Remainder of the season

[eamonn]

Seems to be the theme of today!

[Flin5tone]

I can't see us beating anybody other than Norwich and maybe Burnley at home meaning we will finish lower down than last season after significant investment and the efforts of Dean Smith and Steven Gerrard both falling way short of what would have been accepted

The Club AT THE VERY LEAST had prepared for a top half finish. When we signed Bailey,Buendia and Ings Purslow made out we'd already made it. The simple fact is the summer signings have all been S**t and we've gone backwards.

Infuriating

[Nunkin1965]

I'm being positive and hoping for a positive end to the season.
Looking at it from a positive perspective.
It's good to have a positive outlook right?
Rather than the opposite of positive.
All the time.
About everything Villa related.

[Flin5tone]

It's hard to be positive when you put a lot of energy into following the team and they just couldn't be bothered!

Are these current crop of crap waking up Monday morning feeling as hurt as us?
The 35-45 minutes shows they can play but that's all they want to give then it's NOT ON.

[Nii Lamptey]

Reallly hope they stop the slide, but realistically EVERY remaining game is going to be tough to get anything.

I would have earmarked Norwich (H) for 3 points, but they've just turned Burnley over and it will be Smith returning to VP for the first time with something to prove. Palace are flying under Viera and that leaves a double-header against a relegation battling Burnley, as well as the Top 2 in the league.... and we know how well we've faired against those sides under Gerrard.

Can't wait for the season to be over. Every home game feels like a chore lately.

[frank black]

If we struggle for results over the remainder of the season, I’m all for sacking Gerrard. I can accept inconsistency, but not relegation form with the players he has at his disposal.

[Ads]

He's averaging 1.3 points per a game, that's midtable, not relegation.

[Chris Smith]

He's averaging 1.3 points per a game, that's midtable, not relegation.

There’s a fair chance that ratio will have gone down by the end of the season unless we start taking chances when on top, stop conceding soft goals and only performing for one half per game.

The first half on Saturday showed what we are capable of but our inability to see the job through for 90 minutes is a recurring theme. Maybe a more proactive approach to using substitutes would help.

[Risso]

He's averaging 1.3 points per a game, that's midtable, not relegation.

There’s a fair chance that ratio will have gone down by the end of the season unless we start taking chances when on top, stop conceding soft goals and only performing for one half per game.

The first half on Saturday showed what we are capable of but our inability to see the job through for 90 minutes is a recurring theme. Maybe a more proactive approach to using substitutes would help.

On Saturday though, the second goal so early on really did kill us. It almost straight away after kick off, meaning that subs weren't really the answer at that point.

[ChicagoLion]

I don’t think it is possible to play with the tempo of the first half for 90 + minutes.

[paul_e]

I don’t think it is possible to play with the tempo of the first half for 90 + minutes.

Without the 2nd goal as a kick in the bollocks I think we'd ahve been fine until 65-70mins and then it comes down to subs.

On topic the only thing I care about between now and the end of the season is seeing us make better use of the squad and get some experience in the legs of players like Chrisene, Iroegbunam and Chuk.

[eamonn]

I don’t think it is possible to play with the tempo of the first half for 90 + minutes.

Gerrard's post-match interviews worried me a little. He basically said that at half-time he asked for more of the same. Surely he knew that much energy expended would take its toll plus Spurs were unlikely to be dominated for another 45 minutes again.

Whoever the pundit was on MOTD (can't remember, Ian Wright was the other one) pointed out that for the second half, Spurs beat the press in the easiest way - go long as soon as Villa lose possession high up the pitch with our fullbacks too far forward.

Gerarrd's subs are rarely pro-active and he never makes a change at half-time. When he does bring on subs it's usually like-for-like rather than tactical. He's supported by an army of coaches and background staff, they're all analysing in-game on their ipads...so why are so crap at turning games around?

[frank black]

I don’t think it is possible to play with the tempo of the first half for 90 + minutes.

Gerrard's post-match interviews worried me a little. He basically said that at half-time he asked for more of the same. Surely he knew that much energy expended would take its toll plus Spurs were unlikely to be dominated for another 45 minutes again.

Whoever the pundit was on MOTD (can't remember, Ian Wright was the other one) pointed out that for the second half, Spurs beat the press in the easiest way - go long as soon as Villa lose possession high up the pitch with our fullbacks too far forward.

Gerarrd's subs are rarely pro-active and he never makes a change at half-time. When he does bring on subs it's usually like-for-like rather than tactical. He's supported by an army of coaches and background staff, they're all analysing in-game on their ipads...so why are so crap at turning games around?

Them beating us because of long balls was in spite of Conte telling them not to play it long. He was furious 1/2 a second before their second goal. Just really poor defending from us

[paul_e]

Them going long should've been what we wanted, the problem was that we got done by 2 long straight passes, which can't happen if you want to compete in the premier league, the first goal in particular was a god awful punt up field that Konsa had plenty of time to deal with but he just got it completely wrong.

After the 2nd goal you're right, we started getting caught on the counter-attack but that's to be expected from a team that's 0-2 down at home and I don't have a huge issue with it, I'd rather we got caught having a go than us trying to defend the narrow defeat as we have under some previous managers.

[Scott Nielsen]

I don’t think it is possible to play with the tempo of the first half for 90 + minutes.

Gerrard's post-match interviews worried me a little. He basically said that at half-time he asked for more of the same. Surely he knew that much energy expended would take its toll plus Spurs were unlikely to be dominated for another 45 minutes again.

What should he have said after that very good first half?