Well I thought this forum was due a write up, so a sum up of the seemingly dismal few weeks at this football club feels appropriate. Whilst I don’t believe we have entered a full-blown crisis, I can see exactly where the frustration of fans has come from, and I have definitely gathered that different people are looking at this from various different angles, depending on their status.
In terms of this site, I think the main frustration comes from the PSR regulations and our injury crisis. Mix them both together, watch clubs like Man City purchase Guehi in January, as well as Semenyo, and both look brilliant, whilst we sold Grealish, Diaby and Ramsey for a combined £200m, it just doesn’t seem to make sense. Whilst I do not have an answer as to why exactly this is, I can definitely gather that this is where fan frustration is rooted. There is that, and there is also performances on the pitch – Wolves, Chelsea… just completely spineless, and what kind of a Top 4 team are we if we’re just going to capitulate as soon as we accumulate a few injuries… we mocked Spurs for this, huh? There have just been limited positives since our midfield was taken out, and I believe Newcastle had it out for us so selfishly tried to injure our players at St. James Park whilst our fan base watched from above with the Gods – oh well, let them rot in 14th and get knocked out to Barca despite having £250bn owners.
There have also been other things pointed out by more match-going fans. On Twitter / X, whatever Elon calls it these days, there has been voiced frustration about the lack of care there is towards the fan base, and this is definitely going to rub off on that away end at Old Trafford next Sunday – a particular incident is a fan who’s had his Lille ticket stripped off of him and his entire European booking history lost because he advertised his friend’s ticket despite having booked his flights and accomodation, and sent it to Villa for proof.
My view? It quite clearly states in the rules that you are not to advertise away tickets for sale online or else they were show zero mercy towards you, but I suppose the club could’ve been a little human about that particular issue. It’s just not worth it at all whatsoever, and why I try to avoid discussing tickets on social media. But yeah, things like that just sum up the frustration at the club in terms of liasing with the fanbase recently.
Old Trafford on Sunday, heh! Arguably the worst possible fixture to come up in this bad run, considering the average Villa fan’s view on Manchester United Football Club – I know a few who are refusing to watch because they don’t see the point. If we can run away with a point I would be astonished. In terms of injuries, we could see McGinn and Tielemans back sooner rather than later. Kamara, I just can’t see him playing much for us again, I think he will move on, to be honest.
Anyway, apologies for the negative article, I just wanted to get some fresh writing up considering it has been a while, and it seems a lot of other writers are not feeling up to it due to their frustration at the moment. Open to criticism if I have been too negative.
UTV.
Abraham is voted Villa player of the month for February with 33% of the vote. Martinez, second 12% and Luiz, third 7%.
I venture to suggest that vote just proves how poor the whole team have been
Not really relevant to Alfie’s interesting and thought provoking article – actually thought I’d posted it on the previous thread!
Not even looking forward to Thursday really gone off football lately
Some interesting and thought provoking points Alfie and a couple of conclusions that don’t seem to logically follow.
For instance, I don’t see the logic of Kamara’s injury leading to him leaving the club unless the club see him as an injury risk they can capitalise on. We are a lesser side without him – he’s absolutely key to the link between defence and attack.
Kamara is to us as Guimaraes is to Newcastle, Fernandes to Manure and Rodri to Citeh – all areclesser sides without them – so why would we want to lose him?
There is no doubt we are suffering without three of our key players and it is affecting our play but we’re also in a run of poor form and we have limited options to try and get out of it.
Fans are holding Emery to blame for the poor results and he’s not beyond criticism but it’s not unreasonable for him to expect more from the players. I don’t hold to the view he’s ‘peaked’ but it does seem that he’s struggling to find the solution to our present woes. Should he change our playing style – that would be a massive gamble and using Port Vale or Wrexham in the Cup as examples of how we should play is, frankly, naive.
Football in Europe is very different to the EPL so we shouldn’t just assume we can’t get a result agains Lille. On the other hand Manure away with our history looks a beach too far.
My concern is that Unai has maybe downed tools psychologically after the January window, as he’s realised he’s killing himself for nothing; the injuries compound that. If true, the players have sensed it – you can’t not – and have also dropped off. Hence, the results and performances. Just a theory. Hope I’m wrong.
We owe United. Massively. If I’m wrong, it’ll show there. But if I’m right,…
If I’m wrong, there should be ‘fire and fury’ at Old Trafford.
Fair points BFR – the game against Lille will give us an idea – how badly do the players want European glory?
We know Unai wants to win it again.
Here’s an interesting twist on financial regulations.
Uefa’s squad cost ratio (SCR) is 70%; next season the Prem adopts SCR instead of the hated PFR but here’s the twist – the Prems SCR will be 85% but can be as high as 115% (with ‘small’ financial penalties). Over 115%, points deductions come into play. The 85% level stays constant but the ‘add on’ % reduces in following years but can still be up to 30% for clubs with lower spending. That’s my simplistic understanding – they have to make it complicated to keep the bean counters happy 😡
So any club playing in Europe is limited to 70% (irrespective of the rules in their respective league) – whilst this is pretty immaterial to the regular culprits playing in the CL, it does raise questions about the ability of clubs playing in the Conference League, and to a lesser extent, the Europa League to remain competitive in the EPL as prize / TV money from these competitions will not make up the shortfall between being able to spend 115% rather than 70% of revenue.
I can see this having a major impact on Villa’s ability to remain competitive in the EPL and hence qualifying for the CL.
Could this be the real concern that Emery has – trying to build a competitive squad in the future with both hands tied behind his back?
So basically we can be more competitive in the premier league? If we fail to qualify for the Champions League, would it be better to withdraw from Europa or Conference league if we ended up in one of those, and go mad in the transfer market in the summer to challenge for the Premier league title? What’s the point of being in the poor mans European competitions if the income from them is a pittance and they restrict you from being competitive throughout the season, which is where we are at now.
Correct. Don’t bother with Europa, FA Cup or League Cup. Or, better still, play them at their own game and play the youth team, so the wages ratio will be well below 70%. If they want to devalue their competitions, fine. We’ll go with that. Register the youth team. No fans will travel. The competition will shrivel and die and if will serve them right. It will be a joke. But the joke will be on them.
As for the domestic cups, they should be Football League only. Just max out on the PL. Play one game a week. Rest. And compete. Occasionally giving the establishment ‘the bird’ as you go. That would be my plan, anyway.
Exactly what I’ve been saying for months.
They’re tinpot competitions.
There is only one place to be and Europa or conference isn’t it.
In Villa news, it seems Emery will be gone in the summer as he becomes increasingly frustrated with the club having it’s hands tied. Tielemans too could be heading to Saudi in another click bait headline.
‘Clickbait’. That’s all it is.
Don’t read the click bait stuff – you’ll either end up a complete wreck or on the booze (probably the same outcome) 😂
Holte, BFR your’e both right – the discrepancy in financial regulations between the EPL and Europe is a real dilemma both for the owners and for Emery.
Unless Villa qualify for the CL then they’re, arguably, better off in the short to medium term, not being in Europe. Interestingly, a couple of years ago, Juventus opted to miss a year in Europe, having only qualified for the Conference League, rather than taking a massive fine and a years ban from European competition, leaving them open to chase a CL place the following season
This might well be the strategy to adopt and our owners are savvy enough to work it out – but is Emery committed to the long game?
Sawiris is on record as saying the game is now all about bean counters – never was a truer word spoken,
So there is precedent with Juve? I didn’t know that. Debate closed then. The counter argument that you can win the Europa and qualify for CL, especially with a coach like Unai, is no longer strong enough. The 70% is so low, it’s not even worth trying to win that. More clubs should follow suit and then they’ll shit their proverbial pants when they won’t have enough clubs to run the competition. Or the clubs will be so low-profile, nobody will watch; Conference will be even more pathetic – about League 1 level. F*** them. Play them at their own game.
Interesting but how exactly is it going to work i don’t understand the way it would work surely if we overspend we’re banned from Europe anyway so what’s the point then of winning pl title if we banned from following season because over 70% I know don’t say it I’m thick
Roy, you’re right. And the penny’s just dropped. They don’t care about the Europa and the Conference. They want…THE SUPER LEAGUE. Back door. Like Holte said, for the big hitters – the one’s they want – 70% is not an issue. So they’re basically creating the conditions whereby only the clubs they wanted in their Super League breakaway attempt can play, otherwise they will be fined. Twisted f****** know what they’re doing. It’s all manufactured to get them what they wanted. The new league format introduced last year was the first phase; lowering the ratio to 70 is the second phase. It all makes sense now. Football is pretty much dead. Random analogy: that new film that’s out – The Bride! It’s like that – it’s moving; it looks alive. But there’s no soul at all. Dead. And totally f***** up. Sad times.
It’s a conspiracy. And no one’s gonna do a damn thing about it.
McGinn is back in training.
Finally, a bit of good news.
Now get him straight back into the team, even if he’s unfit.
He couldn’t possibly be as bad as half of the team have been.
Do not rush him back and risk a recurrence. He’s either fit or he’s not.
Obviously, if he’s still got symptoms.
I’m talking about match fitness, getting fully up to speed.
You’re spot on BFR. The super league was criticised by the fans and suddenly the clubs involved felt obliged to withdraw their interest. The 70% SCR rule introduced by UEFA is a clever way of ensuring clubs like Villa will find it very difficult to compete in the premier league to qualify for Champions League. That way they are filtering the biggest clubs in terms of their revenue and profile to get the best chance of being involved every season. After all, TV audiences without allegiance prefer to watch Chelsea or Liverpool than Villa.
If it wasn’t so corrupt we would be applauding them for their genius.
Clubs like Villa should boycott their lesser European competitions which they feel will appease their fans as consolation prizes!
Anyway, to answer the headline question, if it’s just a blip, it’s a very prolonged one.
We need to hurry up and get it over with, as truth be told, I’ve hardly thought of the Villa lately and that’s unlike me, such is my boredom of bad results and typical bad luck.
We can still retrieve things, but time is running out until we start slipping down the league.
Ye badger haven’t been bothered myself sick of bad luck and corrupt football var has hit me hard I believe this to be the worst year for football ever but still the stadiums are full
Until their is sustained and united pressure from fans, i.e. ALL of us cancelling Sky/TNT etc, and staying away from stadiums, nothing will change.
Their!!! ‘There is…@ Tut!
BFR, so you’re on the same line as me, have been saying this for months all what’s happening to Villa is about the supper league, Europe and the FA are looking at £sd, it will kill the small club, the thing is can the likes of other clubs and us do what your suggesting? I wish it could be done because football today is far from the football of yesterday, sorry to say.
On a positive note – McGinn trained with the group today and has travelled to France. Best news for weeks.
Might not start but surely he’ll be on the bench?
This could just be the lift the team and fans need and with Tielemans due back in a couple of weeks can we start looking up again?
UTMV
Emery confirmed SJM could start tonight but even having him on the bench is a massive psychological boost – Morgan Rogers has admitted as such.
Cash is out and, despite his marmite character, we’ll miss the energy he brings to the right side of the team. I suspect Bogarde will fill in at right back but he doesn’t bring the dynamism of Cash.
Given our current form (or rather lack of it) I think a draw would be an acceptable result – need to keep the tie alive for the home leg.
Hitch, I’ve no problem with Cash. If others on the team put as much into a game as he does, we would be a better team. I’ve noticed Rodgers blows hot and cold in some games, but he’s still the best we have. Yes, Cash gets caught up field but often than not it’s because forwards lost the ball on his crossing.
McGinn on the bench and Emery using Elliott seems a nice idea. Otherwise the usual Emi keeps his place in goal.
Gerry, I do like the way TNT presents the match so far it’s like we are one of the top six in the Super League wouldn’t you say. ? Yes Torris in Bogarde right back and McGinn on subs bench along with Elliot. Well tonights the night it all happens, utv.
I fancy a win tonight. Emery’s pre match speech on TNT was very positive. He was smiling and looked relaxed.
With regards to SCR set at 70% by UEFA it is a barrier of entry to protect the ‘elite’. I hope NSWE find a way to take them to court and have it overturned.
Grab all the comfort we can Bill.
We seem petrified of them and their crowd. Kop on time for us to win something.
We don’t seem to have a plan here, 18 minutes in and no shot on goal, or even been in their box. What’s going on?
The usual uninspiring stuff from us, up to now.
I don’t think I’ve heard Buendia’s name yet?
When they break, they’re like a normal team. Quick and direct.
We’re trying to walk it in.
BORING!
We are crap…
Yawn – that’s for the comments on here.
I must be watching a different game to the naysayers or maybe I’m just trying to be a positive Villa fan – ff sake get behind the team.
Blimey you’re positive Hitch.
Get behind what?
We haven’t had a shot on target.
Get behind the team you support – it’s not that difficult.
We’re doing OK in an away European tie – Lille aren’t exactly tearing our house down!