Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: kippaxvilla2 on July 20, 2019, 12:53:18 PM
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Spent a lot. Bought a lot of players in one go.? Lots of unknown quantities at PL level.
On the plus side we’ve got business done early. We seem to have thought about the type of player we want to bring in to complement the existing squad.
We could surprise a few people but plenty of people are thinking the other way.
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I thought this expression was banned from the board earlier this summer.
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I think because one team spent lots of money and it didn't work, noone should ever try to spend lots of money ever again.
I expect Man City and Paris St Germain to be battling relegation this coming season.
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We didn’t have a balanced squad last season so adding one or two players was never really an option.
To put it another way, we would definitely have gone down with last year’s squad whereas now we have a chance of staying up.
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If we sign 5 players in a mass panic on deadline day then yes
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It's a very lazy comparison.
Fulham failed because they reinforced areas of strength and disrupted the continuity of their squad.
They also failed because there was no design or harmony to their recruitment. The manager had a set style and the recruitment was separate from his input.
They also failed to reinforce where they were weakest and panic purchased, 5 on the final day, without anytime for the to blend.
We have had a measured plan in place prior to the end of the season. We've kept the bulk of the useful elements of the squad together and we're filling gaps created by the release of a number of players surplus to requirements.
We've done our business early and looked specifically at younger players. Whether we're successful or not remains to be seen. But I can't be doing with this lazy cliche.
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It's a very lazy comparison.
Fulham failed because they reinforced areas of strength and disrupted the continuity of their squad.
They also failed because there was no design or harmony to their recruitment. The manager had a set style and the recruitment was separate from his input.
They also failed to reinforce where they were weakest and panic purchased, 5 on the final day, without anytime for the to blend.
We have had a measured plan in place prior to the end of the season. We've kept the bulk of the useful elements of the squad together and we're filling gaps creates by the release of a number of players surplus to requirements.
We've done our business early and looked specifically at younger players. Whether we're successful or not remains to be seen. But I can't be doing with this lazy cliche.
Agreed. I just couldn’t be arsed to type all that. Hot here Ads. Making me lazy.
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For the record I am not lazy. :-)
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No, please lock the thread.
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I see it's a stick that other fans are using to beat Villa fans with on Twitter ( not that I could give a friar tuck ) the fact that three of the signings were here last season, 1 we bought in Jan and DS has worked with two others all ready, gets largely forgotten by the media and pundits.
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No.
We are Villa, we spend what we want.
(Within reason obvs)
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How did the likes of Cairney and Sessegnon do last season for Fulham? I didn't see much of Fulham last season but those two were outstanding in the second division. Always a risk some of ours will have a similar struggle to step up but Fulham seemed to make too many late signings, displacing solid performers like Johansen, with limited pre season team building.
A lot of our transfer business was forced given the number out of contract but thankfully most of it has been done early. The three returnees shouldn't have a problem settling in for starters. Let's be realistic though, we have a new squad of players and management team in the main totally unproven in the top division. A lot of pressure will still rest on Grealish to carry the team in the early stages of the season.
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That pressure will be shared by McGinn and Mings. It won’t all be on Jack.
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No
Lazy punditry from the people who brought you "Villa fans never accepted Bruce because he managed Blues". The succinct and reasonable argument put forward by Ads above, would't be uttered by professional dullards like Danny Mills or Tony Cascarino. People like this do absolutely no research and simply turn up and take the money.
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No-one knows, is the correct answer.
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If 'doing a Fulham' means getting relegated because of a wild and random approach to transfers leading to the manager being unable to implement his chosen style resulting in relegation, then no. We appear to have take the opposite approach. Whether the players are good enough to keep us up remains to be seen.
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We aren't going to do a Fulham. We are going to do a Sir Ron..!!!! Happy times lie ahead.
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What most people on Twitter don't seem to realise who chuck this lazy, half-witted accusation about, is that we had about 7 recognisable first team players. So we had to buy some players.
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Spending a lot of money on players after promotion didn't work too badly for Leeds, Newcastle and Blackburn in the nineties. We absolutely needed to overhaul the squad for a number of reasons. What we need to do this season is hold our nerve and stick to the plan and stick with the manager if and when we have a bad run. Fulham had three different managers during the season, similar to us on the last two occasions we went down from the top flight.
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No
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No I don't believe we will.
DS has sensibly replaced overpaid, overage, snail paced under achievers IMHO with young, pacey, hungry players, with no little skill.
I well remember Hansen saying "You'll win nothing with kids" and look how that ended.
I haven't looked forward to a start to a season for a hell of a long time, but I'm certainly looking forward to this one!
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No I don't believe we will.
DS has sensibly replaced overpaid, overage, snail paced under achievers IMHO with young, pacey, hungry players, with no little skill.
I well remember Hansen saying "You'll win nothing with kids" and look how that ended.
I haven't looked forward to a start to a season for a hell of a long time, but I'm certainly looking forward to this one!
So why start this thread if that is how you feel? You have answered you're own question Eddie! ;-)
He didn't start the thread
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Sad.
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I've removed my posts as I am not into deliberately pissing people off.
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How did the likes of Cairney and Sessegnon do last season for Fulham? I didn't see much of Fulham last season but those two were outstanding in the second division. Always a risk some of ours will have a similar struggle to step up but Fulham seemed to make too many late signings, displacing solid performers like Johansen, with limited pre season team building.
A lot of our transfer business was forced given the number out of contract but thankfully most of it has been done early. The three returnees shouldn't have a problem settling in for starters. Let's be realistic though, we have a new squad of players and management team in the main totally unproven in the top division. A lot of pressure will still rest on Grealish to carry the team in the early stages of the season.
Sessegnon struggled with step up really, still very young though. Cairney was in and out, picked up injury early on in the season which kept him out until November and then was in and out for rest of the season.
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No-one knows, is the correct answer.
It's an obvious question to ask, but I agree we just don't know yet. I don't think many of us would have heard of several of our signings, so we have to keep faith that the recruitment is sound and that the players can step up and adapt quickly.
Fulhams's biggest flops were the big money ones they actually signed earlier on: Seri, Anguissa and Mawson. Although they brought in 5 on deadline day, 3 of those were loanees.
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No I don't believe we will.
DS has sensibly replaced overpaid, overage, snail paced under achievers IMHO with young, pacey, hungry players, with no little skill.
I well remember Hansen saying "You'll win nothing with kids" and look how that ended.
I haven't looked forward to a start to a season for a hell of a long time, but I'm certainly looking forward to this one!
Hansen was probably right in that you almost certainly won't win anything with a team full of kids. But not only did those 'kids' include the Neville brothers, Butt, Scholes, Beckham, Giggs and Sharpe the team also had Schmichael, Parker, Irwin, Bruce, Pallister, Ince, Keane, Robson, Phelan, Hughes, McClair and Cantona. None of whom could be classed as kids.
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Stupid comparison. I don't agree with even starting a post on this subject. It disrespects DS and his coaching team. To think some people wanted DS sacked after the baggies 0-2 defeat at home. Have some faith in Deano!
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I really don’t know. There’s a lot of continuity and reinforcements in places we really needed them.
Genuinely - we could finish anywhere between 20th and 6th this season and I wouldn’t have a clue.
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I don’t think we are, it feels far more planned and structured. Also importantly it’s required, whereas the scale of Fulham’s overhaul wasn’t required.
Doesn’t mean the outcome won’t be the same, clearly I hope it won’t, but spending lots of money doesn’t mean it’s reckless and poorly thought through like Fulham’s was.
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No. In addition to the many good reasons outlined above Villa have fantastic home and away support which will 'drive' the players on for some extra Premier League points. Fulham never had that.
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Maybe, maybe not. The scale of the restructuring means it's quite hard to know one way or another if it'll work. To me, we could finish anywhere from maybe 8th-20th and it wouldn't seem a massive surprise.
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Maybe, maybe not. The scale of the restructuring means it's quite hard to know one way or another if it'll work. To me, we could finish anywhere from maybe 8th-20th and it wouldn't seem a massive surprise.
I agree - signings blend together well after several weeks intense coaching, hit the ground running and Wesley fires, a couple of January addiitions could see us comfortably top half. Conversely we could be in a scrap with the Geordies for bottom place if most of those don't materialise.
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I’m quite happy with the squad now
we seem to be pretty strong in midfield and defence but allowing for the getting used to playing together stuff which might take some games to come through
but the season ultimately for me will be defined by how big Wesley does and whoever plays with him
if he scores or makes goals for others then we will be fine, if he struggles to get going then we might find it hard work
he for me will be the key difference between doing ok or struggling near the bottom reaches
and that’s a fair bit of pressure for a young fella,
Watching him the other night I liked his overall game play and feel confident he can drive us forward
but it’s all speculation at this point and time will tell
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It's a moot point. Our squad was full of loan players and ageing players who would no longer hack it in the PL. We had no choice but to bring in at least 8-10 players if we wanted to have any chance of staying up. It's been done with a sense of strategy and planning behind it.
In any case in today's market we've hardly gone mad - £22m is the most we've paid, in a world where the likes of Leicester and West Ham have players who cost £40m + Wolves have one who cost £32m and even Bournemouth signed someone for £25m.
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If spending a lot of money and getting relegated is 'doing a Fulham', then yes there's a real possibility we are. But as many have said our circumstances are very different and hopefully we're doing our business in a much more measured way.
I agree with John, relying on Wesley feels like a massive gamble to me. If we don't get Maupay or similar then unless he hits the ground running and stays fit we could be in for a difficult season.
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The betting odds at the moment suggest 4 teams to be below us...sheff..Norwich.. Burnley..Brighton.
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I reckon we will finish above Brucecastle.
Top four (not necessarily in this order) will be Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.
Chelsea and Man U will complete the top six.
West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Everton and Watford are all in the middle group, chasing the final European spot and maybe finishing above one of the two above if they have a really good season. Though Wolves could slip into the bottom group if they prove unable to cope with the demands of playing in Europe.
That leaves us, Brighton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Palace, Southampton, Sheff United, Norwich and Newcastle battling to avoid the drop, but any could possibly move into the group above and finish midtable.
If you forced me to guess, I'd say Newcastle, Southampton and Brighton will drop.
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48 was the average goals scored by teams in the Premier League last season who finished between 7th and 17th.
Dean Smith wants goals to come from all angles and from all over the pitch. Not just from our main striker.
I guess our goals for next season will be something like:
Wesley 12
McGinn 8
Jack 8
El Ghazi 8
Trezequet/Maupay/Kodjia or Whoever 8
Defenders 6
Hourihane 4
That's 54 goals in 38 games. Nicely spread around and not unrealistic to expect from them players. Comfortable mid table performance!!!!!!
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This is a decent article on Fulham :
https://www.football.london/fulham-fc/fulham-spent-100m-summer-signings-15378550 (https://www.football.london/fulham-fc/fulham-spent-100m-summer-signings-15378550)
They bought players with mostly decent experience but they just didn't gel. They also bought 12 which mostly went straight into the first team which is a massive shake up. I would hope we're keeping the tactics and playing style fairly similar and have bought players to play to a style not just becuase they're 'names'. That said if we get biffed a few times and the pressure is on, who knows what will happen. I would say the first win is crucial for belief, and Wesley to make a good start.
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The betting odds at the moment suggest 4 teams to be below us...sheff..Norwich.. Burnley..Brighton.
Would be massively disappointed if we finished below Newcastle with state they're currently in. The only strikers on their books currently are Muto and Dwight Gayle.
Think we're shaping up alright at the back and in midfield now to be competitive in bottom half. Need another striker though as that was a massive downfall in 15/16, spending about 70m but hardly any of it went on proven scorer and we saw evidence of it early enough.
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Why isn't this nonsense being aimed at Sheffield United and Norwich, who have signed 7 and 9 players respectively? With Sheffield United, it's possibly because all of their signings have been utterly SHITE!
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Oh I’ve got Sheffield United nailed on for relegation. Callum is their record signing well he was until they signed the Bournemouth player.
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As a Fulham supporter I thought I’ll put my twopence worth in, I think you’ve gone about the right way, signing mainly English players or foreign players who have played most of their careers in England, or played under Dean Smith, but not in the premiership, all the the foreign players we signed bar mitrovic were pants but with hindsight it looked liked we had done well, also outstanding players from the championship side struggled in the premiership,
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All the best for the coming season Franky. I like Fulham.
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I reckon we will finish above Brucecastle.
Top four (not necessarily in this order) will be Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal.
Chelsea and Man U will complete the top six.
West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Everton and Watford are all in the middle group, chasing the final European spot and maybe finishing above one of the two above if they have a really good season. Though Wolves could slip into the bottom group if they prove unable to cope with the demands of playing in Europe.
That leaves us, Brighton, Burnley, Bournemouth, Palace, Southampton, Sheff United, Norwich and Newcastle battling to avoid the drop, but any could possibly move into the group above and finish midtable.
If you forced me to guess, I'd say Newcastle, Southampton and Brighton will drop.
I would go Norwich, Sheff U and Brighton for the drop. I reckon Palace and Newcastle will complete the bottom five. I think this could also be a Premier League season too far for Burnley and Bournemouth and they will both struggle. Unlike a lot of people I happen to think Southampton will do enough to stay out of trouble. So that is seven teams I fancy us to finish above.
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I'm expecting Villa to be in the relegation battle.
I know that he's the best player but I worry about Villa's dependence on Jack. An injury or loss of form for him and Villa could struggle
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I'm expecting Villa to be in the relegation battle.
I know that he's the best player but I worry about Villa's dependence on Jack. An injury or loss of form for him and Villa could struggle
Hopefully it will be debatable if Jack is still our best player once we have all the new faces in!
Whatever happens, I'm fairly confident that the opposition will have more than him to worry about.
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I would go Norwich, Sheff U and Brighton for the drop. I reckon Palace and Newcastle will complete the bottom five.
Yep. Those are my bottom five predictions as well. Depending on their transfer business in the next 3 weeks though AshleyToon could drag themselves out of the pit but I don't think the other 4 can.
We'll be better than those 4 plus a few of the other mid-range teams if us fans can help create a cauldron of pain at Villa Park for when they visit. We'll nick enough away points to add to 10 or 11 home and away wins to get us over the line.
Home; 8 wins, 3 draws, 8 losses
Away; 3 wins, 4 draws, 12 losses
gives us 40 points.
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Stating the obvious but it all depends on how the new signings settle in and if they are as good as expected. These signings have been made to bridge the gap in quality between Championship and Premier League so if they aren’t up to standard then results will go accordingly.
At the moment, we’re also looking short of goals so we need to sign another striker otherwise we’ll struggle to put wins on the board.
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A prolific striker would be great but I don’t think we’re necessarily short of goals if our additions in other areas allow our goal scoring midfielders to flourish (I’d say we have a lot of goal threat in midfield and I have a suspicion Jack in particular will score a few this season).
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Stating the obvious but it all depends on how the new signings settle in and if they are as good as expected. These signings have been made to bridge the gap in quality between Championship and Premier League so if they aren’t up to standard then results will go accordingly.
Yes that's the judgment we're all making but remember that 'PL quality' is not one thing, it's a range of top, middle and bottom. I'm predicting that, even if some of the signings don't click quickly or perfectly, we have enough to start the season on the right lines for achieving those wins/draws/losses and our coaching staff and backroom team will adjust through the day-in-day-out of the season and the January transfer window to get the results at the end.
We'll win and draw, both home and away, more against the bottom clubs, less against the middle clubs but still not zero and we'll take almost nothing from the Top 6.
At the moment, we’re also looking short of goals so we need to sign another striker otherwise we’ll struggle to put wins on the board.
Agreed. Hassan and Maupay hopefully incoming along with Luiz to add to the midfield.
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I’m glad we got the loan targets back- would’ve been much happier if we could have got Tuanzebe and Abrahams as well. But wasn’t to be. My fear is that if a few of the new signings freeze, or take a while to settle then we could be struggling a bit, come Christmas. Still think that we’ll do OK, but who knows?
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I’m glad we got the loan targets back- would’ve been much happier if we could have got Tuanzebe and Abrahams as well. But wasn’t to be. My fear is that if a few of the new signings freeze, or take a while to settle then we could be struggling a bit, come Christmas. Still think that we’ll do OK, but who knows?
I'm not bothered about Tuanzebe, I think Konsa looks like a decent replacement and Engels could be even better if he adjusts to the pace of the league. I'll accept I might be proven wrong on this but with his injury record I'm just not convinced that Tuanzebe on loan for another year would've been a good idea and I definitely feel they'd have asked for an insane fee if we wanted to make him a permanent signing.
Tammy would've been useful but I'm not sure you'd start him regularly and I don't know if he'd have left the Chelsea bench to join ours.
On the goals in the squad, as I said, if the players in the front 3 can net about 30 goals for the season I'd back the rest of the team to get about 20 and that will be enough to put us firmly in mid-table.
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I think the last time we got promoted in 1988 we made three signings. Chris Price, Derek Mountfield and the return of Sid.
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Our nett spend was less than half a million. It's a bit different this time!
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It would be nice to emulate that team by finishing second in 2021.
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England can sod off if they think they're taking Smith, though!
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TS just spent 15 min on are we doing a Fulham.
Conclusion - They have no idea if we are. Mings and Wes are big gambles. We won’t score any goals. We might be ok at the back.
I won’t get those 15 min back
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48 was the average goals scored by teams in the Premier League last season who finished between 7th and 17th.
Dean Smith wants goals to come from all angles and from all over the pitch. Not just from our main striker.
I guess our goals for next season will be something like:
Wesley 12
McGinn 8
Jack 8
El Ghazi 8
Trezequet/Maupay/Kodjia or Whoever 8
Defenders 6
Hourihane 4
That's 54 goals in 38 games. Nicely spread around and not unrealistic to expect from them players. Comfortable mid table performance!!!!!!
I wouldn't want to rely on Grealish & McGinn scoring 25% more goals than last year in a stronger division in fewer matches. I'd say it also very optimistic to expect Wesley and ElGhazi to score 20 between them as well.
Your 'whoever' category is key - hence the need for another striker.
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I'm not sure, I reckon Jack might score a few more than we've seen before this season, so 7-8 from him is a safe bet for me. 28 in total from the front 3 (and their subs) really isn't a massive ask, 10 from Wesley and 4-5 each from the rest would be enough for that. The big that I think might be wrong is the goals from the defenders. All 5 of our centre backs look good options from corners and only Taylor of the fullbacks is scared to get into shooting areas.
I reckon 'par' for this squad is 45-55 goals - if it's less than that something has gone badly wrong, if it's more we've unearthed a superstar or 2.
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All this Fulham shite - The proof is in the pudding. If we go down we'll be Fulham. If we don't they can all fuck off.
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All this Fulham shite - The proof is in the pudding. If we go down we'll be Fulham. If we don't they can all fuck off.
I'd like to take issue with the last sentence. They can all fuck off regardless.
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Honest answer to the original question is who knows. So many unknowns at the moment in terms of the new signings and whether players can reproduce in the top flight the form they showed in the Championship. First season in the top flight for the coaching staff as well just to add to the questions.
What I do hope is we approach every game with attacking intent and have a really good go at it.
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We are not Fulham.
We are a rejuvenated Aston Villa.
The only way is up.
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England can sod off if they think they're taking Smith, though!
Not until we have won 3 trophies.
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Sorry 10.
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Who knew much, if anything, about Marvelous, Trezeuget, Wesley, Engels and Konsa before we were linked? That's why we don't really know how we'll do.
There's not much to argue with us getting permanent deals for Mings, Hause and El Ghazi, and with Butland/Heaton lined up and Jota on, we know what we're getting (though in Jota's case not in the top Division).
It seems like we've competent people in post, it seems like there's a plan, but until we're underway we have to be cautious of expecting too much.
Either that or we'll have won the league by the middle of April.
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Who knew much, if anything, about Marvelous, Trezeuget, Wesley, Engels and Konsa before we were linked? That's why we don't really know how we'll do.
There's not much to argue with us getting permanent deals for Mings, Hause and El Ghazi, and with Butland/Heaton lined up and Jota on, we know what we're getting (though in Jota's case not in the top Division).
It seems like we've competent people in post, it seems like there's a plan, but until we're underway we have to be cautious of expecting too much.
Either that or we'll have won the league by the middle of April.
Yep, pretty much sums up where I am at. I think the fanbase will need a bit of patience in the early part of the season and we will have to see how things unfold.
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You don't have to actually be very good to just stay in the Premier League.
As we proved for several seasons under McLeish and Lambert.
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Fat Sam is the latest doughnut to trot out the Fulham diatribe.
Imagine if we had that twat as our gaffer.
What were supposed to do? Give Jedinak, Hutton, Adomah and Whelan new contracts and hope for the best?
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Dear wider football community know-alls,
FUCK OFF!
Kind regards
The Mighty Villa.
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Fat Sam is the latest doughnut to trot out the Fulham diatribe.
Imagine if we had that twat as our gaffer.
What were supposed to do? Give Jedinak, Hutton, Adomah and Whelan new contracts and hope for the best?
Is that the unemployed Wolves fan Fat Sam you are referring to? Who also happens to be Bruce's best mate and next door neighbour in Portugal.
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Fat Sam trending on twitter now with Villa fans dissing him, the fat twunt.
I think we have a plan that everyone buys into, Fulham's manager didn't and they rushed a lot. As to whether it works or not, who knows, but I sure feel optimistic trying it!! We still might start the season with up to 7 or even 8 of the play-off final players (if you include Hause coming on) - how is that not continuity?
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Sam Allardyce is basically Bruce. A gobshite with an inflated opinion of himself. Fuck him.
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Is that the Fat Sam that did a Fulham before anybody heard of Fulham doing a Fulham.
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Sam Allardyce is basically Bruce. A gobshite with an inflated opinion of himself. Fuck him.
At least Bruce seems a decent chap, just not good at his job. Allardyce is a huge fevered ego. It's basic maths, we released some players, lost some loanees, these players have been replaced obviously at a cost. Fuck him indeed Axl.
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Slip Allardyce a brown envelope and he’ll be our best advocate in the media. The corrupt fat twat.
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Sam Allardyce is basically Bruce. A gobshite with an inflated opinion of himself. Fuck him.
At least Bruce seems a decent chap, just not good at his job. Allardyce is a huge fevered ego. It's basic maths, we released some players, lost some loanees, these players have been replaced obviously at a cost. Fuck him indeed Axl.
Yep. In an ideal world Villa wouldn't need to be buying so many players but given the number of players that left, there was no option but to sign a large number*.
(* of which, three don't really count as new players and Guilbert was already signed)
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I like the way Fat head Brazil introduces him as former England Manager
Why not disgraced, sacked after only one game England Manager - it would be more fitting
The Wolves supporting tosser
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I like the way Fat head Brazil introduces him as former England Manager
Why not disgraced, sacked after only one game England Manager - it would be more fitting
The Wolves supporting tosser
And how has Alan's Brazil's head not yet exploded? The bitter tractor shagging fuck.
(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/03/25/12/11426410-6847371-image-a-40_1553518427295.jpg)
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Brazil's head has it's own gravitational pull.
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Brazil's head has it's own gravitational pull.
And its own orbital moons, you know, the ones he sees when he's pissed.
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I don't know how somebody like Brazil, who was once a professional sportsman, lets himself get into that state.
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He's still fitter than Ross McCormack
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Allardyce has clearly done no research into Villa's situation. I mean, what an idiot to suggest we sign 3 players for the £100m spent not recognising that 14 players left the club at the end of last season. We got 3 loans back permanently and couldn't do much about Axel and Tammy. An absolute dinosaur!
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Darren Gough talked a lot of sense earlier about us and obviously had looked at our business in depth. Less said about bullshit Durham the better.
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I've seen that on Twitter. Darren Gough in broken clock syndrome. Fair play.
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Talksport now. Villa and Fulham mentioned in the same sentence, with Tom Ross who reckons we've finished our business.
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Talksport now. Villa and Fulham mentioned in the same sentence, with Tom Ross who reckons we've finished our business.
They spoke to Tom Ross? A fucking bluenose. Just shows how shit talksport really is. Alan Brazil's head has its own post code. Illiterate twunt.
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If Tom Ross says our business is done, that's good enough for me. After all, the man has an intravenous drip into the veins of Villa Park.
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All those saying/hoping we will "do a Fulham" are just bitter. Most have no idea about the plan our owners, manager and coaches are in the process of implementing. This is not some kid in the newly opened sweet shop approach but a clear, thought out and calculated approach. Those looking on with envy are hoping we will do a Fulham because they are worried about the threat we have become. As for the likes of Big Sam, or hemorrhoid head Brazil I couldn't give a toss what they think as they don't know shit so can only speculate.
None of us know for sure how the season will pan out but my god it makes a nice change to go into it feeling excited about our future.
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Think it's ridiculous this 'doing a Fulham' has become a thing in the same way as doing a Leeds, or many of the other football phrases.
Fulham were not the first team to spend lots of money after being promoted.
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We are going to “Do a Villa” and next season they will all be trying it......
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We are going to “Do a Villa” and next season they will all be trying it......
8)👍
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I've seen that on Twitter. Darren Gough in broken clock syndrome. Fair play.
Gough has a mate who supports Villa and has a box at Villa Park. Gough goes to a few Villa games with his mate over the course of a season. If you listen to him on the radio he supports four teams. His home town boyhood club Barnsley, MK Dons because he lives in Milton Keynes, Villa because of his mate with the box and Chelsea because his two sons support them. Forget half and half scarves, Goughie needs a four quarter scarf.
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He's still fitter than Ross McCormack
Hah! Brilliant
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I've seen that on Twitter. Darren Gough in broken clock syndrome. Fair play.
Gough has a mate who supports Villa and has a box at Villa Park. Gough goes to a few Villa games with his mate over the course of a season. If you listen to him on the radio he supports four teams. His home town boyhood club Barnsley, MK Dons because he lives in Milton Keynes, Villa because of his mate with the box and Chelsea because his two sons support them. Forget half and half scarves, Goughie needs a four quarter scarf.
He’s a Spurs fan too.
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Fulham started last season with a 3-1 defeat to Spurs, a defeat at home and won their third match by a two goal margin at home.
The buggers were clearly right.
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Still no.
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I think we are.
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Not really, they were 19th after 27 games. 17pts with a minus 35 goal difference. They has absolutely no chance of survival and as bad as today was, we can. (hopes)
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But the end of season table will probably have us relegated, in that case we will have done a Fulham
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Not really, they were 19th after 27 games. 17pts with a minus 35 goal difference. They has absolutely no chance of survival and as bad as today was, we can. (hopes)
Yes but it's not about exactly emulating Fulham last year, down to points and goal difference. It's about money spent + recruitment + net effect.
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Not really, they were 19th after 27 games. 17pts with a minus 35 goal difference. They has absolutely no chance of survival and as bad as today was, we can. (hopes)
Yes but it's not about exactly emulating Fulham last year, down to points and goal difference. It's about money spent + recruitment + net effect.
No I know that but what I'm is our position looks more promising than Fulhams this time last season. I get the comparison about the spend but I just think there's a lot of differences in position, points etc and surely "doing a Fulham" can only be pointed at us if we do get relegated.
And like I said, today was shitty, a few results have been proper brown...but, we can still stay in this league and hopefully, "not do a Fulham" and put that shit to bed.
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No I know that but what I'm is our position looks more promising than Fulhams this time last season. I get the comparison about the spend but I just think there's a lot of differences in position, points etc and surely "doing a Fulham" can only be pointed at us if we do get relegated.
And like I said, today was shitty, a few results have been proper brown...but, we can still stay in this league and hopefully, "not do a Fulham" and put that shit to bed.
You're right of course, if we stay up we can say our summer dealings were good enough to do the job. But there's undeniably a comparison to be made, even though it's not been confirmed one way or the other yet.
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One or both of Norwich / Watford will pick up points tomorrow, by draw or win. Either way, we drop into the relegation zone again, and potentially 19th.
At that point, I think there's a very strong chance indeed that we're going to 'do a Fulham'. Despite everyone's (Smith's, Purslow's, and in fairness our own) insistence to the contrary, back in the early season.
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Its possible, but I'd not bet against Man United or the Dingles winning.
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One or both of Norwich / Watford will pick up points tomorrow, by draw or win. Either way, we drop into the relegation zone again, and potentially 19th.
At that point, I think there's a very strong chance indeed that we're going to 'do a Fulham'. Despite everyone's (Smith's, Purslow's, and in fairness our own) insistence to the contrary, back in the early season.
Even as shit as we are, I don't think we have to worry about Norwich, who are currently 7 points behind us.
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One or both of Norwich / Watford will pick up points tomorrow, by draw or win. Either way, we drop into the relegation zone again, and potentially 19th.
At that point, I think there's a very strong chance indeed that we're going to 'do a Fulham'. Despite everyone's (Smith's, Purslow's, and in fairness our own) insistence to the contrary, back in the early season.
Even as shit as we are, I don't think we have to worry about Norwich, who are currently 7 points behind us.
You're right sorry, I was looking at West Ham who ideally will get tanked by Liverpool.
Still worried about Watford tomorrow.
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All those saying/hoping we will "do a Fulham" are just bitter. Most have no idea about the plan our owners, manager and coaches are in the process of implementing. This is not some kid in the newly opened sweet shop approach but a clear, thought out and calculated approach. Those looking on with envy are hoping we will do a Fulham because they are worried about the threat we have become. As for the likes of Big Sam, or hemorrhoid head Brazil I couldn't give a toss what they think as they don't know shit so can only speculate.
None of us know for sure how the season will pan out but my god it makes a nice change to go into it feeling excited about our future.
This post has aged well so far. TBF you weren't the only one.
Seems one way to get supporters excited nowadays is to spend 100m on players from abroad and lower leagues that people have never heard of.
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All those saying/hoping we will "do a Fulham" are just bitter. Most have no idea about the plan our owners, manager and coaches are in the process of implementing. This is not some kid in the newly opened sweet shop approach but a clear, thought out and calculated approach. Those looking on with envy are hoping we will do a Fulham because they are worried about the threat we have become. As for the likes of Big Sam, or hemorrhoid head Brazil I couldn't give a toss what they think as they don't know shit so can only speculate.
None of us know for sure how the season will pan out but my god it makes a nice change to go into it feeling excited about our future.
This post has aged well so far. TBF you weren't the only one.
Seems one way to get supporters excited nowadays is to spend 100m on players from abroad and lower leagues that people have never heard of.
That particular post bit have been a little over the top, but I don’t think you can blame people for getting a bit excited at the start of the season.
Coming of the back of a club record winning run and promotion at Wembley, it would make football pretty boring if people weren’t able to enjoy a little pre season of optimism at the number of signings and amount of money we spent.
Hindsight obviously makes it look misguided but I think it was understandable at the time.
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All those saying/hoping we will "do a Fulham" are just bitter. Most have no idea about the plan our owners, manager and coaches are in the process of implementing. This is not some kid in the newly opened sweet shop approach but a clear, thought out and calculated approach. Those looking on with envy are hoping we will do a Fulham because they are worried about the threat we have become. As for the likes of Big Sam, or hemorrhoid head Brazil I couldn't give a toss what they think as they don't know shit so can only speculate.
None of us know for sure how the season will pan out but my god it makes a nice change to go into it feeling excited about our future.
This post has aged well so far. TBF you weren't the only one.
Seems one way to get supporters excited nowadays is to spend 100m on players from abroad and lower leagues that people have never heard of.
That particular post bit have been a little over the top, but I don’t think you can blame people for getting a bit excited at the start of the season.
Coming of the back of a club record winning run and promotion at Wembley, it would make football pretty boring if people weren’t able to enjoy a little pre season of optimism at the number of signings and amount of money we spent.
Hindsight obviously makes it look misguided but I think it was understandable at the time.
No No I wasn't criticising anyone for dreaming after promotion we could do great things but I was simply sceptical due to us again gambling with relatively untried players and also gambling in key positions. Many at the end of August were pretty happy with our transfer business
All season it's been clear we needed another steady no frills CB with good experience in top level and of course the lack of proven forward has been widely debated. Could argue we needed another solid midfielder but I thought we had enough when the window closed.
This probable relegation will hurt though as we'd have wasted a big chance to build and become a solid top half prem team again in 2-3 years. Even if we stay up people can now see that's a huge challenge and we need to rethink the way forward with recruitment.
It's no good our owners being incredibly ambitious and having deep pockets if we keep on flunking transfer windows. In a funny way it's easier to sign better players in the championship as we did last season as we're a very big name down there although will have to see if FFP will put a stop to that.
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If you can't be optimistic, even overly optimistic, during a club record spend after promotion then what's the point? I'll take being overly optimitic every day of the week.
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I worry about the mental fortitude of this team for the dogfight ahead. We have lost so many winneable games, they are used to the sting of losing.
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If you can't be optimistic, even overly optimistic, during a club record spend after promotion then what's the point? I'll take being overly optimitic every day of the week.
Indeed, we all hoped we'd win the title but realistically no-one thought we'd do it. I think though that a lot of people realistically believed we'd do much better than we are.
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I worry about the mental fortitude of this team for the dogfight ahead. We have lost so many winneable games, they are used to the sting of losing.
Spurs game has killed us I think. Simply can't play like that and not even get a point from it. Losing to last kick of the game added to the woe.
Hangover from Lambert era when we were only a bad result away from a 2-3 month winless run.
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Don't know why but just have a feeling we'll survive, even though a "performance" like today suggests otherwise. Its been a season long bedding in for some of these guys and they're clearly not good enough. If we do stay up Dean needs to look at himself and the recruitment policy really needs to be looked at. We've a decent spine, injuries aside, but the rest of them are a championship side. Much work needed in the summer. Just hope we're still Premier league.
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We already haven't "done a Fulham" because they were massively adrift by now.
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Also don't think it is a fair comparison really. Can't remember their particular situation when they went up, but we needed to buy that many new players as we lost so many last summer. We didn't have a choice really.
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Tried to buy and integrate too many new players.
Played a naive and winless brand of football.
No comparison
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Tried to buy and integrate too many new players.
Played a naive and winless brand of football.
No comparison
Would agree with the second line, but would have to change the "tried" in the first line to "Had no choice but" in our case.
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But we still haven't 'done a Fulham'. They replaced virtually a whole team; we replaced an empty squad, hence so many of our problems were unavoidable.
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Unavoidable, we did not have to replace all the players with little or no Premier League experience.
Maybe even a few 15 minute cameos from Whelan or someone like him would have put a few points on the board.
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Unavoidable, we did not have to replace all the players with little or no Premier League experience.
Maybe even a few 15 minute cameos from Whelan or someone like him would have put a few points on the board.
Why would any club pay thousands of pound a week to one or maybe even more players who might just make the odd 15 minute cameo?
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Unavoidable, we did not have to replace all the players with little or no Premier League experience.
Maybe even a few 15 minute cameos from Whelan or someone like him would have put a few points on the board.
Why would any club pay thousands of pound a week to one or maybe even more players who might just make the odd 15 minute cameo?
I am trying to make the point that our squad lacks experience and that lack of nous has contributed to us losing more points from winning positions than any other team in the league.
How much do you think relegation will cost us.?
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Glenn Whelan plays for Fleetwood Town. Are you being serious?
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Glenn Whelan plays for Fleetwood Town. Are you being serious?
And probably still a better bet off the bench than Jota or Drinky.
But I take your point.
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The point was always that the Fulham comparison was always lazy and ignored the most important thing, namely the clubs' specific circumstances. Take Norwich and Sheffield United. Both avoided 'doing a Fulham' in the transfer market, but while one might just end up in the Champions League next year, the other is very much 'doing a Fulham' at the foot of the table. Hi down or stay up, our strategy was still the only one available to us last summer.
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Well not really. We didn’t have to buy a load of untried Unknowns from abroad. That has failed again or is close to doing so at least. And the same error we made in 2015. Except this years Lescott is Drinkwater.
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I hope we don't do a Fulham and get relegated and build a statue of Michael Jackson outside the ground.
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I think we're 1 point behind what Fulham managed all season at the moment. Fulham managed a further 9 points after this point (3 wins). I think 9 points would see us about safe. West Ham haven't won since 1st Jan in the league - surely they can't turn that round too much.
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I think we're 1 point behind what Fulham managed all season at the moment. Fulham managed a further 9 points after this point (3 wins). I think 9 points would see us about safe. West Ham haven't won since 1st Jan in the league - surely they can't turn that round too much.
Newcastle appear to be in freefall as well.
With issues around coronavirus, it's important we stay out of the bottom 3 for the next 2-3 weeks because in an extreme circumstance the Premier League may just bring the season to sharp stop ... what a way to get relegated for those in the dropzone at that point.
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If the PL this year becomes void due to corona virus we’ll definitely be okay
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We might end up doing a 'Wigan'...
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Well not really. We didn’t have to buy a load of untried Unknowns from abroad.
We sort of did need to. If you're buying 10-15 new players and have £120m or so to do it, those players simply aren't going to be all £20m ones ... and even £20m doesn't appear to buy you much more than either a bang average player or an unknown with potential.
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I think we're 1 point behind what Fulham managed all season at the moment. Fulham managed a further 9 points after this point (3 wins). I think 9 points would see us about safe. West Ham haven't won since 1st Jan in the league - surely they can't turn that round too much.
Newcastle appear to be in freefall as well.
With issues around coronavirus, it's important we stay out of the bottom 3 for the next 2-3 weeks because in an extreme circumstance the Premier League may just bring the season to sharp stop ... what a way to get relegated for those in the dropzone at that point.
If they wanted to spend the summer being sued.
I think it’s more likely that the league will be suspended until such time as its deemed safe to start again.
Let’s face it the whole football calendar including the Euros are Vulnerable.
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We might end up doing a 'Wigan'...
Scrap that. A Small Heath Alliance. Thank you, Paul.
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Whatever the comparisons regarding Fulham and last summer's business their January signings were also pretty poor bar perhaps Ryan Babel.
Just to confirm one of our signings can't even make the bench now although Baston was simply a last minute pick up to say we'd signed a striker. Drinkwater been awful, Reina started fine but is now costing us a goal a game and the other is a 16 year old kid.
Fulham only had 17 points at this stage of last season though which shows how bad they really were in a poorer premier league.