Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: Comrade Blitz on December 30, 2016, 12:01:34 PM
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The next 10 league matches through the end of Feb are all against sides below Villa in the table (at the moment) except the last two:
Cardiff City (A)
Wolves (A)
PNE (H)
Bristol City (H)
Brentford (A)
NFFC (A)
Ipswich (H)
Barnsley (H)
NUFC (A)
Derby (H)
It'd be nice to take 24 points from that run. What do you think?
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Realistically we need to average 2 points a game to resemble 'promotion form', so I'd be happy with 20.
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Cardiff City (A) W
Wolves (A) W
PNE (H) W
Bristol City (H) W
Brentford (A) L
NFFC (A) D
Ipswich (H) D
Barnsley (H) W
NUFC (A) L
Derby (H) W
20 points. Playoff push continues.
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More than last year
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Possible the most difficult to predict as we have little idea what the starting XI will be given ACON and the transfer window.
It has to be a minimum of 20 points though.
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I can only look at the next game. We should win it.
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Cardiff City (A) W
Wolves (A) W
PNE (H) W
Bristol City (H) W
Brentford (A) L
NFFC (A) D
Ipswich (H) D
Barnsley (H) W
NUFC (A) L
Derby (H) W
20 points. Playoff push continues.
20 points should be very achievable - but looking at these fixtures - there is only 1 where the opposition would be considered favourites to win it. And we know we can match them on the day and make them Sob on the Tyne again.
The other games are all there for the taking in my opinion. If we are to consider promotion we need more than 20 so at least 6 wins and 2 draws (20 points) then whatever we can get from the other 2 will be a bonus.
There are a lot of unknowns coming into the equation with International call ups and the transfer window. It will keep us interested for the right reasons this year!
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25. 8 wins draw with Forest, lose at Newcastle
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Cardiff City (A) D
Wolves (A) W
PNE (H) W
Bristol City (H) W
Brentford (A) D
NFFC (A) W
Ipswich (H) W
Barnsley (H) W
NUFC (A) L
Derby (H) W
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I suspect something like 17-18 from them, enough to keep us in touch but not enough to push into the play offs. Much the same as the last 10. The main reason is that I can't us getting more than 5-6 points away from home in that set and the home wins won't be enough to offset it.
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I would guess around 17/18 points. I think we'll miss Kodjia.
Can't see Gabby scoring again.
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17-18 for me too
Don't have us winning either of our next two so hopefully we soon surpass my expectations
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I've gone for 18 points. A combination of draws and wins- no losses.
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More than last year
more than the whole of last season
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Cardiff City (A) W
Wolves (A) W
PNE (H) W
Bristol City (H) W
Brentford (A) L
NFFC (A) D
Ipswich (H) D
Barnsley (H) W
NUFC (A) L
Derby (H) W
20 points. Playoff push continues.
We aren't going to win the next 4
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
You mean the poor little lambs had to play four days earlier? What unspeakable cruelty.
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I don't see anything else than 30 points.
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
You mean the poor little lambs had to play four days earlier? What unspeakable cruelty.
I mean they have had a nice long rest and we will be playing our third game in eight days. As Jedinak is our best midfielder, and could hardly break into a trott during our last game, that doesn't fill me with confidence. Them having their game called off was a disaster for us.
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
You mean the poor little lambs had to play four days earlier? What unspeakable cruelty.
I mean they have had a nice long rest and we will be playing our third game in eight days. As Jedinak is our best midfielder, and could hardly break into a trott during our last game, that doesn't fill me with confidence. Them having their game called off was a disaster for us.
A nice long rest? A disaster? Are these professional athletes, or retired librarians?
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Even professional athletes need to be properly rested to be as effective as they can be. Cardiff aren't guaranteed a win because of the postponement but gives them an advantage.
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
You mean the poor little lambs had to play four days earlier? What unspeakable cruelty.
I mean they have had a nice long rest and we will be playing our third game in eight days. As Jedinak is our best midfielder, and could hardly break into a trott during our last game, that doesn't fill me with confidence. Them having their game called off was a disaster for us.
A nice long rest? A disaster? Are these professional athletes, or retired librarians?
Professional athletes who perform better when they are rested than when they are knackered.
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No, I've changed my mind due to us no longer having had extra rest compared to Cardiff. First game will be a draw.
You mean the poor little lambs had to play four days earlier? What unspeakable cruelty.
I mean they have had a nice long rest and we will be playing our third game in eight days. As Jedinak is our best midfielder, and could hardly break into a trott during our last game, that doesn't fill me with confidence. Them having their game called off was a disaster for us.
A nice long rest? A disaster? Are these professional athletes, or retired librarians?
Professional athletes who perform better when they are rested than when they are knackered.
Knackered after playing for ninety minutes in a week, and that four days earlier? What a disaster.
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So you don't think the more a player plays has any effect on their performance against someone who has had more rest?
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So you don't think the more a player plays has any effect on their performance against someone who has had more rest?
Not if it's one match in a week halfway through the season I don't.
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16 points.
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So you don't think the more a player plays has any effect on their performance against someone who has had more rest?
Not if it's one match in a week halfway through the season I don't.
Footballers are rarely fully fit come December never mind later in the season. many, if not most, will already be carrying knocks, niggles, and strains. The less they have to play the better. And as you say, they're professionals. they need to be at, our as close to, their optimum as possible to perform as they can. The argument that they're footballers so should be able to play as much as possible and play to their best each time is a throw-back to the days of players being injured beyond their careers. It's also why many foreign managers decry our christmas programme.
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So you don't think the more a player plays has any effect on their performance against someone who has had more rest?
Not if it's one match in a week halfway through the season I don't.
Footballers are rarely fully fit come December never mind later in the season. many, if not most, will already be carrying knocks, niggles, and strains. The less they have to play the better. And as you say, they're professionals. they need to be at, our as close to, their optimum as possible to perform as they can. The argument that they're footballers so should be able to play as much as possible and play to their best each time is a throw-back to the days of players being injured beyond their careers. It's also why many foreign managers decry our christmas programme.
By the time kick-off comes round some - not all - of our players will have played ninety minutes in the previous seven days. They won't have played at all for four days. If that places them at a disadvantage against a team in the bottom four who may or may not have turned into worldbeaters due to not having had to do the same the n so be it. By that logic Tommy Elphick should be picked ahead of James Chester.
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Chester isn't the issue. The problem is that our midfield is already shite and Jedinak has already demonstrated that he can't play two games in quick succession, let alone three.
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Cardiff City (A) Win
Wolves (A) Win
PNE (H) Win
Bristol City (H) Win
Brentford (A) Win
NFFC (A) Draw
Ipswich (H) Win
Barnsley (H) Win
NUFC (A) Lose
Derby (H) Draw
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We should be looking to though. All very winnable.
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Three points dropped, 27 more to go.....
I bet Wolves can't wait for the next match.
Having a poor run of form? Need a quick turnaround? No worries! You play the Villa next!
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Lambert will be going all out for this one. I hope Hutton, Westy and Gabby all contribute to a handsome victory just to rub his nose in it. Tonev and Helenius my arse.
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0 from 6 so far, any thoughts of a play off place now require a seismic shift of Ross and Gabby proportions. Not good enough so far against pish like Cardiff and the Dingles.
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Cardiff City L
Wolves L
That leaves five of the next eight at home:
PNE (H)
Bristol City (H)
Brentford (A)
NFFC (A)
Ipswich (H)
Barnsley (H)
NUFC (A)
Derby (H)
This could end up with as just 15 points out of 30 - and that's being overly optimistic.
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With the current midfield and arsehole onegoalayear up front we wont score away and can hope to pinch a few 1-0's at home.
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Bristol City won their FA Cup replay this evening which means this game gets moved. They 'll be a gap after Preston then Brentford away
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We need to win the Preston gane and then hope 3 or 4 new faces are here for Brentford. 16 points from the next 8 wold be the bare minimum now.
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A run of 4 or 5 wins on the bounce is what we need
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Such a run should be the " norm " for any Villa side. Unfortunately in the past few years it has been a similar tally of consecutive defeats that we have achieved.
Let's own up......our players aren't good enough, our mentality isn't good enough and our coaching (??) isn't good enough.
In short.....we ain't any good right now.
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So, one point from the first three games. Great start.
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We need to go on a run where we win about ten in a row. Unfortunately, we keep falling at the end of the first game.
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We need to go on a run where we win about ten in a row. Unfortunately, we keep falling at the end of the first game.
;D
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I voted for less than 18 and sadly I have been proved right.
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At least you weren't the idiot who did a 10 game thread just before Brentford game and predicted about 6 wins from the sequence.....
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I went for 21 pts.
You could call it delusional
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We should have won a number of the games; Preston, Forest, Ipswich for a start.
Nobody foresaw is dropping off a cliff, although the gruesome twosome display in midfield in the first half at Cardiff, minus Kodjia was a signal that things would be tougher in January.