Re: Promotion discussion thread

[AstonThriller]

A lot of cowards and bed wetters were waving the white flag again after Cardiff won today. Hell, they even prayed for a Fulham win as well because they are soooooo scared to possibly face them In the playoffs SMH. The bottom line Is yes it was annoying to see Cardiff nick yet another game late on, BUT, we've cut Fulham's advantage down to three points now and they have to go to a rampant Millwall next week. Cardiff only have to won two out of four to see off our challenge, but we play before them next week and IF we manage to reduce the gap to one point again then who knows how they will cope against Forest? We just saw Fulham fold late on so all we need to do Is just win again and see what happens. I don't think Forest getting a draw at least Is impossible when you consider they did beat Wolves away.

Regardless though, If it is the playoffs and IF we do end up facing Fulham In the final then I'd be more than happy with that. They beat us when we just played an emotional game with Blues and we were without Adomah (top scorer and gives us width on the left no-one else bar Green can), Grealish (our current best player) and Kodjia (One of the most talented players In the league), so I'm convinced It would be a totally different story If we meet them again. This team has shown that they know how to win the big games again the other fancied teams, so why not do it again? I see no reason to fear anyone. If the Wolves game didn't prove to people how good this team can be on any given day, then nothing will.

[De Kuip]

A lot of cowards and bed wetters were waving the white flag again after Cardiff won today. Hell, they even prayed for a Fulham win as well because they are soooooo scared to possibly face them In the playoffs SMH. The bottom line Is yes it was annoying to see Cardiff nick yet another game late on, BUT, we've cut Fulham's advantage down to three points now and they have to go to a rampant Millwall next week. Cardiff only have to won two out of four to see off our challenge, but we play before them next week and IF we manage to reduce the gap to one point again then who knows how they will cope against Forest? We just saw Fulham fold late on so all we need to do Is just win again and see what happens. I don't think Forest getting a draw at least Is impossible when you consider they did beat Wolves away.

Regardless though, If it is the playoffs and IF we do end up facing Fulham In the final then I'd be more than happy with that. They beat us when we just played an emotional game with Blues and we were without Adomah (top scorer and gives us width on the left no-one else bar Green can), Grealish (our current best player) and Kodjia (One of the most talented players In the league), so I'm convinced It would be a totally different story If we meet them again. This team has shown that they know how to win the big games again the other fancied teams, so why not do it again? I see no reason to fear anyone. If the Wolves game didn't prove to people how good this team can be on any given day, then nothing will.

I'm convinced it's playoffs but I agree whilst we aren't consistent we do seem to raise our game when the pressure is on.
I also think that most other teams give everything when they play us and maybe we don't do that enough. I think the reason we've done ok in pressure games and rubbish in some run of the mill ones is that when our guys raise their game we can beat anyone in this division, but given the pedigree of most of our squad, we just don't play at top effort and attitude consistently.
I'd have taken 4th at the start of the season cos I always rate us in big games when all our team is fit.

[FoxyAV]

You make some good points and posts but you undermine it all by posting crap like this about your own fellow Villa fans.

A lot of cowards and bed wetters

[AstonThriller]

You make some good points and posts but you undermine it all by posting crap like this about your own fellow Villa fans.

A lot of cowards and bed wetters

Do I have to like every single fellow villa fan? Sorry but I'm too real for that. Even watching some sellout "Villa fans" on twitter "congratulating" Wolves fans just makes me shake my head. You're congratulating fans who have sung songs game in, game out about "mind the gap" and routinely abuse our owner!!!.. REALLY? It's stupid and I'll always speak my mind.

[Villa_Dan]

Disagreeing with other Villa fans? Fine

Insulting, abusing, slagging them off? That's what Villa hating, slum-dwelling, 12-toed, inbred freaks do and makes you no better than them.

There's a difference.

[FoxyAV]

You make some good points and posts but you undermine it all by posting crap like this about your own fellow Villa fans.

A lot of cowards and bed wetters

Do I have to like every single fellow villa fan? Sorry but I'm too real for that. Even watching some sellout "Villa fans" on twitter "congratulating" Wolves fans just makes me shake my head. You're congratulating fans who have sung songs game in, game out about "mind the gap" and routinely abuse our owner!!!.. REALLY? It's stupid and I'll always speak my mind.

We're all Villa fans, we're all on the same side. We all get pissed off when things aren't working out, we all have a party after a win. Like I say, you make some good points and posts.

[AstonThriller]

Am I calling people out by NAME? No, so what's the problem? People don't mind calling our players names If they don't play well, or slagging off Bruce or the likes of Warnock. But If I dare say anything "oh no that's wrong"? Nah, I'm not having that. Some Villa fans I can appreciate, but some others can bore off as far as I'm concerned.

[deadbuzzardalive]

I think automatic promotion is now a very very long shot indeed, there's so many things we need to go our way, but whilst there's still a slight hope we just have to keep going and hope for the best, which is why I wanted Fulham to lose last night, don't really care whether it's them or Cardiff in the play-offs, they're both capable of giving us a tough game, and by the same token, we're capable of beating either side.

[AstonThriller]

I think automatic promotion is now a very very long shot indeed, there's so many things we need to go our way, but whilst there's still a slight hope we just have to keep going and hope for the best, which is why I wanted Fulham to lose last night, don't really care whether it's them or Cardiff in the play-offs, they're both capable of giving us a tough game, and by the same token, we're capable of beating either side.

Odoi In the middle of Fulham's defense Is a sitting duck that Kodjia would tear apart imo. Terry and Chester also shut down Mitrovic when we played them last time.

This was our team that played Fulham that day.

...................Johnson.......................

..Tuezebe...Chester..Terry...Hutton....

..............Jedinak...Thor..................
...................Hourihane................
.........Elmo..................Snodgrass...
.....................Hogan......................

Is it any wonder why we lost? Snoddy had to move position, Elmo on the wing, no Kodjia, Adomah and Grealish, Grabban wasn't fit enough to play more than twenty minutes etc. Plus Elmo was so poor that Onomah replaced him at half-time (when it was still 0-0 btw) so that gave us even less width to play with. And we had to cope with all that whilst they had their best team on the pitch. Sessegnon, Mitrovic, Cairney etc.

I actually want Fulham!!!...I have no fear of them whatsoever and I really believe Odoi Is tailor-made for our attack to exploit.

[deadbuzzardalive]

I think once the play-offs begin to a large extent the league form will go out of the window, and it will be a question of who turns up on the day, people talk about Fulham, but when it comes to the crunch it could be Middlesbrough, Millwall or anyone else who ends up being the danger team, we've just got to hope that we turn up ourselves, we've got a lot of players with big match experience, so that in theory should stand us in good stead.

[Dions_Bald_Head]

My opinion about our chances for promotion haven't had anything to do with me being an chest-thumping optimist or a bed-wetting pessimist but down to the fact that I genuinely believe we have players to beat anyone in this league but we also have a team/system/tactic selector that tend to hamstring things.

Do I think we have the ability to gain promotion? Yes 100%
What do I think our chances are? 50%

However, getting me on the topic of being in the PL next season does test my sunny disposition!

[FoxyAV]

My opinion about our chances for promotion haven't had anything to do with me being an chest-thumping optimist or a bed-wetting pessimist but down to the fact that I genuinely believe we have players to beat anyone in this league but we also have a team/system/tactic selector that tend to hamstring things.

Do I think we have the ability to gain promotion? Yes 100%
What do I think our chances are? 50%

However, getting me on the topic of being in the PL next season does test my sunny disposition!

 

Me too. Individual players, yes. Working as a team with someone guiding them properly, no.

[De Kuip]

You make some good points and posts but you undermine it all by posting crap like this about your own fellow Villa fans.

A lot of cowards and bed wetters

Do I have to like every single fellow villa fan? Sorry but I'm too real for that. Even watching some sellout "Villa fans" on twitter "congratulating" Wolves fans just makes me shake my head. You're congratulating fans who have sung songs game in, game out about "mind the gap" and routinely abuse our owner!!!.. REALLY? It's stupid and I'll always speak my mind.

Well I don't think I'm a sell out and I offer my warmest congratulations to wolves. They've been the standout team and I don't care about agents or players or this and that, they've spent a long time in the wilderness and they deserve their moment in the sun. Nice to see a midland team going up and if it couldn't be us then I'm glad it's them. Even more pleasing if the Tesco carrier bags drop as I wish them nothing but misery.
If we have to get all leery cos some other fans give us a bit of stick, we must be very insecure. Our time is coming I have no doubt, it's just that the journey is a bit painful now.
Nope, well done Wolves - a fellow proper old Midlands team and one of the original 12 - rather that than yet another boring nowhere team like Bournemouth Southampton Watford Swansea Brighton etc.

[jeffvilla]

Let the other teams have sour grapes, Good luck to Wolves they have done well this year.
Enough said. ......... Back to villa, 50 50 chance of going up, not holding my breath for automatic.

[deadbuzzardalive]

I don't know about anything else, but I certainly wish we were in Wolves position, already promoted that is, and I'll feel the same way when either of Cardiff or Fulham join them, although I do still have faint hopes that we can nick second place.

It's annoying having to wait until the end of May (if we make it that far) before knowing which division we'll be in next season, especially when all it probably would have taken is a couple of wins from Hull, Bolton, QPR and Norwich, to see us go up automatically.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Apparently the Premier league transfer winodow opens earlier this year on May 17th, presumably because of the World Cup. So if we do make it up via the play-offs, then we'll have less time to prepare than usual, relative to other teams for the new season. That said if they keep Bruce, he'll just go for the same type of players he signed last summer, only difference is that he'll be able to pay them more, and go for slightly younger versions, i.e his idea of 'real men'.

[De Kuip]

Apparently the Premier league transfer winodow opens earlier this year on May 17th, presumably because of the World Cup. So if we do make it up via the play-offs, then we'll have less time to prepare than usual, relative to other teams for the new season. That said if they keep Bruce, he'll just go for the same type of players he signed last summer, only difference is that he'll be able to pay them more, and go for slightly younger versions, i.e his idea of 'real men'.

Don't. Just dont.

*Shivers at the thought of another season under Bruce.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Fulham win again, making second place even harder than it already was, it's still possible, but with goal difference taken into consideration, we now need them to drop points in both their last two games, which is very unlikely considering they've got Sunderland at home next.

We've got to keep going just in case, but it's looks almost certain that it's the play-offs for us now, I just hope we turn up for them, as so much is riding on promotion for us, the disappointment if we fail will be hard to take.

[De Kuip]

We've got to keep going just in case, but it's looks almost certain that it's the play-offs for us now, I just hope we turn up for them, as so much is riding on promotion for us, the disappointment if we fail will be hard to take.

It will be hard to take, but I always console myself with the thought that however shit we are or might be, were still not birmingham City. Small consolation I know but always worth remembering.

[The Utterer]

It's clearly all over regards 2nd place & has been since we lost at Bolton in reality.

All about shaping a team which can win 3 playoff games now. Still we keep getting hammered by injuries (Terry, Tuanzebe, Kodija, Hutton etc etc) which really doesn't help but then it's been like that for the last two season almost incessantly so i guess we have to be good enough despite all that.

All about who finishes where now but at least we are definately in the hat.

[UnclePanda]

Quique Sanchez Flores is available again..

[AstonThriller]

Fulham win again, making second place even harder than it already was, it's still possible, but with goal difference taken into consideration, we now need them to drop points in both their last two games, which is very unlikely considering they've got Sunderland at home next.

We've got to keep going just in case, but it's looks almost certain that it's the play-offs for us now, I just hope we turn up for them, as so much is riding on promotion for us, the disappointment if we fail will be hard to take.

Once again last night Villa fans were running for the hills at the thought of having to face Fulham In the playoffs!!...just pathetic . Watched the game and once again I saw the same defensive deficiencies. They should have been two down early as Millwall contrived to miss chance after chance. And of course their keeper virtually hands Fulham two early goals In the second half and that was all she wrote. What is abundantly clear is Fulham simply cannot handle crosses coming into their box. And I say what I said last time, I would be HAPPY to see them In the playoff final If we get that far.

As for the situation. Well all we can do is win today!!!..we do that then it's as you were and we just have to hope the same Sunderland who turned up at Derby a few weeks ago will turn up at Fulham too. IF they beat Burton today, they could be just three points away from safety so there would be so much to play for.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Never mind Fulham, on twitter during the first half there were countless fans running scared of the possibility of us having to face Millwall, yes they're doing well, but whoever we play in the play-offs they're going to be a good team on their day, it won't be easy getting to the final, never mind the whole thing.

By the same token, I'm seeing people desperate for us to play Derby in them, forgetting that form will go out the window, and they on their day are a capable team, who if they do eventually make will probably be riding on a high, after it looking like they could miss out.

[UnclePanda]

we will win the play offs. im fully confident of that

[deadbuzzardalive]

If Cardiff win tonight then we're officially out of the running for second place. Us getting automatic promotion has been a long shot for a while now, but when it's mathematically confirmed I'll be disappointed all the same.

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