sne Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 7 hours ago, HanoiVillan said: This is a good point, to be fair. It must be right around 12 months that I was having an argument on here with several posters who were sincerely arguing that we would fall below Portsmouth. Not that I blame them, really. It was hard to see an end to the awfulness last year. It's mostly stopped now. We're doing better in basically every department. Especially since we were still a Randy Lerner club back then. Still think we might have fallen right through the Championship under him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sir_gary_cahill Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 1 hour ago, sne said: Especially since we were still a Randy Lerner club back then. Still think we might have fallen right through the Championship under him. Good job, he was bought out by a legit Chinese businessman who has no previous criminal convictions, I'm speculating here of course Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 (edited) 3 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said: Good job, he was bought out by a legit Chinese businessman who has no previous criminal convictions, I'm speculating here of course Knowing our luck we will soon find out he was in the Philippines with Duterte taking part in extrajudicial killings! Edited December 18, 2016 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post thunderball Posted December 18, 2016 Popular Post Share Posted December 18, 2016 We don't look like a team as we have no heart. We need a solid midfield which we are a million miles from. All our so called flair players are a luxury we can't afford. We only have room for one or two when everything else is sorted. For me we need a 4-4-2 with McCormac and Kodjia upfront, Jedi and three other solid new but traditional midfield faces in the centre. If we can fit in Jack great, but he is an impact sub for me. We need to control games, protect our back four and provide a platform for our proven forwards. We could sort this in January, but we are not a team until we sort this. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grasshopper Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 (edited) 12months ago many including myself were saying " we need to go on a run, pick up points, gain confindence" It never happened. This season feels different in that although the same senario is required (for promotion) it could happen. However, the longer it doesnt click and we go on a roll, the less likely it will happen. There has to be a turning point, even if its a slow one. But 3 losses in the space of 4 games will cost that what we gained before hand. That cannot be the trend (6pts gained over 10 games - 6 pts lost over 4) I'm pleasantly surprised at the SB pts tally so far, we have to hold out and keep something going till Jan. But then something has to happen. 1 a solid defence - AH replaced + back up for GK & CB 2 a game dominating midfield - AW & GG replaced + Back up for MJ 3 Attack - Someone to link the MF to our forward line - Either Grealish/McC does it and a LW &/or CF is brought in or a playmaker who has the key to open the door for any 2/3 of Grealish/McC/Adomah/Ayew/Kodjia (I'll add Gestede if used correctly or an upgrade on Gestede) Otherwise Tony will be sacking Bruce and appointing Rowett as soon as the playoffs are no longer reachable Edited December 18, 2016 by Grasshopper Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 1 minute ago, Grasshopper said: 12months ago many including myself were saying " we need to go on a run, pick up points, gain confindence" It never happened. This season feels different in that although the same senario is required (for promotion) it could happen. However, the longer it doesnt click and we go on a roll, the less likely it wont happen. There has to be a turning point, even if its a slow one. But 3 losses in the space of 4 games will cost that what we gained before hand. That cannot be the trend (6pts gained over 10 games - 6 pts lost over 4) I'm pleasantly surprised at the SB pts tally so far, we have to hold out and keep something going till Jan. But then something has to happen. 1 a solid defence - AH replaced + back up for GK & CB 2 a game dominating midfield - AW & GG replaced + Back up for MJ 3 Attack - Someone to link the MF to our forward line - Either Grealish/McC does it and a LW &/or CF is brought in or a playmaker who has the key to open the door for any 2/3 of Grealish/McC/Adomah/Ayew/Kodjia (I'll add Gestede if used correctly or an upgrade on Gestede) Otherwise Tony will be sacking Bruce and appointing Rowett. I don't think that much will be done in Jan......I could be wrong, it did happen once. ......oh! but then I found out I was right, after Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KJT123 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Back to back home games coming up against Burton and Leeds, then a trip to Cardiff. A great chance of four wins on the bounce. It's very much still on! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xela Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 No chance of automatic promotion but keep doing what we're doing and the play offs beckon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jareth Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 We can average 2 points a game (since Bruce started) whilst starting games with arguably sub championship quality players such as westwood, hutton, gabby, gardener - swap those peckers out for championship/prem quality and we will fly up this table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NottingVilla Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 Leeds is a must win for me 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 I've been saying for weeks that we have had tough away games and we weren't doing too badly. A few people mentioned Derby going on such a good run but our fixtures were a lot harder. The 2nd half of the season our away games are more winnable but that means our home games are the tougher ones. Our record is good but we need to continue it. Leeds will be a tough test but we need to win our next 3 for me. If we do that I think we'll be in the playoffs or at worst a win away. Once we've closed the gap it'll make our tough home games easier because at present we need wins to get in there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted December 18, 2016 Share Posted December 18, 2016 7 points from our next three I'd be happy with. Would leave us with 38 points from 25 games. We'd need to win then I reckon 10 out of our last 21 games to make the play offs as obviously we'll draw a few as we don't score or concede many. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 18, 2016 Moderator Share Posted December 18, 2016 Fine margins, we can't afford to lose games or fail to take points when the opportunities arrive. Still a big gap to the top 4 but we've the fixtures to do something about it. As for Jan, we won't spend much bit that doesn't mean we can't improve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 (edited) It seems a lot of the teams above us play each other over Xmas. If we can win or next 3 we will be set for a cracking 2017. Edited December 19, 2016 by dn1982 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 Just keep picking up 2 points a game and we should be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rubberman Posted December 19, 2016 Share Posted December 19, 2016 1 hour ago, dn1982 said: It seems a lot of the teams above us play each other over Xmas. If we can win or next 3 we will be set for a cracking 2017. Said it in the Burton thread, but beat them and we have a great chance of moving well up the table. Most of those immediately above us have tough fixtures. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 19, 2016 Moderator Share Posted December 19, 2016 2 hours ago, Keyblade said: Just keep picking up 2 points a game and we should be good. Agreed. Currently 6th in the form table over the last 10 games. Our issue isn't our current form its the weight of the start of the season around our necks. I still think we can close the gap, its just going to take games and a continuation of our current form and hopefully some improvement. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentVilla Posted December 21, 2016 Moderator Share Posted December 21, 2016 Looking at the next round of fixtures we've a great opportunity to climb a few places if we can beat Burton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dn1982 Posted December 21, 2016 Share Posted December 21, 2016 35 minutes ago, TrentVilla said: Looking at the next round of fixtures we've a great opportunity to climb a few places if we can beat Burton. 3 wins will put us right amongst it. We only play Leeds but most above us play each other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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