to get our zip back
we havent won a single thing in 28 years but all of a sudden the domestic cup competion is below us, 10 changes and no bench and half the fan base couldnt care less because we've got bigger fish to fry, what a load of bollocks
once you start believing the domestic cups are not worth the effort your fucked, absolutely fucked we are no where near that level yet
and the billy big bollocks attitude has set in and were out of the cup and losing games
to many players have gone off the boil, and we need to get back to form by being humble, hungry and moving that ball quicker through midfield like we know we can
i'm not pesimistic Unai will sort it i'm sure but we need to drop this arrogant attitude which has pervaded recent games and get back to playing progresive front foot football against evey team not just the Bayerns of this world when it suits
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Yes John! My personal solution would be to ban all media interviews. Whenever there's a buzz about us we inevitably go to shit immediately. It's always been the way.
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Bravo John e. Great post. Very well put.
You can add the Chris Heck agenda to the list and all. Where we can bend the truth with our own fans in chasing the almighty dollar.
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Speaking of Chris Heck agenda, I see we just announced our official Vodka partner. These performances are nothing but his dastardly plot to drive us into buying crates of the stuff to numb the sadness.
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I knew this was gonna come at some point - but I thought it would be much later. Pre-season was a warning. Not the results as much as the performances. There are four issues that I think make Unai's life difficult atm. He has made mistakes for sure but isn't helped by the issues below:
- the RB issues is putting the whole back line under pressure - they did try to get the young Dutch guy but couldn't afford in the end. there is no consistent back 4 formula
- the DCM role Onana plays is different than Kamara - Onana is good (maybe better going forward than Kamara but not as good defensively) - so we are exposed there.
- no wingers - Bailey is currently so bad, if I would be coaching I would plan anyone else but him and Philogene might juts be a bad re-signing
- Ollie is not at the races; I think it's confidence - same thing happened when Ings was signed
Positives
- Duran - but he is still best as an impact sub
- Rogers - will be brilliant, complete player
- Thielemans works his socks off and has bags of ability -he is the maestro
- Barclay - very useful and seems to do well what he is asked to
- Matsen - very exciting - I would play him as a winger with Digne behind him
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John, that could have been me writing what you have. Agree entirely. Vincent Kompany, being a poor coach, didn’t look at any videos to see how to beat Villa. He played exactly the wrong tactics and we deservingly won the match. Bayern players stood off us and paid the price. Other managers have worked us out and, as we play between our back 4 and goalkeeper, the opponents just get back into shape and so make it difficult for us to get anywhere. Playing around at the back is fine as long as you then play a sharp pass to a midfielder who in turn can run at their defence. Our play is much too slow for that to happen so, unless we come up with a plan B, don’t expect too much anytosoon.
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We repeatedly beat the press over the past few games. The quality of the final ball has been absent, but masquerading your "stop this tippy tappy shit" as something more palatable doesn't really coincide with what's happening on the pitch.
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For me we have been lacklustre all season. Results have glossed over some poor/average performances. We have now put in a few very poor showings and look like we are going to have our arse handed to us on a plate unless Martinez has a blinder. The upcoming break needs to be time for a mental reset.
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I wouldn't say worried as I still think we will improve enough to get a European spot, although I very much doubt we will be back in Champions League next season.
It's becoming quite clear to me that we are a shadow of the team we were last season. Hopefully we turn it around at some point and at least get a Conference League place.
Top 8 finish and last 16 of the CL would be a good season all things considered.
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We're on the same points as 4th and 5th, but its quite clear after a quarter of a season we won't finish in a Champions League spot.
An interesting take.
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We're on the same points as 4th and 5th, but its quite clear after a quarter of a season we won't finish in a Champions League spot.
An interesting take.
You have just totally misquoted me in order to make your point. That's called a strawman and is very disingenuous.
If you are going to continue picking at my posts, at least have decency not to make shit up.
What I said is that I "doubt" we will qualify for the Champions League and that it has become "clear to me that we are a worse team than last season."
That is not the same as saying it's clear we won't qualify for the Champions League. Surely you know that?
As an aside, we are a quarter of the way through the season and I am looking at more than just the table. My brain allows me to understand a bit more about football than just a league table. Now, I may be wrong of course, but my assessment of the season so far is that we are lucky to have the points we have, and that's with a fully fit squad and favourable fixture list.
My post even stated that I was not worried as I still think we will make Europe, but unless people post the exact amount of positivity you require, you jump down their throats. It's ok to be more realistic from time to time.
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The substitute for objective data, the table, which can lie I suppose- until the end, is that actually we're just lucky to have the points we do.
Down with data, up with fantasy. The gate keeper of reality too. What a treat.
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Now, I may be wrong of course, but my assessment of the season so far is that we are lucky to have the points we have, and that's with a fully fit squad and favourable fixture list.
Interesting. I think the opposite - that we've been unlucky not to have more points. For example, take away the last 5 seconds of the Bournemouth match and we are in 3rd place 2 points ahead of Arsenal.
Add in the Ipswich game and the Man utd game where we were also unlucky not to finish with wins, that's a lot of unlucky dropped points.
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Now, I may be wrong of course, but my assessment of the season so far is that we are lucky to have the points we have, and that's with a fully fit squad and favourable fixture list.
Interesting. I think the opposite - that we've been unlucky not to have more points. For example, take away the last 5 seconds of the Bournemouth match and we are in 3rd place 2 points ahead of Arsenal.
Add in the Ipswich game and the Man utd game where we were also unlucky not to finish with wins, that's a lot of unlucky dropped points.
I think we were unlucky not to score more against Bournemouth, and our overall play deserved the win. I think both games against Ipswich and Man U were shit, with a draw being a fair result in both. If anything, Ipswich were the better side second half and probably felt they could have won.
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Now, I may be wrong of course, but my assessment of the season so far is that we are lucky to have the points we have, and that's with a fully fit squad and favourable fixture list.
Interesting. I think the opposite - that we've been unlucky not to have more points. For example, take away the last 5 seconds of the Bournemouth match and we are in 3rd place 2 points ahead of Arsenal.
Add in the Ipswich game and the Man utd game where we were also unlucky not to finish with wins, that's a lot of unlucky dropped points.
I think we were unlucky not to score more against Bournemouth, and our overall play deserved the win. I think both games against Ipswich and Man U were shit, with a draw being a fair result in both. If anything, Ipswich were the better side second half and probably felt they could have won.
What I meant was that we have got the majority of our points from scraping past shit teams and struggled whenever we have played anyone decent.
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I think overall we deserve the points we have. A bit unlucky against Bournemouth and Arsenal, possibly fortunate against Fulham. Deserved and got fuck all against Spurs.
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We're lucky that we're better than most teams otherwise we wouldn't get so lucky to comfortably breeze past so many shit ones.
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I'm sure every team can point to periods of good and bad luck.Over the course of a season you generally finish where you deserve to though.
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We would have beaten Ipswich, and might have beaten Man U, if the referee wasn't a cheat and had sent off their player for an obvious second booking offence. Other points seem about fair. Not really sure which of our points were achieved in a lucky manner. Seems like the creation of a fictional series of events to support an obsessively negative narrative.
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We're lucky that we're better than most teams otherwise we wouldn't get so lucky to comfortably breeze past so many shit ones.
Who are the shit teams we have comfortably breezed past?
Or did you just feel the need, yet again, to attack my post?
We haven't comfortably breezed past anyone because if we had then I wouldn't have made the point I made in first place.
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We would have beaten Ipswich, and might have beaten Man U, if the referee wasn't a cheat and had sent off their player for an obvious second booking offence. Other points seem about fair. Not really sure which of our points were achieved in a lucky manner. Seems like the creation of a fictional series of events to support an obsessively negative narrative.
An obsessively negative narrative which starts with me saying that I am not worried as I still think we will make Europe?
Wow.
It seems that if we don't all think we are gonna challenge for the title then it's being negative. We haven't played well all season and have had to come from behind several times. And against bottom 6 teams. That's just a fact.
But once again, I am not worried as I think we will turn it around and will be comfortable top 8.
If that's "obesessively negative" then I don't know what to say.
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You unfounded assessment that we are lucky to have the points we do have is clearly obsessively negative, as is much of your posting style.
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We repeatedly beat the press over the past few games. The quality of the final ball has been absent, but masquerading your "stop this tippy tappy shit" as something more palatable doesn't really coincide with what's happening on the pitch.
I don’t think we have been as successful at doing that this season and certainly not in the last few games. Teams are better at closing us down and shutting off spaces I think, which is why we have been looking less in control and ponderous more frequently. We threatened a little in the first half against Brugges but that was more winning it high up.
The lack of movement for the player on the ball has got worse, which will always make it look laboured. Confidence is an issue of course and I don’t think the multiple changes, although understandable, is helping the team.
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Not worried in the slightest..... Yes, we've been on a poor run of form, but I'm sure it will right itself.
Better to shit the bed now, than Easter onwards. Let's not forget that Emery joined a dysfunctional Villa around this time of the season, and took us from a 16th place relegation scrap to Europa Conference league qualification in the same season.
Far too much pant wetting from our fanbase in recent times - Lets not forget where we were just two short seasons ago. Thousands of us were out in Bruges last night to support our team in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. None of us thought in our wildest dreams that we'd be there in such a short space of time, especially not sat on 9pts out of 12! Let's put a bit of context to it.
We're going to have periods where we falter, but Emery will steady the ship and I'm sure we'll come good. And as for this nonsense about McGinn, Mings and co not being good enough.... We wouldn't be here without their commitment to the cause. They've shown loyalty to Villa, so we should do OUR job and put the 'support' in supporter imo.
They are decent players, but to say we're 'better than them' and we've moved on to the next level is ludicrous and is the kind of arrogance you'd hear from the likes of Man City and Spurs fans. Like most of the team, they're just having a grey patch in form.
Calm down everyone (*quite apt considering our next opponents!)
UTV
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You unfounded assessment that we are lucky to have the points we do have is clearly obsessively negative, as is much of your posting style.
How can you read what I have just posted and call that obsessively negative?
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Because of the words.
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Because of the words.
"I am not worried and think we will be comfortably top 8"
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"We are lucky to have the points that we have".
Show your working.
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"We are lucky to have the points that we have".
Show your working.
Perhaps I could have termed that part slightly differently but as I said, having to come from behind to scrape past very poor teams was the warning sign that we would struggle against better teams. Which we have.
We are fortunate in that we have had an easier fixture list than others so far.
But we will turn it around in time.
Anyway. I'm out.
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We played quite well against Arsenal and lost, we played quite well against Bayern Munich and won, we played absolutely dreadfully against Tottenham and deservedly got twatted. There isn't sufficient data to say we've struggled against the better teams, yet.
Hopefully we put in a better show on Saturday.
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Apart from Liverpool nobody is really doing well. City and Arsenal have lost their mojo lately, Chelsea unfortunately have improved and will be in the mix for European places. Forest are flying but will fall away I'd imagine. We are doing OK points/results wise but the football is flat/pedestrian compared to this stage last season. I said before that we will kick on after Xmas, we need to hang in there until we hit our level again. Last night our midfield lacked energy and creativity, Unai needs to find the right blend/shape in there because we have the quality.
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Is it safe to post on here yet?
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To borrow a discredit Government slogan from the 90s we need to get back to basics.
Last season our home run was amazing up to middle of December. Not been so good this season but our next three are Palace, Brentford and Southampton.
Win them and we'll still be 6th at worst I bet.
The biggest issue is we're running considerably less than last year in the recent games, 4km less than Brugge is really concerning to me as their tactics were just to contain us for the most part and pick their chances to break.
If we're playing pedestrian football then get in more players into the team who are at least direct and can take chances.
I think a problem currently is the limitation of the transfer model in the summer. Signing young players and thinking they'll all step up as quickly as Rogers has. Jaden has struggled when there's a real opportunity for him to start games with Bailey's issues. I'd like to see more of Ned but Emery clearly dosen't think he's at the level needed just yet. Maatsen and Duran should be starting far more than they have with what they've shown off the bench in many games so they need to be trusted more.
Diaby was a real marmite player on this forum and elsewhere but again not replacing him leaves a void now and just leaves us with below par Bailey or having to stick McGinn there who's struggled for consistency this season. Personally I'd leave him out tomorrow.
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For me we have been lacklustre all season. Results have glossed over some poor/average performances. We have now put in a few very poor showings and look like we are going to have our arse handed to us on a plate unless Martinez has a blinder. The upcoming break needs to be time for a mental reset.
Thought we looked good vs West Ham should of won about 6-2 that day but so many missed chances . Huffed and puffed many games and got away with it, something has changed recently where we have slowed the style of play down to snail pace .
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After yesterday I’m less concerned. Now admittedly if we don’t beat Palace it is a big concern, but the level of performance, against top opposition, was just so much higher. Still not clinical enough and conceded a couple of daft goals, but we were robbed of at least one pen and their keeper did well. If we hit that level of intensity and just get a bit sharper we’ll be fine.
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Concerned. We are up against Spurs, Newcastle, Brighton, Man U and Chelsea for that 4th spot. Man U and Chelsea are going to be a problem. Money, depth of squad, Man U with a new manager. They will all be real contenders. We’ve got it really wrong for a lot of the season. Even some games we won, it’s wasn’t the free flowing football that got us to where we are from last season. Lots of time of course to fix it and get back on track. But we have start to get back on track.
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Concerned. We are up against Spurs, Newcastle, Brighton, Man U and Chelsea for that 4th spot. Man U and Chelsea are going to be a problem. Money, depth of squad, Man U with a new manager. They will all be real contenders. We’ve got it really wrong for a lot of the season. Even some games we won, it’s wasn’t the free flowing football that got us to where we are from last season. Lots of time of course to fix it and get back on track. But we have start to get back on track.
Yeah but I’d say yesterday was a lot closer to that style, for a sustained period, than we have seen this season.
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Helpfully as well the weirdness of the season with teams being very up and down means in this form slump we haven’t lost all that much ground in terms of points. Hopefully yesterday was the green shoots of us getting back on track.
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Is Leon going to be away with Jamaica next week? From a Villa perspective, I was disappointed to see in an interview he gave recently that McLaren had talked him into coming back to play for them.
Like Youri, he needs to stay at Bodymoor, rest-up, heal and listen to podcasts urging him to be the best version of himself.
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Is Leon going to be away with Jamaica next week? From a Villa perspective, I was disappointed to see in an interview he gave recently that McLaren had talked him into coming back to play for them.
Like Youri, he needs to stay at Bodymoor, rest-up, heal and listen to podcasts urging him to be the best version of himself.
I wouldnt mind him going. He has been crap maybe a goal for Jamaica might help him
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Amusing to me that we've lost our way and Spurs still can't get above us in the league.
They have a wounded Man. City away next so looks very much a mid table season for them and they'll have to put everything into the cups.
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Weren't you saying on another thread that less than 4th is not mid-table and we shouldn't be so entitled? ;)
Spurs will probably finish around 7th, above mid-table, below what *they* think they're entitled to.
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Amusing to me that we've lost our way and Spurs still can't get above us in the league.
They have a wounded Man. City away next so looks very much a mid table season for them and they'll have to put everything into the cups.
They will sack Ange and get new manager bounce i fear
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Amusing to me that we've lost our way and Spurs still can't get above us in the league.
They have a wounded Man. City away next so looks very much a mid table season for them and they'll have to put everything into the cups.
They will sack Ange and get new manager bounce i fear
Good as ange seems to have unais number
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This season reminds me a bit of 1996-97. We followed up our 4th place in 95-96 with a sort of indifferent enough start to the following season. It took Yorke about 8 games to get his first goal (the 3 he scored against Newcastle). I remember us being about 9th around November time and then we strung together 5 wins in a row to get back among the top of the table where we generally were for the rest of that season.
We ended up 5th and in the Uefa Cup again. I would definitely be delighted with that for this year as it would probably mean Champions League qualification again.
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Because of the words.
"I am not worried and think we will be comfortably top 8"
Comfortably top 8?
Wow. Isn’t that sort of ambition for the Brentfords or Bournemouths of this world?
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Is Leon going to be away with Jamaica next week? From a Villa perspective, I was disappointed to see in an interview he gave recently that McLaren had talked him into coming back to play for them.
I didn’t know that.
I thought he’d told them to stick their international call ups so far up their arses there was no way back.
McLaren must have turned on the patois and done a proper job on him.
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Because of the words.
"I am not worried and think we will be comfortably top 8"
Comfortably top 8?
Wow. Isn’t that sort of ambition for the Brentfords or Bournemouths of this world?
Indeed, that’s a nonsense ambition. We should expect to be competing for top 4, no less. I’m more encouraged after yesterday, it was an entirely different display to some of the recent dirge. But no inferiority complex, this squad should be competing.
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Weren't you saying on another thread that less than 4th is not mid-table and we shouldn't be so entitled? ;)
Spurs will probably finish around 7th, above mid-table, below what *they* think they're entitled to.
10th is mid table in my book. When you're actually losing to Palace and Ipswich in the space of a few weeks that suggests you're not going to be that much higher.
If we can pull ourselves together and get 9 points off Palace, Brentford and Southampton in our next three home games then the table looks much better and we should be a decent way clear of Spurs.
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This season reminds me a bit of 1996-97. We followed up our 4th place in 95-96 with a sort of indifferent enough start to the following season. It took Yorke about 8 games to get his first goal (the 3 he scored against Newcastle). I remember us being about 9th around November time and then we strung together 5 wins in a row to get back among the top of the table where we generally were for the rest of that season.
We ended up 5th and in the Uefa Cup again. I would definitely be delighted with that for this year as it would probably mean Champions League qualification again.
Was watching TOTP on BBC 4 on Friday which has become a bit of cult viewing for me as grew up with the music in that era (most of which is terrible) and they had Nigel Kennedy of all people presenting.
There was a couple of things cut out from it and according to someone on Digital Spy who had watched the original it was Nigel referencing support for Mark Bosnich a couple of times.
Currently showing the October 1996 episodes and I looked at Soccerbase and it was losing to Spurs 1-0 when he turned round and did a Nazi salute at them!
Turns out he got a 10k fine and missed no games for us. Do that nowadays and it would be a 10 match ban or something.
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Didn't we win that game 1-0 , the great lockout night
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Was watching TOTP on BBC 4....
There was a couple of things cut out from it...
By the time you have cut out the DJ/presenters and acts that were wrong 'uns, there can't be much left they can show.
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Was watching TOTP on BBC 4....
There was a couple of things cut out from it...
By the time you have cut out the DJ/presenters and acts that were wrong 'uns, there can't be much left they can show.
They actually had to skip two episodes over the summer because one of the competition winners was later convicted of child abuse!
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I’m worried we’re not going to be able to put a team out for our next game at this rate.
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Palace really is a must win game too
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I'm worried this season is going to start to unravel pretty quickly. We're in terrible form, and now we've got injuries to Onana, Ramsey, Kamara plus possibly Konsa and Torres as well.
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I'm worried this season is going to start to unravel pretty quickly. We're in terrible form, and now we've got injuries to Onana, Ramsey, Kamara plus possibly Konsa and Torres as well.
I wasn’t worried until I read this 😳
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Nah. Risso is a notorious worrier. When Ads starts to worry, we’re fucked.
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I'm worried this season is going to start to unravel pretty quickly. We're in terrible form, and now we've got injuries to Onana, Ramsey, Kamara plus possibly Konsa and Torres as well.
I thought it already had.
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I think the biggest worry is that we are just repeating the same problems again and again. The lack of control in midfield is astonishing.
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If you havent already guessed then yes i am.
If we rectifying the errors or at least getting some wins then i wouldnt be as much. But its the same defensive errors
Its clear we need somw bodies in to support these guys in janaury
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Thought we would finish between 5th and 8th and still do. So no, not worried.
I do feel for those who wouldn't accept we aren't on Liverpool's level and attacked any suggestion to the contrary. (Whilst calling anyone who didn't agree "negative")
That realisation must be setting in now.
We aren't a bad side by any stretch, but we need to find a win soon. I think we will improve in the coming weeks and I still fancy us to qualify for Europe.
Beat Juventus and the world will look a lot brighter.
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If you havent already guessed then yes i am.
If we rectifying the errors or at least getting some wins then i wouldnt be as much. But its the same defensive errors
Its clear we need somw bodies in to support these guys in janaury
We are gradually getting worse . We are awful to watch nowadays
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It depends what you mean by worried I guess. I think qualifying again for CL would be a magnificent achievement, but I wouldn’t think that’s likely at this stage, despite it being possible.
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I think if we qualified for CL this season it would be a even bigger achievement than last year
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We'll probably qualify again for Europe and if we don't we'll have a go next season. So no.
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We get nearly everyone fit and somehow go to pot. So many poor individual performances all over the pitch. We have lost our mojo completely, last season playing the high line brilliantly for a long time..this season we get a corner and the opposition score ! Everything looks pedestrian, predictable and short of ideas. Chelsea will get top four and I'd imagine we'll be around 7th. We could do with a couple of new faces in January.
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Not worried, just coming to the realisation that we are some way off where we were a year ago.
We look like a mid table team that can play some great stuff but lacks consistency and intensity at both ends of the pitch.
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Not worried, just coming to the realisation that we are some way off where we were a year ago.
We look like a mid table team that can play some great stuff but lacks consistency and intensity at both ends of the pitch.
I think thats a reality of the situation and something we need to reluctantly accept.
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
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I am to a degree. A year ago tomorrow we won at Spurs when we were playing very very well.Our performances 2024 to date have been in the main , and I emphasise in the main , miles off from where we were in the autumn of 2023.
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No, as Kamara will hopefully be back (again) soon. We've conceded a tonne of goals since February. I wonder why.
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Not worried, just coming to the realisation that we are some way off where we were a year ago.
We look like a mid table team that can play some great stuff but lacks consistency and intensity at both ends of the pitch.
Someone on here made a great reference that this is our 96/97 to follow 95/96 the other week.
That wasn't a bad season but ultimately we went out of all the cups very early so just finishing 5th was actually seen as underachievement and it was referenced on the end of season review.
I'd actually be o.k with 6th as Europa league is a competition we can challenge to win if we take it seriously.
A problem though is the eye watering prices we're charging now means a section of our fanbase will think we should be making CL pretty much every season otherwise why the endless increases and fleecing of loyal fans so that creates its own expectations and then shorter patience when we hit poor runs of form as we are now.
I think this is the most difficult time of Unai's spell as when we've lost a couple of games previously we've generally been playing well and you felt a good run was around the corner. Now we're chucking in some really disappointing halves so hard to be confident we'll beat Brentford at home which is critical game now.
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The daft thing is, after tonight's result at the Etihad, if we hadn't conceded in the last seconds against Bournemouth and scored the penalty and won today...we'd be in second place now. It's a strange season so far...
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Concerns are:
• To my mind, the performance levels of everyone bar Digne, Tielemans and Duran (in moments) has dropped from last season.
• Our attacking set up has suddenly become based around Rodgers which is problematic in the sense that he’s still relatively raw and learning at this level, it’s impacting the speed at which we’re getting the ball forward. And if he’s negated, it seems we don’t seem to have an alternative.
• Relying on Bogarde and philogean to be serious alternatives is looking like a big mistake as neither are remotely ready yet for this level.
• We cannot defend and seem to have no ability to change that.
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
I said we look like a mid table team, it’s not defeatist, it's the reality of where we are and how we are playing.
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Concerns are:
• To my mind, the performance levels of everyone bar Digne, Tielemans and Duran (in moments) has dropped from last season.
• Our attacking set up has suddenly become based around Rodgers which is problematic in the sense that he’s still relatively raw and learning at this level, it’s impacting the speed at which we’re getting the ball forward. And if he’s negated, it seems we don’t seem to have an alternative.
• Relying on Bogarde and philogean to be serious alternatives is looking like a big mistake as neither are remotely ready yet for this level.
• We cannot defend and seem to have no ability to change that.
I think this is a fair summary. I think Onana has been fine since he came in too tbh.
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Won just five of our last 16 Premier League games
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
I said we look like a mid table team, it’s not defeatist, it's the reality of where we are and how we are playing.
I was more referring to Demetri’s reference to reluctant acceptance.
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
I said we look like a mid table team, it’s not defeatist, it's the reality of where we are and how we are playing.
I was more referring to Demetri’s reference to reluctant acceptance.
Ok,sorry, because I think we are on the same page regarding the problem starts with the midfield.
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
I said we look like a mid table team, it’s not defeatist, it's the reality of where we are and how we are playing.
I was more referring to Demetri’s reference to reluctant acceptance.
Ok,sorry, because I think we are on the same page regarding the problem starts with the midfield.
Yep absolutely, we fix that and I think we see a totally different team.
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
Just trying to be realistic thats where i see us at the moment a club that probably going to finish outside the top 6 if this form continues.
I mean look at our performances in the league. How many times can say we have played brilliantly this season? Mpst of the performances have been average. Durans aaved us a few times this year but thats papering the cracks
We also cant keep clean sheets big concern that
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Christ I’m not thrilled with direction of travel - there are obvious, and clear, things to fix - but consigning us to being a mid table side now is a bit bloody defeatist and over the top.
I said we look like a mid table team, it’s not defeatist, it's the reality of where we are and how we are playing.
I was more referring to Demetri’s reference to reluctant acceptance.
Ok,sorry, because I think we are on the same page regarding the problem starts with the midfield.
Yep absolutely, we fix that and I think we see a totally different team.
And there you have it, will Kamara get back to his best? What is the combination that provides the platform? Will Rogers start making telling decisions that his approach work warrants?
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Only when we have a corner.
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Only when we have a corner.
Especially if we have a penalty.
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If we had won’t he last two home league games, which let’s face it we should have done, we would be joint second. Given that we haven’t played great yet this season, a few moments aside, it’s not terrible and we are far from looking at a lost season or anything like that.
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If we had won’t he last two home league games, which let’s face it we should have done, we would be joint second. Given that we haven’t played great yet this season, a few moments aside, it’s not terrible and we are far from looking at a lost season or anything like that.
Yes there is still a lot of games to go, but this slump needs to end soon.
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We are somewhat fortunate that the league is a bit mental this season and as such, nobody has pulled away in the race for Europe in any way whatsoever. Then again, the other clubs are all saying the same I'm sure.
We now have 10 games in 5 weeks and one would expect that, come the end of that run, we will have a better idea of where we are at.
To be honest, if we can take 6 points from the next 3 games, (I fully expect a loss at Chelsea so we really have to be winning the 2 home games), then I would think we will be going into the Xmas period in the top 7, which, all things considered, is hardly a crisis.
Conversely, failure to win yet more of the winnable home games we have coming up, and we will be making things very hard for ourselves. Especially as we can't seem to beat the Sky 6 these days.
November always looked tricky and so it proved. December is only slightly kinder fixture wise but we cannot afford to have another poor month.
A fit and ready Kamara cannot come soon enough.
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We are somewhat fortunate that the league is a bit mental this season and as such, nobody has pulled away in the race for Europe in any way whatsoever. Then again, the other clubs are all saying the same I'm sure.
We now have 10 games in 5 weeks and one would expect that, come the end of that run, we will have a better idea of where we are at.
To be honest, if we can take 6 points from the next 3 games, (I fully expect a loss at Chelsea so we really have to be winning the 2 home games), then I would think we will be going into the Xmas period in the top 7, which, all things considered, is hardly a crisis.
Conversely, failure to win yet more of the winnable home games we have coming up, and we will be making things very hard for ourselves. Especially as we can't seem to beat the Sky 6 these days.
November always looked tricky and so it proved. December is only slightly kinder fixture wise but we cannot afford to have another poor month.
A fit and ready Kamara cannot come soon enough.
Good post.
I do think having a fully fit kamara will help, but it wont solve all our problems.
We need to amend our defensive shape, cut out the terrible individual errors defensively too. Furthermore I think we have some out of form players like bailey, Philogene and rogers. These guys need to vastly improve to what we have seen this season.
They wouldn't be getting a sniff at the top clubs under this form.
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Apparently we've conceded only 2 more this season so far that last but scored 10 less. Also read we've created most and missed the most big chances in the league this season.
Does feel about right - despite performances being nowhere near the levels of early last season I can think of most games wheres been at least one chance you think we have to put away. Rogers has been very guilty of this, Watkins missed a fair few, Ramsey has missed a couple.
This did comfort me slightly this morning
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I would agree with that. We have been wasteful in front of goal and its cost us. Perfect examples arsenal and spurs games
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Yes.
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I think the last few games will have definitely made the managers mind up on some players that he was already thinking weren't good enough so I would expect a busy January (loans out and the like). It wouldn't surprise me to see a good player or two arrive.
This club is far from the finished article, with Emery polishing a few turds along the way, so a few bad runs were expected. No excuses for some of the individual cock ups mind you.
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I think the last few games will have definitely made the managers mind up on some players that he was already thinking weren't good enough so I would expect a busy January (loans out and the like). It wouldn't surprise me to see a good player or two arrive.
This club is far from the finished article, with Emery polishing a few turds along the way, so a few bad runs were expected. No excuses for some of the individual cock ups mind you.
Agreed Phil. Some of the players he inherited (Bailey and McGinn) have reverted to Smith/Gerrard form levels, and aren't contributing to the team. I think we'll see replacements for both sooner rather than later.
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I think the last few games will have definitely made the managers mind up on some players that he was already thinking weren't good enough so I would expect a busy January (loans out and the like). It wouldn't surprise me to see a good player or two arrive.
This club is far from the finished article, with Emery polishing a few turds along the way, so a few bad runs were expected. No excuses for some of the individual cock ups mind you.
Agreed Phil. Some of the players he inherited (Bailey and McGinn) have reverted to Smith/Gerrard form levels, and aren't contributing to the team. I think we'll see replacements for both sooner rather than later.
I dont think mcginn is anywhere near the horrendous form under Gerrard, but likewise not as good as he was this time last year. He’s played a lot of football including Scotland games and he’s getting on in football terms, maybe his legs are starting to slow a bit.
I think Baileys confidence is shot, but he’s not hiding and I thought there were green shoots of recovery on Saturday. Once he hit the bar, he was one of our better performers.
I doubt very much that we’ll see a number in and out in January, maybe one each through the revolving door, with Carlos the obvious candidate. The likes of mcginn and Bailey wont be going anywhere yet.
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Yeah, I thought Bailey was a different player once he hit the post/bar so I'd love to see him kick on now, a massive two games for him coming up. I still think we could see a few comings and goings in January though, we still carrying baggage.
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Bailey needs a goal i think that would massively help his confidence
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Bailey needs a goal i think that would massively help his confidence
Sometimes football is literally as simple as this.
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In answer to the main question No I'm not particularly.
We've not got the results we wanted and have given away some really sloppy goals but we're 3 points off 3rd place.
Our form won't stay like this forever, I think we've actually turned it around to a large degree already because we've created a lot more in the last 3-4 games after a few disjointed attacking displays.
We need to improve defensively and I think we will, it's just not something we can fix quickly when the back 4 (and DM) is constantly changing, the last time we had the same defence 2 games running was Man U and Fulham, and we only conceded 1 goal across those 2 games.
I get that expectations are high amongst fans, we want to win every game and find it hard to take when we're so far off that, but I think that has to be taken with the fact that, aside from Liverpool, no one in the league looks miles ahead of anyone else and only really Southampton look out of their depth at the bottom.
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Bailey needs a goal i think that would massively help his confidence
Sometimes football is literally as simple as this.
I reckon if he'd have stuck that chance away at West Ham we'd have seen a different player this season, but that said we can't rely on someone who's confidence is so fragile.
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Bailey needs a goal i think that would massively help his confidence
He was inches away v Palace that one that hit the top of the post
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Bailey needs a goal i think that would massively help his confidence
He was inches away v Palace that one that hit the top of the post
That was a fantastic effort by leon. That was probably the first glimpse of last seasons bailey.
Maybe the style of play and the shape isnt suiting Leon and he is struggling as a result. You dont just become a bad player over night.
If he scores tomorrow the fans going should blow the roof of in support for him.
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Won just five of our last 16 Premier League games
This is pretty bad.
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Won just five of our last 16 Premier League games
This is pretty bad.
Agree. Its not great. We are in abit if a rut at tbe moment no question. But i have absolute faith in unai to get us out of it
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A bit worried that in spite of all the improvement under Emery we might still be far away from winning a trophy.
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A bit worried that in spite of all the improvement under Emery we might still be far away from winning a trophy.
I think the only chance we have with him is for either the Europa League or Conference League. We're never going to win the Premier League, and he doesn't take the domestic cups seriously, so we have to hope for one of the lower European trophies in a future season, if we qualify.
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A bit worried that in spite of all the improvement under Emery we might still be far away from winning a trophy.
I think the only chance we have with him is for either the Europa League or Conference League. We're never going to win the Premier League, and he doesn't take the domestic cups seriously, so we have to hope for one of the lower European trophies in a future season, if we qualify.
You’re forgetting that we’re basically a mid table team now, so we won’t be in Europe. Therefore we will take the domestic competitions more seriously, winning both next season.
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How are we ‘basically a mid table team now’ exactly? We’ve played 12 games in a 38 game season and currently 3 points of third.
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How are we ‘basically a mid table team now’ exactly? We’ve played 12 games in a 38 game season and currently 3 points of third.
That’s not my personal view Jon. It was more a comment on where the more gloomy posters seem to think we are.
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We’ve played 12 games in a 38 game season and currently 3 points of third.
So is half the league tbf. We literally are in the middle section of the table as it stands. Although personally I think we ill improve.
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Bailey starting to show little shoots of a return to form in last couple of matches, Konsa, Kamara and Cash back - Am I worried? Not in the slightest!
3pts v Juve tonight, followed by 9pt run in the league over next 3 games, starting at Stamford Bridge on Sunday! UTV
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How are we ‘basically a mid table team now’ exactly? We’ve played 12 games in a 38 game season and currently 3 points of third.
Actully if we had 3 more points, we'd almost certainly be 6th, because our defence and therefore GD is terrible. But in any case, we haven't got 3 more points. And it's Chelsea away next.
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Dont think anyone has said we are a midtable team
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Dont think anyone has said we are a midtable team
Hahahahahahaha you are a joker of the highest proportions
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Unai Emery: "Football and life are about being strong enough to avoid the temptation to fall into frustration and keep working when the results are not coming.
"I can assure you we will bring again the joy. Football is not a flat path, there are ups and downs."
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Dont think anyone has said we are a midtable team
Hahahahahahaha you are a joker of the highest proportions
Thank you I do try my best 👌
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Be gentle
But i am deeply worried.
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The reality is we're mimicking Newcastle from last season.
I've used them as a comparison before already this season but quite stark looking at their results on Soccerbase during the half time break.
Their results up to November were pretty good if not the performances but then it all come crashing down around November and they lost 2-0 at Bournemouth 2-0, 3-0 to Everton and 4-1 to Spurs.
They then rallied from February onwards and had a strong finish to the season.
Perhaps people just want to dismiss the comparison as they think Howe is a managerial fraud and they have no good players but Pope, Isak and Bruno Guimaraes are all good in their respective positions so if it could happen to them it could certainly happen to us.
Other big issue with due to restrictions out transfer strategy was mainly signing young players which was a gamble for the level we're at.
Normally when you finish top 4 you keep the 11 together and then sign 2-3 top players to have a real go. Of course we couldn't do that but we still sold 100m + worth of talent so I was expecting a little better than our best signing on paper being a guy who couldn't even get in the Everton team in the run in last season.
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Oop, wrong thread.
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Right now last summer is looking a really bad window. Mitigation is our hands being tied by the rules.
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Right now last summer is looking a really bad window. Mitigation is our hands being tied by the rules.
I still wonder about Diaby on that. I got the impression we weren’t planning to sell but did, so I suspect it wasn’t necessary at that point. In which case selling him has been disastrous - not because he was amazing, but across the season he was effective and gave us a direct threat. We’ve essentially replaced him with Philogene which was a gamble that has massively failed, and now teams can push up and pressure us without too much concern.
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We thought we were so smart but it doesn't look smart now.
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Smart wasn't swapping Luiz for 2 fucking donkeys who spend the season out on loan somewhere else.
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The most disappointing thing is, for me, I’m now going into games expecting us to struggle. It just feels like we’re persisting with the same approach even though we’re not getting better. All the spark has gone out of our game.
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Smart wasn't swapping Luiz for 2 fucking donkeys who spend the season out on loan somewhere else.
If anybody is in bother it's Monchi
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We are too slow and weak in the challenges.
Out muscled.
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For the first time under Emery I’m concerned we’ve peaked and this is now a declining thing. I hope I’m wrong, but it’s not good right now. We look like a lower mid table team and have for weeks.
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I think we’re seeing Emery’s “getting sacked by Arsenal” football. Be interested to hear his excuses.
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When this thread started I took it as 'are you worried now we have something to lose'
Now I am actually just worried full stop. I knew it wouldn't be as straightforward as last season but the decline has really shocked me. We would lose heavily to the team that finished 7th and the team that finished 4th.
There has to be something wrong behind the scenes.
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Emery been found out I'm afraid , we were warned by Arsenal fans .
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Right now last summer is looking a really bad window. Mitigation is our hands being tied by the rules.
Partly that but I guess people could say why sign an LB for 30m + when RB needed more attention. I rate Maatsen but it's a bit embarrassing how few minutes he's played so far for what he's cost. And also signing Onana when we had plenty of CMs already at the club and had already signed Barkley who plays a similar role.
We seemed to stock up in positions we were already strong on and completely neglected the right hand side despite Unai probably expecting an RB to be signed late in the window which didn't happen once Geertruida moved elsewhere.
We flirted with Geertriuda and Joao Felix in positions where we needed more depth and when those moves didn't come off we seemingly just gave up with alternatives and went with our existing options who probably peaked last season.
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I think we’re seeing Emery’s “getting sacked by Arsenal” football. Be interested to hear his excuses.
I honestly think a big lesson from this season is just don't give up on stuff like the league cup as much as we did with the Palace selection.
I get it dosen't pay the bills but exciting cup runs can mask over indifferent league form as we've seen many times in our history.
CL already given us a memorable night but I expect us to be found out quickly in the knock outs. Europa league and even back in the Conference again are much more realistic trophies for us to win so I don't see it as some disaster if we're back in it next season personally.
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Emery been found out I'm afraid , we were warned by Arsenal fans .
Do you mean this?
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This is now a real problem (crisis is probably too strong a word), that stretches back to last season. The next 10 days could be very telling.
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Emery been found out I'm afraid , we were warned by Arsenal fans .
Do you mean this?
To be fair, Tim makes lots of bold claims that rarely stand up to much scrutiny over time. Pretty sure he was lording the signing of Philogene, but might be mixing him up with someone else.
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The first time I’ve thought “yes”, when answering the title of this thread.
I think Unai is being tactically stubborn, despite it looking so clearly like we’ve been found out. Our best players look massively out of form and our worst players look nowhere near good enough.
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This is now a real problem (crisis is probably too strong a word), that stretches back to last season. The next 10 days could be very telling.
The nightmare before Christmas?
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Emery been found out I'm afraid , we were warned by Arsenal fans .
Do you mean this?
To be fair, Tim makes lots of bold claims that rarely stand up to much scrutiny over time. Pretty sure he was lording the signing of Philogene, but might be mixing him up with someone else.
Everyone’s got their opinions but Christ wading in on Emery is a joke.
Back the club and team and we’ll come out of this bad run. Get on their backs and attack a coach that’s taken us this far isn’t really supporting your club.
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Smart wasn't swapping Luiz for 2 fucking donkeys who spend the season out on loan somewhere else.
Exactly what was the fucking point? Stupid deal and stupid decision to loan them both. Both could add something right now to this awful side
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All of this stems back to Kamara’s original injury that ended his midfield partnership with Doug. Since then the midfield has failed to do the fundamentals. That is the main problem.
That and not replacing the directness Diaby gave us means we’ve got no flexibility. We cannot change a game.
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How about a change from four, four fucking two? There's a reason most other managers ditched it around 1996.
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
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Depends what people are worried by.
I still think we can finish 6th-7th as us, Man. United, Newcastle and Spurs all verge through wild inconsistency as reflected by one point between all currently.
Brighton are better but already they haven't beaten any of Ipswich, Wolves and Southampton at home so hints they don't have a ruthless edge to dispatch relegation contenders which we still just about have.
If people were just expecting top 4 consistently from now on when we pretty much weakened our first 11 this summer through necessary sales then it was naive thinking.
You'd at least hope next summer we can have more of a go again and sign a couple of top level players like we did in summer 2023.
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
He clearly doesn't know how to. You can't go on being this defensively bad for 12 months if it's just not a deep-rooted underlying problem. He spent £30m on his first choice defender in Torres, a defender who cannot defend, let alone organise anybody else. The odd nice 30 yard pass is great when things are going well, when they're not as now, it's a luxury you can't afford.
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The only caveat I would maybe consider is the impact that the Champions League games have had. We've been flat after most of the Champions League games so far and I do wonder how much it is taking out of them all.
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The only caveat I would maybe consider is the impact that the Champions League games have had. We've been flat after most of the Champions League games so far and I do wonder how much it is taking out of them all.
We've been flat for most of the season, Champions League or not.
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I am now officially concerned, this is a hell of a slump. So many things are wrong, set up attitude, selection and tactics.
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
He clearly doesn't know how to. You can't go on being this defensively bad for 12 months if it's just not a deep-rooted underlying problem. He spent £30m on his first choice defender in Torres, a defender who cannot defend, let alone organise anybody else. The odd nice 30 yard pass is great when things are going well, when they're not as now, it's a luxury you can't afford.
This is 100% correct and I have been saying it over 12 months. When there was no other choice, like last year, you live with it, but now you have to bring on Mings who actually is good at defending (when he is not handling the ball in the box).
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
He clearly doesn't know how to. You can't go on being this defensively bad for 12 months if it's just not a deep-rooted underlying problem. He spent £30m on his first choice defender in Torres, a defender who cannot defend, let alone organise anybody else. The odd nice 30 yard pass is great when things are going well, when they're not as now, it's a luxury you can't afford.
You do keep honing in on Torres, how do you explain the bit where he played last season and we were exceptionally good? He isn’t the common denominator in our fall away defensively. The break up of Doug and Kamara’s partnership is where we started to struggle.
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All of this stems back to Kamara’s original injury that ended his midfield partnership with Doug. Since then the midfield has failed to do the fundamentals. That is the main problem.
That and not replacing the directness Diaby gave us means we’ve got no flexibility. We cannot change a game.
Diaby had his critics and wasn't in great form 12 months ago but he still kept Bailey on his toes and we could rotate given he could get the team up the pitch quickly with dribbles.
I fully understand why he took the money but just thinking Jaden could replace him comfortably was very wishful thinking that is backfiring now.
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The only caveat I would maybe consider is the impact that the Champions League games have had. We've been flat after most of the Champions League games so far and I do wonder how much it is taking out of them all.
People did predict this in August. It happened to Newcastle last season so not sure what is special about us that it wouldn't impact on us as the season went on.
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
He clearly doesn't know how to. You can't go on being this defensively bad for 12 months if it's just not a deep-rooted underlying problem. He spent £30m on his first choice defender in Torres, a defender who cannot defend, let alone organise anybody else. The odd nice 30 yard pass is great when things are going well, when they're not as now, it's a luxury you can't afford.
This is 100% correct and I have been saying it over 12 months. When there was no other choice, like last year, you live with it, but now you have to bring on Mings who actually is good at defending (when he is not handling the ball in the box).
And again how do explain Torres playing when we were at our very best? He’s struggling in the context of the team, and in particular the midfield just being a mess at the moment. Torres was brilliant, including defensively, when the team functioned. Dropping Mings into this side won’t make much difference. Unless the structure and midfield is fixed it’s just shuffling deck chairs.
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The only caveat I would maybe consider is the impact that the Champions League games have had. We've been flat after most of the Champions League games so far and I do wonder how much it is taking out of them all.
Last season we were in the groove, playing Thursday and Sunday.
This season the Champions League has really knocked us out of our groove in the league.
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I'm worried that we only have one tactic and that's not working and hasn't for a while now but Emery seems reluctant to change it.
He clearly doesn't know how to. You can't go on being this defensively bad for 12 months if it's just not a deep-rooted underlying problem. He spent £30m on his first choice defender in Torres, a defender who cannot defend, let alone organise anybody else. The odd nice 30 yard pass is great when things are going well, when they're not as now, it's a luxury you can't afford.
This is 100% correct and I have been saying it over 12 months. When there was no other choice, like last year, you live with it, but now you have to bring on Mings who actually is good at defending (when he is not handling the ball in the box).
And again how do explain Torres playing when we were at our very best? He’s struggling in the context of the team, and in particular the midfield just being a mess at the moment. Torres was brilliant, including defensively, when the team functioned. Dropping Mings into this side won’t make much difference. Unless the structure and midfield is fixed it’s just shuffling deck chairs.
Torres has gone backwards as player the last year.but not just him. Add bailey, mcginn, cash, konsa amd even ollie to that list.
This teams not working or gelling. Even when we beat sides like Everton and wolves this year we were far from convincing.
We saw warning signs earlier in season and now we just look awful in eveey department.
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The only caveat I would maybe consider is the impact that the Champions League games have had. We've been flat after most of the Champions League games so far and I do wonder how much it is taking out of them all.
We've been flat for most of the season, Champions League or not.
I had a look back at our results the other day. Played well against Bologna and then were mostly OK against Bournemouth until we got stung at the end. There were probably a few signs by that point of players starting to struggle a bit though.
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How about a change from four, four fucking two? There's a reason most other managers ditched it around 1996.
It's not exactly the same 4-4-2 played in 1996 though. When deployed as he wants it it has one full back wide and high, a double-pivot in front of the back line, the two 'wide' midfielders quite narrow and one forward pulling wide on the opposite side. Worked a beauty for a long time.
But the shape is different now, he actually tweaked it and I think that's the main problem
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How about a change from four, four fucking two? There's a reason most other managers ditched it around 1996.
It's not exactly the same 4-4-2 played in 1996 though. When deployed as he wants it it has one full back wide and high, a double-pivot in front of the back line, the two 'wide' midfielders quite narrow and one forward pulling wide on the opposite side. Worked a beauty for a long time.
But the shape is different now, he actually tweaked it and I think that's the main problem
Agreed, it's far too open as it is.
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West Hams league form dropped dramatically when playing in Europe, we do not have the squad for it, a couple of injuries leads to a dramatic fall in form.
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Yes.
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West Hams league form dropped dramatically when playing in Europe, we do not have the squad for it, a couple of injuries leads to a dramatic fall in form.
I dont think we can use the squad as a excuse tbh mate.
We chose to take two players from juventus and then send them bith out on loan, we chose to spend 30m on maatsen when you could argue we didnt need a left back, we chose to blow 50m on onana and we chose not to replace diaby & luiz. We also chose not to get a right back in even though last season we had problems there.
Its just been very poor preparation this season. The club has mad massive mistakes
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
Me neither John.
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
Whats your expectations for the season? If its midtable then you have every right not be worried. But if its champions league then i cant see how anyone cannot be. We cant defend, we cant score and just look weak in every area of the pitch.
Cant think of anything on our play thats been a improvement of last year
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I’m not worried though would like to get back to winning!
Let’s face it, we really didn’t think we would be in Champions League at this stage, we are similar to Newcastle last season but we aren’t are a bad side, just on a bad run though please stop it now!
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West Hams league form dropped dramatically when playing in Europe, we do not have the squad for it, a couple of injuries leads to a dramatic fall in form.
Brighton aswell last year.
Now back to playing once a week and I think they have a good chance of getting CL this season if it goes down to 5th which would be refreshing for Football as they run things brilliantly down there.
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(https://i.ibb.co/Ntj7cY7/Screenshot-20241201-170100-Instagram.jpg) (https://ibb.co/Ntj7cY7)
Simply not good enough. Cant see how anyone is not worried about that
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
Whats your expectations for the season? If its midtable then you have every right not be worried. But if its champions league then i cant see how anyone cannot be. We cant defend, we cant score and just look weak in every area of the pitch.
Cant think of anything on our play thats been a improvement of last year
We can still finish 6th or 7th this season imo. We win on Wednesday and we'll probably be above all of Spurs, Newcastle and Man. United again so these are the teams more on our level than Chelsea really as things stand.
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So the least number of clean sheets in the League. Bloody hell.
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We can still finish 6th or 7th this season imo. We win on Wednesday and we'll probably be above all of Spurs, Newcastle and Man. United again so these are the teams more on our level than Chelsea really as things stand.
I think I've spotted the flaw in your cunning plan.
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So the least number of clean sheets in the League. Bloody hell.
It’s not even really a surprise, as a side we are so so easy to play through. The second goal was a perfect illustration of that.
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Emery been found out I'm afraid , we were warned by Arsenal fans .
Have to admit I did think Philogene was going to be very good. Not sure what's happened to him, as I'm seeing a different player. Then again, Bailey's been the same. Teams are employing specific tactics and we haven't changed ours at all.
Do you mean this?
To be fair, Tim makes lots of bold claims that rarely stand up to much scrutiny over time. Pretty sure he was lording the signing of Philogene, but might be mixing him up with someone else.
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Oops!
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So the least number of clean sheets in the League. Bloody hell.
Compounded by the fact that we supposedly have the No 1 goalkeeper in the world!
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His post-match interview, fucking hell.
"Can you identify what's not quite right at the moment for your team?"
"The opponent, Chelsea."
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1 clean sheet all season, ranked bottom of the league . Embarrassing and clear evidence of how poor the likes of Torres and Carlos are at actually defending
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Worried that our problems can't be fixed this season.
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I'm a fan of Torres, I do think some of his poor form is more down to the midfield giving him about as much protection as a papier maché condom, but Mings should start against Brentford. We won't be sorry to have his and Kamara's physicality against that lot.
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
Whats your expectations for the season? If its midtable then you have every right not be worried. But if its champions league then i cant see how anyone cannot be. We cant defend, we cant score and just look weak in every area of the pitch.
Cant think of anything on our play thats been a improvement of last year
We can still finish 6th or 7th this season imo. We win on Wednesday and we'll probably be above all of Spurs, Newcastle and Man. United again so these are the teams more on our level than Chelsea really as things stand.
We can but only way i see it happening is of we strengthen in janauary.
I would recall enzo as we need another DM. Onanas fitness record is not the best and kamara needs help after long term injury.
We need to get a replacement for diabs ans i would seriously try get luiz back on loan. Its a absolute must for me if he is available
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We need to get back to basics , if that means 0-0 v Brentford so be it .
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His post-match interview, fucking hell.
"Can you identify what's not quite right at the moment for your team?"
"The opponent, Chelsea."
4-4 fucking 2 would have been just as apt.
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People keep on at Torres and Carlos for being poor. Konsa was equally bad if not worse than Torres. Ball watching for the 1st goal. Comical defending second half from a high ball should have resulted in another Chelsea goal. I saw no evidence today to suggest his presence is going to make the difference at all. The whole defensive shape seems wrong and fragile who ever plays.
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
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His post-match interview, fucking hell.
"Can you identify what's not quite right at the moment for your team?"
"The opponent, Chelsea."
Thats a poor response unai
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I don't want him to go out and bury the players like Gerrard did though.
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His interview was ropey today.
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
The shape is wronf the way we play is wrong, constantly losing possession . That's on the manager
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
The shape is wronf the way we play is wrong, constantly losing possession . That's on the manager
What in particular is wrong with the shape do you think?
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I don't want him to go out and bury the players like Gerrard did though.
I do kind of agree mate but there is only so much you can say ubtil you aftee to tell the players to accept responsibility.
Alot of these players are simply not performing anywhere near to whats expected of them. Im sure privately he is saying differently though
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
It is, we’re too lightweight and not mobile or dynamic anymore.
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I don't want him to go out and bury the players like Gerrard did though.
I do kind of agree mate but there is only so much you can say ubtil you aftee to tell the players to accept responsibility.
Alot of these players are simply not performing anywhere near to whats expected of them. Im sure privately he is saying differently though
I strongly suspect that he does indeed say different things in the dressing room!
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
The shape is wronf the way we play is wrong, constantly losing possession . That's on the manager
What in particular is wrong with the shape do you think?
Rogers i'm not even sure what position he is playing he drifts all over losing the ball . The FB's don't really attack , we often are very narrow with no real width , the defence no longer plays a high line , nor do they sit deep, they just get pulled wherever the opponents take them .
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
The shape is wronf the way we play is wrong, constantly losing possession . That's on the manager
What in particular is wrong with the shape do you think?
It’s shape and players in the wrong spots. McGinn offers nothing where he is playing currently. Rogers is too far forward, so not impacting play.
I would go with Onana and Kamara in the double pivot. With Tielemans, Ramsey and Rogers behind Watkins. Granted that means two currently injured players being fit.
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It’s the midfield, I keep saying it but it’s true. You can swap in any centre half and they’d be exposed.
It's the strongest area of the club by a long way.
I think if Onana is o.k for Wednesday we'll push Tielemans forward and Rodgers will drop out. See if that looks better but it should make it harder for teams to play through us than is currently happened.
I'd have started Barkley so we had the option to do it today.
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We need to hold our nerve - Its shit at the moment - and I hate it as much as anyone. Its horrible giving up your time and money and ruining your weekend when we're on a run like this.
The path to success isnt ever easy - and FFP makes it even more difficult. The further we get from it, it's clear our entire summer window was about ensuring we didnt break FFP rules. That means we have ended up with a weaker team and squad, and number of signing that at best are an "investment" and at worst are just part of a accounting game.
We have one of the best managers in the world - if we've hit a wall - its because were pushing at the boundries of what we can achieve. Chelsea probably have 4 players for every position - they have players like Felix, who we were desperate to sign but couldnt afford / make happen, who dont even get a start.
We have two of our supporting attackers who were in thechampionship this time last year. Its no wonder that Jaden might not be good enough, and Roger is in a bad run of form - thats what happens. I was mocked earlier in the season for questioning the depth of our squad, but Chelsea made 10 changes in the week - we're just not at that level because were not allowed to be.
We have the best team in place, maybe we have to re-adjust our hopes for this season, but we need to keep backing what were doing.
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Not if it’s clearly not working we don’t.
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
I agree we have the right people in, we just dont have the right players. I cant see us having any success under these players. Unai and the recruitment team just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
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Of course we'll turn it round. Hopefully Wednesday will be the start of that and set up a nice 6 days of pleasing connectivity, in our way. There can't be a single person who doesn't think the first sentence is true.
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Of course we'll turn it round. Hopefully Wednesday will be the start of that and set up a nice 6 days of pleasing connectivity, in our way. There can't be a single person who doesn't think the first sentence is true.
You used to do my head in. I'm glad you post on here now though. I can't wait bask in some pleasing connectivity soon.
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Of course we'll turn it round. Hopefully Wednesday will be the start of that and set up a nice 6 days of pleasing connectivity, in our way. There can't be a single person who doesn't think the first sentence is true.
Hope you are right mate. I admire your optimistic view. Id love to be wrong but we are not scoring enough and defensively awful. Can't see how we turn this around with this group while this continues
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Not sure what to be worried about
Last 1.5 seasons punched well above our weight in the league, crap in cup competitions.
Achieved the goal of C.L
Not enough investment in class for starting 11, for whatever reason.
Showing itself as we can not lay a glove on anyone around us.
Hopefully some investment in Jan and a run in CL
As much as it burns me to not be winning, I accept that it is a process and not overnight.
Very few if any of our starting 11 today would have been in the Chelsea starting 11
Need better options in our outfield team in most positions
Hopefully we know this and have been spinning the investment wheel to allow us to do so
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No
I’m not worried
Maybe I should be but I’m not
Whats your expectations for the season? If its midtable then you have every right not be worried. But if its champions league then i cant see how anyone cannot be. We cant defend, we cant score and just look weak in every area of the pitch.
Cant think of anything on our play thats been a improvement of last year
My expectations for this season is European football and will be every season for the foreseeable
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Of course we'll turn it round. Hopefully Wednesday will be the start of that and set up a nice 6 days of pleasing connectivity, in our way. There can't be a single person who doesn't think the first sentence is true.
I can see Brentford scoring at least 2 , so hopefully Watkins takes his one on one chance , someone else gets a goal and then Duran comes on to save the day
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We have lost the last 3 away at Chelsea, 'The Mighty Reds YNWA' and spuds. That's not ideal but they would all expect to win their home games against us. The problem is we have drawn our last 3 at home against the worst man u team ever, palace and Bournemouth. That's disappointing but not really the end of the world crisis stuff. 2 home wins next up and it will look a whole lot better.
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
I know what you mean*. It feels like it's still going on.
*I obviously have no idea what you mean.
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
I know what you mean*. It feels like it's still going on.
*I obviously have no idea what you mean.
I have absolutely no idea how you dont know what i mean as its quite clear what it means 😂
But just in case you was serious i was talking about our business in the summer in terms of signings.
I do hope that clears up any confusion 😁
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
I know what you mean*. It feels like it's still going on.
*I obviously have no idea what you mean.
I have absolutely no idea how you dont know what i mean as its quite clear what it means 😂
But just in case you was serious i was talking about our business in the summer in terms of signings.
I do hope that clears up any confusion 😁
I do agree with you that the summer was the time to try and go big in terms of signings, but to be fair though, we don't know just how much we were hampered by the FFP restrictions.
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No. Simple as that. Its a rough patch and no need to get all fatalistic that we have had our moment etc. Have some faith and we will be fine.
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I think we do - in the atheletic they were saying how this summer was going to need to be a "Fire-sale"
the whole summer was all about FFP - I dont think a single signing wasnt influenced by it. We didnt think - ah Felix looks good - but think Jaden's better.
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We have lost the last 3 away at Chelsea, 'The Mighty Reds YNWA' and spuds. That's not ideal but they would all expect to win their home games against us. The problem is we have drawn our last 3 at home against the worst man u team ever, palace and Bournemouth. That's disappointing but not really the end of the world crisis stuff. 2 home wins next up and it will look a whole lot better.
Agree with this
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
I know what you mean*. It feels like it's still going on.
*I obviously have no idea what you mean.
I have absolutely no idea how you dont know what i mean as its quite clear what it means 😂
But just in case you was serious i was talking about our business in the summer in terms of signings.
I do hope that clears up any confusion 😁
I do agree with you that the summer was the time to try and go big in terms of signings, but to be fair though, we don't know just how much we were hampered by the FFP restrictions.
I dont mean to go over old ground tomd but i think we didnt spend too well in summer even with the FFP restrictions. We didnt need a left back i think spending 30m on a right back would have been more useful for us. Also 50m on onana i think is way too much. Good player but 50m? A bit much.
The biggest one is thinking philiogene could replace diabs. That was a big mistake from the recruitment team. He looks completely lost and out of his depth.
Then we have players like buendia who the manager has lost all faith in - its a waste of a spot in the squad.
Its a bad summer but we need to fix this in the next 2 windows and im confident unai can. Need to start shopping sainsburys not pound stretcher when trying to replace key players like dougie and diabs
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we're on a bad run - but we have the right people in the right roles to turn this around.
just have to accept they made mistakes in the summer learn from it and ensure this summer is far more successful than this one.
Probably one our worst summers in years
I know what you mean*. It feels like it's still going on.
*I obviously have no idea what you mean.
I have absolutely no idea how you dont know what i mean as its quite clear what it means 😂
But just in case you was serious i was talking about our business in the summer in terms of signings.
I do hope that clears up any confusion 😁
I do agree with you that the summer was the time to try and go big in terms of signings, but to be fair though, we don't know just how much we were hampered by the FFP restrictions.
I dont mean to go over old ground tomd but i think we didnt spend too well in summer even with the FFP restrictions. We didnt need a left back i think spending 30m on a right back would have been more useful for us. Also 50m on onana i think is way too much. Good player but 50m? A bit much.
The biggest one is thinking philiogene could replace diabs. That was a big mistake from the recruitment team. He looks completely lost and out of his depth.
Then we have players like buendia who the manager has lost all faith in - its a waste of a spot in the squad.
Its a bad summer but we need to fix this in the next 2 windows and im confident unai can. Need to start shopping sainsburys not pound stretcher when trying to replace key players like dougie and diabs
Fair points. I think the Maatsen signing was made because it might have been felt that Moreno was on the way out after not recovering his form after a bad injury and he needed to be replaced.
I agree about RB, but I do wonder if that was dependent on Carlos being sold. Had he gone, the funds might have been there for a RB or a CB with Konsa moving to full back. If they thought Nedeljković was going to be an option this season, they obviously got that wrong.
I might be in a minority here, but I've liked the look of Onana when he's played, but he's obviously been missing much more than anyone would have wanted.
The Philogene one looks like the biggest mistake at the moment, as he just looks way below the required level at the moment. I think there have been some rose tinted views of Diaby's time with us last season, but we should have replaced him as a squad option at the very least.
I think the biggest issue we are facing is that the form of a number of our attacking players has fallen off a cliff. The amount of times they give the ball away in games at the moment is killing us.
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The Maatsen / Kellyman thing was all part of the complex web around FFP . Balanced the books but achieved little in terms of the squad
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Still not worried, but then I set my expectations a bit more realistic/moderate than others would like. I said I expected a top 8 finish a while back and I think we will get it. Maybe even as high as 5th if we can find some form.
The league is tight and we have had a horrendous set of fixtures. It's not like we have been losing at home to the likes of Brentford and Southampton. (Yet :))
Kamara coming back is another bonus and should see an upturn in results with a more favourable set of games.
We will be fine and a crack at the Europa next season with Unai in charge would be very tempting indeed. If it comes to that of course. CL qualification has to still be the club's aim.
Meanwhile we are in a great position in THIS seasons Champions League, where we have conceded (handed) just one goal in 5 games and are 2 wins away from the last 16.
And there's still the FA C.... Yeah maybe not.
But plenty to be positive about. We are still a work in progress and it shows.
In Unai we trust.
UTV
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Good post AG.
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I’m not worried yet. I was pleasantly surprised by our excellent start to the season (results-wise), as I thought it would take a lot of games before this squad started to click. I thought we were quite fortunate to be as high as we were a few weeks ago, not because we had been lucky to win matches, but because we seemed to be relying on goals from Duran, which was never going to be sustainable.
We still look a long way off ‘clicking’. Rogers has been poor for weeks, and, to be slightly controversial here, I don’t think he was that good at the start of the season when he was getting a lot of attention. A lot of his performances were 70% brilliant and 30% poor, and that 30% usually included getting a goal or assist - so while he was playing well, he wasn’t winning us games. He has arguably the most important role in our team, and if he isn't playing well, we really struggle.
Unai knows this, and he knows that we need him to find some form soon. That’s the only explanation for why he plays him so much - he needs to get better, he needs more experience, he needs to work out how to impact games. To be honest, I’d have taken him out of the team weeks ago, but I think Unai is thinking about the next few years, not just the match this week. He obviously sees something in Rogers, and is doing whatever he can to bring it out of him.
Then there’s Bailey, who has a similarly important role. I’ve never seen a player so desperate for something to go his way. I’m convinced that if that shot had gone in against Palace, or McGinn had scored from his cut back against Juventus, that could have jolted him back, but nothing is happening for him at the moment.
The margins are so small in the way we set up. It’s high risk football, and it relies on every player protecting the ball. We’re not doing that at the moment. Due to the run we’re on, players are doubting themselves and each other. A split second of doubt can have major ramifications. Cash and Konsa are the most obvious ones - the amount of time they can play a forward pass, but hesitate slightly and it comes back. That’s spreading all over the pitch now, and I’m sure that it’s 90% confidence.
The thing is though, I have no idea how you can force that to work. I’m not sure what Unai can do to suddenly create confidence throughout the team, it almost certainly has to come from them. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it could come back very quickly. It could be one game where we start to pass through a side, moving from defence to attack. Bailey beats his man and sets up Rogers who lashes it home - one moment that could have a huge impact on our season.
I think I will be a bit worried if we don’t have a good week. I think 4 points minimum, but we need to be looking at 6, really. If we get those, then the league will look very different, and the world will seem a much better place this time next week.
I appreciate that this amount of positivity isn’t for everyone, so for those people, try this - I don’t think I’ve ever cared less about how we’re doing. It’s got nothing to do with Unai or the players, but I just can’t muster up the same level of enthusiasm and passion as I have done every other year. I didn’t go to the Juventus game, and I’m not sure how much I missed it.
We can question our transfer dealings in the summer, but we apparently had to sell Doug to comply with the Premier League rules, and Diably to comply with the Champions League rules. We had to replace them both with a very tight transfer budget (because of the rules, not because the club doesn’t have the means to spend). We also had to strengthen the squad now that we’re playing in the Champions League - a net spend of around £30 million? Meanwhile, our opponents yesterday have spent £1 billion on players, while continuously failing to achieve anything. Firing managers, leaving multi-million pound signings out of the squad because they can’t fit them in, selling hotels to themselves.
We’re rebuilding our squad because three years ago we let Steven Gerrard buy his mate.
“It’s an unfair game”. Too fucking right. I’m close to being done with it. Not least because in order for us to be able to compete with these kinds of teams, who happened to be towards the top of the league 10 years ago, when the music stopped, we, the fans, have to accept whatever the club wants to charge us. What’s the point?
So there we are: everything’s going to be fine, but it doesn’t really matter anymore because everything’s fucked. Something for everyone.
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I’m not worried yet. I was pleasantly surprised by our excellent start to the season (results-wise), as I thought it would take a lot of games before this squad started to click. I thought we were quite fortunate to be as high as we were a few weeks ago, not because we had been lucky to win matches, but because we seemed to be relying on goals from Duran, which was never going to be sustainable.
We still look a long way off ‘clicking’. Rogers has been poor for weeks, and, to be slightly controversial here, I don’t think he was that good at the start of the season when he was getting a lot of attention. A lot of his performances were 70% brilliant and 30% poor, and that 30% usually included getting a goal or assist - so while he was playing well, he wasn’t winning us games. He has arguably the most important role in our team, and if he isn't playing well, we really struggle.
Unai knows this, and he knows that we need him to find some form soon. That’s the only explanation for why he plays him so much - he needs to get better, he needs more experience, he needs to work out how to impact games. To be honest, I’d have taken him out of the team weeks ago, but I think Unai is thinking about the next few years, not just the match this week. He obviously sees something in Rogers, and is doing whatever he can to bring it out of him.
Then there’s Bailey, who has a similarly important role. I’ve never seen a player so desperate for something to go his way. I’m convinced that if that shot had gone in against Palace, or McGinn had scored from his cut back against Juventus, that could have jolted him back, but nothing is happening for him at the moment.
The margins are so small in the way we set up. It’s high risk football, and it relies on every player protecting the ball. We’re not doing that at the moment. Due to the run we’re on, players are doubting themselves and each other. A split second of doubt can have major ramifications. Cash and Konsa are the most obvious ones - the amount of time they can play a forward pass, but hesitate slightly and it comes back. That’s spreading all over the pitch now, and I’m sure that it’s 90% confidence.
The thing is though, I have no idea how you can force that to work. I’m not sure what Unai can do to suddenly create confidence throughout the team, it almost certainly has to come from them. That’s the bad news. The good news is that it could come back very quickly. It could be one game where we start to pass through a side, moving from defence to attack. Bailey beats his man and sets up Rogers who lashes it home - one moment that could have a huge impact on our season.
I think I will be a bit worried if we don’t have a good week. I think 4 points minimum, but we need to be looking at 6, really. If we get those, then the league will look very different, and the world will seem a much better place this time next week.
I appreciate that this amount of positivity isn’t for everyone, so for those people, try this - I don’t think I’ve ever cared less about how we’re doing. It’s got nothing to do with Unai or the players, but I just can’t muster up the same level of enthusiasm and passion as I have done every other year. I didn’t go to the Juventus game, and I’m not sure how much I missed it.
We can question our transfer dealings in the summer, but we apparently had to sell Doug to comply with the Premier League rules, and Diably to comply with the Champions League rules. We had to replace them both with a very tight transfer budget (because of the rules, not because the club doesn’t have the means to spend). We also had to strengthen the squad now that we’re playing in the Champions League - a net spend of around £30 million? Meanwhile, our opponents yesterday have spent £1 billion on players, while continuously failing to achieve anything. Firing managers, leaving multi-million pound signings out of the squad because they can’t fit them in, selling hotels to themselves.
We’re rebuilding our squad because three years ago we let Steven Gerrard buy his mate.
“It’s an unfair game”. Too fucking right. I’m close to being done with it. Not least because in order for us to be able to compete with these kinds of teams, who happened to be towards the top of the league 10 years ago, when the music stopped, we, the fans, have to accept whatever the club wants to charge us. What’s the point?
So there we are: everything’s going to be fine, but it doesn’t really matter anymore because everything’s fucked. Something for everyone.
Very good post
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I'm not worried but I am fed up. Our league form is dragging down my enthusiasm for the Champions League, and it looks like another trophyless season as you just know we'll get a tough away draw in the 3rd round of the FA Cup and blow that.
Not for the first time the root cause of our issues was not having a plan B in the transfer window. I think we wanted Felix to replace Diaby but couldn't make it happen for whatever reason. Then instead of having a second choice, or doing another Zaniolo style loan we just gambled on what we had. Lo and behold Ramsey is missing lots of games through injury again and Philogene is nowhere near the required standard. Missing chances and having no pace on the counter has just piled more pressure on the defence/midfield and we've just crumbled as a result.
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I think you make some good points Boozy, but its a lot of words for someone that has "ever cared less".
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I think you make some good points Boozy, but its a lot of words for someone that has "ever cared less".
That's a fair point I guess - but it's a relative scale. I just don't feel myself as bothered by our games these days, especially away when I'm not there. I didn't watch the match yesterday (which I appreciate may undermine a lot of my opinions on how things are going), whereas that would have been unheard of six months ago - I'd need to be watching. And I wouldn't read too much into my word count - I write for a living, so I can bash out a load of nonsense like that in about five minutes - it doesn't even need to be good when people aren't paying for it! Part of the reason I started writing it was because I want to try and find out why I don't care as much, and writing things down can help organise thoughts, if that makes sense?
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When Unai arrived two years ago, he steadied the ship, calmed down the players, got them more focused and clearly defined their individual and collective responsibilities. In recent months Unai has become more agitated with the players and officials and this is rubbing off on others. MCGinn for example, has reverted back to his old bad habits of mouthing off left, right and center.
Has over analysis caused paralysis. Some of our players look confused!!
Without doubt, Unai is a class manager but first and foremost I think he needs to look at himself. Where has that calming influence gone? He needs to reflect on what he said and did during his first week at the club.
Our players are currently lacking confidence, belief and look stressed. That comes from the manager.
Unai needs to calm down, set a better example and get back to the basics he initially installed. A calm head is called for and this will rub off on the players.
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Stickied? Is that really appropriate/necessary?
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I'm guessing that was just Legion's fat fingers.
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I think you make some good points Boozy, but its a lot of words for someone that has "ever cared less".
That's a fair point I guess - but it's a relative scale. I just don't feel myself as bothered by our games these days, especially away when I'm not there. I didn't watch the match yesterday (which I appreciate may undermine a lot of my opinions on how things are going), whereas that would have been unheard of six months ago - I'd need to be watching. And I wouldn't read too much into my word count - I write for a living, so I can bash out a load of nonsense like that in about five minutes - it doesn't even need to be good when people aren't paying for it! Part of the reason I started writing it was because I want to try and find out why I don't care as much, and writing things down can help organise thoughts, if that makes sense?
Fair enough mate, i find it cathartic coming on here and having a moan and reading how other people see it.
I wish it didn't bother me as much, I wish I didn't let it spoil my day sometimes. It was easier when expectations were lower. I also think about the Heck nonsense and how that is the thing that might allow me to care less. All the best.
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Yeah, the Heck stuff has really pissed me off a lot more than I thought it would. I view everything now through the prism of the club (ie Heck) not giving a shiny shite about the fans, so there's almost a perverse pleasure to be had in thinking about how he's going to try to explain loads of empty seats for upcoming games. It's easy to rinse the fans when we've qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever especially with home ties for glamour games, far less easy when our form and results have gone down the toilet.
It'll be very interesting to see how full Villa Park is for the next two games, what with shit results, crap weather, lots of matches and Christmas coming up.
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Stickied? Is that really appropriate/necessary?
I agree, it's a really bad look!
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Yeah, the Heck stuff has really pissed me off a lot more than I thought it would. I view everything now through the prism of the club (ie Heck) not giving a shiny shite about the fans, so there's almost a perverse pleasure to be had in thinking about how he's going to try to explain loads of empty seats for upcoming games. It's easy to rinse the fans when we've qualified for the Champions League for the first time ever especially with home ties for glamour games, far less easy when our form and results have gone down the toilet.
It'll be very interesting to see how full Villa Park is for the next two games, what with shit results, crap weather, lots of matches and Christmas coming up.
Yeah, I've been surprised about how much the 'Heck stuff' has got to me. I don't think I ever really believed the club saw me as anything other than a revenue stream, but to have it so nakedly out in the open now just seems to cheapen (ironically) the whole relationship. The last thing you want to do is force football fans to ask themselves 'is this all worth it?', because objectively speaking it's a very hard hobby to justify.
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When Unai arrived two years ago, he steadied the ship, calmed down the players, got them more focused and clearly defined their individual and collective responsibilities. In recent months Unai has become more agitated with the players and officials and this is rubbing off on others. MCGinn for example, has reverted back to his old bad habits of mouthing off left, right and center.
Has over analysis caused paralysis. Some of our players look confused!!
Without doubt, Unai is a class manager but first and foremost I think he needs to look at himself. Where has that calming influence gone? He needs to reflect on what he said and did during his first week at the club.
Our players are currently lacking confidence, belief and look stressed. That comes from the manager.
I understand where you are coming from, 5 or 6 games ago Emery seemed to be having a very heated, lets call it discussion, with Mcphee during i think a live game.
I remember at the time thinking that it didn't look right, a little off, and could not remember seeing the like before.
Though i could easily be wrong, but in my mind things on the park seem to have worsened since that incident.
Unai needs to calm down, set a better example and get back to the basics he initially installed. A calm head is called for and this will rub off on the players.
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Stickied? Is that really appropriate/necessary?
I agree, it's a really bad look!
I don't understand the problem. The thread is for Villa fans as is the site. I don't much care what anyone else says.
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I'm not worried so apologies for not reading the thread but stickied? If we lose at home to Brentford, okay but it's hardly time to press the panic button.
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I imagine it was done by accident. I've reported it just in case. Well, I've actually reported it twice because my finger slipped halfway through the first time...
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There you go.
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Phew, thanks. I can stop worrying now.
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I am worried now that this is no longer a sticky.
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Loosely based on the old adage that it’s the hope that kills you, perversely the worse it gets the less I worry.
When your hope and dreams for the club under Emery start to fall apart it’s painful until you get to the tipping point of realising that ‘tits up’ is the new norm and winning trophies is extremely unlikely.
If and when Unai starts to turn things around then the anxiety will return.
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Loosely based on the old adage that it’s the hope that kills you, perversely the worse it gets the less I worry.
When your hope and dreams for the club under Emery start to fall apart it’s painful until you get to the tipping point of realising that ‘tits up’ is the new norm and winning trophies is extremely unlikely.
If and when Unai starts to turn things around then the anxiety will return.
That exactly reflects my thoughts in the original post.
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Stable mid table is ok i guess . It's when we get bad enough to start getting caught up in another 2015 era that you have to worry .
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I didnt think we would get CL when the window shut because we weakened the squad and i still feel that way. We are actualky doing worse than i expected.
Like citeh we made bad decisions in the summer and its costing us. Id say we may squeak europa if we add a few players in jan. But if this is squad until end of season i think we wont even qualify for conference
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I'm loathe to call it a perfect storm but it is a combination of factors hurting us at present. The extra drag - albeit a positive one - of the Champions League, while simultaneously having to sell to comply with PSR rules and key players losing form - SJM simply isnt at the moment. The Tyrone fiasco seemed to destabilise the group and we've never righted the ship. I have total cofidence in Unai to sort it but our lot do turn remarkably quickly, get behind them and don't panic. Its easy to sing "Villa till i die" when we're winning. Am i worried?? - no, not yet.
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We've had 4 disappointing draws. Win 2 of those and we'd be 6th, win 3 and we're level with Arsenal and Chelsea.
It's all fine margins in a tight division (except Liverpool) - most worrying is the best team we have beaten (position wise) is Fulham.
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We've had 4 disappointing draws. Win 2 of those and we'd be 6th, win 3 and we're level with Arsenal and Chelsea.
It's all fine margins in a tight division (except Liverpool) - most worrying is the best team we have beaten (position wise) is Fulham.
For me Reuben its not just the results its the performances as well. We have been well below par most of the season. If we were at least playing well i would feel abit more optimistic than what i currently do
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No
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We've had 4 disappointing draws. Win 2 of those and we'd be 6th, win 3 and we're level with Arsenal and Chelsea.
It's all fine margins in a tight division (except Liverpool) - most worrying is the best team we have beaten (position wise) is Fulham.
For me Reuben its not just the results its the performances as well. We have been well below par most of the season. If we were at least playing well i would feel abit more optimistic than what i currently do
IMO our 2 best matches were Arsenal and Bayern and we lost one of those. The others have been largely poor or OK.
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Emery's subs are baffling
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Emery's subs are baffling
Only if you’re easily baffled. Which you appear to be.
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This certainly helped eased my worries abit. Hopefully this recent spell is our "poor form" of the season and teh second half of the season is far better
Still think we need to get a wide player in as bailey and philiogene are not cutting it at the moment
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Updating my status to: relieved / cautiously optimistic.
I think Bailey is showing signs that he could suddenly explode into life and be the player he was last season.
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It's interesting to see players performing so much better when in their favoured positions. It is also nice to see a team that didn't flood the midfield against us. I don't think many will make that mistake.
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So with the 4 dropped points (2 each against Palace and Bournemouth) we would be 4th. That's without really playing great so far this season.
After Saturday, the next two games will be really tough: Forest away and City at home.
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We've had 4 disappointing draws. Win 2 of those and we'd be 6th, win 3 and we're level with Arsenal and Chelsea.
It's all fine margins in a tight division (except Liverpool) - most worrying is the best team we have beaten (position wise) is Fulham.
For me Reuben its not just the results its the performances as well. We have been well below par most of the season. If we were at least playing well i would feel abit more optimistic than what i currently do
IMO our 2 best matches were Arsenal and Bayern and we lost one of those. The others have been largely poor or OK.
Agree with that.
I think our best two league performances was yeaterday and fulham. Arsenal was good but we lost and got punished for dreadful finishing
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So with the 4 dropped points (2 each against Palace and Bournemouth) we would be 4th. That's without really playing great so far this season.
Yeh if we won games that we didn't, we'd be higher. Same as the other teams in the league.
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The problem in the poor run, in my opinion, was that our confidence took a battering by us conceding early. 4 games in the run we were behind within the first 20minutes. When you're also struggling to take the chances you create going behind early is the absolute worst thing that can happen, to have it happen every other game just killed our confidence.
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After Saturday, the next two games will be really tough: Forest away and City at home.
Mightn't be the worst time to play Forest, let's see how they get on against Yanited.
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I think the most worrying thing for me is the defence. Looking at the table between the top 11 sides we are only side that has -GD. Think that is telling of where are biggest issue in the side is.
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I think the most worrying thing for me is the defence. Looking at the table between the top 11 sides we are only side that has -GD. Think that is telling of where are biggest issue in the side is.
Letting goals in and not scoring enough? I think you're onto something there!
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I think the most worrying thing for me is the defence. Looking at the table between the top 11 sides we are only side that has -GD. Think that is telling of where are biggest issue in the side is.
Letting goals in and not scoring enough? I think you're onto something there!
Which ones the bigger issue out of the two in your opinion?
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My opinion is that there are gaps in our first team down our right hand side. A dominant, reliable centre half, a top right back and a right winger. Plus we seem to miss chances in games at key stages.
Put all that together and you get an inconsistent side who can be devastatingly brilliant one week, and average the next. If we can put out stupid mistakes (usually early in games or right at the end of them), take more chances when they arise, we have no reason to be worried about anything.