Aston Villa v Liverpool Post-Match Thread

[sfx412]

If we're going to use the "the final table doesn't lie" to appraise our 2011-12 season, it is also worth noting that 48 is the worst points haul for 5 seasons and 16 down on last year (and conceding an extra 20 goals in the process).  In my opinion, those figures are of as much, if not more, relevance than a league placing when it comes to an analysis of what has been a twelve months best forgotten. 

In a season when 39 points meant relegation, when 10 points separated 11 teams from 8th to 18th your figures mean nowt.
Each season 20 teams play the same number of PL games and this season everyone was beating most everyone. Your figures show one thing, a need to justify St Martin, finishing 9th shows Villa did better than 11 other sides in a competitive PL. Well done them after the start we were given, the hiccup with the manager towards the end, all the injuries, and so on, 9th was a bloody great achievement.

[l_mckay]

great game yesterday,thought the team played really well,actually kept the ball well for a change and a couple of great saves from Brad to keep a clean sheet. Enjoyed cheering when the scores were coming up on the big screen!all in all good day and finished in 9th place,not bad at all considering the season we've had!

[TopDeck113]

You can spin it any way you like, sfx412, but we all know that it is been a dog of a season.  That's why three weeks ago the general consensus was we'd got all the points on the board we were going to get, likely to get trashed at the Emirates and hope that there wasn't a perfect storm of results that would still see us relegated.

The worst thing we - Randy, the board, the supporters - can all do now is judge the season as a qualified success on the back of two good wins at the death and with them a fortuitous top-half finish.  If we do that, 2011-12 could witness even darker days.

[Chris Smith]

You can spin it any way you like, sfx412, but we all know that it is been a dog of a season.  That's why three weeks ago the general consensus was we'd got all the points on the board we were going to get, likely to get trashed at the Emirates and hope that there wasn't a perfect storm of results that would still see us relegated.

The worst thing we - Randy, the board, the supporters - can all do now is judge the season as a qualified success on the back of two good wins at the death and with them a fortuitous top-half finish.  If we do that, 2011-12 could witness even darker days.

So what you're saying is that we should judge the season on 36 games not 38. Since we've had a full squad to pick from we've had a decent points haul and that's why we finished where we did.

[ClarrieBlue]

Picking up on sfx412's point about the closeness of the league. As crap as we generally were, I think I'm right in saying that we picked up at least a point off 17 of the other 19 teams in the table. Only Spurs and Sunderland got a double over us. The only double we got was West Ham. Of the teams above us we beat Arsenal, Citeh, Liverpool and Everton and as we are all too aware nearly beat United at home and ran Chelsea close away. On the flip side, for the first time in donkeys years, Wolves and the Baggies beat us in the league. We also failed to beat middling teams like Fulham, Bolton Stoke and Blues. Now don't ask me what this all means cos I haven't got a clue - and no my name is not Statto.

[TheSandman]

Somebody posted some stats the other day showing that most sides from the top half had lost points from last season due to a more competitive division.

Now that won't explain the full (what was it? 16? 14? points we dropped from last year) but will account for at least some of them. Add to that the less than ideal pre-season preparation, the injuries, the gaffes and errors of the management, the lack of professionalism and so many other causes and 9th and 48 points starts to look very good indeed. That said I'd point to the arrival of Darren Bent as being the main spur to that rather than anything else.

[TopDeck113]

So what you're saying is that we should judge the season on 36 games not 38. Since we've had a full squad to pick from we've had a decent points haul and that's why we finished where we did.

Yes, in fact I would say that the situation after 36 games was more indicative of our season as a whole.  And, frankly, anyone who says otherwise when, lest we forget, up until just over a week ago we weren't mathematically safe from the drop, is deluding themselves. 

[dave.woodhall]

I'm going to judge us over 36 games as well. The two I'm leaving out because they don't suit my agenda are Newcastle and Manchester City away. Our defence wasn't too bad was it?

[TopDeck113]

OK then, everything's hunky dory in B6 because we finished in the top half of table. And, of course, because our neighbours have been relegated.  We'll all have a cracking summer on the back of that and come back and carry on in August as if nothing really needs addressing.  The dire performances, the failure to hold on to leads - the failure to do basic defending at set pieces, the pedestrian midfield, the players played out of position, etc, etc,  all forgotten because we finished 9th and the Blues have gone down.

Meanwhile, I hope those that really are the decision makers at Villa Park aren't similarly sweeping everything back under the carpet on the strength of winning the last two games of the season.

[dave.woodhall]

Who mentioned anything about the Blues going down? We've just had two good results which have shown that there's a lot to build on for the future. This season wasn't particularly good, but in the circumstances neither was it the Sky's Falling In disaster that was regularly predicted.   

[citizenDJ]

OK then, everything's hunky dory in B6 because we finished in the top half of table. And, of course, because our neighbours have been relegated.  We'll all have a cracking summer on the back of that and come back and carry on in August as if nothing really needs addressing.  The dire performances, the failure to hold on to leads - the failure to do basic defending at set pieces, the pedestrian midfield, the players played out of position, etc, etc,  all forgotten because we finished 9th and the Blues have gone down.

Meanwhile, I hope those that really are the decision makers at Villa Park aren't similarly sweeping everything back under the carpet on the strength of winning the last two games of the season.

It's not so much that everything is hunky dory, it's that perhaps things might not be quite so bad as they seemed earlier on in the season. That doesn't mean that there aren't things that need addressing, and I'm pretty sure that they will be this summer, but it's at least a little reassuring to know that we do have a decent base on which to build, isn't it?

[TopDeck113]

Who mentioned anything about the Blues going down?

You and I have been around Villa Park long enough to know that there are plenty of our supporters whose seemingly sole satisfaction comes from the fact that however bad things might get at Villa Park, at St Andrew's things are worse.  Most of the euphoria about yesterday had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened on our pitch - and I think that has in turn distorted lots of other views.

[olaftab]

If the board  make  future decisions based on last two games of the season they need their head examined. Over 38 games we have been poor and extreme surgery is needed both at player and coaching staff level if we are going to make any impact at all next season. If not I can see a repeat of this season.

[dave.woodhall]

Who mentioned anything about the Blues going down?

You and I have been around Villa Park long enough to know that there are plenty of our supporters whose seemingly sole satisfaction comes from the fact that however bad things might get at Villa Park, at St Andrew's things are worse.  Most of the euphoria about yesterday had nothing whatsoever to do with what happened on our pitch - and I think that has in turn distorted lots of other views.

Nothing that's been said on this topic has mentioned them at all. We finished ninth, we had a good end to the season. One defeat and 15 points in the last eight games. It takes some doing to find fault with that.

[pauliewalnuts]

Who mentioned anything about the Blues going down? We've just had two good results which have shown that there's a lot to build on for the future. This season wasn't particularly good, but in the circumstances neither was it the Sky's Falling In disaster that was regularly predicted.   

It doesn't tell the whole story, though.

Until two games from the end of the season, we weren't even mathematically guaranteed to be in the top flight next year.

Ninth we've finished, but we've spent almost the entire season flirting with relegation. That's absolutely nothing like good enough.