Anybody starting to get worried…… again?

[West Derby Villan]

Of course not

[Smithy]

The last two games (and the loss to Brentford to a certain extent) have shown we are not good at dealing with teams that sit back, let us have the ball, and then hit us on the break.  The current system doesn't seem to do well when we have a lot of time with the ball in the attacking third and have to recycle phases of possession.  We're not creating clear-cut chances when we don't attack from the middle of the park (or even further back).

When we play teams who actively try to beat us in their own proactive way, we seem to do better (unless they are top 4 teams), as that seems to play into the strengths of the formation Gerrard wants.  Brighton, Leicester, and to a certain extent Leeds are examples of that.

I don't know what the answer is, but Gerrard's team have surely noticed this pattern and are trying to find ways to address it.  I'm certainly not worried about relegation, because against teams proactively chasing wins I think we'll do OK, but we need to find a way (or a formation) to win against teams that want to defend first and play on the break - because right now that's our Achilles heel.

[kippaxvilla2]

Seven points off the relegation zone now with two games against Burnley. 

[Brazilian Villain]

Six points off 9th with a game against Brighton.

[Villafirst]

Could well need 38 points to stay up this season. Can we muster another 11 points given the current dire form?

[Steve67]

We need to beat Brighton to shut the noise off.

[DB]

Leeds will be worried, no Bamford looking likely before end of the season

[Brazilian Villain]

Leeds will be worried, no Bamford looking likely before end of the season

Think it's Watford, Norwich and one of Brentford or Leeds. Would prefer it to be Everton though.

[brontebilly]

Watford hammered tonight at home to Palace. Everton, Watford, Leeds, Newcastle 4 points from 12 there is horrific (and fortunate to get 4). Burnley have pulled Everton and Brentford back into it tonight. If our current level of performance continues, decent teams will hammer us.

[DB]

Leeds will be worried, no Bamford looking likely before end of the season

Think it's Watford, Norwich and one of Brentford or Leeds. Would prefer it to be Everton though.

Leeds please, awful club and fans.

[Brazilian Villain]

If anyone's genuinely worried you can get 90/1 on us going down with Paddy Power. I'll be keeping my money in my pocket.

[SoccerHQ]

Burnley won't go down.

Watched them tonight and was impressed for once with what they got going in attack. Weghorst is looking good as suspected and tbh the type of focal point we're missing in attack. They weren't just pumping long diagonals up to him all night, instead he had some really good link up play with Dwight McNeill.

And they've played Spurs, Brighton,Liverpool and Arsenal and conceded just one goal so fair to say their defence is back to its best. We'll probably struggle to get more than a point off them in the run in like last season.

Worth noting Everton have Man. City and Spurs next two and Brentford-Newcastle is on Saturday so serious issues if we're closer to those teams in two weeks time.

Not worried. Yet.

[gpbarr]

I’m worried about lots of things in real life - but Villa, no. The relegation talk is as nonsense as the talk we should be challenging the top 6.

We are a mid table PL side - fact. We won’t challenge higher until there is substantial squad upgrades in the spine of the team - CH and DM. This summer is another test of the owners ambitions. If we just tinker, another mid table season beckons.

Now back to my worries - I’ll start with global warming!!

[Rory]

If anyone's genuinely worried you can get 90/1 on us going down with Paddy Power. I'll be keeping my money in my pocket.

Same. Recent weeks have been disappointing, but we'll be fine. Whether 'fine' is good enough is another question, of course.

[Drummond]

I'm more worried about Ukraine 🇺🇦, Covid-19, fuel prices, work, kids, and the weather.

However, I'm more pissed off with the Villa.