Aston Villa vs Fulham (playoff final) Match Thread

[AstonThriller]

I know there's another thread guys but I'm a superstitious idiot and the fact that I've started threads where we've won around eighteen of our games this season, compelled me to start this thread ahead of tomorrows game.

This will probably be the line-up for tomorrow.

........................Johnstone.......................

.........Elmo....Chester...Terry....Hutton......

..................Jedinak...Hourihane................
........................Grealish..............
.............Snodgrass...........Adomah......
..........................Grabban.....................

The only question mark is obviously Elmo and if he doesn't play then expect Taylor or Bree to step in. I also wouldn't be totally surprised to see Kodjia start due to his height advantage over the Fulham centre-backs, but that's probably a longshot right now. There's a notion in the media that "Fulham will be playing all the football and Villa will have to defend for their lives and hit them on the break"!!!... . It really does seem like everyone is judging us off the back of the Boro games and can't comprehend the fact that we were the third top scorers in the division and have scored four or more several times this season. We also have as much, if not more offensive weapons than they have. But anyway, as I've said elsewhere, Fulham have a clear weakness against crosses into the box and set-pieces, and have also lost their last two away games to Blues and Derby respectively.

Sky also showed a stat that the villa players have played at Wembley a combined fifty-one times whereas Fulham's squad have played a total of two games at Wembley.

So all the talking is almost done, and now we're gonna see which team has the balls to stand up and be counted. I'll certainly be saying a little prayer for the mighty Villa tonight, and just hope that when all the dust has settled we can all be celebrating going back home to the Premiership. It's so close, but seems so far away right now.

COME ON VILLA!!!

[Saunders82]

I'm with you on this that we need to make sure all the tokens of good luck are used, NOT THAT I'M SUPERSTITIOUS THO, normally I would be really confident that we can do it BUT Villa of late can always throw a spanner in the works, and don't we all know it. We have had chance after chance this year to get automatic promotion and we have cocked it up, just hope the players realise this is their last chance this year, GET IT DONE COYL UTV

[deadbuzzardalive]

This time tomorrow we could be a Premier league side again, with a summer of spending and other plans to look forward to, or we could be still in the Championship and crippled somewhat by FFP, I'm not sure I've ever been so nervous about the outcome of a game before.

Haven't got a clue what's going to happen result wise, Fulham will be the big favorites because of the run they've been on, but in a one off game anything can happen. Hopefully the likes of Grealish, Hourihane, Snodgrass, Adomah, Grabban, and Kodjia, are all on form, in which case we should have an excellent chance.

[AstonThriller]

This time tomorrow we could be a Premier league side again, with a summer of spending and other plans to look forward to, or we could be still in the Championship and crippled somewhat by FFP, I'm not sure I've ever been so nervous about the outcome of a game before.

Haven't got a clue what's going to happen result wise, Fulham will be the big favorites because of the run they've been on, but in a one off game anything can happen. Hopefully the likes of Grealish, Hourihane, Snodgrass, Adomah, Grabban, and Kodjia, are all on form, in which case we should have an excellent chance.

This nervous feeling is horrible, isn't it? It's been on and off for me for the last few days tbh. At times I'm extremely confident, at others I fear the worst. For the most part though I've been trying to separate myself from the trepidation and just let the McGrath 's be the deciding factor. If it's meant to be, it WILL be.

A lot has been made about the repercussions of not going up, but I just think it's fear mongering tbh. We may lose some key player yes, but I'd bet a lot of money that most of the squad would remain at b6 and we'd just have to decide whether this manager deserves another chance. Because like I've said before, Huddersfield and Cardiff spent virtually nothing when they got promoted, so nothing is set in stone.

[deadbuzzardalive]

Hopefully it doesn't come to any of that though... Just one more win is all we need, fingers crossed.

[smetro]

Feeling super confident this morning. I think Fulham have the jitters - easy 2-0 win for villa in 90 minutes. Put your money on Chester to pop up with a goal - hes been pretty close in the last few weeks - today he bags the second goal

[AstonThriller]

When I think about this game I also wonder how many "big pressure games" have Fulham experienced compared to us this season? This year we've had the two blues games, the Wolves at home game, the Cardiff game and then the two Boro games. Fulham had that game at home to Brentford where they bottle it, the blues game where they bottle it, and the Derby games. So one could argue we've been in these pressure situations way more than they have. So not only do we have the Wembley experience on our side, but we've also faced more pressure games this season than they have.

[smetro]

As the players leave the dressing room - play them this from Eminen

Look, if you had one shot, one opportunity
To seize everything you ever wanted
One moment
Would you capture it or just let it slip?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yhyp-_hX2s

[gaffer85]

Ah it's here may move the sofa out so I can hide behind it
C'mon the Villa

[AstonThriller]

TEAM NEWS

Johnstone, Elmo, Hutton, Chester, Terry, Jedinak, Hourihane, Grealish, Adomah, Snodgrass, Grabban

Subs: Bunn, Bree, Thor, Onomah, Kodjia, Whelan, Hogan

Fulham have stuck with the same team that beat Derby.

COME ON VILLA!!!

[UnclePanda]

Well, looks like the poor Villa turned up for the 1st half... Hopefully the better Villa can turn up for the 2nd.

Since we qualified for the play offs, I couldnt see anything other than a Villa promotion.. Dont wanna see us in the Championship next season

[Dazzle]

As poor as we were that 1st half (getting in at 1-0 down a McGrath send) the referee has had a fucking shocking display with what he has let Fredericks get away with on Grealish. It’s embarrassing

[De Kuip]

Can we please fuck Bruce off now and not waste any more time with his dinosaur football?
That would be nice.

[UnclePanda]

Fulham deserve that. On the 90 mins and the whole season. Good luck to them next season

[bruka]

Anthony Taylor is a sugarbag. We should have had a peno, they should have had nine men. Played well second half and Jack was great in what will likely be his last game in a Villa shirt. For me Bruce has to go now, done with Villa until he's gone

[rogermuffin69]

Oh well the youth can get a chance now hopefully. And get Dean Smith in pronto to play football the right. Ffs!

[deadbuzzardalive]

Absolutely devastated, no positive spin to us spending a third year in the championship, I think the summer is only going to get even more depressing, when the repercussions for the club of this defeat become more evident.

[FoxyAV]

Fulham played football, scored and spent the rest of the match defending their lead. We didn't play football until it was too late and even then it didn't look like anyone could be arsed. Bruce has failed, Terry has failed. Both have to go. We need a manager who has a clue what he's doing, give the captaincy back to Chester and bring in a partner for him with legs.

We played with 10 men for the first half. Grabban was so isolated it was pointless having him on the pitch. When we did get the ball we didn't know what to do with it.

I hope we can keep Grealish but Xia needs to act quickly to get in a proper manager. We had all the tools for the job and Bruce fucked it up.

[Saunders82]

Did'nt do enough first half, made the mistake and got punished, second half we did a lot better but as always the reffing leaves a lot to be desired. But as always this season we have had the chances and blew em, on to next year.

[UnclePanda]

Massive summer ahead. Has to be 100% spot on with every single decision now.

[FoxyAV]

I'm already thinking positives. Kodjia fit and a whole pre-season. Make it all about him and Grealish with a proper manager directing play. Andre Green coming back. O'Hare. Try to buy Johnstone. Etc.

[VTID85]

Well played Fulham, a combination of good football at times with thuggish arseholery at others. Better on the day, if only we'd started the first half like we did the second.

[Dions_Bald_Head]

Usual sitting back tactics in the 1st half made us look dozy & then a frantic attacking 2nd which ended up exposing our poor manager for being unable to change things suitably.

Looking forward to all the usual ins & outs over the Summer.

[Dazzle]

Started too tentatively, had a ref that refused to protect Grealish. I don’t think anyone could argue that Fulham should have had Fredericks sent off 1st half, and there’d have been down to 9 2nd half. Still, 1st half wasn’t anywhere near good enough. Not sure where we go from here but things will get harder. Loans are our only way now

[deadbuzzardalive]

We won't even be able to afford to loan Johnstone let alone buy him, Bruce said himself that if we fail today then all the loans will have to go back, and the squad will look very different next season as we try and balance the books again, unfortunately the parachute payments are all but gone, and we don't have assets like Veretout and Amavi that we can sell this time round.

I think people are going to be in for a disappointment if they think the likes of Grealish and Chester will be with us next season... The reality of the situation as it unfolds over the summer won't be nice to witness, unless Xia has some clever way of getting round FFP, which to be fair from what we've seen so far, I doubt that he has.

There was even talk from John Percy that we might have to sell Bodymoor Heath... I don't think it will be quite that bad though.

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