How the 2016/7 season will unfold in your opinion

Despite the rubbish they served up last season and only 4 additions to the squad I believe we have a very strong squad by championship standards

In McCormack - we have a proven goal scorer in this division

Jordan Ayew - whilst I don't see him as prolific - he is probably amongst the most rated players in the championship

Elphick - Battle hardened in this division, knows what it takes to get promoted.

The squad as it stands should be top 6 in terms of playing ability. Another striker looks highly likely, probably another midfielder as well.

Although I still have doubts about RDM - he has the tools to do the job, if he doesn't I wouldn't expect XIA to be overly patient.

My gut feeling is it will be tough at first but if we can grind out some slight victories it will bring our heads up, I'm confident we will have a better squad to deal with this league before the window shuts, wins breed confidence, and anyway we now have someone who knows where the goal is for a change, I expect to be up there at the end.

With the manager confirming that we've bids in for more players, I'm no longer using our opening game as a gauge by which to measure how much we've moved on from last season. McCormack stated in his interview that RDM had told him the biggest challenge was a mental one after what happened in 2015/16.

That says to me that despite senior management and coaches moving on, certain players still have a negative view of this club and the position it's in and have got a sulk on. Well fuck 'em. Get rid. Can't have shitbags like that poisoning the well.

I said a few weeks ago that the only way I could see to guess how we might go in this league was to use the cup game against the noses as a measuring stick - they were doing ok in the Championship up until the last month and Christ knows they'd have been motivated as all get out to put a poor villa side to the sword.

But they were one the very few teams to lose against us, failed to threaten or look good really and  made us look significantly better than what we were.

So that team with the same management in this league should probably finished 8-10th...It's a long season!

New board, new attitude  (well, you'd like to think but it's clear some players just want to carry a shit attitude around)....but that changing of the guard alone should motivate a few players (especially the youngsters who've been impressive out on loan and will likely get their chance) and give us an extra spot up the table. 7-9th place.

New manager who's been there, done that and seems a big step up from Sherwood, Garde and that last twat who's name I've already forgotten and do not wish to be reminded of. 6-8th.

New players: well we just don't know about Elphic do we? A motivational character by all accounts but not a first choice in the top flight so maybe just ok in the Championship. Tish looks promising but he's still young and prone to injury. Amavi will be like a new signing when he's back to full fitness so that's a big plus for us and there's no doubt McCormack is going to be vital. But although we've not a lot of stength in depth here I think we've changed personnel just enough to justify a bump in expectation to 5-7th.

Three new players to replace the ones we have with bad attitudes and poor work rate are the game changers that should hopefully see us at a level almost guaranteed to grab a finals spot. Maybe, if they're the likes of what's been rumoured, to challenge for the title. That's going to come down to the manager and the jury is still obviously out on that.

Whatever the case with regards to more new players,  I just cannot see us finishing 16th like the twat Holloway believes. No chance.

I can see us taking a while to adjust although our opening two home games should be winnable, but we all know about "Fortress VP".

With the squad atm , I would expect play offs at best, but with the addition of some seasoned pro's and the confidence of a little unbeaten run, who knows.

3 Bids for players one reported as being Jedinak which would be amazing the other two are rumoured to be Hernandez and McNair now if we sign these three players as we are then i would say we could win the league title top 2 minimum imo.

If we brought in Morrison, Jedinak, McNair and Hernandez then we'd have the strongest squad in the league IMO

BillytheKid wrote:3 Bids for players one reported as being Jedinak which would be amazing the other two are rumoured to be Hernandez and McNair now if we sign these three players as we are then i would say we could win the league title top 2 minimum imo.

We woud still need them to become a team.

Just saw this on twitter.

RDM by Christmas...

I thought we would start off badly, so I voted for 2 losses in match threads. It happened. I suspect we will drag on with all kinds of results for the first 2 months'ish. Then provided we make 4-5 new signings, hopefully a main striker, RB, CB, CM and CAM, the side will be half settled by the end of October. Think we will win most of our matches between January and May.

Joppe84 wrote:I thought we would start off badly, so I voted for 2 losses in match threads. It happened. I suspect we will drag on with all kinds of results for the first 2 months'ish. Then provided we make 4-5 new signings, hopefully a main striker, RB, CB, CM and CAM, the side will be half settled by the end of October. Think we will win most of our matches between January and May.

Has someone hacked your account

I'm still confident. I think we have decent management in place and the owner seems keen to bring in some solid players. I like Xia, he's starting well. Frankly, which players already in the PL or Championship would have joined us this season with an owner like Lerner and manager like Sherwood or Garde? We have the makings of a good team, just with gaps in defence and midfield. We don't even need another striker but anything seems possible with this owner so who knows. If we're going to play 4-4-2 we need a proper winger, like Albrighton or Sinclair. I didn't want Albrighton to go, I didn't want Sinclair to go. They're both proper wide wingers not played as such. Think when we had Young and Downing on the wings. Then think what we have now - Grealish and Green. Sure, Green has something about him, but if we stick to a 4-4-2 we can use Gestede and Kozak with Ayew and McCormack and concentrate on a winger or two.

I reckon we have two or three new players to come, and this thread will look a little different in a couple of weeks.

Yesterday was horrific but IMO it doesn't reflect what will happen in the league. This was just one of those nights where nothing really went our way (hitting the woodwork three times and Luton's second and third goals were flukes) and the players we all knew were crap decided to show the whole world once more how limited they really are.

In the second half at Wednesday though we dominated them and should have won the game. If we bring in four or five more and RDM can settle on a decent system then I still believe we'll do just fine. The first win will be the key methinks and after that I hope we can go on a little run.

With Chester looking done - and at least on midfielder incoming - theres got to be be a pretty dramatic improvement - no we won't be world beaters and win every game - but defeats against teams cobbled together out of nothing should become very rare - not the norm...

I wonder if we'll look back at the Luton game later in the season and see it as a blessing,  that it was the catalyst that ramped up the impetus from Xia and RDM when up to then they thought the pace of change was OK until the tragic state of our on pitch woes was brutally revealed. Cos my God have they reacted!
The season has opened like a shitty babies nappy but I reckon we'll take the next 10 games to consolidate, get a play off place and get promoted via that route, having left ourselves too much to do to go up automatically. I was in despair last night but the cold light of day,  the actions of Dr Tony, a steak dinner and a quick knee-trembler with Mrs DK has got me feeling good about the future.
As I'm at VP on Saturday Mrs DK had said if Villa are getting hammered by half time not to expect the same solution as there will be kids present.......shame.....

After watching Xia, Di Matteo and Clark last night on tv i am going for league champions. No way will Xia or the other 2 put up with such an inept performance again. The checkbook is open just wait and see. There will be a flood of ins and outs and we will get the quality in to win the league. Anything else in Xias opinion is totally unacceptable.
Thats from the horses mouth!!!!!!!

Trotters wrote:Just saw this on twitter.

RDM by Christmas...

To be fair, looking at the still on this video, hes already on the way! http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10531508/aston-villa-owner-tony-xia-hits-out-at-squad-after-luton-efl-cup-loss

UnclePanda wrote:

Trotters wrote:Just saw this on twitter.

RDM by Christmas...

To be fair, looking at the still on this video, hes already on the way! http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/10531508/aston-villa-owner-tony-xia-hits-out-at-squad-after-luton-efl-cup-loss

Thats me now for feck sake

I have not got a clue what to expect for the season at this point. I think Saturday will say a lot though, another defeat and i'll be concerned. We need a win obviously but i think even a draw would be at least something.

I feel we are at least 6 players away from having a shot at finishing high up the table although that is apparently gonna change over the next couple of weeks so i will hold fire on any season predictions until i see what state the team is in when the window shuts.

Has to be improvement soon - We have two winnable home matches - probably at least 2 new players in the team for the Huddersfield. I accept there will be a bedding in period - but that doesn't mean we show zero improvement in the very short term.
We spent last Autumn waiting for the team to 'gel' - with zero evidence it was happening...

Pretty much immediate improvement from this point on......

i personally think we will be a bit stop start to around November , then with our squad and hopefully new additions we will kick on.
if seriously in the mix i would expect us to bolster in January.
keep the faith UTV

If we get the players we are linked with then we will be favorites for promotion.

NARLA24 wrote:If we get the players we are linked with then we will be favorites for promotion.

How confident are you of us getting those players ??

Need to shift a few more of last seasons players as well though to get a fresh feel around the place !!

The names we've brought in so far and the prices paid will have grabbed people's attention. If Jedinak does sign, it'll be a real statement of intent. If we get that bloke that Juve are after then it'll be a case of "remember when Villa were in the old Div2 and just blew the fucking doors off it?"

Winning 26 games in this league is usually what gets you over the line. So that's all we need to be focused on really. I personally think we've already got the best selection of strikers out of anyone in the division and it will only get better if/when Bamford arrives. We add quality to the midfield and get a decent right-back aswell then I can't see how anyone would have a better squad than us in this division.

Newcastle have got some "names" but how many have actually proven themselves in the Championship? Gayle hasn't even had a single season in the football league where he's scored 15 goals. Granted Ritchie is proven but that's as good as it gets where their attack is concerned.

Their defence is very young and naive too. No doubt Clark will get a look in soon enough but we all know how crap he is so defensively I'd be worried If I were them. I still expect them to be around the top end but It really wouldn't surprise me if they finished 6th tbh. The last time they were relegated they had Barton, Nolan, Amiobi, an emerging Carroll etc and just romped away with the league but this team is way less prepared for this division than that one was.

At the end of May when we were sold to TX I had a £30ew double on us 10/1 to win the champ and Man U 13/2 to win the prem, potentially paying £1403.74, c'mon!, I know its only one win but I feel a bit more confident now.

In some ways us being relegated is what this club needed.

At the end of May when we were sold to TX I had a £30ew double on us 10/1 to win the champ and Man U 13/2 to win the prem, potentially paying £1403.74, c'mon!, I know its only one win but I feel a bit more confident now.

In some ways us being relegated is what this club needed.