Aston Villa v Fulham Post-Match Thread

[johncvilla88]

Remaining games

Blackpool (A)
Blackburn (H)
Bolton (A)
Wolves (H)
Everton (A)
Newcastle (H)
West Ham (A)
Stoke (H)
West Brom (A)
Wigan (H)
Arsenal (A)
Liverpool (H)

[Toronto Villa]

I'm gutted that after the new signings we're still not very good

I think this the reality that some of us will struggle with for a while. Just signing players doesn't get you three points. You still have to win.

The optimism is a good thing but at 1-0 and 2-1 today we should have cashed some of it in.

I agree. The new signings will be good for us, but they all need time to bed in, as much as the other players need to get used to them. I think we'll finish in mid table somewhere, so I'm really hoping that we can advance in the FA Cup. We need the summer to take exhale, rebuild and refocus.

[The Situation]

Looking at the table we are still not out of the mire yet.  More performaces like that and it is going to get snug down there.

Yep.

We can't be counting on 'shit' teams to carry on being 'shit' and hoping we can get away with it. We won't. Wigan and Everton winning today has really but us back into 'sqeaky bum' time.

I'm more nervous now than I was before the start of the game.

[richard moore]

I'm gutted that after the new signings we're still not very good

I think the sooner we all realise this is a season of transition and there is probably another 4 or 5 players from the old regime to go in the summer, the better we will all cope, including me, with the crushing mediocrity of it all...

[TopDeck113]

Fulham have a good little run of late, so perhaps a draw was inevitable. 

Disappointing that Friedel had a hand in both their goals.  He's given away a number of points this season and, sad as maybe, perhaps time is catching up with him.

A lot of freak results today, but the way that teams in the bottom third are picking up points, I wonder if we might see 40 points not being enough to avoid the third relegation place?  Regardless, we now need to win at Blackpool next weekend.  They are the team around and about us in the league who are in a bad run of form and we need to take advantage.

[johncvilla88]

Remaining games

Winable
Blackpool (A)
Blackburn (H)
Bolton (A)
Wolves (H)
Newcastle (H)
West Ham (A)
Stoke (H)
West Brom (A)
Wigan (H)

Difficult
Everton (A)
Arsenal (A)
Liverpool (H)

Worst case I hope is we 5/9 winnable games and loose all of the difficult games. Gives us 44 points = safe!

[TonyD]

I'm gutted that after the new signings we're still not very good

I think the sooner we all realise this is a season of transition and there is probably another 4 or 5 players from the old regime to go in the summer, the better we will all cope, including me, with the crushing mediocrity of it all...

I can cope with transition but not very poor and obviously wrong tactical decisions from the manager.

[Bad English]

I think Makoun is good. That said, I also think he looks better than he is because of the paucity of talent on the pitch. He is not a run up and down at three hundred miles an hour but I've no technique English player, so he stands out.

[Monty]

Only one thing strikes me after that really: BANNAN. MUST. PLAY. Even as an option from the bench, today we were crying out for a bit of spark and imagination, and when GH looked across the bench and saw Pires he HAS to have realised this. Today, our lack of creativity plus Ash's utter inability to play the role asked of him (to be honest, I'm caring less and less about him staying with each passing game) smacked of pure MON-ball. Unable to penetrate using any sort of movement or imagination in the centre, we were doomed to endless, hopeless foray down the wings, never getting anywhere. It's silly, we actually have a decent, or potentially decent, solution on the books, and we're not using him.

[TheSandman]

I'm gutted that after the new signings we're still not very good

I think the sooner we all realise this is a season of transition and there is probably another 4 or 5 players from the old regime to go in the summer, the better we will all cope, including me, with the crushing mediocrity of it all...

I can cope with transition but not very poor and obviously wrong tactical decisions from the manager.

Shouldn't we all be used to them though?

[The Situation]

Remaining games

Blackpool (A)
Blackburn (H)
Bolton (A)
Wolves (H)
Everton (A)
Newcastle (H)
West Ham (A)
Stoke (H)
West Brom (A)
Wigan (H)
Arsenal (A)
Liverpool (H)

They might look easy on paper (except Arsenal away) but that won't reflect it on the pitch. We could easily go on a dreadful run against poor teams.

On the flipside of the coin, win our next two games and we'll be almost there.

[citizenDJ]

A draw was about fair, on reflection, even though I thought both of their goals were down mostly to Friedel. He seems to do that 'push the ball straight back out' thing rather too often for my liking. Although still capable of some excellent saves, he is becoming increasingly poor at the basics, and as such I would like to see a new goalkeeper come in sooner rather than later.

Makoun really does look a good player, though, I hope he settles in! Walker did well, but a couple of his crosses were very bad indeed, and I thought Agbonlahor had another good game out wide - it's not glamorous, and I'm not fully convinced it's making best use of our players, but he does work hard out there and he played some good forward balls today.

I imagine we'll see Bradley alongside Makoun soon...

[richard moore]

I'm gutted that after the new signings we're still not very good

I think the sooner we all realise this is a season of transition and there is probably another 4 or 5 players from the old regime to go in the summer, the better we will all cope, including me, with the crushing mediocrity of it all...

I can cope with transition but not very poor and obviously wrong tactical decisions from the manager.

Think that is all wrapped up as part of it Tony. Trying to fit players you didn't buy into a system you want to try and impose

[Bad English]

You could have posted that winnable list this morning, with Fulham in the piece of piss section. And then we draw.

[richard moore]

It does all beg the question 'where exactly are Bannan and Delph?'