Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Concrete John on December 13, 2012, 10:14:10 AM
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Given the new found optimism on this site, I was wondering where people actually expect us to finish in the league now? The cup has given everyone a lift this week, but the league form has also had an upturn of late and is around mid-table level right now. I think a lot of people may say it's dependent on the January signings, but it's still worth asking the question!
Personally, I'm going for an optimistic upper mid table.
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I agree. Upper mid.
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I can really see us going on a good run towards the end of the season but I think that by then we will be right down in it, given the time any new signings will need to settle in etc. so bottom 6 but on an upward trajectory.
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I'm very optimstic about the long-term future of the club but I still think we're in for a real battle this season.
15th/16th but moving in the right direction (i.e. what themossman said!)
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16th
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I'm very optimstic about the long-term future of the club but I still think we're in for a real battle this season.
15th/16th but moving in the right direction (i.e. what themossman said!)
This for me too.
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Upper Mid, We've got too much quality, they just need to stop worrying especially at home and play with Freedom
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Lower middle for me.
Ups and downs all season in the league (lots of ups in the cups).
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Lower-mid: lots of ground to make up and some bumps along the way.
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18th
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Lower mid table for me,start winning a few home games and we will be fine
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10th - 12th.
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Upper Mid, We've got too much quality, they just need to stop worrying especially at home and play with Freedom
That just about nails it for me. Norwich will not be the last side to get a thrashing this season.
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Between 9th and 12th
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12 - 15th, but with a sense of forward momentum this year
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12th-14th, I think we'll be flirting for the next few weeks, then pull away quite nicely. The press even seem to be coming round to the idea that something is building here....
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Somewhere near 14th. We seem to have become defensively more solid and harder to beat over the last couple of months, which help with our away form in particular. To achieve anything higher I think we need to start scoring a few more goals.
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12th-14th, I think we'll be flirting for the next few weeks, then pull away quite nicely. The press even seem to be coming round to the idea that something is building here....
Yes, in between the rubbish that was spouted by Bright and the presenter in last night's League Cup show they did mention that we were a young, hungry side that will get better.
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Jonathan Pearce mentioned the 'bright new era' on Match of the Day after Weimann scored his first against Man U.
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I'm sticking with my original 10th-14th bet-hedger of a prediction. I think the second half of the season will be more fun than the first, though.
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Bottom half but safe. 11th-16th will probably be tight and I can see Swansea, West Brom and perhaps even Norwich (despite hammering them the other night) pulling away from us over Christmas with the games we have.
But I expect our form from Jan-May to be top 8/10 which should see us comfortably midtable at the end.
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sticking with my original prediction of 12th
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Top half, just. By May we'll all be wondering what we were worried about.
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I can't answer this until the window has closed, to me it's dependent on what new faces we bring in.
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Jonathan Pearce mentioned the 'bright new era' on Match of the Day after Weimann scored his first against Man U.
Did he mention it, or scream it like a demented baboon with piles?
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I'll go with 10th and a place in Europe when we lift the league cup
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I'll go with 10th and a place in Europe when we lift the league cup
This for me.
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I haven't a clue. Things are so tight in the middle of the table, just a few points either way could make a massive difference. I like the way the team is coming together and trying to play, but I fear we could still go down if the luck goes against us.
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Jonathan Pearce mentioned the 'bright new era' on Match of the Day after Weimann scored his first against Man U.
Did he mention it, or scream it like a demented baboon with piles?
I once read a brilliant description of Pearce, "He sounds like a man who has just discovered a scorpion in his underpants".
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10th-14th has been my prediction since before the first game and still stands.
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I think we're going down this season. Us, QPR and Reading.
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We will survive. Just. But the fans will stay with Lambert knowing things can only get better, and will. Even after the other night I would still like to see a couple of decent mature heads in Jan. Maybe even the Irishman on loan again will help.
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Pearce mentioned the 'bright new era' on about the third or fourth replay of the goal, so he'd calmed down a bit by then.
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Pearce mentioned the 'bright new era' on about the third or fourth replay of the goal, so he'd calmed down a bit by then.
He may be one of the better commentators out there, but he will still forever be the man who shouted the words 'SIR KILLALOT' in a voice like a chainsaw going through a boulder.
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20th ;-)
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2007/aug/12/sport.obsmagspecial14
The Guardian 2007.
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We will survive. Just. But the fans will stay with Lambert knowing things can only get better, and will. Even after the other night I would still like to see a couple of decent mature heads in Jan. Maybe even the Irishman on loan again will help.
Keane you mean ?
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Same as i've thought all season, around 12th.
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I'll go with 10th and a place in Europe when we lift the league cup
This for me.
Same here. Considering the amount of new players, new manager and coach, the average age of the squad and the injuries to date, we're moving better than expected. The points will come along as the confidence grows.
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Just thought i would post this. One of the best days i ever had at VP. K7 season ticket holder at the time and i have never sen the Holte so lively as it was that day since it became all seater.
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I think we're going down this season. Us, QPR and Reading.
Behave will you ffs.
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Reckon we'll finish about 12th or 13th.
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I reckon we will end up around 13th / 14th.
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13-15th for me!
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Upper Mid, We've got too much quality, they just need to stop worrying especially at home and play with Freedom
The Championship is full of teams who had "too much quality to go down".
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13th 47 Points
Thought that at the start of the season and still think that.
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14th.
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Upper Mid, We've got too much quality, they just need to stop worrying especially at home and play with Freedom
The Championship is full of teams who had "too much quality to go down".
Not really. Out of 24 teams probably Leeds and Forest are the only teams in there that at the time they were relegated you could have made the "too much quality to go down" comment about.
10th to 13th I reckon.
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Mid table, hopefully.
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Mid table, hopefully.
Agreed.
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13th for me
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9-12 for me.
I don't think there's much between us and anyone outside the top 4-5, we've had our bad run early whilst the team got to know each other but we're looking more and more like a team as things go on. I suspect we'll have a good 2nd half and look comfortably mid table long before the end of the season. About 45 points for me (I reckon about 35 will be the limit for 18th, the top 2 are so strong this year that the top and bottom of the league will be quite stretched but with loads of teams between 40 and 50 in the middle. I also think low 50s will be enough for the top 4 this year.
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12th.
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upper mid . there is not a lot of difference in points around the middle of the table and a good run next year could move us up a few places quite easily.
Ive seen Swansea and West ham high and now they are not far in front of us and Ive seen Norwich low and they have moved right up the table and it can change so quick.
I will be happy with 12 th.
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I loved what Gary Neville said last night on TV .
Villa use to bore me to sleep but not anymore , Villa fans must be so happy knowing what they are going to see with these young players and the football they will be playing.
He said the second goal was one of the goals of the season and could not stop praising the beast.
Yes its one game but I am sure we will have more like that .
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I loved what Gary Neville said last night on TV .
Villa use to bore me to sleep but not anymore , Villa fans must be so happy knowing what they are going to see with these young players and the football they will be playing.
He said the second goal was one of the goals of the season and could not stop praising the beast.
Yes its one game but I am sure we will have more like that .
Well he's pretty much spot on, last season we were awful. Like I said a few months back under Mcleish you knew there was no hope that things would ever get better. Under Lambert it's been a slow start, but you could see plenty of things to be positive about.
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I think I said ninth at the start of the season but I didn't account for the effect on our league form that reaching two cup finals will have.
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Really depends on what PL pulls out the bag in January. Right now 13th .........
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I loved what Gary Neville said last night on TV .
Villa use to bore me to sleep but not anymore , Villa fans must be so happy knowing what they are going to see with these young players and the football they will be playing.
He said the second goal was one of the goals of the season and could not stop praising the beast.
Yes its one game but I am sure we will have more like that .
Well he's pretty much spot on, last season we were awful. Like I said a few months back under Mcleish you knew there was no hope that things would ever get better. Under Lambert it's been a slow start, but you could see plenty of things to be positive about.
McLeish was on Skysports yesterday saying how great we are.
I'd hate to think he was going for the old reflected glory angle.
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14th. I'm still not totally convinced we won't be in a relegation battle.
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15th
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Cannot remember if i have posted on this thread before. Hey ho.
Between 8th and 10th would be good.
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Given the 'events' of the past few days I wonder if folks would like to revisit their views on where we will end up?
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Given the 'events' of the past few days I wonder if folks would like to revisit their views on where we will end up?
I said bottom 6 a little while ago, and I still think that sounds about right. Its all going to depend on what happens in January.
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Top six and then upwards from there the season after. ;D
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13th.
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14th
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Anywhere above the bottom three, doesn't matter where, because this is just the first part of the learning circle for the team. In three years top six minimum. Safe by early to mid April.
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Given the 'events' of the past few days I wonder if folks would like to revisit their views on where we will end up?
Not me! I said we are going down and sadly it's getting more likely with every shafting. I sincerely hope I'm wrong of course but I'm worried about Lambert's Lambs
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Villa are very hard to predict this season - we could finish top 10 or go down- I think we will have a much better idea at the end of January when we see what signings we have made.
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I still think somewhere between 9 and 12, mainly because I'm optimistic that PL will make the right signings in this window.
In truth there's going to be very little to choose between 9th and 18th and we're one of the group that fits in there somewhere.
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Voted upper mid previously. Although tmepted to change that to lower mid now, I think I'll stick with it and see what happens in January.
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I'm going for 15th but in all our recent years of mediocrity I can never remember us getting tonked so heavily as in these last two games. Not just the results but the total and utter demolition. It's the sort of game that teams that are going to be relegated suffer. It's worrying but I really like Lambert and I'm putting my faith in him to stay calm and stick to his gameplan. Definitely need a helping hand in January though.
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4th ... from bottom if we donr sort our self out, if we do 13th
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Sticking by mine. Survival without ever feeling comfortable with lots of unexpected results, good and bad. I still think we'll settle down abd put a decent run together at the end of the season.
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Bottom 6, but not bottom 3.
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With a signing or two and the injuries hopefully clearing up I think we can avoid the bottom six.
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15. Aston Villa
16. Norwich
17. QPR
18. Wigan
19. Southampton
20. Reading
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Norwich and QPR will finish above us, QPR buying their way out the mess. I am more than worried about who would want to sign for us in our current plight!!!
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If QPR finish above us then we will have finished bottom.
QPR losing on the weekend confirms their relegation. They wont pick up anything away from home and now have to win all of their remaining home games; no chance.
Reading and QPR will go down.
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Norwich and QPR will finish above us, QPR buying their way out the mess. I am more than worried about who would want to sign for us in our current plight!!!
QPR can attract players but we can't. How does that work?
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Financial clout from someone prepared to spend his dosh. RL will not invest in mid - thirty somethings to bail us out the shit!! He will do his best to stick with the policy they have started. These last 2 games have made me more and more depressed about the state of play. I am never negative but have just had the shit kicked out of me.....we all have!!
Win tomorrow and who know's but what if we dont???
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That isn't what you said. You said QPR will buy their way out and we can't attract players. Either way, you don't know for sure.
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Norwich and QPR will finish above us, QPR buying their way out the mess. I am more than worried about who would want to sign for us in our current plight!!!
QPR can attract players but we can't. How does that work?
Being based in London will help, as well as paying big money wages and the 'mercurial' uncle Harry with his managerial gift of the gab- mainly though qpr will attract players for the wages whereas lambert is looking for hungry players that are more interested in playing football than what they can earn.
We can attract players no doubt and are still a very attractive club.
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Norwich and QPR will finish above us, QPR buying their way out the mess. I am more than worried about who would want to sign for us in our current plight!!!
QPR can attract players but we can't. How does that work?
Being based in London will help, as well as paying big money wages and the 'mercurial' uncle Harry with his managerial gift of the gab- mainly though qpr will attract players for the wages whereas lambert is looking for hungry players that are more interested in playing football than what they can earn.
And that's going to help them?
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Norwich and QPR will finish above us, QPR buying their way out the mess. I am more than worried about who would want to sign for us in our current plight!!!
QPR can attract players but we can't. How does that work?
Being based in London will help, as well as paying big money wages and the 'mercurial' uncle Harry with his managerial gift of the gab- mainly though qpr will attract players for the wages whereas lambert is looking for hungry players that are more interested in playing football than what they can earn.
And that's going to help them?
I never said qpr would finish above us, they will attract players for money whereas we will hopefully attract them for footballing reasons- lambert is right with his policy of looking for hungry players rather than someone hoping to make a quick buck and contributing little- we've had enough of those in the past.
Qpr will be stuck with several overpaid players on big wages not getting a game - their problem not ours.
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Try the predictor (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/predictor/default.stm)
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I think reading and QPR are almost gone unless they turn things around quickly. Thats a pretty big plus. we've got a bit of a gap between us ans them. But I'm not sure there are many other sides I can really see us finishing above - probably only Southampton and Wigan at the moment, unless someone like norwich goes on a shocking run.
So I reckon 16th-14th.
The
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I'm still sticking with 12th. It's been pretty much my prediction since before the season started so i'm going to keep running with it.
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16th for me.
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Will QPR buy though? Massive wage bill as is let alone adding to it and could all be in vain if they go down. They could be in trouble in the C-ship. They have to offer the wages to attract them.
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I am going now, seriously, for between 10th and 13th. Only reason for that prediction is i think we will get some decent players in January and they will fit straight in. Said it before and again now, Robbie Keane on loan please. UTV.
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As I keep on saying QPR don't matter. They need to win 8 games to get to 34 points, it's beyond them. They've got Chelsea, Spurs and the two Manchester clubs in the next 7 games.
Southampton are playing very well and are scoring goals. Big concern.
Didn't realise Wigan only had 18 points even after beating us. I would say they'd go down but we all know come March/April they'll start winning impossible looking games.
I have a feeling the 3rd relegated team will go down on 35 points so we need 5 wins and a couple of draws. If we're not capable of even that we deserve to go to tbh.
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So for the secret hoops amongst us, these are QPR's remaining fixtures. Here's my predictions:
Chelsea A- L
Spurs H- D
West Ham A- D
Man City H- L
Norwich H- W
Swansea A- D
Man. United H- L
Southampton A- D
Sunderland H- W
Us A- L
Fulham A- D
Wigan H- W
Everton A- L
Stoke H- D
Reading A- W
Arsenal H- D
Newcastle H- W
Liverpool A- L
So there you have it. I feel I've been quite generous in some of my predictions as I've predicted them to win most of their winnable home games and given them a few draws away from home. Only really prediction where I've possibly let heart rule head is when they play us but again tbh if we can't even beat QPR at home who'll probably still be bottom when we play them we don't deserve to stay up.
And their final points total from above? 32 points. Not enough to stay up. We'll get more than that for a start.
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It's going to be QPR, Reading and one of us, Wigan, Southampton. It's going to be a horrible 5 months no matter how you look at it.
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I still think one (or both) of the North East teams will be bumping around the bottom lower half for some time, and dont write off a drop for Norwich or Wet Spam into our clutches.
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[Try the predictor[/url]
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Just done the BBC predictor and had us finishing 17th on 35 points.
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It's going to be QPR, Reading and one of us, Wigan, Southampton. It's going to be a horrible 5 months no matter how you look at it.
I pretty much agree, though in effect it may be us, Southampton and Wigan for one place. You'd have to think Newcastle and Sunderland have enough quality to pull away. I was expecting at least one side to bomb in the second half of the season, but not sure who. I thought norwich and Swansea were likely to earlier in the season, but there doesn't seem too much chance of that - though I wouldn't rule it out with norwich quite yet. There's some chance that a lack of goals might hurt the NE clubs still, especially with Ba leaving newcastle. I think Fulham have too much quality to be sucked in
Definitely squeaky bum time. I think it's gonna be pretty tight. Here's hoping southampton are currently in their purple patch and will fall away form wise
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If we get our act together, get some freah bodies in, two or three key players back, then a good win against Southampton could put us well clear of them given the fixtures they have coiming up.
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I think it's going to be Sunderland, Reading, and QPR. We may have just had the 'best' Premier League ever in terms of excitement, but there are some absolutely god awful teams in it this year.
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Yeah, saints' fixtures look tough after us: Man U, Everton and man city with Wigan in the middle
Really hope Vlaar, baker, and Westwood are back for that game. Ideally gabby and nzogbia too
Will be a nervy affair. Hopefully we can stop conceding goals in the first ten minutes of games
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With a couple of decent senior prayers coming in (fuck knows who) to provide experience and support for the younger players 14th is possible but if just further lower league so called young hungry players come onboard then 17th/18th.
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Yeah, saints' fixtures look tough after us: Man U, Everton and man city with Wigan in the middle
Really hope Vlaar, baker, and Westwood are back for that game. Ideally gabby and nzogbia too
Will be a nervy affair. Hopefully we can stop conceding goals in the first ten minutes of games
Hopefully some new signings to! Still got almost two weeks.
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Has the Lambert in or out punch up moved over here yet?
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16-20
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One thing that I'm clinging to tonight is the return of our injured players. Christmas has been horrific but surely we won't be that bad again this season nor as down to the bare bones.
We have 5-6 wins in us. Has to start against Southampton though.
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One thing that I'm clinging to tonight is the return of our injured players. Christmas has been horrific but surely we won't be that bad again this season nor as down to the bare bones.
We have 5-6 wins in us. Has to start against Southampton though.
Who battered us last time we played them. It hasn't just been the Christmas period that has been terrible.
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One thing that I'm clinging to tonight is the return of our injured players. Christmas has been horrific but surely we won't be that bad again this season nor as down to the bare bones.
We have 5-6 wins in us. Has to start against Southampton though.
Who battered us last time we played them. It hasn't just been the Christmas period that has been terrible.
I know, but it will give us a boost to have a fit Gabby, N'Zogbia and Bent to at the very least be options from the bench if those on the pitch are tiring/struggling and Vlaar coming back will be a huge boost to Clark/Baker.
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They're still below us in the league which would suggest we have more than a chance of beating them.
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14th. League Cup finalists, FA cup q-f
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In the final half of last season we managed 15 points.
In the first half of this season we managed 18 points. That's an 20 per cent improvement.
Assuming that we'll manage a 20 per cent improvement in the final half of this season, we'll get 22 points in this period.
In total, that's 40 points - which will leave us 14th or 15th.
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One thing that I'm clinging to tonight is the return of our injured players. Christmas has been horrific but surely we won't be that bad again this season nor as down to the bare bones.
We have 5-6 wins in us. Has to start against Southampton though.
Who battered us last time we played them. It hasn't just been the Christmas period that has been terrible.
If beating a team once meant you would automatically do it again, then football would be a very dull and predictable game. Fortunately it's neither.
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Southampton beat us in 25 minutes that day. That always looks possible against this villa side - a collapse. But we could have been 2 or 3 up before they scored
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Southampton beat us in 25 minutes that day. That always looks possible against this villa side - a collapse. But we could have been 2 or 3 up before they scored
Indeed. It's a funny old game. We could have won against United and went to Anfield and got all three points.
We have 9 winnable games left and who's to say we can't get another surprise win or two also.
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Well I'm heading up to Villa Park for the first time in ages for the Southampton game, we really really need to win.
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Our winning run till the end of jan starts this Saturday..
Tonk Ipswich, Twatt Bradford, batter Southampton, Pummel the bar codes, Bradford to get another shoeing and embarrass the Jawdies.
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6 weeks ago I thought January's fixtures were eminently winnable. They look decent on paper. But wrong time to have a crisis of confidence and massive injury list. I think January is gonna be make or break.
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Our winning run till the end of jan starts this Saturday..
Tonk Ipswich, Twatt Bradford, batter Southampton, Pummel the bar codes, Bradford to get another shoeing and embarrass the Jawdies.
Before that, they have to attend a midnight summit called by Cyrus.
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I'd go with 2 places of where we are now in either direction, so 14th if he gets some money and buys right or 18th if he doesn't.
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I think we'll finish 16th or 17th. Not good enough for Villa, but at least it'll preserve our PL status. To do that though Lerner has to come to his senses and open the chequebook this month, and I think he will.