Will we qualify for the CL?

[Rory]

We are this years Nottingham Forest.

I caught myself thinking that earlier.

Catch yourself on.

[Olneythelonely]

Winning the cup won't keep Rogers at Villa qualifying for Europe probably will.

What’s the point in keeping Rogers here if it’s not to win cups?

[Baldy]

It's between us and Liverpool for fifth.

[TCFKAE2]

I think a serious reality check is required. Emery has performed miracles with the squad, and available players, this season. As he said earlier there are at least 6 teams that should, by virtue of their financial muscle/FFP (PSR etc.) headroom, should finish above AVFC. Having to bring in "yesterdays men" Luiz and Bailey, and a journeyman (and another former player) like Abraham (who I actually like/think will be decent value for money), in the Jan Window rather than players who will make an immediate/significant (and long term) difference, says it all. With the current, injury hit, squad top 8 will still be a decent Season - Europa League has to be the priority when applicable as not only a realistic chance of long sought Silverware/glory (the type of games suit the squad more-  success will be down to mentality) and a route into the Champs League, it should also serve as a much needed boost to commercial revenue (esp. sponsorship.) Looking at players picked up by other (mid-level) P League teams recruitment during Emery's tenure has (with a couple of notable exceptions) undoubtedly been poor - can't believe this has not been noticed by the Owners so hopefully things will improve come the Summer+. If the worst happens on Wednesday night think before you Boo.

[stubbsyandy]

Win Europa Cup

[john e]

Listen folks football is not an exact science

You can work out all your numbers, all your scenarios all your XG’s
How many points we need for this and that, how many games we’ve got to win to get into top five

And it’s all a load of bollocks because anything can happen in any game
Every game is different, we’ve got as much chance of finishing in top five than anyone else in the top six at the moment apart from Arsenal obvs

So throw your graphs and numbers charts in the bin
Let’s go out and get three points on Wednesday night and we’ll be in Poll position again

[eye digress]

We are this years Nottingham Forest.

I caught myself thinking that earlier.

Catch yourself on.

Exactly.

It's playing out as you'd expect, so far.

We are having a fallow period of form - corresponding (happily, if you think about it) to injury disruption (rather than just reverting to the mean, which was the case for Forest last year).

At the same time, certain challengers are coming on strong - notably Yanited and Chelsea. It's unlikely to last for either of them, and almost definitely won't last for both of them.

The other remaining challenger, Liverpool, has been unable to find form yet. But they will at some point (the signs are there, especially with Wirtz).

Like Liverpool, our weak form will bottom out and we'll return to strength - I think in part once we have resolved the structural midfield issue, and again when reinforcements (McGinn, Tielemans) arrive in March.

So, will we be conclusively overtaken by both Chelsea and Yanited by then? Unlikely, but possible.

And if we are, will we have also been overhauled by Liverpool? Even less likely.

In all logic, not all of our rivals can be on red hot form at the same time.

Keep the faith, UTV!

[wince]

Listen folks football is not an exact science

You can work out all your numbers, all your scenarios all your XG’s
How many points we need for this and that, how many games we’ve got to win to get into top five

And it’s all a load of bollocks because anything can happen in any game
Every game is different, we’ve got as much chance of finishing in top five than anyone else in the top six at the moment apart from Arsenal obvs

So throw your graphs and numbers charts in the bin
Let’s go out and get three points on Wednesday night and we’ll be in Poll position again

This all day long.

And for those saying we are this years forest? Well I’ll go get my chainsaw. Have some faith

[Brazilian Villain]

So throw your graphs and numbers charts in the bin
Let’s go out and get three points on Wednesday night and we’ll be in Poll position again

Just need to maintain the gap for a few weeks, get our first-choice midfielders back, and we'll be first past the post in the race for a CL spot.

[RamboandBruno]

We are this years Nottingham Forest.

I caught myself thinking that earlier.

Catch yourself on.

Exactly. A Liverpool fan at work said the Forest thing to me in work on Friday, I told him to do one. We’ve been doing this stuff for three years under Emery, no one season wonder here.

[algy]

I think we’ll be fine. We’re in a dip at the moment, like we were at the start of the season, but we’ll come out of it - and with even without the prospect of Kamara being back before the summer, near-full-strength I honestly believe we’re the best team in the league.

[cdbearsfan]

Winning the cup won't keep Rogers at Villa qualifying for Europe probably will.

What’s the point in keeping Rogers here if it’s not to win cups?

Gonna go out on a limb and predict we will qualify for Europe if we win a cup.

[KevinGage]

It's just been shit luck that we lost so many midfielders with Kamara the first to go. We couldn't have known that lady luck was about to take a massive dump on us.

There's an element of bad luck with the injuries (you could argue that Kamara and McGinn could've been rotated more in Dec, and may not have come a cropper in the manner they did. Youri's absence is down to an outright nasty challenge).

But losing Malen from an already small and tight knit squad was a choice. He felt he should've started more games last season and this. When you see Ollie's ongoing travails, he prob has a point.

[Villan82]

Win on Wednesday and we're looking at requiring about 5 more wins, with a draw or two, and two of the wins could easily come in the following two fixtures. If we could be on 54 points after the next three games we'd be looking at needing 12-13 points. We just have to grind them out now as we did two years ago

[tomd2103]

I think a serious reality check is required. Emery has performed miracles with the squad, and available players, this season. As he said earlier there are at least 6 teams that should, by virtue of their financial muscle/FFP (PSR etc.) headroom, should finish above AVFC. Having to bring in "yesterdays men" Luiz and Bailey, and a journeyman (and another former player) like Abraham (who I actually like/think will be decent value for money), in the Jan Window rather than players who will make an immediate/significant (and long term) difference, says it all. With the current, injury hit, squad top 8 will still be a decent Season - Europa League has to be the priority when applicable as not only a realistic chance of long sought Silverware/glory (the type of games suit the squad more-  success will be down to mentality) and a route into the Champs League, it should also serve as a much needed boost to commercial revenue (esp. sponsorship.) Looking at players picked up by other (mid-level) P League teams recruitment during Emery's tenure has (with a couple of notable exceptions) undoubtedly been poor - can't believe this has not been noticed by the Owners so hopefully things will improve come the Summer+. If the worst happens on Wednesday night think before you Boo.

Agree with all of that.  It's been a great few years under Unai Emey that have provided some really memorable moments.  I doubt many people will be booing on Wednesday night whatever happens, as I'm sure most fans understand the limitations the club has imposed on them. 

It's just that the Champions League money is so important for us if we are to maintain the levels of the past few years.