Are you worried?

[cdbearsfan]

You unfounded assessment that we are lucky to have the points we do have is clearly obsessively negative, as is much of your posting style.

[nick harper]

We repeatedly beat the press over the past few games. The quality of the final ball has been absent, but masquerading your "stop this tippy tappy shit" as something more palatable doesn't really coincide with what's happening on the pitch.

I don’t think we have been as successful at doing that this season and certainly not in the last few games. Teams are better at closing us down and shutting off spaces I think, which is why we have been looking less in control and ponderous more frequently. We threatened a little in the first half against Brugges but that was more winning it high up.

The lack of movement for the player on the ball has got worse, which will always make it look laboured. Confidence is an issue of course and I don’t think the multiple changes, although understandable, is helping the team.

[Nii Lamptey]

Not worried in the slightest..... Yes, we've been on a poor run of form, but I'm sure it will right itself.

Better to shit the bed now, than Easter onwards. Let's not forget that Emery joined a dysfunctional Villa around this time of the season, and took us from a 16th place relegation scrap to Europa Conference league qualification in the same season.

Far too much pant wetting from our fanbase in recent times - Lets not forget where we were just two short seasons ago. Thousands of us were out in Bruges last night to support our team in the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. None of us thought in our wildest dreams that we'd be there in such a short space of time, especially not sat on 9pts out of 12! Let's put a bit of context to it.

We're going to have periods where we falter, but Emery will steady the ship and I'm sure we'll come good. And as for this nonsense about McGinn, Mings and co not being good enough.... We wouldn't be here without their commitment to the cause. They've shown loyalty to Villa, so we should do OUR job and put the 'support' in supporter imo.

They are decent players, but to say we're 'better than them' and we've moved on to the next level is ludicrous and is the kind of arrogance you'd hear from the likes of Man City and Spurs fans. Like most of the team, they're just having a grey patch in form. 

Calm down everyone (*quite apt considering our next opponents!)

UTV

[Accent Guy]

You unfounded assessment that we are lucky to have the points we do have is clearly obsessively negative, as is much of your posting style.

How can you read what I have just posted and call that obsessively negative?

[cdbearsfan]

Because of the words.

[Accent Guy]

Because of the words.

"I am not worried and think we will be comfortably top 8"

[cdbearsfan]

"We are lucky to have the points that we have".

Show your working.

[Accent Guy]

"We are lucky to have the points that we have".

Show your working.

Perhaps I could have termed that part slightly differently but as I said, having to come from behind to scrape past very poor teams was the warning sign that we would struggle against better teams. Which we have.

We are fortunate in that we have had an easier fixture list than others so far.

But we will turn it around in time.

Anyway. I'm out.

[cdbearsfan]

We played quite well against Arsenal and lost, we played quite well against Bayern Munich and won, we played absolutely dreadfully against Tottenham and deservedly got twatted. There isn't sufficient data to say we've struggled against the better teams, yet.

Hopefully we put in a better show on Saturday.

[Chip Butty 111]

Apart from Liverpool nobody is really doing well. City and Arsenal have lost their mojo lately,  Chelsea unfortunately have improved and will be in the mix for European places. Forest are flying but will fall away I'd imagine. We are doing OK points/results wise but the football is flat/pedestrian compared to this stage last season. I said before that we will kick on after Xmas, we need to hang in there until we hit our level again. Last night our midfield lacked energy and creativity, Unai needs to find the right blend/shape in there because we have the quality.

[kipeye]

Is it safe to post on here yet?

[SoccerHQ]

To borrow a discredit Government slogan from the 90s we need to get back to basics.

Last season our home run was amazing up to middle of December. Not been so good this season but our next three are Palace, Brentford and Southampton.

Win them and we'll still be 6th at worst I bet.

The biggest issue is we're running considerably less than last year in the recent games, 4km less than Brugge is really concerning to me as their tactics were just to contain us for the most part and pick their chances to break.

If we're playing pedestrian football then get in more players into the team who are at least direct and can take chances.

I think a problem currently is the limitation of the transfer model in the summer. Signing young players and thinking they'll all step up as quickly as Rogers has. Jaden has struggled when there's a real opportunity for him to start games with Bailey's issues. I'd like to see more of Ned but Emery clearly dosen't think he's at the level needed just yet. Maatsen and Duran should be starting far more than they have with what they've shown off the bench in many games so they need to be trusted more.

Diaby was a real marmite player on this forum and elsewhere but again not replacing him leaves a void now and just leaves us with below par Bailey or having to stick McGinn there who's struggled for consistency this season. Personally I'd leave him out tomorrow.

[VillaTim]

For me we have been lacklustre all season. Results have glossed over some poor/average performances. We have now put in a few very poor showings and look like we are going to have our arse handed to us on a plate unless Martinez has a blinder. The upcoming break needs to be time for a mental reset.

Thought we looked good vs West Ham should of won about 6-2 that day but so many missed chances . Huffed and puffed many games and got away with it, something has changed recently where we have slowed the style of play down to snail pace .

[PaulWinch again]

After yesterday I’m less concerned. Now admittedly if we don’t beat Palace it is a big concern, but the level of performance, against top opposition, was just so much higher. Still not clinical enough and conceded a couple of daft goals, but we were robbed of at least one pen and their keeper did well. If we hit that level of intensity and just get a bit sharper we’ll be fine.

[Toronto Villa]

Concerned. We are up against Spurs, Newcastle, Brighton, Man U and Chelsea for that 4th spot. Man U and Chelsea are going to be a problem. Money, depth of squad, Man U with a new manager. They will all be real contenders. We’ve got it really wrong for a lot of the season. Even some games we won, it’s wasn’t the free flowing football that got us to where we are from last season. Lots of time of course to fix it and get back on track. But we have start to get back on track.