Enjoying being excited again

[itbrvilla]

Let's not forget one thing, though.

Last season we went to Liverpool and won 3-1 and got lots of plaudits. Then the next week we went to Chelsea, lost 8-0 and started on that terrible run.

I am not suggesting anything so hideous is going to happen again, just a note of caution, really, that this is going to be a really difficult fixture, and let's not all get our arses in our hands if we lose it.

No.
No notes of caution, no remembering a freak result from another year, just enjoy this resurgent, young Villa side without worrying about what's around the corner.
Yes we might lose at Chelsea,but so what, we now know that they will bounce back anyway.
These are good times people, have fun!

It wasn't a freak result.  It was poor managemnt as many said when it happened. At 3-0 or 4-0 he should of realised that conceding more could potentially put us in danger on GD and tried to be more defensive (nothing wrong with being defensive at times).

[Monty]

I'd lost the excitement factor about two to two and a half years into O'Neill's tenure -probably around the time of the Harewood signing- because, although results and final positions were generally good, it was apparent that the type of players being signed and the style of football being encouraged were unlikely to take us any higher.  It wasn't great to watch either, at home at least.  See Sunderland last season for where I think O'Neill was slowly taking us

I agree re the football under MON, but especially at home.

I don't think he had got us anywhere near as uncreative as he has Sunderland, though, nowhere near that bad. I think that is mostly because he inherited some decent players, and threw enough money at new players to get some of his signings to work out.

That ongoing struggle to unlock teams at home when we couldn't counter attack was not a lot of fun to watch. Nor were, as you mentioned, some of the signings. Harewood, FFS.

For all his media popularity, MON is a lazy manager. He gets by by doing as little work as possible - on the training ground, on tactics, on scouting, on studying the opposition - and wings it by being inspirational on matchdays (which is, to be fair to him, unteachable). It worked for a while but he was utterly exposed towards the end - and as you say Paulie, the football was especially poor at home.

[pauliewalnuts]

Let's not forget one thing, though.

Last season we went to Liverpool and won 3-1 and got lots of plaudits. Then the next week we went to Chelsea, lost 8-0 and started on that terrible run.

I am not suggesting anything so hideous is going to happen again, just a note of caution, really, that this is going to be a really difficult fixture, and let's not all get our arses in our hands if we lose it.

No.
No notes of caution, no remembering a freak result from another year, just enjoy this resurgent, young Villa side without worrying about what's around the corner.
Yes we might lose at Chelsea,but so what, we now know that they will bounce back anyway.
These are good times people, have fun!

It wasn't a freak result.  It was poor managemnt as many said when it happened. At 3-0 or 4-0 he should of realised that conceding more could potentially put us in danger on GD and tried to be more defensive (nothing wrong with being defensive at times).

It was also followed by 4-0 to Spurs and a 3-0 defeat at home to Wigan.

The hangover from that result was massive for us, and went far beyond the zero points and 8 goals added to the goal difference, it wrecked our confidence for a while, i thought.

We've improved a lot, but I suspect we're going to get a few iffy results and be very up and down this season again. It's certainly not going to be boring.

I don't think it is a symptom of not enjoying the way we play at the moment to be hoping we don't get on their backs if - if - we get a poor result.

[itbrvilla]

Totally agree Paulie. Was just making the point about the lasting effect the result had which could of been nullified if we'd been more sensible and cautious at the time.  I do enjoy watching this team.  Still very raw but very exciting also.

[Chris Smith]

Let's not forget one thing, though.

Last season we went to Liverpool and won 3-1 and got lots of plaudits. Then the next week we went to Chelsea, lost 8-0 and started on that terrible run.

I am not suggesting anything so hideous is going to happen again, just a note of caution, really, that this is going to be a really difficult fixture, and let's not all get our arses in our hands if we lose it.

No.
No notes of caution, no remembering a freak result from another year, just enjoy this resurgent, young Villa side without worrying about what's around the corner.
Yes we might lose at Chelsea,but so what, we now know that they will bounce back anyway.
These are good times people, have fun!

It wasn't a freak result.  It was poor managemnt as many said when it happened. At 3-0 or 4-0 he should of realised that conceding more could potentially put us in danger on GD and tried to be more defensive (nothing wrong with being defensive at times).

It might not have been a freak result but it was a freak scoreline. How often, even when playing really badly, have you seen us lose 8-0? I don't think we'll see it anything quite like that again but I can see a few heavy defeats along the way. It's the risk you take by trying to be more adventurous.

[Concrete John]

8-0 was embarassing, but it's a symptom of the fact Lambert does not do defensive sides, which is fine by me.  The confidence hit it gave us was great and should never be underestimated in terms of our season in 12/13.  However, the way he kept faith with the same players and attacking philosophy during those dark times is why we find ourselves where we are now.

It was a bump in the road, but we stayed on track.

We might lose heavily again tomorrow night, but so be it.  I'd rather that than we try to derail what's being built by consulting the McLeish book of football tactics.

[itbrvilla]

Before the defeat we were starting to put a bit of an unbeaten run togerther (5 games). We then went on a runn of 8 games with out a win.  Which I put down to confidence following getting battered at Chelsea. Like I said, I like the attacking style.  But at times, attacking at all costs nearly screwed us over last season.

Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Chelsea 8 – 0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 4 Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Swansea City 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Southampton   
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Newcastle United
Everton 3 – 3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Ham United

[abc123cox]

I can't see us being run over again like last season, our record against Jose is pretty good, however our record against Chelsea is very poor. i can see us getting a draw here, our confidence is flying and our midfield is now starting to look quality. can't see us being bullied like we was last year!

[LeeB]

Before the defeat we were starting to put a bit of an unbeaten run togerther (5 games). We then went on a runn of 8 games with out a win.  Which I put down to confidence following getting battered at Chelsea. Like I said, I like the attacking style.  But at times, attacking at all costs nearly screwed us over last season.

Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Chelsea 8 – 0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 4 Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Swansea City 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Southampton   
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Newcastle United
Everton 3 – 3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Ham United

Yes, but attack at all costs is what won us the games we needed to win.

[not3bad]

Before the defeat we were starting to put a bit of an unbeaten run togerther (5 games). We then went on a runn of 8 games with out a win.  Which I put down to confidence following getting battered at Chelsea. Like I said, I like the attacking style.  But at times, attacking at all costs nearly screwed us over last season.

Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Chelsea 8 – 0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 4 Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Swansea City 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Southampton   
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Newcastle United
Everton 3 – 3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Ham United

Half Time at the Newcastle game is what is described as "The Turning Point" isn't it?  We were 2-0 down at the time?

[Pat McMahon]

our record against Jose is pretty good, however our record against Chelsea is very poor.

I have read this 3 times and am still confused by it!

[Toronto Villa]

Before the defeat we were starting to put a bit of an unbeaten run togerther (5 games). We then went on a runn of 8 games with out a win.  Which I put down to confidence following getting battered at Chelsea. Like I said, I like the attacking style.  But at times, attacking at all costs nearly screwed us over last season.

Liverpool 1 - 3 Aston Villa
Chelsea 8 – 0 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 4 Tottenham Hotspur
Aston Villa 0 – 3 Wigan Athletic
Swansea City 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 0 – 1 Southampton   
West Bromwich Albion 2 – 2 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 1 – 2 Newcastle United
Everton 3 – 3 Aston Villa
Aston Villa 2 – 1 West Ham United

you can break that into a number of sections. Chelsea hammered our confidence followed swiftly by batterings against Wigan and Spurs. Then we go to Swansea and somehow don't get battered and in fact are seconds away from pulling off an unlikely win. But then just as the ref is about to call time a boot catches us squarely in the nuts and it's 2-2. Southampton at home was horrible, yet somehow we come back to play really well in the first half against the Baggies and once again throw it away. Something then happened against Newcastle. It was all going to shit in the first half but we came out in the second nearly turned it all around, but importantly started to believe that we could play in a manner that would create numerous chances. Our season thereafter while not perfect improved markedly.

The Chelsea game had a damaging affect but I would argue not to the extent of all of those games. There were events subsequently that could have turned things around faster but we found ways to prolong the agony. Tomorrow the performance more than the result will teach us how far we have come. The previous result will be plastered everywhere as a reminder so our boys need to be strong in the face of all that will be thrown at them tomorrow.

[abc123cox]

our record against Jose is pretty good, however our record against Chelsea is very poor.

I have read this 3 times and am still confused by it!

it's close but

with Jose:   6 premiership games have produced 4 draws and 2 wins for Chelsea

last 6 games without:      6 premiership games have produced 1 win, 1 dray and 4 losses including a 8-0 and just before the 6 games a 7-1 loss for examples.

[eastie]

our record against Jose is pretty good, however our record against Chelsea is very poor.

I have read this 3 times and am still confused by it!

it's close but

with Jose:   6 premiership games have produced 4 draws and 2 wins for Chelsea

last 6 games without:      6 premiership games have produced 1 win, 1 dray and 4 losses including a 8-0 and just before the 6 games a 7-1 loss for examples.

I thought we beat Chelsea with Jose in charge not long before he went when doug famously shook hands with an unhappy avramovich ?

[Legion]

Who was manager at the time of the HDE/Abramovich moment?