Yes, I know.
It’s a phrase that’s used all the time, but is this game a “must win”?.
On the face of it, it probably isn’t really, as the season will not be decided by what happens in the next couple of weeks.
But in a sense it is, if we want to get our season up and running, as there’s a nagging worry that if we don’t start winning soon we’ll get into a rut where not winning becomes the norm.
And while I still believe we’re going to give some team a tonking, I don’t think it’s going to happen tonight.
Like or loathe him, Ian Holloway has us down to lose this one and whatever you think of him, his punditry has been not far off the mark up to now. I’m just hoping he’s wrong this time.
Brentford were predicted to struggle this season after having sold a few players, but it seems Dean Smith, Brentford’s manager (who’s also a Villa fan) has bought well and they’ve actually had a decent start. A win for them tonight would have them challenging for the play-off places, but that’s not something I want to think about.
In contrast a win for us tonight would only move us up a couple of places, but that’s not so important at the moment.
More important is that we get the three points because, well, it’ll just be good for the soul won’t it?
The players will have their confidence lifted and we’ll all feel a sense of relief.
Squad news then and it’s looking quite good for us.
Mile Jedinak, Aaron Tshibola and Albert Adomah will hopefully all be available, which would give Di Matteo a nice problem selection-wise and if they are truly fit, I’d expect all three of them to start, with Gardner and Westwood dropping to the bench. But this is Westwood we’re talking about and it really wouldn’t surprise me if he retains his place.
There’s also the problem, if you can call it that, of who drops out if Adomah starts?
I don’t see how it can be Ayew, as he’s looked our best bet on the whole, so that leaves McCormack or Gestede.
It depends on how the manager sees the game being played out, I suppose.
Whatever, it’s a nice situation for us to be in and the bench will immediately look quite decent.
There’s been talk that the Villa players have been over-confident and have been backing off in games, a theory that is supposed to be the reason we only seem to play half a game.
I’m not convinced myself, but regardless, it’s one thing we cannot allow to happen tonight.
Brentford are obviously no mugs and they have the ability to punish us if we do get complacent.
We need to be 100% on the ball and if we are, there’s no reason why we can’t win this game.
And that’s my prediction; a 2-1 Villa win.
Please, pretty please.
But don’t we just need time to gel??
Lol
How many games has Westwood won in the last 2 years?
We could have done with some points tonight. Away to Ipswich and then playing 2nd and 3rd.
And with regard to getting the team to gel I think it’s time for the hair dryer treatment.
At least Kodjia’s off the mark.
No chance v Ipswich they will beat us. We never win there the best of times. Be lucky to get a draw there
@Oohaah
You’ve got a point, in 81 we won the league but Ipswich beat us 3 times if I remember right.
Oh well somethings got to change. Her’s hoping for an away win.
Yep remember it well. Though to be fair we played them off the park in first game at their ground in league I was there and we missed chance after chance after chance. May have even missed a pen from memory. They had a deflected goal go in and was only time they looked like scoring. Sound familiar? Second game fa cup we lost 1.0 to be fair they were better than us but I’m not convinced we really wanted that game and ipswichs fa cup and uefa cup run may have cost them league. And we lost 2.1 at home but Mcnaught made a back pass howler in first few minutes so we gifted them first goal. But even game though I’d say they shaded it.
Honestly guys looking at our upcoming fixtures and the results (not necessarily how we are playing) then can’t see us being anywhere but bottom three by the end of September. All the teams in the Championship will fancy playing us – we are suckers!
RDM will be gone by November but I’ve no idea who will will come in – Villa are the ultimate poisoned chalice.
OohAh – it pains me to say this but you, at least, have maintained what is now proving to be a realistic view.
I’m in complete despair!
Can see it coming a mile away Hitchens 60. IV said at the start midtable is best we can hope for and averaging a point a game I havnt changed my mind. I think the team are unfit they must be to keep conceding goals in last ten minutes. This has been a problem for years and has never been sorted. The buck has to stop with Clarke and RDM what are they doing in the training ground ffs
And a final point – look at the stats. Brentford had more of the ball, mores shots and more shots on target.
Just going to open another bottle of wine to dull the senses.
They arnt a bad team to be fair but we shouldn’t be dominated with players we have. Though midfield is still very weak and we need a couple more midfielders desperately.