The fantastic news is that the transfer window, as enjoyable as it’s been up to now, takes a back seat tomorrow, as we get down to the nitty-gritty, which is the actual playing of the game.
I’m sure I’m not alone in thinking, quite frankly, it can’t come soon enough.
This is a great fixture to be played at this time of year and especially as the opening game of the season, as I really like Bournemouth and would have loved a weekend down there, particularly with the weather looking pretty good.
Work meant there was no hope of that though and given that the capacity of Dean Court is sub-12,000, it meant there were only 1,500 tickets available anyway, which quite rightly get offered to the usual travellers first.
You just know the atmosphere is going to be superb and I’m jealous of anyone who will be going.
So onto the game then and the latest injury news that I see on the Beeb, is that we have Jack Grealish, Carles Gil and Carlos Sanchez as possible doubts, while Jores Okore is definitely out with a knee injury.
For Bournemouth, Harry Arter will miss the game and loanee Christian Atsu is a doubt.
They might start new signings Max Gradel, Lee Tomlin and Sylvain Distin.
Whereas I don’t have a clue who will start for the Villa.
Of the new signings, you can bet Micah Richards, Jordan Amavi and Idrissa Gueye will get a game, but then it’s all up in the air.
I also don’t have many clues as to how we’ll approach this one, save to say that I think Bournemouth will come at us, which means I think we’ll respond in kind. It’s Sherwood’s instinctive way of playing, it seems and I have to hold my hands up and say I haven’t been at all convinced by our defence in the pre-season friendlies, even though my head tells me those games mean nothing.
Bournemouth will be going all out to get off on the right foot and you know they’re going to work their guts out.
We have to be equal to that and if we aren’t, I see this as a really big possible banana skin.
Previous form in opening games doesn’t give many clues for us either, as although we lost to Stoke at home last season, didn’t we beat Arsenal away 3-0, the season before?
In short, I see nothing other than more than four goals.
So seeing as it isn’t going to be two each, I have to choose, although it’s pure guesswork, based on nothing whatsoever.
Sadly, I’m going for a 3-2 loss, but I’ve been thinking all week it’ll actually be a 4-3 loss, because we’ll have been caught cold very early in the game.
Of course, I hope I’m wrong, but it’s just the way I see it.
Then again, to make you all feel better, we might give them a shoeing; I really don’t know.
My heart says it’ll be one each, which would do me, but I have my doubts.
As I said, I haven’t got a clue how this game will go.
I’ve added a poll, as I think the results will be interesting.
[polldaddy poll=9016205]
If you can predict this one with any confidence, you’re a better man than me!
I’m going for a draw, it will take a few weeks for our new boys to gel.
What ever the result lets make sure we give this new time the time it needs….
I totally agree Turv.
It’s a new side and anything could happen in the early days.
I can see a goal fest. Can see them scoring at least twice and us scoring a couple 2
1-3 VILLA the newbies will do the job stay POSITIVE.UTV
Im really positive this season, got some good players in.
I really rate Sherwood.
All I want from tomorrow is positive football, and effort.
Your right in saying hard to predict with the changes we’ve made, but look at it our way, new men in our team wanting to show the league what they can do.all out efforts from both teams and fitness will prevail, so I’m going for a win, 1-3 Villa.
I’m with Giddy on this one. Think our new lads will have to much for Bournemouth. 1-3 Villa.
Badger, didn’t we win away to Stoke first game last season, I thought our first home game was v Newcastle. Anyhoo, I think we’ll lose tomorrow, I’m a huge fan of Eddie Howe and would love him at the Villa, I think he’ll outsmart Tim, whom I’m very unsure of tactically. Remember Bournemouth playing a reserve team against us in the F.A. Cup last year and pushing us close.
I won’t get too despondent if we lose, couldn’t get much more of a worse first fixture than away to a newly promoted side, especially one who plays such lovely football, their striker Wilson worries me greatly, very quick and a good finisher! 2-1.
Dave, you might well be right.
I didn’t remember us losing many in our first few games and we had a decent start, didn’t we?
I blame the Beeb and my crap memory, fwiw.
That makes my article look a load of bollox from the off, doesn’t it? 🙂
Never mind, I’ll leave it as it is, as tbh, the whole thing is pure guesswork.
The main point is, I agree; if we lose this, we shouldn’t get too upset.
Call this article as trying to play down what might be too much expectation.
Interestingly, B’Mouth are evens and we’re nearly 3-1.
Strange odds, given the unknowns, but whatever, I don’t think we’re favourites in my mind.
Agree would rather have Howe than Sherwood though I’m hoping Wilkins will help him on tactical side or what is he doing here
I don’t doubt we’ve got decent players in, but we all know foreign players can have issues at first.
I’m just a bit worried that the lads might be a bit too laid back and won’t be able to match the intensity, which WILL be a shock, imo, when combined with the balls out atmosphere.
Yep, we beat them at home in the cup, but I don’t foresee the same sort of game at all.
As I said, I hope I’m wrong.
Well they start as favourites which is embarrassing in itself imo. I think it’s a game that really could go anyway. I think they will come at us from the off and we need to weather the storm for half hr and play our way into it. The last time we made wholesale changes for first game of season was under BFR when we beat Sheffield WED away 3.2 after being 2 down. Could easily be that type of game.
Reading various media and Internet posters you’d think we were away to Chelsea tomorrow. As far as I can see Bournemouth will have no more prem experience than us even with our new players. Let’s have a bit of confidence for heavens sake! Let’s get at them and shut their fans up with a performance worthy of the shirt! Come on yooooouuuuu Lions!!
Looking forward to this game tomorrow. Hard to call this one am going for 1 – 1 draw. But I would love if we give them a hammering, shut the media and pundits up.
Just to post this again, in case you missed it just above;
B’Mouth are evens and we’re nearly 3-1.
Strange odds, imo.
No way are they that sort of favourite and if you’re confident, that has to be worth a punt.
I won’t be taking it up though
2-0 Villa. You read it here…
On a slightly different topic, just reading a couple of bits on Vital, there are hardly any posts with comments getting past double figures! Not having a go at them in the slightest, but is something going wrong there? It used to be the main Villa site…Odd.
Bum Bum, we won’t comment about other Villa sites, as our view is we’re all on the same side, regardless of approach/attitude.
Speaking generally about internet sites is a different thing though and too many adverts, particularly viewed on a phone, is just more hassle than it’s worth, imo.
I’m not criticising them. I just thought it odd. Glensider used to spend a lot of time there, then came here for a while, then went back. It’s all very political isn’t it! The good thing about having a good half a dozen sites up and running, is they cater for every taste. I like VV too. Fear always has his heart in the right place, at Villa Park, just like the rest of us.
There’s no doubting Fear is a Villa fan, agreed.
And yes, it’s all very political with some Villa sites, which in our opinion is pathetic, but there you go.
All we know is someone kept complaining that our site wasn’t up to the required standards when it came to Newsnow (because we were getting very popular at one stage, with top listings on NN) and we were threatened with being kicked out, which is why we pulled out, before it actually happened.
We just don’t have the time to run the site in a professional way, as we all have work etc, but the funny thing was, we could easily have reciprocated the complaints about grammar and spelling etc.
But we didn’t, as our livelyhood doesn’t depend on us being anywhere and we’re not nasty types 🙂
Some people run Villa sites for a living; we don’t.
But we also live and breathe the Villa.
And our articles are posted with the same desire as any other Villa site.
Read into that what you like.
My advice?
Keep reading various sites, as the more opinions, the better.
Ours isn’t the only Villa site and we know it 🙂
A little rant over 🙂
Agree Badger though easy to get rid of ads as ad blockers can be downloaded now off App Store 🙂
Probably as they’ve banned posters in the past for not agreeing with them. Don’t get that here as we’d have to ban everyone lol
Starting with yourself OohAh 🙂
Badger – the odds give you a clue how Villa are perceived generally – basically the only ones who give us any chance this season are the ‘deluded’ Villa fans. We’ve become the team that everyone wants to knock. We have to accept we have no ‘friends’ in the media – we’re on our own. So f**k the lot of them and come the end of the season let’s ram it back down their throats. We are the Villa and we will overcome. UTV.
H60, “friends” is a good point.
We had many when we were challenging the top 4 for a short while and were many fan’s second fave team, because we took it to them.
Personally I think many Villa fans forget how good that felt, even under the hated MON, but it’s by the by.
B’mouth are the underdogs and fans want to see them succeed, as indeed do I.
Just not this week 🙂
I think the media love fest was with Mon not us in afraid Badger
I still cannot believe this game isn’t televised all they care about us sky four it’s crap
Whilst I’m on an alcohol fuelled roll………
We’ve supposed to have lost the ‘spine’ of the team – the implication being they’re our best players!
Given – only came into the team late on and performed no better than Guzan.
Vlaar – played about 50% of games and made more mistakes than Mussolini – actually Clark was our stand out CH.
Cleverley – apart from a few games after TS took charge he was largely anonymous and wouldn’t even gave started in most PL teams
Delph – he has the greatest loss percentage of games started of any Villa player (I understand) – so he’s undoubtedly a great loss! He did have the ability of running up blind alleys though!
Benteke – of all the ‘spine’ this has some mileage. There us no doubt his goals were priceless but if Adebayor only plays when he wants to ………?
What it does say about Villa is – if these are our best players then the rest of the team must truly be crap!
I don’t buy that; we do have some decent players and have added a number of decent players that will enhance the squad and provide real competition for places. No one knows how we will play or whether TS can get the team to gel – but a worse squad than last season – you’re having a laugh!
The team I think will play
Hutton – Clark – Richards – Amavi
Gueye-Westwood
Gil – Sinclair
Ayew – Kozak.
If not Gil, throw in Sanchez and have a middle 3 is what I think Sherwood would do.
Either way I didn’t think we’d win, but I’m feeling far more positive today so I’m going with a 3-1 win.
Just excited to be there: as a Villa fan first and Cherries fan second, I would have hacked the computer to get this opening fixture.
The truth is the bookies have no idea what to expect of Villa, in the friendlies we have played there has not been one where the first or second half side represented our strongest fit, and match-fit eleven. What we can expect is the manager to tell them he sacked the last Villa side for craven cowardice – as Napoleon said in the native language of half of the new boys ‘pour encourager les autres’. I expect us to play on the front foot.
We’ll be missing 2 key new signings and possibly 4 others but Arter is Bournemouth’s key midfielder and he’s out. I can tell you Boruc would not have got anywhere near Sinclair’s Forest hat trick of shots so anybody hoping that he and Guzan can keep a clean sheet is relying on the new EPL football being unkickable. I will go for 6 goals and optimistically 3-3 or 4-2 Villa.
If Gabby does not get on, then Distin will have more EPL appearances than everybody on both sides else put together. This probably won’t look anything like a Premier league match.
i’m hoping we can out gun them as i still think our defense is suspect. would be a lot happier if we got a good rightback in before the window closes.
result – Bournemouth-2 Villa-3
Bournemouth’s first ever Premier league game – they will be crapping bricks.
Most of the players we’ve bought come from the French equivalent of the PL and Richards has loads of experience.
Here’s a prediction Bournemouth 0 – 4 Villa
Welcome to the PL you cherries!
UTV
A few media outlets are saying 4-4-2 for tomorrow. I guess we dont have much of a choice if Grealish and Gil are out, but I would rather see us play 4-2-3-1 with one of those 2 behind the front man.
Hard to call result tomorrow…i think maybe a 2-2. No idea what to really expect from Villa except we have a few players than can score goals!