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Author Topic: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread  (Read 40123 times)

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #180 on: March 02, 2015, 10:07:57 PM »
Anyway if Sherwood's written their team talk then surely Gardner's written ours?
What's the t**t said ?

"Shit on da Vile. Now who do I support again this season?"

Offline nodge

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #181 on: March 02, 2015, 10:08:52 PM »
Something about putting a nail in our relegation coffin. Only read the headline on this thread a couple of pages back.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #182 on: March 02, 2015, 10:11:52 PM »
Strangely, this headline isn't getting anywhere near the same attention.

Quote
West Brom midfielder Craig Gardner: I hope Aston Villa survive

Craig Gardner says he wouldn’t wish relegation on former club Aston Villa.

Albion can pierce Villa hearts with a victory at Villa Park tomorrow night.

Tim Sherwood’s side have lost both games under his charge and are in the bottom three.

“I know what it is like myself going down with Birmingham City ,” said Gardner, who won the League Cup with Blues four years ago only to fall into the Championship with them just a few months later.

“I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. If you say who would rather go down them or us, obviously I’m going to choose them.

“They are a good side with good players and Tim Sherwood is a good manager. Hopefully they will survive.

"Everyone is fighting for their lives.

"I wouldn’t say it is a decent time to play them because they are at home and fighting like we are.

"There are eight or nine teams in the relegation fight so everyone just needs to win their games.

“I think it will be a thriller for the neutrals. But we want to keep our run going.”

Online frank black

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #183 on: March 02, 2015, 10:39:37 PM »
Really don't understand why Sherwood would provoke WBA before the game ?? Smacks of inexperience .

Why do we get so wound up about the effect of what our players and managers say?

Probably because we're under enough pressure as it is without giving a side thats far better than us even more ammunition.
Yep. He's effectively written Pulis's team talk .

Like it will make any difference at all. They're professional footballers and this makes them sound like kids in the playground being told their mum smells.

I get the impression a lot of footballers are just like kids.

Offline TonyD

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #184 on: March 02, 2015, 10:41:13 PM »
Massive game tomorrow.  I reckon we will sneak it by a Gabby winner. And then hump them on Saturday. 

Offline adrenachrome

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #185 on: March 02, 2015, 10:50:32 PM »
Grauniad

Quote
Tim Sherwood’s Aston Villa face West Brom test in dogfight for survival

New manager knows he has his work cut out to keep Aston Villa up but victory over Tony Pulis’s much-improved West Brom on Tuesday would see them pull clear of the relegation zone

Stuart James
@StuartJamesGNM

Monday 2 March 2015 22.30 GMT


At the same time as the “Too little, too late, Lerner out” banner was being unfurled by Aston Villa supporters at St James’ Park late on Saturday afternoon, West Bromwich supporters were inadvertently reinforcing the message by triumphantly celebrating their latest success under Tony Pulis at The Hawthorns, where the value of acting quickly and decisively in the face of a poor run of results is there for all to see.

A glance back at the table shows West Brom were four points and five places behind Villa before Pulis’s first league game in charge, a 1-0 win over Hull City on 10 January. Less than two months later, Albion make the short trip to Villa Park on Tuesday re-energised and transformed, six places and eight points better off than their neighbours, who they also face in the FA Cup quarter-final on Saturday, and with Premier League survival within touching distance.

While we will never know for sure whether Villa’s league position would be any healthier if Paul Lambert had been ushered out of the door a month or two earlier, there is no escaping the fact Tim Sherwood, with defeats from his first two matches and only 11 fixtures remaining, has one hell of a job on his hands to turn around a team who have won only two of their past 23 league games and sit second from bottom.

“It helps when you have a transfer window,” Sherwood said when asked about the comparison with Pulis’s situation at West Brom. “An ideal job would be one that Mauricio Pochettino had [at Tottenham Hotspur], where there is nothing broken. He comes in during the summer, he gets the whole pre-season, strengthens the squad with a few and he gets to build his philosophy. Those jobs don’t come along often, most jobs come along in adversity. And I certainly wasn’t turning this opportunity down.

“Time is of the essence now. We haven’t got the time but we can’t worry about that, that’s how it is. But I’m still confident and I’m not shirking any responsibility. You can’t tip-toe around the situation. The reality is we’re in it but the reality is we’ve got an opportunity to get ourselves out of it. And if we can get ourselves out of it, we ain’t never coming in this situation again, because I will have the opportunity to build something and I won’t let this happen again.

“I think there is enough to work with over a long period. I’m just hoping I’ve got enough time here to save the situation.” For the moment it is all about the short term for Sherwood, which means forgetting about the FA Cup tie against West Brom on Saturday, never mind what he may or may not achieve in seasons to come at Villa.

“First and foremost all we’re worried about is winning this league game against West Brom,” he said. “If we do that, it will take us out of the relegation zone and we’ll never look back.”

That, however, promises to be easier said than done. It is a measure of the predicament Sherwood finds himself in that he openly admitted it is “impossible to find your best XI at the moment” because he is still so new to the role. He also talked about how he is trying to “flush out” the players to tap into their psyche and “find out who has got the big [balls] to go and do the job”.

In the context of what Sherwood is up against, it is perhaps worth remembering when Pulis was appointed at The Hawthorns he described keeping West Brom up as the biggest challenge of his managerial career because of the short amount of time he was given to shake the club back into life.

What has followed since is strikingly similar to Crystal Palace’s revival on his watch last season and can be filed in the folder marked “The Pulis effect”. Pulis was in no mood to give any insight into that description when asked about it last week – he is determined not to say anything that would give the impression that West Brom are safe. You do not have to be a tactical genius to work out that his premise for survival is built on the whole team being a solid defensive unit and that every player has to buy into his holistic approach.

In Pulis’s 26 games in charge at Selhurst Park, Palace had the lowest possession in the league (34.5%), averaged a goal per game but kept 10 clean sheets (only Chelsea, Manchester City and Everton conceded fewer) and recorded the eighth-best point return. Across seven league games as head coach at The Hawthorns, no Premier League team has had less possession than Pulis’s West Brom side, who have scored only six goals but kept five clean sheets (only Liverpool can equal that record) and racked up 12 points in the process.

Not so long ago Sherwood thought he would be in charge at West Brom but he missed out on the job on two occasions, once last summer, when Alan Irvine was given the position, and again when Pulis was appointed. Asked whether those two episodes would add any extra needle to the game, the 46-year-old replied: “Not at all, it’s a good little club and it wasn’t right for me and it wasn’t right for them. I’m delighted I’m at this massive football club now.”

The Villa manager knows the heat is on and he has no intention of trying to lighten the burden on his players.

“If they’re not feeling the pressure, being second bottom of the league, playing for a massive club like Aston Villa, then something’s seriously wrong,” Sherwood said. “They need to feel the pressure. We’ve lost the last seven Premier League games and scored 13 goals all season. Something has to change, and it has to change very soon.”


Offline Chipsticks

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #186 on: March 03, 2015, 01:35:44 AM »
Literally can't sleep right now, far too nervous - Come on Villa you owe me.

Online olaftab

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #187 on: March 03, 2015, 01:39:48 AM »
Good morning everyone. I would like to claim this as first ever post on H&V from on board a flight on A380 from Dubai to Seoul. So we better win tomorrow as we are Aston Villa the greatest football club on earth and at 41000 feet!

Online ozzjim

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #188 on: March 03, 2015, 01:42:22 AM »
Literally can't sleep right now, far too nervous - Come on Villa you owe me.

Ditto.... mind way too restless.

Offline PeterWithesShin

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #189 on: March 03, 2015, 01:46:54 AM »
Good morning everyone. I would like to claim this as first ever post on H&V from on board a flight on A380 from Dubai to Seoul. So we better win tomorrow as we are Aston Villa the greatest football club on earth and at 41000 feet!

HEITS!

Offline Goldie.7

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #190 on: March 03, 2015, 02:44:26 AM »
I think this is the best line-up hopeful of scoring at least a goal.



I have no doubts whatsoever that Gabby will start later on ::)

Offline N'Zimidy

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #191 on: March 03, 2015, 03:47:44 AM »
Goldie's pretty much nailed it. The only change I would make would be Westwood for Cleverley.

I'd be interested to see if he will throw Grealish on if we need a goal, rather than those planks Gabby or Weimann.

Offline pooligan

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #192 on: March 03, 2015, 04:12:59 AM »
So a team who just can not score up against a team who do not let them in and do not score many themselves. Has 0-0 written all over it.

Online ozzjim

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #193 on: March 03, 2015, 07:05:01 AM »
I woke up this am, came downstairs and first thing i heard was my wife signing a consent form for my son. Doing so she murmured out loud 03/03....a shiver hit as memories of 12 years ago hit me. I now have a horrible feeling about tonight.

Malandro

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Re: Aston Villa v West Brom (Round 1) Pre-Match Thread
« Reply #194 on: March 03, 2015, 07:48:20 AM »
Good morning everyone. I would like to claim this as first ever post on H&V from on board a flight on A380 from Dubai to Seoul. So we better win tomorrow as we are Aston Villa the greatest football club on earth and at 41000 feet!

Somebody posted a little earlier, said they were on the top deck too. Sorry.

 


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