Aston Villa vs Sheffield Utd pre-match thread - June 17th 6pm

[CT]

Come on Villa. No one wants to go to the Sty twice next season.

[Ads]

Grealish and McGinn; a pair of brilliant players there and happy to hitch my hopes to their wagon.

[Damo70]

I do find it slightly bizarre and contradictory that a lot of recently converted ex football fans are still posting on a football forum about how little they care about football anymore. I will be passionately supporting Villa in their battle to stay up because supporting Villa is what I do since as long as I can remember and watching other games not involving Villa because I like watching football, the same as I have since as long as I can remember.

[Mister E]

... Our hopes for survival are based primarily on Grealish and McGinn and finding a way to get the best out of them. ...

I don't disagree, and I'm hoping that some of our less-experienced and imported players will have had the chance to acclimatise better to playing in England and for Villa. Seeing more composed and committed Guilbert, Luiz, Engels, Nakamba and Samatta - in the way that fans often only see the best of new players in their second season - would probably result in our continued Premier League status.

[Gareth]

Has anything ever been mentioned since we returned to training/practice games about who the player with asthma & the player living with a vulnerable relative are?

[Chris Smith]

I do find it slightly bizarre and contradictory that a lot of recently converted ex football fans are still posting on a football forum about how little they care about football anymore. I will be passionately supporting Villa in their battle to stay up because supporting Villa is what I do since as long as I can remember and watching other games not involving Villa because I like watching football, the same as I have since as long as I can remember.

But we won’t be “supporting“ Villa, we’ll be watching in isolation on TV with fake crowd noise. The whole thing, for me, will just be a reminder, rather than an escape from, the situation we find ourselves in. Of course I’ll be pleased if we win and pissed off when we lose but I can’t escape the thought that it’s only being done to fulfil contractual obligations rather for any sporting values.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

There's only one thing better than a Villa goal, it's watching the Villa fans celebrating a Villa goal.

[dorsetvillian]

I hate everything about project re-start but will still watch the games.

[ChicagoLion]

The rules have been bent so much to our disadvantage that I am never again subscribing to sky and I am not sure I even call myself a football man any more.

How have they been bent to our specific disadvantage?

When the lockdown started we were in freefall and likley to be relegated
On current position, we would be relegated
On points per game we're relegated
On points per game weighted for home and away form we're relegated

I completly agree you shouldn't relegate teams when a season hasn't been finished and these last few games are not really a fair representation of what would have happened.  But given the new rules apply to everybody, how have they been bent to our disadvantage?

I get what you are saying, we had lost 4 in a row and managed some absolutely abysmal performances, I was thinking we were down after Leicester and a loss against Chelsea we were in new manager last chance saloon territory.
Our only chance was some rousing performances in front of a packed Villa Park and maybe new manager bounce.

They have reset the clock with a ghost of a Competition.
Who knows how it will turn out but it is not an edifying spectacle regardless.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

Has anything ever been mentioned since we returned to training/practice games about who the player with asthma & the player living with a vulnerable relative are?

Stephen Ireland had a whole list of vulnerable relatives.

[KRS]

Can anyone recommend a pub in Birmingham City Centre to watch the game please?

[trinityoap]

My first Villa game was home to Leyton Orient in 1959.I followed us up to the first division, down to the third and back up to winning the European Cup. Since then I have probably been to about 65- 70% of our games.At the moment,given the horrendous loss of lives I really could not give a shit about football.The travesty that is about to resume reinforces that view. I am almost ashamed to say that that will continue until about 5.30 pm on Wednesday at which time one thing will , at least for a short while,make me forget anything else. AVFC.

[rougegorge]

I really want us to stay up, despite the circumstances. In a couple of seasons when hopefully some normality returns, I don't want to be floundering about in the Championship.

Football is unimportant in the scheme of things, but paradoxically, it's important because of its very unimportance.

I don't think we will stay up though.  We were in free-fall with a disjointed team and the manager had lost his way well before lockdown.

However I will be celebrating if we do stay up. This first game is a clichéd must-win.

[olaftab]

Can anyone recommend a pub in Birmingham City Centre to watch the game please?

There will be no pubs open let alone showing the game.

[Clampy]

Can anyone recommend a pub in Birmingham City Centre to watch the game please?

There will be no pubs open let alone showing the game.

I suspect he was being sarcastic.