Is this what transition looks like?

[onje_villa]

In a funny way, we are being punished for not putting up more of a fuss. As a whole, Villa fans still appear to be sending the message to RL that this is acceptable. We keep turning out large attendances and there are no visible protests at the way the club is being run.

Now, that's normally a good thing and shows restrain but surely the only way RL is going to be forced to change matters is if the fans vote with their feet. Otherwise we could be in for another several years of incompetence and punching hugely under our weight.

[PaulWinch again]

We are definitely going backwards, this time last year we were playing much better football.

[Irish villain]

Just talking to a guy I met through the Irish Lions in 2009. We both feel villa are just a club in decline. There's no fight anywhere and certainly no dynamism. It is very sad.

As an aside, I know brummies will laugh at me for this but the Irish Lions have over 4,000 likes on facebook and have always been as active, if not more so, than the official villa page. However, there hasn't been an update since the west ham game. I don't know why as a great committee runs the club. It just seems to encapsulate our whole malaise right now.

[SoccerHQ]

This has been a wretched season. How many games have we now failed to score in this season? And we actually have a really good forward playing for us but the worst midfield in the league when tasked with creating chances.

What's wretched for me is the occasions we've actually won an entertaining exciting game (Arsenal, Man. City, Southampton and WBA) which lead me to be optimistic and think we could go on a run, we've followed it up with horrendous form so pointless even winning games nowadays as our form declines even more than just after draws.

Just not good enough.

[David_Nab]

Utter dire season and can only get worse.

Now 4th year in a row being in a relegation fight under Lambert there has been no progress in fact we are playing worse than last season.The Jan window was an disgrace the one position we desperately needed filling went unfilled again I can only assume due to lack of funds and a belief we were comfortable in the league.Well we weren't then and we certainly are not now.

As it stands only Cardiff are playing worse than us IMO.Other are currently below but from the games I have watched recently only Cardiff look as inept as us

March is going to be very tough we need to beat Norwich to get some breathing space , lose that and I see us dropping into the bottom 3 during march given the games we have coming up ..Chelsea , United and City.

[Mister E]

It's the absence of ball retention; the inability to impose ourselves on the game; the sense that our attacking effort will wither; the inevitability of the late concession.

It's the lack of expectation that the manager will make a game-changing decision; and the fact that - before they come on - we know that the substitutes will not change the game, because they are even worse than the players already on the pitch. It's the knowledge that the opposition know they can turn us over; and the fact that if one of our defenders has a blinder, one or two others will have a mare.

Supporting a football team is almost-always an exercise in hope over expectation: supporting Villa at this time in the club's history is an exercise in futility and nihilism.

[MarkM]

To compare against the same point last season:

                          2012/13          2013/14
Played                     27                   27
Won                         5                     7
Drawn                      9                     7
Lost                         13                   13
For                           26                  20
Away                       52                   39
Pts                           24                  28

So we have scored less, conceeded less and turned 2 draws into wins

Not sure if that really counts as improvement as our play at the moment is bloody awful 

Just for balance here is our position in the two preceeding seasons:

                          2011/12          2010/11
Played                     27                   27
Won                         6                     7
Drawn                      12                   9
Lost                          9                   11
For                           30                  31
Away                       35                   46
Pts                           30                  30

Se we are worse in terms of points than in 2010/11 and 2011/12

[David_Nab]

Very depressing reading in all honesty we deserve to go down for being shit for 4 years running.

[*shellac*]

It looks like Wendy James.  Oh, that's Transvision Vamp.

Wrong thread.

You got to admit she's a looker then though.

[Jon Crofts]

I've said it before, this isn't transition.  This is it.

[levico]

I've said it before, this isn't transition.  This is it.

Unless of course, transition means we're on our way to somewhere worse! That seems quite likely at the moment.

[Ads]

The problem stems to the summer, where essentially the same exercise as the previous one took place; i.e. lots of cheaper players at a modest cost.

We of course need a squad, but then we also need quality. I think this more than anything needs addressing come the summer.

[curiousorange]

What Lerner doesn't seem to understand is that success is self-sustaining. You spend on decent players, you attract others, which makes you more likely to be successful, and so on. You pay peanuts, it's only a matter of time before you get found out. You don't get to dine at the ritz if you can't pay the bill.

[not3bad]

Transition doesn't look that bad at times...

[Toronto Villa]

Today, the midfield which has been criticized over the course of the season looked like a PL midfield and played some lovely lovely stuff. We really mixed it up today, some lovely moves and efficient when we needed to be. You add 2 or 3 starting quality footballers to that side and all of a sudden we are pushing into Everton range of where we will be looking to finish every season. Europe would be very much part of our plans come next summer.