So will we go up or not?

Simple question.
Please answer yes or no.
I don't want any theorising or explanations behind the guess, just a yes or a no. You don't have to apologise for being negative or crow about always being positive, just a one word answer is required.
My guess:
No.

no

No.

Yes

yes

Sorry @De Kuip

I don't know? We can beat any team in this league on our day but also lose to any team when out of sorts! It is a complete lottery when you get to Wembley too!

Yes!

No

My head says "fuck yes! We've got the best squad in the entire division!"

My heart says "fuck no! This is the Villa"

Yes

Well just to reflect the fact that we never really know which Villa will turn up, so far we have 4 yes, 4 no and 2 could be either! I think that equal split represents some of our frustrations this season.

De Kuip wrote:Well just to reflect the fact that we never really know which Villa will turn up, so far we have 4 yes, 4 no and 2 could be either! I think that equal split represents some of our frustrations this season.

And the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our performances at times?

DelboyVilla wrote:

De Kuip wrote:Well just to reflect the fact that we never really know which Villa will turn up, so far we have 4 yes, 4 no and 2 could be either! I think that equal split represents some of our frustrations this season.

And the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our performances at times?

Exactly. We just don’t know what sort of performance we’ll see from one half to the next, let alone one game to the next! There have been flashes of how good we can be this season, and also glimpses of how silly we can be. I have to hope that they learnt a harsh lesson in the games that followed the wolves win, because I think the players thought they had won promotion after that and more or less switched off for the following three games and blew the chance of automatic promotion. And that IS where automatic promotion was lost.

Dazzle wrote:

DelboyVilla wrote:

De Kuip wrote:Well just to reflect the fact that we never really know which Villa will turn up, so far we have 4 yes, 4 no and 2 could be either! I think that equal split represents some of our frustrations this season.

And the Jekyll and Hyde nature of our performances at times?

Exactly. We just don’t know what sort of performance we’ll see from one half to the next, let alone one game to the next! There have been flashes of how good we can be this season, and also glimpses of how silly we can be. I have to hope that they learnt a harsh lesson in the games that followed the wolves win, because I think the players thought they had won promotion after that and more or less switched off for the following three games and blew the chance of automatic promotion. And that IS where automatic promotion was lost.

Totally agree - to beat the teams we beat and lose against the teams we lost to is bonkers.

Am gonna go Yes purely because it's about time something rolled for us.

The Utterer wrote:Am gonna go Yes purely because it's about time something rolled for us.

Ooh now the balance is tipped in favour of the yes voters!

It's a yes, I hope the team play like they did against wolves, for the play offs, UTV. I'm

yes for me

Deffo a late surge for the positives!!

Yes, Oui, Si Ja, Da and from Oz - bloody oath!

Good to hear from you Wendy!
As you are in Oz can you do us a favour and pop round next door and have a look if Trotters is in.
Are there lots of newspapers in his porch or milk bottles piling up on his step?
Ta.

We have to play two (possibly three) matches against one (possibly two) of the best and most in-form teams in the Championship (with the exception of Millwall, who we couldn't beat on Sunday). Sure, for the first match we could play like we did against Wolves but we'd have to hope we thrash Boro on Saturday by more goals than they'll thrash us by at VP, and we don't fold if we get to the final.

Do we think Bruce is going to load the bench with strikers or defensive midfielders? He's going to want to either play four defensive midfielders or four strikers, depending how each match is going. If we win the first Boro match we'll presumably see all our DMs on the bench for the VP return leg.

I think the 11 that start away at Boro will be; Johnstone, Elmohamady, Hutton, Terry, Chester, Whelan, Hourihane, Grealish, Snodgrass, Adomah, Grabban. I don’t see any way on this earth that we start without either Whelan or Jedinak as defensive midfield cover, and I think that’s probably sensible against a Pulis side away from home with away goals counting for nothing. Pulis sides just tend not to go for it, I think the only time they open up and go for it is when they’re behind with the last quarter of the tie left. This tie becomes three times harder if we fall behind because you can guarantee Pulis will be looking to prevail 1-0 over the 2 legs, that’s what he is! They’ll get the ball to Traore as often as possible and hope he produces some magic. Fortunately for ourselves we have a good 3-4 possible match winners in Grabban, Grealish, Snodgrass, and Adomah. You could even probably add Hourihane to that list. I’d say we have more individual match winners in our squad than them, and I think that’s what wins the tie over 180 minutes.
Contrary to popular opinion I don’t think being home for the 2nd leg brings any advantage whatsoever when away goals don’t count, I’d have preferred to have been at home on the Saturday at 515pm in front of a rocking Villa Park.

I’ve had a bit of time this morning and so I’ve had a little look at some Boro forums to see how they’re feeling about the tie ahead, makes for some pretty standard comments really except that it’s quite clear they see Traore as their single hope for winning the tie. In particular there were comments about how Traore struggles on a wet pitch, with one or two even saying that opposing teams are now soaking one side of the pitch at half time to make things more slippery for Traore to operate at his best, not a bad idea! Can the Villa Park surface be watered on just one side if needed?!!

Sorry Trotters, he's at least 1200 kms away