Froggy Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 1 hour ago, Geogaddi said: Yep it's a load of nonsense that Man United have any sort of injury crisis , Hojlund and Wan-Bissaka alone from that bench cost about £100 million didn't they . For us to be 7th with literally a bench full of kids every week is unbelievable really, Villa will be hard to catch but Man United dont worry me at all. I never said we have an injury crisis. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ronaldo Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 11 points away from home to our 5. This isn’t a dig at anyone but Emery is an elite coach who’s been tried and tested at top level and made brilliant signings in the summer to build upon his excellent work last season. I can’t see them slipping up too much between now and the end of the season, he’s too good. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Prophet Posted December 9, 2023 Share Posted December 9, 2023 In previous sessions Emery has been a superb cup manager, but it all to prove in the league. Largely underwhelming league finishes in La Liga with Villarreal and Sevilla, including not recording a single victory on the road in his last season at the latter. At PSG he lost the league title to Monaco, before regaining it the next year and fifth was his best finish at Arsenal. He'd still have been a great appointment for us and has been fantastic for Villa, but finishing fourth this season would probably be his biggest league-based achievement since Valencia. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ketsbaia Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Unless we pull of a surprise win at Spurs, I'd say the gap to Villa is looking very hard to catch. So us, Spurs + Man Utd fighting for 5th/6th/7th. Sounds like fun Getting so jealous about Villa, mind. That isn't healthy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 42 minutes ago, Ketsbaia said: Unless we pull of a surprise win at Spurs, I'd say the gap to Villa is looking very hard to catch. So us, Spurs + Man Utd fighting for 5th/6th/7th. Sounds like fun Getting so jealous about Villa, mind. That isn't healthy. It must be what alot of clubs felt watching us last season. If it didn't directly potentially impact on our success I would probably be enjoying Villa disrupting the top 4 like we were. Just feels frustrating that , but for injuries, we would be in amongst it still. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
morpeth mag Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Look at how Spurs have faded this past month. There's a long way to go and much will happen Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteV Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 1 minute ago, morpeth mag said: Look at how Spurs have faded this past month. There's a long way to go and much will happen Exactly. We’ve made 8 points on Spurs in the last five games without being in particularly great form. There’s always the possibility of a couple of key injuries fettling any team. Look at Man City. De Bruyne and Rodri out and it’s gone tits up (by their standards). How would Villa fair without, say, Watkins and McGinn for a few weeks? They might be fine, but you never know. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
astraguy Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Still 69 points to play for 🤣 any of the teams above us could have an injury crisis in that time Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mondonewc Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 We aren't even half way through the season yet, let's see where Villa are in March/April time. They're a good team for sure and I think they will be in the mix but if they get anything like the injury list we've had they'll highly likely not make it. Win today and we are 6 points behind them, at this stage that's not a big gap at all, and it's fair to say Villa's season pretty much couldn't be going any better whereas we've obviously got this horrific injury list. Fair play to Villa and Emery, but I can definitely still see us finishing ahead of them this season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUPERTOON Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 (edited) 11 minutes ago, morpeth mag said: Look at how Spurs have faded this past month. There's a long way to go and much will happen Fair point, but worth noting that villa have maintained this form for well over a year now though. Edited December 10, 2023 by SUPERTOON Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
gbandit Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 I’d say I’m generally an optimist and look at upcoming games and the season as a whole positively but I do think the top four are likely to remain the top four for the rest of the season. Not because they’re just having a good run of form but because they’ve all got deep squads and three out of four of the squads are the best in the league in terms of their first 11. I did say that Spurs would drop off several weeks ago and that’s happened but I don’t see any of the top four currently dropping away, even Villa but who knows. Like people say, there is a long way to go Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 2 hours ago, mondonewc said: We aren't even half way through the season yet, let's see where Villa are in March/April time. They're a good team for sure and I think they will be in the mix but if they get anything like the injury list we've had they'll highly likely not make it. Win today and we are 6 points behind them, at this stage that's not a big gap at all, and it's fair to say Villa's season pretty much couldn't be going any better whereas we've obviously got this horrific injury list. Fair play to Villa and Emery, but I can definitely still see us finishing ahead of them this season. Getting our players back for the second half of the season will be massive. It's incredible that we are still within touching distance of the top four considering the squad has been decimated to the degree it has been over the last few weeks. We just need to hope we can hang in there until the new year and still be in with a shout. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexf Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 That Fulham home game is no longer looking like a break from the tough fixtures. Neither is Luton away. Small things in seasons can make a massive difference to your final placing. Like for example if we had played those fixtures earlier in the season, when both were really struggling and we had fresh legs, they would be as close to a sure 3 points as you could ask. Same as Villa got to play Man City when they were out of form and missing key players for example. You just know when we play them they will have a fresh fully fit De Bruyne among others. Hopefully we can get some momentum back later in the season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gallowgate Toon Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Things feel sketchy now but I genuinely think we hit 35 points at the hallway mark which would be a very good platform to build on. Players coming back is huge, even if just mentally for the current players and beginning some rotation while others get back up-to-speed, as well as knowing our European fate. I think that'll have been a bit of a mental millstone the last week or so as they'll all be desperate to be in it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Icarus Posted December 10, 2023 Share Posted December 10, 2023 Said it before but I think it's worth keeping in mind and I know I do. If we only win our home games and 1 of Luton or Forest away in our next 9, we'll be on the same points total we were at that stage last season. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stottie Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 Still doing well on the whole, very well considering the luck with tough draws and injuries, but I'm a bit concerned now for Top 4/5 with Dubravka. We're built on defensively solidity and I don't see it with him on what he's showed this week. Dubravka played more than Pope in preseason and against Man U in the Carabao, so Howe's not neglected him. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coffee_Johnny Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 5 games in 15 days. Pretty much the same team: Chelsea at H 4-1 win, PSG A 1-1 heartbreaker, Man Utd H 1-0 win (another injury to crucial first teamer), Everton A 0-3 loss, Spurs A 1-4 loss. So two wins, two losses, and a draw. However disappointing, not a catastrophic collapse. 6th game in 18 days coming up… . Thankfully looks like there will we be 2, or maybe 3, more players to choose from. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aiston Posted December 11, 2023 Share Posted December 11, 2023 (edited) 6 hours ago, Stottie said: Still doing well on the whole, very well considering the luck with tough draws and injuries, but I'm a bit concerned now for Top 4/5 with Dubravka. We're built on defensively solidity and I don't see it with him on what he's showed this week. Dubravka played more than Pope in preseason and against Man U in the Carabao, so Howe's not neglected him. Five of the goals conceded were directly defensive fuck ups, nothing to do with Dubravka. To blame him and let our defence off with it, especially Trippier is utter shite. Edited December 11, 2023 by Aiston Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 What would be better for the co-efficient, Man U going through tonight and losing in the last 16, or winning a couple of rounds and losing in the 1/4s of the Europa League? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Froggy Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 55 minutes ago, Optimistic Nut said: What would be better for the co-efficient, Man U going through tonight and losing in the last 16, or winning a couple of rounds and losing in the 1/4s of the Europa League? I think if we won and ended up going through tonight (which won't happen), we would get +6 for the coefficient, but if we were to lose and go into the EL we would only get 2 points for getting to the quarter finals. Could be wrong, but the CL is much more lucrative coefficient wise. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
The College Dropout Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 On 09/12/2023 at 21:13, Colos Short and Curlies said: Im turning to the idea that finishing 3rd in the CL group would be the best thing for us in the medium term. Gives us another avenue for potential CL qualification next year. youd think that ManU will spend in Jan and improve, City, Liverpool and Arsenal are pretty much certs for top 4 and Villa can afford a drop off and still be in a strong position. even with 5th potentially being enough id like an alternative option to aim for Finishing 3rd pretty much ends any hope of finishing top 5.. We'll end up playing 4-9 games next year. Finishing 2nd, we'll play 2-4 games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Optimistic Nut Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 1 hour ago, Froggy said: I think if we won and ended up going through tonight (which won't happen), we would get +6 for the coefficient, but if we were to lose and go into the EL we would only get 2 points for getting to the quarter finals. Could be wrong, but the CL is much more lucrative coefficient wise. Just found this. Villa, Man City and Liverpool will go very far, could see Arsenal, Brighton and West Ham getting to the last 8/16 of their comps, us and Man U probably bonuses. Don't think dropping down would be too damaging. Finishing bottom would probably be absorbed by the first three clubs. We should be fine. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteV Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Reece James fettled with a hamstring again. Not sure Chelsea are particularly relevant to this thread at present like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wormy Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 Looking back at his stats and I didn't realise just how consistent his injury issues were. Now in his fifth season and only managed more than 30 PL appearances once. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
janpawel Posted December 12, 2023 Share Posted December 12, 2023 James is so talented, really think he could have been the best right back in the world, shame about the injuries If I was Chelsea, I'd consider selling him while he still has a high profile Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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