david-avfc Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 2 hours ago, turvontour said: I really dont think it is. Weve got Kamara, Cash and Coutinho out injured right now, and I looked down at our subs training together pre kick off Saturday, and saw Dendonker, Traore, Chambers, Digne, Duran etc. Its pretty strong for a team who is looking to finish top half. All our best young players are out on loan too. For the premier league I think our squad size is ok if not a little light in certain areas but if we got into Europe there isn’t enough depth to manage the number of games properly. I guess it’s a case of cross that bridge when we get there but already at the moment we’re short of proper wingers, in midfield we have little cover for our main holding duo as Dendoncker I don’t think has the ball playing skills to fit Emery’s system, and up front our only back up is a 19 year old - fine if Ollie stays fit but an issue if he doesn’t (which would become more likely if we added another 10-15 games to the season). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted April 10, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted April 10, 2023 Yeah we shouldn't be thinking about anything other than as many points as possible at the moment. Whether the squad is big enough to cope with Europe is a problem for if and when we qualify, so at least this summer. If Liverpool win their game in hand and Brighton get more than a point in their two games in hand we're eighth, there's a lot of work still to do. Newcastle might well turn us over still. 7th is gettable as is sixth as it stands but we will need to keep up the absurd PPG Emery has achieved so far. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejs1111 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 Since UE has been appointed Villa have achieved over 1.8-2PPG. Currently over 2PPG. Which all includes ManU, Brighton, Chelsea, and Spurs victories. NO reason to believe or think that torrid pace cannot continue. We are only 1 game/week for the rest of the season. Kamara/Cash/Coutihno will be returning- could be as soon as this weekend for some. My opinion is that Villa go 4-2-2 in the final 8. 14 points. 1.75PPG- which is tailing off a bit for Villa. But that is still 61 points- and should be good enough for a Euro place- provided ONE of the 4 wins is against Brighton. UTV! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 It's in our hands. PPG/strength of schedule/games in hand - all of it mostly irrelevant. It would be one thing if we were playing the bottom half or Arsenal/City several times for the run-in, but we beat the teams in front and around us, and we're in Europe. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejs1111 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 1 minute ago, DJBOB said: It's in our hands. PPG/strength of schedule/games in hand - all of it mostly irrelevant. It would be one thing if we were playing the bottom half or Arsenal/City several times for the run-in, but we beat the teams in front and around us, and we're in Europe. I think that is the glorious part about this final run-in. It truly is in Villa's hands. The players all control their own destiny regarding Europe. We play everyone around us- Aston Villa will truly earn Europe this season if they qualify. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJBOB Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 35 minutes ago, ejs1111 said: I think that is the glorious part about this final run-in. It truly is in Villa's hands. The players all control their own destiny regarding Europe. We play everyone around us- Aston Villa will truly earn Europe this season if they qualify. It's actually mad how it panned out. Every team bar Wolves is more or less a direct competitor for Europe one way or another. We're in form, everyone knows their assignments, and bar the Fulham game - we get a full week of prep for each match. I'm trying to tell myself that I'm just happy we have something to play for in April and May, but I don't know, just think the chance is there to take and we have one of the best cup competitor managers. Wouldn't it be such another feather in his cap if Unai could bring Villa to Europe in a little over half a season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheStagMan Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 11 hours ago, duke313 said: 5 wins will be a tough ask. Well on current form it is about a week and a half.... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretVillaScout Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 (edited) Just take it 1 game at a time. If we beat Newcastle we should have 8th place locked in(For the end of season), which takes us 6 points ahead of Liverpool who don't play until Monday night. Puts pressure on them to win. There away form is bad and Leeds with be fighting for their lives. Edited April 10, 2023 by SecretVillaScout Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GlobalVillan Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 19 minutes ago, SecretVillaScout said: Just take it 1 game at a time. If we beat Newcastle we should have 8th place locked in(For the end of season), which takes us 6 points ahead of Liverpool who don't play until Monday night. Puts pressure on them to win. There away form is bad and Leeds with be fighting for their lives. Liverpool will not be feeling pressure to win based on Villa beating Newcastle. I've been in Liverpool the last 2 days and their fans weren't even aware we were above them. Qualification for the Europa League isn't something they are too bothered about surprisingly. On that basis it'd be nice if they would just hand it over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 24 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said: Liverpool will not be feeling pressure to win based on Villa beating Newcastle. I've been in Liverpool the last 2 days and their fans weren't even aware we were above them. Qualification for the Europa League isn't something they are too bothered about surprisingly. On that basis it'd be nice if they would just hand it over. The Europa Conference even less so I’d imagine. Once top 4 is officially out of reach for them, they’ll be on holiday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretVillaScout Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 30 minutes ago, GlobalVillan said: Liverpool will not be feeling pressure to win based on Villa beating Newcastle. I've been in Liverpool the last 2 days and their fans weren't even aware we were above them. Qualification for the Europa League isn't something they are too bothered about surprisingly. On that basis it'd be nice if they would just hand it over. Liverpool fans living in the past. They will need to look at the table at some point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam2003 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 2 hours ago, ejs1111 said: My opinion is that Villa go 4-2-2 in the final 8 We look quality but I’d still stick to using 11 players 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SecretVillaScout Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul514 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 7 hours ago, nick76 said: Kamara certainly is. Kamara is one of the best in the world in his position Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul514 Posted April 10, 2023 Share Posted April 10, 2023 7 hours ago, HanoiVillan said: Yes we do? Having two players for every position plus a few extras isnt small Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HanoiVillan Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 1 hour ago, paul514 said: Having two players for every position plus a few extras isnt small We've repeatedly been leaving spaces on the bench empty and/or having two goalkeepers on the bench. Traore and Duran are the only two attacking subs available (I suppose you can argue Coutinho as well). Most clubs have significantly greater depth. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brummybloke Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 10 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: We've repeatedly been leaving spaces on the bench empty and/or having two goalkeepers on the bench. Traore and Duran are the only two attacking subs available (I suppose you can argue Coutinho as well). Most clubs have significantly greater depth. We currently have 21 players in our squad that get any sort of match day involvement. Of those duran and Ramsey are 21 or under so don't have to actually count numbers wise for our squad. So 19 senior players. Even if we kept that 19 (plus the 21 and unders) we are at least 4 or 5 short of having a regular sized 1st team squad. That's before we potentially look at off loading the likes of digne, Bailey, Phil, dendonker, traore, olsen and chambers this summer and young possibly retiring. We have a core of 13 who should be going no where. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ejs1111 Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 54 minutes ago, brummybloke said: We currently have 21 players in our squad that get any sort of match day involvement. Of those duran and Ramsey are 21 or under so don't have to actually count numbers wise for our squad. So 19 senior players. Even if we kept that 19 (plus the 21 and unders) we are at least 4 or 5 short of having a regular sized 1st team squad. That's before we potentially look at off loading the likes of digne, Bailey, Phil, dendonker, traore, olsen and chambers this summer and young possibly retiring. We have a core of 13 who should be going no where. If we make Europe- we will likely keep half the players you listed, and we will also keep several young players currently on loan as well. I honestly only see us signing 3, maybe 4 players max. 2-3 players that are high priced/high value that can challenge 1st11 positions. Maybe 1 more that is young with great potential- like Duran. Personally, I can see us trying to offload Digne (high wages), Phil (high wages), 1 of Bailey/Traore, and Donk. 15 roster players left... sign 3-4 new players. Back to 19. Bring in 2-3 youth from loan (Tim/Archer/Ramsey) and we are up to 22. Now we have youth and depth for cups/early Euro rounds. My 2 cents 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paul514 Posted April 11, 2023 Share Posted April 11, 2023 1 hour ago, HanoiVillan said: We've repeatedly been leaving spaces on the bench empty and/or having two goalkeepers on the bench. Traore and Duran are the only two attacking subs available (I suppose you can argue Coutinho as well). Most clubs have significantly greater depth. And we have a whole bunch of people out on loan....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post JoshVilla Posted April 11, 2023 Popular Post Share Posted April 11, 2023 To be honest, it's just nice to have something to play for at this stage of the season that isn't "avoid relegation". FWIW, I'm not confident that we'll manage top 7 purely because of the strength of the schedule that we have remaining. But if anyone can mastermind continuing this phenomenal run, it's Emery. Even if we don't make it, what a fantastic season it's turned out to be. It's been a long, long time since we've viewed breaking into Europe as an actual realistic possibility, and the fact that Emery has salvaged an absolute failure of a season to have us knocking on the door is an incredible achievement in itself. It's impossible not to be excited for next season now. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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