MentalM Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 I had to google depredation to understand the thread Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Midtable it is then, could be worse no doubt. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HongKongVillan Posted March 13, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 13, 2022 I would have taken this 2 years ago during the first lockdown. Looking at Le Arse who is having that luxury to rest the likes of Smith Rowe something we need to be able to build on and be comfortable with squad rotation when its needed. But then we have the likes of Emi2, Sanson and Bailey on the bench today so I guess with are on the right direction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lerner's Driver Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 On 20/02/2022 at 17:54, DCJonah said: The amount of times I needed to say this over the last few years. Midtable is exactly where we should be at the moment. Unacceptable next year? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 We've only finished twice in midtable in the last ten years and one of those last year was with a points total that can sometimes get a team as high as eight, in fact depending on what you call midtable we haven't finished there that many times in the Premier League era, we've more often than not either been in and around the top six or near the bottom of the table, since PL began we've finished top eight twelve times, and fifteenth or below nine times, most of those nine times coming in the last ten years. This season a top half finish would be good progress, we haven't finished there for over ten years which really should be unthinkable for us, just to get back in the top half will be a step in the right direction, looking at our fixtures won't be easy either, so if we achieve it we will have to have earned it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RichW Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 With Villa it’s been too up or down over the last 10 years or so. 3 top 6s in a row to gradual relegation fodder and then 3 years in the Championship with another relegation battle to follow. Got no problem with being a mid table side and hopefully can match 11th or higher this season. Only 4 sides can finish the Champions League places whilst even finishing in the top 6 is really hard. West Ham are having a good season yet they might not even make it. Hopefully next season can maybe go on a cup run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Does feel we always seem to lose playing away in London early on a Sunday? I make that West Ham, Spurs and Brentford we've lost in those circumstances this season. Give us a night game home or away against beatable opposition and we're usually on it in terms of energy so that needs to be something looked at during the summer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Honestly, I’m very positive as to where we’re at as a club. I think the Summer window was a poor one but we’ve come a long way since then by signing Digne, Coutinho and the emergence of Ramsey as a quality option is excellent. Rice showed us what we’re missing today. If we had him in our side, we’d have won. We’re getting close to being a very good side, I firmly believe we’re a midfielder and a striker away from challenging the top 7. If we get it right in the Summer, next season will be exciting. First port of call, sign Coutinho and the rest will fall into place. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattVillaPortsmouth Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Need to master the art of drawing, if you can’t win - don’t lose, we hardly ever get a draw when we deserve to lose but on the odd occasion scrape a few when we should have won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted March 13, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Lerner's Driver said: Unacceptable next year? I think next season the aim is 7th/8th. Whether some regard 8th as midtable is up to them. Should Villa finish 9th/10th, how much of a failure that’s considered is probably dependent on the summer business. I can’t imagine the board being content with 11th/12th again, whether that’s “unacceptable” I don’t know. I do feel we are edging closer to that point where obvious incremental improvement year after year is going to be a very tough nut to crack. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Lerner's Driver said: Unacceptable next year? Potentially. Depends on what we do in the summer compared to existing top 7/8 clubs. We should be closer to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 6 minutes ago, Mark Albrighton said: I think next season the aim is 7th/8th. Whether some regard 8th as midtable is up to them. Should Villa finish 9th/10th, how much of a failure that’s considered is probably dependent on the summer business. I can’t imagine the board being content with 11th/12th again, whether that’s “unacceptable” I don’t know. I do feel we are edging closer to that point where obvious incremental improvement year after year is going to be a very tough nut to crack. I'd be surprised if anyone regards 9th as a failure personally. Ultimately we lost our best player by miles two weeks before the season started, we then sacked the manager mid season which can always go one of two ways and let's be honest the big summer signings haven't really worked, Bailey and Ings not made much impact at all, Buendia been better last few months but not a regular starter for us. At least Jan window signings look similar to me of what we did in Jan 2007 when we'd been up and down under MON but getting in Young and Carew puts us on the right track for next few years. Next season we obviously need to be closer to Wolves and West Ham. Can't just accept these clubs finishing 10 + points ahead of us because they've been in prem longer than us. So have Everton. I think Spurs could well be catchable aswell if Kane finally leaves and Conte throws a hissy fit and resigns. We weren't that far off them when Nuno got sacked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wainy316 Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 We’ll probably finish higher than last season but with less points. Is that seen as progress? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Albrighton Posted March 13, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted March 13, 2022 3 minutes ago, VillaChris said: I'd be surprised if anyone regards 9th as a failure personally. I’m talking about next season. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, Wainy316 said: We’ll probably finish higher than last season but with less points. Is that seen as progress? For me, yes. Grow, stabilise, grow, stabilise…on and on. Too many teams make a high finish and don’t stabilise the next season and fall away, it’s sometimes harder to stabilise than grow. Getting 50-55 points this season means we stabilise, have built a good base to then push for the next step. We have gone from wanting to be a midtable team to being a comfortable midtable team, that’s progress for me. Edited March 13, 2022 by nick76 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 We are 9th . Exactly which of the following do you think we should be above in the table if we punch our weight as a club Wolves . Yep Spurs no Arsenal no Citeh no Manure no Liverplop no West Spam maybe Chelsea no / maybe in a couple of years Doing this is a pretty depressing exercise but one that gives a sense of reality. We are going to have to have luck a brilliant team and brilliant manager and brilliant owners to have a chance of breaking their hold. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidlewis Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 2 hours ago, Wainy316 said: We’ll probably finish higher than last season but with less points. Is that seen as progress? Yes, you play within a season so it’s about points vs other clubs. the conditions and climate is very different now and we need to work out a good strategy for managing games throughout the season. for me 9th or higher is very good to be honest. if we can add Coutinho on a free and sure up some contracts, as well as sourcing one really good player who can break up play then that’s an excellent end to 2021/22 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Mid table is fair enough for me this season. Top half would represent progress. I think our target is now top half, let's face it not so long ago it was survival. Next season with some serious investment during the summer and a close season for SG to work with the squad, I think we will be aiming for a place in Europe (targeting 4th rather than 7th) and a serious cup run(s). Looking forward to it. Onwards and upwards! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 (edited) If we can finish 10th or higher this season (certainly doable) it'll be 5th straight season of consecutive improvement. Even if we finish 11th or 12th, you could still say we've improved in the sense that we sold our talisman and adapted to his absence without really falling back. If you go back in two year intervals it becomes even starker: 2016 - relegated, one of the worst Premier League seasons of all time 2018 - just missed out on promotion via the playoffs 2020 - scraped survival on the last day back up 2022 - second season in a row in midtable and out of the relegation battle (something we haven't done since 2010) Unfortunately it gets progressively harder from here on in. It'll be tough to break into the teams that are seriously competing for Europe, and even tougher to actually make it. Still, 5 years ago we were a mid-table Championship side so who knows. Edited March 13, 2022 by Mantis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maqroll Posted March 13, 2022 Share Posted March 13, 2022 Time to regularly play Sanson, Bailey, Traore, Buendia and the kids. Time to experiment with formations and tactics and make good use of the run up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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