Is the fans expectations half the problem at Villa?

[taylorsworkrate]

6 wins all season is fucking appalling by anyone's standards.

Especially when you factor in that 3 of those were against the bottom club at the time, one was against a Wolves side so out of form they sacked their manager a couple of games later, and one was at home to a side that had been promoted.

Granted the Chelsea win was an excellent performance. Why aren't the players who performed so brilliantly that day, Ireland and to a lesser extent N'Zogbia still in the side?

[ez]

I thought 10th/11th. I certainly wasn't expecting 6 wins and 15th place. In spite of what the manager says i can't see us climbing much higher than where we are now.

[pauliewalnuts]

I thought 10th/11th. I certainly wasn't expecting 6 wins and 15th place. In spite of what the manager says i can't see us climbing much higher than where we are now.

Rather than just league position (though that is poor enough), it is also about the way we look like we're evolving on the pitch, the kind of football we look like we're developing.

Hmmm.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

No, the problem is not fans expectations its the crap football they are asked to pay a fortune to watch.

Most pundits are divs, which is no surprise as for 15 years their lives have had an emphasis on using their feet and their very full wallets. With any thinking taking place in their pants when its waggy time. I'm not surprised that chumps like Keown and Shearer struggle to fathom the basics of any job where they need to offer a little insight and communicate that insight well.

Give me a sentence from Danny Baker once a week rather than the miles of crap spouted in column inches by ex pros.

[cheltenhamlion]

I think we have the right to expect an awful lot more than a point at the bottom club who, if they had just one of our strikers in their team, would have done us by four or five at the weekend.

I have slept on it twice before commenting but Saturday was the straw that broke the camels back for me.

Get shot because it will only get worse now the away fans have turned. If we don't win at Blackburn then the atmosphere for the Fulham game will be vile.

We won't get close to getting relegated but that will be in spite of him rather than because of him.

Let Kevin Mac and Sid take care of things until the end of the season when a drastic overhaul from the top down is required. And we will need to spend this summer as well.

[Legion]

The table does not lie. We are where we deserve to be. We will finish the season around the same place.

[preston28]

League position is only part of things - performances count for a lot. I hate it when Villa lose but if they do so with spirit, vigour and effort at least I have a feeling that going to watch them was at least worth it.

At the start of each season there is a hope that we may qualify for Europe or win a cup but above all for me is the excitement of going to watch the team play with my son. This season the football is so bad that excitement isn't there and I doubt it will be until we change the manager or he changes his tactics.

[Legion]

League position is only part of things - performances count for a lot. I hate it when Villa lose but if they do so with spirit, vigour and effort at least I have a feeling that going to watch them was at least worth it.

Exactly. The only time I've felt like that this season is when we lost to Arsenal at home.

[PeterWithesShin]

It's not just that the quality of football is so bad. It's the fact there are few if any signs of it getting better and no signs of a long term plan for either the club itself on or off the pitch.

[Rob92]

In general I'd say my expectations for Villa are 6th - 12th, with the odd campaign in Europe and the occasional cup run. But for this season, with the squad, manager and the way the club's been run, we're about where I thought we would be. Only the proper shit teams are below us and IF we stay up, it'll be because the others are so bad, not because we've been any good.

I've been saying that Chelsea fans should be more patient with AVB, but when they pull me up on my feelings on McLeish I point out that AVB might turn things round, given time, but I have absolutely no faith in McLeish and feel that the longer he stays here the further down he's going to drag us.

[Rick_avfc]

Not sure what everyone elses expectations are but given the players we sold in the summer and what we bought in, I was expecting to be finishing at least 10th as I fully understand the constraints McClueless has had to work under and the rebuilding that needs to be done.  Instead we find ourselves sitting in 15th place, playing absolute shit football (which we all knew would happen) and now look like we will soon be dragged right into the mix to get relelgated.  I believe we should be atleast another 8-10points better off - we havent even reached fecking 30 points yet! FFS!

[Concrete John]

I believe we should be atleast another 8-10points better off

10 points would put us joint 7th with Liverpool.  We aren't that good.

[Rick_avfc]

I believe we should be atleast another 8-10points better off

10 points would put us joint 7th with Liverpool.  We aren't that good.

Hence why i said 8-10 points.  Given the players we have and the speaking to fans of other teams, we are in a false position. We should have beaten QPR home & away, Everton at home and Wigan away.  Thats 12 points that we should have got!  Ok, take everton out of the equation and thats 9 points.  You're telling me that we are not good enough (on paper) to beat QPR home & Away and wigan away?  really?

[glasses]

We got 4 points from those four fixtures though, not zero. Meaning we would be 6 points better off had we beaten QPR twice and Wigan on Saturday, eight if we had beaten Everton.

[Concrete John]

Of course we are.  But the game isn't played on paper - if it was Man City would have much more than a 2 point lead on the top.

Even the 8 points would but us in 8th place, which I suppose is our optimum position with the squad we have.

And also using that logic you'd need to subtract the three points we got at Chelsea, as they should be beating us on their own patch.