Bristol City 3 – 1 Villa; It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Okay, so I called this one totally wrong.
It’s not the first time and it won’t be the last, I can assure you of that.

And while I’m very downbeat after this result, I really think we need to put things in perspective a little.

It would seem we’re still very fragile, although I’m not quite sure why that should be. We’ve got rid of most of the gutless/disinterested culprits and the rest have been condemned to the kid’s string, so they can’t interfere.

But just as we were romping this game for the first hour, so we collapsed as soon as the opposition scored.
Which is the bit I don’t quite understand.
Why do we still seem to have this “bottling” type of mentality? We saw the same against Luton.

It’s a puzzler and I suspect the biggest hurdle that the manager will have to over-come, if we’re to achieve promotion at the first attempt.

I’ve commented on the goalie previously and I’m not going there again, save to say we should get another one in; one with more experience, it’s as simple as that.
I looked at the stats on the OS and it seems we conceded 3 goals with 3 GK errors?
Until I’ve seen the goals for myself, I don’t know. But Gollini is beginning to look like a big liability, in my opinion. Pull the kid, before his confidence is shot too, I say.
I have to say I wondered why we signed him in the first place, as a young goalie is the last thing you want at a club with such high expectations in the Championship.

Expectations, that are going to be our biggest problem.
Ok, we bottled it today, but we romped this game for the first hour and proved that we can dominate for long periods.
Yes, we didn’t get the result, but I can’t help noticing how quickly some have jumped on the bandwagon of slating everything the club has done since Dr Xia took over.
Indeed, it seems there was a fair few who booed the side off the pitch.
I’d suggest this isn’t the way to go and it will only add to the lack of confidence.
Of course, our travelling support is amongst the best anywhere and they’re entitled to voice their opinions.

But I get the over-riding feeling that if we don’t give the team a chance, we’re only going to drive ourselves into a worsening spiral.

It’s still very early days in what’s going to be a long, tiring season.
And while we still look light in certain areas, particularly attack and midfield, the window isn’t over yet and we may still add.
And we do still have a decent squad, which I’d emphasise again, will come into play.

While today was disappointing, I won’t be making any firm assumptions just yet.

109 Comments

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  1. Sidforever
    Sidforever August 30, 2016 at 8:26 pm . Reply

    Traore could be going!

    My Middlesbrough mate has just contacted me to say rumours coming from the North East are Traore to Middlesbrough and Adomah coming to Villa. Is this a swap? Will fees be involved? Tomorrow will sort this one out.

    1. Tom
      Tom August 30, 2016 at 8:31 pm . Reply

      I really hope we can convince traore to stay. He is a disgustingly good talent who just needs a little push in th right direction.

      Very underwhelmed with today’s signed. How f##king much???????

      1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
        OohAhPaulMcGrath August 31, 2016 at 1:28 am . Reply

        I’m underwhelmed too he’s hardly world class what’s Dr X talking about!!

      2. Andrew
        Andrew August 31, 2016 at 1:40 am . Reply

        11m + bonuses. Never were going to get world class in the Championship. Seeing world class is like… Aguero.

  2. Dave.C
    Dave.C August 30, 2016 at 9:46 pm . Reply

    Jack Wilshire on loan anyone??!

    1. OohAhPaulMcGrath
      OohAhPaulMcGrath August 31, 2016 at 1:28 am . Reply

      Yes but he won’t come to us

      1. Andrew
        Andrew August 31, 2016 at 1:38 am . Reply

        You’re right, seems he’ll be joining Palace. Nor can we or should we be looking at a player on 140k a week wages who has the fitness levels of Traore.

  3. Tekkers48
    Tekkers48 August 30, 2016 at 10:06 pm . Reply

    This is starting to look like an unrecognisable team to last year. We will take a few more games to get them gelling. But we need to give them our full backing . The doc has put his money were his mouth is and we have to back them now. It’s our time to shine . I feel it in my bones. Start backing the boys now and quit the whinging ! Tony Xia is a winner and he is determined to make Villa winners again. Back you team , back your club , back your manager and back your owner. Up the Villa !

  4. pat57
    pat57 August 31, 2016 at 12:06 am . Reply

    Wow! Trying to think back to when we were all on tenterhooks waiting for the first signing and wondering what on earth we could do with the dross we called a team.

    More than happy with the signings and most of the shite has been shovelled out of Villa Park. Good work in such a relatively short time.

    Agree with Tekkers that we need to give the team a chance. Could be good times ahead perhaps!

    UTV

    1. giddyvillan
      giddyvillan August 31, 2016 at 6:37 am . Reply

      Nice one pat refreshing for a change

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