I think you can guess how my thoughts are going to go here.
Ipswich Town have nothing to play for.
They can’t get promoted and they can’t get relegated and sit smack bang in the middle of the table.
Yet stupidly, they’ve just prematurely let Mick McCarthy leave, after he quite rightly took the hump over being slated by the club’s fans for comfortably keeping them in the Championship on an absolute shoestring budget.
I’ve never been a McCarthy fan, as his football is at best pragmatic (read rubbish), but I think he did very well at Ipswich and they may suffer big time after his loss.
Fair play to him for sticking two fingers up to the fans and walking after a win over Barnsley, in my opinion.
The bloke always struck me as being straight and his point was well made.
Which means that Ipswich have a caretaker manager in Bryan Klug, who I’ve never heard of, to be honest.
And that’s what makes this one hard to call, as we all know anything’s possible in this sort of situation.
We drew the same game last year, but we should also remember that they beat us at Villa Park.
That was last season though and we beat them at VP this time.
I guess what I’m saying is that Ipswich has always been a hard game to call and without looking specifically, it doesn’t strike me that we have a good record against them.
What do we know?
John Terry has trained for the last couple of days and my guess is that although Steve Bruce says he’s being cagey and wanting to save things for the play-offs, I’d expect the defender to play, if he feels ready. I reckon it’s Terry calling the shots, after all.
Kodjia apparently felt a bit sore yesterday and it’s doubtful if he’ll even make the team bus.
No point rushing him, I say, although again it wouldn’t surprise me if he does travel and gets a few minutes.
It looks like Axel Tuanzebe won’t play for us again after his ankle injury.
I don’t think that’s a major miss, to be honest.
And Hutton might resume training on Monday, which is definitely a loss, but nothing new.
Otherwise, we’re pretty good, which makes me wonder what the “4 players out” headlines have been about?
As for Ipswich, it seems they’re not in bad shape, as winger Bersant Celina is fit and defender Chris Smith could be given his debut.
Hah, having just looked at the Beeb site, it seems we have a very good record at Portman Road and they haven’t beaten us in the last six games there.
Isn’t it strange how you sometimes perceive things totally incorrectly?
Which is just as well, because I was going for the win anyway.
Villa to win by one goal.
0-1 or 1-2?
I’ll go with the 0-1.
UTV!
Why am I not convinced?
Quiet on here Badger. I’m going to the game today with my Ipswich mate who’s not at all confident but pleased that Mick has gone. Interestingly same sort of comments as re SB – has done great for Ipswich in limited budget but boring football and a dinosaur! Anyway he expects them to play a number of ‘kids’ today.
I think we should play our strongest team but sensibly so resting Kodjia and not risking Terry for instance. I would like to see Grabben and Hogan starting with Adomah on bench alongside Davies.
Hoping for a decent performance and a win – but we are talking about the Villa here! UTV
mick mccarthy has done great in my opinions at ipswich. they have had no money and they have always been comfortable under him, never in any relegation battles mostly towards the other end of table. but managers always getting judged on styles. ipswich and wba both had decent managers boring styles but they were comfy before they dispensed with the manager. i would expect ispwich to struggle next season. as i would arsenal. who will dispense with wenger, for as long as i can remember he has always played football in a expansive style. yet he couldnt satisfy the fans. i would piss mysides if they dropped like a stone. couldnt happen to a shitter club
anyways villa i understand ppl saying play the kids and play weaken side. but would fans of villa accept a defeat under this circumstances, no they wouldnt they would rock the boat,shout abuse against manager, even thou they know we played weaken side to rest up the players for important games ahead. like huddlesfield did last year, when they realised they missed on on autos,
like hitch said i would rest terry and kodjia who has played good catch up on match fitness and the rest will be needed, before he goes again, he will be fitter for it. today i would play a strong side no need to play players that wont feature in playoffs. i believe in momentum, winning is a habit. we should try to finish the season on a high and take some form into the playoffs.
P/S i recall the last under strengths team we fielded against peterbro we were shocking. how will that kind of performance help us at this stage.
Not knock you on that Nath, yes give some of our youngsters ago, nobody remembers when Mick McCarthy went to Ipswich they all applauded him as the new saviour .how things change, dinosaur manager hey, does that put Bruce and Arsen Venger in that category , from what I can see youve got to be up the players backside today or your out of a job.i remeber two of our coaching staff getting sacked because of bullying, was it or was it being hard on the players. Today we should beat these if we don’t sack the manager I say. I wonder when Oohah turns up.
Tim Sherwood gave a first class summery on Benteke , and my take is leave well alone. Scum 1 down bet that’s put a smile on your faces.
Good win 4-0 still an outside chance. We must have had 20 odd shots on goal today, well done Villa.
good win, rested key players gave minutes to those around the 1st team that lacked games and fitness. good movement today but that was easy as ipswich were very very poor,if sacking a dinosaur improves them i failed to see this. they need to appoint a very very good manager or they are in trouble next year
Enjoyed the game – pretty even up to the sending off which I watched at half time with the Ipswich fans- they agreed a red card. We played really well second half with good movement. Tbf I though Onomah had arguably his best game for Villa. Also Whelan sitting in front of defence had a good game.
Fans were brilliant throughout.
Only slight disappointment was Hogan who had two excellent chances to make it 5 – but then that would being greedy!
onomah isnt as bad as most villa fans report. i dont understand their point of views on this kid. today he did have another good game. he looks more comfortable in the side with grealish. they ran the show in tandem.
he has struggled to play in the villa side, because he is not playing a role but filling in mostly. also he is used to playing a different type of football at spuds. today we passed and moved like he is most used to and it showed. he was very affective, making fewer mistakes today i notice one under hit pass from him.
A good win and like mentioned before it gives us momentum to take into playoffs. Also Bruce rested key players which will keep them fresh. I know we can mathematically get automatic still, and if it was just one team to overtake I would still be optimistic, but teams Fulham and Cardiff have left to play will almost certainly mean one of them will get 2nd place spot. Personally I hope it’s Fulham who get 2nd because I fancy us more to beat Cardiff if we get to Wembley. Still got a feeling Brentford will make top 6.
Looking more and more like Middlesbrough over 2 legs and then Fulham in a final. Pretty much the worst case scenario for the play offs IMO – Boro will be tough to break down and Traore will be desperate to get one over on us. If we come through that, the likelihood of beating Fulham on a wide Wembley pitch is very remote.
The 6 points dropped against QPR and Bolton look more bloody annoying with each passing game!
Second place may rest on Cardiff’s game in hand at Derby on Tuesday who will also be desperate to win to keep their play off hopes going. If Cardiff fail to win then I can see Fulham getting second
why does it matter who gets second ?? cardiff or fulham both deserve it more than us. they have accumulated more points simple. we still have a great chance who ever we face, but most fans are in owe with fulham. but if you think playing cardiff will be easier, then you will be in for a big shock come the playoffs.
as good as fulham are with the ball, they are weak in other areas, just because we happen to have beaten cardiff. it doesnt automatically mean we will do it again. cardiff may not be as fluent as fulham with the ball, but they are a handful in other areas.
villa if and only if they can play with movement and freedom with the ball and they play to their abilities without the ball, we will have a great opportunity to win the playoffs. but we can be worrying about the opposition. can be thinking rather be playing these over them. or thinking about points dropped over the season.
we were capable of winning this league, we really should have finished second at worst as i predicted preseason. but even back then i said i had a dream like martin lurther king i dreamt we went up through the playoffs. winning the playoffs will be bigger and better than second, we may have had the ability to achieve higher finishes. but through the season we have not played to our ability, like the fans i think the players have been guilty of taking the opposition lightly. but when the big games have come they have proved to be more than capable. so i would be pretty confident IF we can play to our capability of beating whoever we face in the playoffs
Absolutely Nath where is the optimism? We have the players to go through the playoffs and win, if the the perform like they did against Wolves and Cardiff recently. Have the faith…
Nath – you’re right it doesn’t matter who finishes second but it provides an interesting point of debate given that we won’t (finish second that is).
Again it doesn’t matter who we play in the play offs – we have to be the better team – simples! Except we don’t want to play Brentford as they seem to have a hold over us. (LOL)
Nath, we all have a dream , the dream is we want,to be the best, unfortunately other teams have that same dream, nobody can predict even from the off what the out come will be, if you could we be millionaires Nath, this is sport and you have to compete, you have off days you have good days, you look at football as if you know the answers, even I do, Nath we don’t know, otherwise me and you would be managers of top clubs. Let’s see how it pans out Nath, your right it will be play offs and them will be like cup matches its anyone’s game.I’m ready for getting behind Villa in the play off. Utv.
i dont pretend to know the results but i aint crying about competition. we are in the play offs and that means we are one of only four teams in with a shout on the last place in next years premiership.
i am sick of hearing how fulham this and that, how they will take second and how cardiff will fall away. how many predicted this and how this turned out.
lets see how it turns out. good idea my i had a dream was me taking the piss out of the how fortune tellers on here got it so horribly wrong. i said second when i asked ppl on here pre season. most ppl on here hadnt the balls to share their predictions. they didnt want to be wrong
most said we couldnt win the playoffs because we couldnt beat any top 5 then was 7 then top ten. that turned out to be bulshit. our season fell on us losing to bolton and qpr, not on results on top 7. had we beaten just those two we would be now fighting it out for automatic.
i hope brentford gate crash the playoffs. they play really good football like fulham but don’t get any recognition. millwall play a type of football we will struggle against same with cardiff. brentford and fulham i fear less because we can rough them up and beat them by knocking them out of their strides,
just my opinions, i think brentford and fulham are better footballing teams than cardiff and millwall but the latter are tougher games for villa
It will be interesting to see what team Bruce plays in remaining two games to keep them fresh for playoffs. We need momentum but don’t need injuries so it’s a balancing act. I’m not worried who we meet in playoffs, I think we can beat anyone as long as we are up for it, which we should be considering importance of games. My nerves are already jangling so thankfully we have the players to handle the big occasion. The signing of Grabban looks inspirational at the moment, and could be the key to promotion.
Up for it is the key word Holte, if its the play offs then it’s do or die. Bruce should know who would be the players to go for it. Gabban is one of the main players I’d say should play along with Chester and Grealish, the rest i would look hard at to fight for the club.time will tell.
I’ll give it to Onomah, him partnering Grealish is what needs to happen in the playoffs. We play better with those two playing together because they wanna play and the movement is far better. Don’t think it should be a case of “resting” Adomah and Snodgrass, but the front four of Bjarnason, Grealish, Onomah and Grabban may just be what we need. I’d stick with the current four and if we manage to win the next 2, keep it going with them. Could nearly end Derby’s playoff hopes with a win.
wow thats brave onomah is boo boy of villa, omomah was mirroring grealish’s. game. he isnt as gifted but he certainly is no slouch. grealish had a more disciplined role at weekend. he played more wide and onomah was on the opposite wing. but they both drifted inside allowing the full backs to attack the space they left behind. both grealish and onomah had a great understanding with each other and grabban who played down the middle of the three.
onomah gets his share of abuse and i watched his game last few and its not far assessments. against ipswich he misplaced only one pass. and he created loads of chances,landed few shots on goal and he definitely assisted one goal. but he influenced the game as did grealish and grabban, who held the line so well, with his vback to goal. he was also on the same wave length most the time with his two younger helpers.
I’ve been one of his biggest critics as well, and while some may go overboard, he’s been poor most of the season. However the last two games he’s improved playing with Grealish. Which is why I wanna keep it this way. Younger players tend to be closer to each other and they’ll learn each other’s games. They understand the runs each make and will look to get the ball to each other. So playing those two together could be big for us in the playoffs. And that ball from Bjarnason on Lansbury’s goal was a beautiful cross.
Chester won fans player of the year and well deserved too him.
O’Hare gets young player of the season. Not exactly too many options, aye?
O’Hare got Academy player of the year*
Davis got young player of the year
Adomah got players player of the year.