Battle for top half finish

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Well look, for me, and many others I'm sure, this place and Villa in general, is an " escape " from the " shites " of real life.

I'm sure we've all got things/stresses going on in the real world, no one would know about.

When it's peppered with negativity in here, ( some which I find very unreasonable ) it's quite frustrating, for those reasons.

I just don't see how we help anything at all. We acknowledge that negativity can filter through to players and the egeneral " feel " around the place .

( Ironically, I forget which podcaster it was, says there was a real feel good factor around VP  iid never guess it being on here. )

As @nick76 pointed out though, it's a forum, and as long as people support when it matters ( pitch side etc ) that's the most important  thing I guess!

Aside from that, my posts aren't any sort of blind faith or support of SG, I just genuinely don't feel anywhere near as negative as some others.

I'm cautiously/quietly optimistic. Even though I'm dissappointed with how the season's end seems to be petering out.

Edited May 16, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[messi11]

Next season I expect top 8, a European challenge. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

6 minutes ago, messi11 said:

Next season I expect top 8, a European challenge. 

Why not be realistic and aim for top 9?

[briny_ear]

3 hours ago, CVByrne said:

What will sum us up is our inevitable limp performance on Thursday at home to Burnley. A draw or a loss is the same result for us. We end 14th

Cripes, I remember Dean Smith once saying that the Villa squad used to catastrophise at the first sign of things going wrong.

But the players had nothing on the fans in that department!

[ferguson1]

Anything outside of a top ten finish next season will definitely be failure. 

End of the season right now can’t come soon enough for Gerrard and the players. Hopefully we beat Burnley this week.

[mole86]

9 hours ago, Zatman said:

but he doesnt deserve a chance, he just got a job because his big name and his buddy as CEO. He is completely unqualified for the job and shouldnt be in this position. Would be same if we hired Frank Lampard

Don’t forget that he was only hired as part of a plan with Purslow to ensure he gets the Liverpool job , still the weirdest thing I’ve read on here.

At least other critics of Gerrard (and the decision to hire him) are relatively open minded. You’ve taken this stance right from the start and now seem determined to negatively spam the forum most evenings across a number of threads, although you do seem to have gone quiet about how awful Digne is…

[Xela]

10 hours ago, ferguson1 said:

Anything outside of a top ten finish next season will definitely be failure. 

End of the season right now can’t come soon enough for Gerrard and the players. Hopefully we beat Burnley this week.

How about finishing 11th and winning both cups?

[Keyblade]

20 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Why are so many people choosing to ignore the fact that Newcastle have been better than EVERY team outside the top 3 - 4 for a period now?

 

Are you saying that it's extremely good luck or something as to why they've been this good? Because if not, it means they're doing something right. Something we're evidently not doing. 

[sparrow1988]

6 minutes ago, Xela said:

How about finishing 11th and winning both cups?

[Xela]

18 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Well look, for me, and many others I'm sure, this place and Villa in general, is an " escape " from the " shites " of real life.

I'm sure we've all got things/stresses going on in the real world, no one would know about.

When it's peppered with negativity in here, ( some which I find very unreasonable ) it's quite frustrating, for those reasons.

I just don't see how we help anything at all. We acknowledge that negativity can filter through to players and the egeneral " feel " around the place .

( Ironically, I forget which podcaster it was, says there was a real feel good factor around VP  iid never guess it being on here. )

As @nick76 pointed out though, it's a forum, and as long as people support when it matters ( pitch side etc ) that's the most important  thing I guess!

Aside from that, my posts aren't any sort of blind faith or support of SG, I just genuinely don't feel anywhere near as negative as some others.

I'm cautiously/quietly optimistic. Even though I'm dissappointed with how the season's end seems to be petering out.

I think you summed it up earlier mate, when you said it is draining. It is. 

The negativity flows through this forum nowadays like a disease. It was never this bad under Lambert! I'm not sure what has happened to fans. Whether it's just Villa or every team nowadays? The need for instant success and everything needing to be a linear improvement with no exceptions. its like some don't actually enjoy being a fan. Its just a game that we have no control over. Enjoy the ride! 

As a club we are in great shape and plenty to be optimistic about. We very nearly never had a cub 4 years ago. 

 

 

 

[ferguson1]

10 minutes ago, Xela said:

How about finishing 11th and winning both cups?

Any decent cup run would be great and I’ll take reaching another final. It’s long overdue.

However, if Purslow sanctions another £100m spend this summer and we finish 11th or below, then yes I’m sure Purslow and Gerrard will both consider it a failed season.

 

[Keyblade]

3 minutes ago, Xela said:

I think you summed it up earlier mate, when you said it is draining. It is. 

The negativity flows through this forum nowadays like a disease. It was never this bad under Lambert! I'm not sure what has happened to fans. Whether it's just Villa or every team nowadays? The need for instant success and everything needing to be a linear improvement with no exceptions. its like some don't actually enjoy being a fan. Its just a game that we have no control over. Enjoy the ride! 

As a club we are in great shape and plenty to be optimistic about. We very nearly never had a cub 4 years ago. 

 

 

 

After year 1 with Lambert, it was way worse than this. Name calling, the works. And we were signing players from League One and so what was transpiring wasn't exactly beyond expectations. 

Here people are saying they're worried Gerrard is the right guy to take us forward citing the fact that we've somehow gotten worse despite signing Coutinho and Digne and having a fully fit squad, and some people are unable to handle that for some reason. It's hardly negativity when it reflects what's going on on the pitch.

I don't think you can be objective and watch us at VP every other week and say you're having a good time. It's a slog mate. People venting on here is 100% warranted. It's not like they're complaining but in reality we're playing scintillating football every week. 

[Xela]

2 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Here people are saying they're worried Gerrard is the right guy to take us forward citing the fact that we've somehow gotten worse despite signing Coutinho and Digne and having a fully fit squad, and some people are unable to handle that for some reason. It's hardly negativity when it reflects what's going on on the pitch.

I don't think you can be objective and watch us at VP every other week and say you're having a good time. It's a slog mate. People venting on here is 100% warranted. It's not like they're complaining but in reality we're playing scintillating football every week. 

We haven't got worse though. The facts confirm that. He's doing a decent job, but some people set their stall out on day 1 that they hate him and that is it. Not even prepared to give him a chance or a summer transfer window to get the players in that will enhance his team and the way he wants to play. 

 

[Zatman]

26 minutes ago, Xela said:

I think you summed it up earlier mate, when you said it is draining. It is. 

The negativity flows through this forum nowadays like a disease. It was never this bad under Lambert! I'm not sure what has happened to fans. Whether it's just Villa or every team nowadays? The need for instant success and everything needing to be a linear improvement with no exceptions. its like some don't actually enjoy being a fan. Its just a game that we have no control over. Enjoy the ride! 

As a club we are in great shape and plenty to be optimistic about. We very nearly never had a cub 4 years ago. 

 

 

 

You do know a lot of the people complaining are actually worried about the instant success process instead of craving it. 

Example if Gerrard is sacked in December it could easily be that Coutinho does a James Rodriguez or Allan and stops playing

With FFP a failure with instant success will lead us back to the start like when MON failed or what Everton are now 

[Keyblade]

Just now, Xela said:

We haven't got worse though. The facts confirm that. He's doing a decent job, but some people set their stall out on day 1 that they hate him and that is it. Not even prepared to give him a chance or a summer transfer window to get the players in that will enhance his team and the way he wants to play. 

 

Depends if you include Chambers, if you don't it appears we didn't improve at all (14th after Digne signed, still 14th). 

Don't think many people hate him (though I can think of a couple), but I'm not sure why we'd need to wait for a summer transfer window to see an improvement. I think this is the source of many people's apprehension. I'm prepared to give him that obviously before we can properly judge, but shouldn't a good coach be able to improve what he's already got? He's made a couple of really good signings in January as well (Digne in particular was a crucial one for his style). I don't understand why he needs to spend 100m+ to get the team to play "his style".

What happens when we make those signings and nothing changes and we end up sacking him mid-season? Now we have certain (presumably expensive) players signed for a particular style and manager and others that weren't. We start down the road that Everton are currently on, and one we've tread under Lerner. It's a valid concern, and not really Gerrard's fault. But he's not giving much confidence that he'll do well with a big summer budget, there's nothing to really grasp onto. It's not like we're playing well but are let down by certain positions (say CB, or DM). We're just sort of chugging along in games, and relying on our quality up front against the smaller teams.

[Xela]

13 minutes ago, Zatman said:

You do know a lot of the people complaining are actually worried about the instant success process instead of craving it. 

Example if Gerrard is sacked in December it could easily be that Coutinho does a James Rodriguez or Allan and stops playing

With FFP a failure with instant success will lead us back to the start like when MON failed or what Everton are now 

James and PC are completely different characters. Coutinho took a huge pay-cut to come here and seems a very quiet and family orientated players. James comes across as the opposite and was paid a kings ransom by Everton. 

No point worrying about hypothetical situations. We've also been linked with some of the top young players in the UK as well (Rory Wilson of Rangers and some kid at Hearts). Its about a mix of experience (which we have lacked) and youth. We're not going to just sign 35yo south americans. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

56 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Are you saying that it's extremely good luck or something as to why they've been this good? Because if not, it means they're doing something right. Something we're evidently not doing. 

Erm, no, my point is that, they've done exceptionally better than about 15 other clubs, since the January transfer window, ) Howe lost 8 out of 10 games when he first joined, lol )so singling them out as further evidence of how shite SG is, is unfair and a bit of a false equivalency. It's basically Champions League form/Title challenging form.

Unless fans of all the other clubs they have out performed should also be whinging on the message boards non stop every time Newcastle get a positive result, and slag their own Manager for not doing the same job?

Also, let's just keep ignoring the fact that Gerrard's PPG since he has come in, is 8 - 9th in the League. Lol

There is also context to be considered but we are literally having the same roundabout argument every day.

Edited May 17, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[ender4]

49 minutes ago, Xela said:

I think you summed it up earlier mate, when you said it is draining. It is. 

The negativity flows through this forum nowadays like a disease. It was never this bad under Lambert! I'm not sure what has happened to fans. Whether it's just Villa or every team nowadays? The need for instant success and everything needing to be a linear improvement with no exceptions. its like some don't actually enjoy being a fan. Its just a game that we have no control over. Enjoy the ride! 

As a club we are in great shape and plenty to be optimistic about. We very nearly never had a cub 4 years ago. 

 

 

 

People just like to moan in general nowadays about everything.

Me and my mates are having the best time ever with Villa this season, we’ve never been this positive about Villa in over 10 years.  

It’s similar in the Upper Trinity with people around us. It’s like a party every game, lots of excitement, lots of photos being taken, lots of cheering and fun booing of the ref and opposition. 
 

I’ve never seen such exciting and generally positive times at Villa before.

So this forum is definitely an outlier.  I guess because the extreme negative minority shout louder than those who are happy.

[Keyblade]

5 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Erm, no, my point is that, they've done exceptionally better than about 15 other clubs, since the January transfer window, ) Howe lost 8 out of 10 games when he first joined, lol )so singling them out as further evidence of how shite SG is, is unfair and a bit of a false equivalency.

Unless fans of all the other clubs they have out performed should also be whinging on the message boards non stop every time Newcastle get a positive result, and slag their own Manager for not doing the same job?

Also, let's just keep ignoring the fact that Gerrard's PPG since he has come in, is 8 - 9th in the League. Lol

There is also context to be considered but we are literally having the same roundabout argument every day.

I don't think the point is that we need to be as good as Newcastle currently are, their form has been astonishing. But they're proof that a team can improve mid-season. They've made some good January signings (including our surplus-to-requirements left back), and so have we, but we're just kind of stagnant in 2022. We shouldn't need to spend a shed-load in the summer to see good football down VP. We saw it in the early part of his reign. It's definitely possible.

[ferguson1]

3 minutes ago, ender4 said:

People just like to moan in general nowadays about everything.

So this forum is definitely an outlier.  I guess because the extreme negative minority shout louder than those who are happy.

Spot on and it’s a true reflection of life around us. We’re a complain and “I want compensation” society.

Eating a meal out for example, enjoy it and go away happy but probably don’t say anything or tip.  Don’t enjoy it, people complain and want something free or money off.

Back to topic, I also like a lot of what I see and hear around Villa at the moment.