I'm sick of hearing people say that Villa won't go down because of other team's hard fixtures. People said it was 'not possible' for Wigan to finish above us as they've got to play United and Arsenal. Well guess what? They've DONE the impossible and beaten them both.
They've not done it in a 'backs to the wall' way either. They've gone 'toe to toe' with United and Arsenal, attacked them both and beaten them both in exciting end to end games. If they hadn't have been robbed at Chelsea, we would have seen an absolutely unbelievable treble. They and Martinez have shown the way, You only win these games by attacking. In fact you only win ANY game by attacking. Martinez realises the importance of three points for a win. He also realises that if you are 1-0 up, you are there because of the way you are playing - you don't change the way you play because that changes the game! In stark contrast, the dull, dour, drab Scotsman we have thinks we can 'park the bus' and come away with a 0-0 against United and Arsenal. The result of that? 4-0 and 3-0 defeats, that's what.
So where does that leave Villa? Well with Wigan playing thrilling football and having both confidence and momentum, unbelievably Martinez's far inferior squad look a safe bet to finish above us. That leaves QPR, Bolton, Blackburn and Wolves. You can discount Wolves. It looks unlikely too that Blackburn will overhaul us. They've lost five on the bounce and I believe the home defeat to Liverpool was a psychological hammer blow to them.
But QPR? This is where I worry. QPR have got to play Chelsea and Man City but we've seen that this means not a lot at this stage of the season. I'm concerned that Chelsea will be distracted by a certain Barcelona clash AND an impending Cup Final with Liverpool. City then? Well they play QPR on the final day I believe. The title race will probably be over by then though. Hughes is a good manager and his side have recently beaten both Liverpool and Arsenal! Over? No way.
Bolton are the furthest behind Villa with a gap of six points. However, they also have six games left, more than anyone else and they recently went on a run of three straight wins (imagine THAT under McLeish). Even more worryingly, they play Villa! Yes, Bolton too can overhaul Villa.
Make no mistake, Wigan's win tonight is a massive blow. It means that we STILL can't breath easy. Next up? Martin O'Neill. I only hope that we do somehow survive and the dour Scot has the dignity to resign. Because he won't be sacked either.
LOVE VILLA, HATE McLEISH.
Wigan and Martinez show the way !!!
posted on 16/4/12
Think you might find if we dont beat Sunderland on Saturday Faulkner may panic and sack Mcleish anyway!
All we can do is go down and play our part and support the team.
I think Cuellar needs to come back in to add a little experience, Baker has done well but we need steady heads, Same applies to Warnock at Left back and I would play Lichaj at right back as he deserves to keep his place in the team!
Regardless of the team selected like many i will be there supporting my team!
utv
posted on 16/4/12
Yes I agree with your defence. Cuellar has to come back and I'd rather see Lichaj at right back than Hutton. Hopefully Herd, Clark and Albrighton will be available. N'Zogbia HAS to play but McLeish will probably think we'd be too 'open',
LOVE VILLA HATE McLEISH
posted on 17/4/12
"they take the high road and we take the low road and we'll be in the championship before thee"
posted on 17/4/12
If Lerner doesn't sack McLeish at the end of the season for what will probably be our worst points return since the Premier League began then we are doomed for next season. Regardless of whether we stay up or go down, this poor excuse of a football manager must go at the end of the season. His win rate is 25% - that's even worse than his Birmingham record for God's sake! To have such a poor record while playing such utterly poor football throughout the season only strengthens the argument that he is not welcome at this club. Injuries are a very bad excuse - we only got our injuries in February and before that our points haul and general football was just as bad as it is now anyway. The only good game we have played this season was the 3-1 victory at Chelsea. Other than that, we have been absolutely useless.
So if Lerner feels that McLeish deserves to keep his job after that, then fine. But he will probably alienate most of the club's fans and suffer a huge backlash next season, either by even less attendance at games or by demonstrations. One way or another, if McLeish is still here next season, I can see things getting nasty.
posted on 17/4/12
25% win rate AND such shy-te football ?????
He's got to go. Surely....
posted on 17/4/12
Wigan won at Arsenal because they mixed it. In fact, they spent lot of the game defending (5-5-0 somebody called it), but they attacked with real bite when the opportunity presented it. Why can't we play like Wigan? Well, we can. That's exactly what we did when we beat Arsenal at the end of last. We started fast, caught them cold, then defended intelligently for the rest of the match, except when we were able to mount the odd attack. Wigan's current run overall is very much like ours last year. Since then we've lost Young and Downing, but the interesting thing is that the senior players who are getting so much stick now were playing critical roles then.
posted on 17/4/12
villa are going down this season