I wanted to write this yesterday, but I’ve frankly been too scared to.
It’s daft really, as I’m not really the superstitious type, but I just don’t want to call it in case I “Jinx” things, call the result wrong and send us down.
Mind you, it’s probably a good thing. The amount of times I’ve predicted we’d win and Villa haven’t obliged, it’s probably best I don’t predict this one.
But we can look at what is required for our survival and it’s basically that we need to better Watford and Bournemouth’s results. If that happens, it’s happy days.
But we all know that isn’t going to happen and then it gets a bit more complicated;
Villa will be safe if they draw and Watford don’t win.
Villa will be safe if they win by the same or a better margin than Watford.
If all three teams lose by the same margin, Villa will be safe.
If Villa win, Watford need to better their result by two goals to avoid relegation.
The only way Bournemouth can survive is if they win and both Villa and Watford lose.
(Courtesy of Birmingham Live)
So, just to avoid all that confusion, we’ll just take the win and have done with it, eh?
It’s a nice thought.
It’s ridiculous really, isn’t it?
I’m too scared to call the result of a game.
On paper, it’s just a result, one of many that won’t really affect anything in any way.
But it’s not just that is it?
It’s something that will define a line between the sheer elation of surviving and the desperation and depression that comes with relegation. I know for a fact that I’ll be affected for days, either way and I’ll bet I’m amongst the majority of us Villa fans.
Still, it’s why we love the game isn’t it?
And why, as much as I’m scared to call or even watch the game, I’ll be absolutely glued to the screen.
Comments
55 responses to “West Ham – Villa; I can’t call it, too scared”
The glass half empty guys might want to make their excuses now
Dude, we’d be lucky to say the glass would’ve been that full! It’s been one shyte season!!!… Up until today that is!!!!!
Ive never experienced anything as nervous as that in my life. Get in there. Onwards and upwards. Im away back to the pool. Going to enjoy the rest of my holidays regardless of covid19 .
so happy we retained our position. it was a massive ask to stay up and we did just that. we had got stronger and stronger as the squad gelled. but i feared it would be too late for us.
todays game was a difficult one. but we have become much more street wise at this level. we finally got to grasp playing without the ball , keeping better shape and better countering. i thought we did enough to win today. once grealish scored. but hammers score a lucky deflected looping fluke.
today we celebrate and tomorrow we build. but we have some good players here now and for once we can improve the squad instead of ripping up and starting again.
p/s i feel sorry for the cherries they will bounce back iam sure. but i laugh my ass off at watford and that ex blue nose and i say good riddance
The plot has Jack Grealish scoring at both ends to keep us on the edge of our seats to the final whistle. Preposterous! Who writes these scripts?
Partying with the family – champagne out – Sweet Caroline blasting out – f*ing happy days are here again
I’m only just recovering from that. Well done to all at the club.
I’ve turned my phone off last 4 games. I got superstitious after Palace win! My heart rate is just returning back to normal. Savage whining about Sheffield United no goal! What a prat!
Guess what guys. We didn’t do a Fulham !!!! Fucking get in there. To those that said we had, stick that in your fucking pipe and smoke it! UTV.
Yeeaaassd celebration time villains wooo hoo think the team have just found that old passion for the badge enjoy tonight all wooo hooo up the bloody villa
Amazing that fans and pundits can’t grasp the idea that the “goal” against Sheffield Utd was scored around the 40th minute, meaning that the course of the game and also the relegation battle would have changed. Not saying that we would have won or drawn the game and ultimately stayed up if the goal was allowed, but how can you say for sure that Sheffield Utd would have gone on to win that game. Watford knew what they had to do today, against Burnley, Southampton and West Ham. Bournemouth knew that they had to get a result against Southampton or Newcastle. These clubs knew the landscape and like Villa, have had decisions go for and against them throughout the season. And if Villa were in a position where they did lose against Sheffield Utd and had one less point going into todays game, you would have expected the team to go for the win today as Bournemouth did. We saw teething problems with VAR in the early part of the season where decisions were evidently wrong but you won’t have many fans moaning about them because they are irrelevant now, especially the marginal offside decisions which are ridiculous. But any idea that Villas survival revolves around one cock up by a keeper who constantly makes mistakes is an incorrect judgement, especially with 9 games and 45 minutes to play after the GL technology error
Not only that but AV were denied a point at Crystal Palace by atrocious refereeing – Lansbury’s goal was disallowed when Grealish went down and the referee decided he was diving even though he was for the umpteenth time fouled – Grealish was no longer with the ball when Lansbury scored so a half-decent referee could have had a word with Jack if he felt it necessary rather than disallow a perfectly good goal. That point equals the ‘gift’ point against Sheff Utd; plus a draw then could have had a positive effect on confidence etc.
So basically it is nonsense to point to individual things – the season as a whole is what counts – and we finished above the drop zone. Hopefully next year we will finish well above the drop zone.
Well done the Villa – got to hope the effort and belief of the last few games carry into next season. Notice one or two lame ducks weren’t in the squad – hopefully they can be offloaded before restart.
Well done Dean Smith – showed guts in a dicey situation.
Hopefully the close season will see the departure of one or two suits who I think – and I could easily be wrong – were responsible for some of the rubbish purchased a year ago.
And well done Badger. I’ve enjoyed your thoughts through the season.
Alls well that ends well
Bill – Villa did just for you.
Enjoy your evening fellah.
Well done you Villa boys. It’s the second season to have proved me wrong. Thank you.
To Dean Smith – I take my hat off to you. You are Villa born and bread. What’s even better, is you can now buy 3 quality players.
Let’s
a) Ensure buy Douglas Luiz our of Man City buy back. He has been the difference since the restart.
b) Convince Grealish to stay, buy make him know that there will be other creative players around him, so that he can play more forward and do damage to the opposition in the forward positions.
Best bit, my boss is a Blue fan. I’ve already asked him if I need my P60 – any negative comment and it’s constructive dismissal- win win – Villa promotes and I get a pay out.
Now we can build. With our owners the sky is the limit.
Hitch. I’m absolutely the most happiest villa fan in the world. I got people around me to watching the match and they was London,and Man U . We all jumped for joy that Villa stayed in the premier. I’m now getting pisst
Well done Smith and villa now let’s consolidate our position and tell the vultures that wanted our best players to go to hell we will come for your best players up the villa I don’t drink but will get pissed on tea, don’t know how many cups had during the match but it kept me calm 😂☺️ the wife was nervous wreck though 😂
Delighted. The game management is what won it for us in the end. Our biggest achilles heel for the whole season was dealt with in the last two games and only 1 shot conceded on target against Arsenal and West Ham combined. The way we ran the clock down in stoppage time was also very astutely played as well. Credit where it is due to the coaching staff and manager to finally rectify this problem.
Once the celebrations and dust settle, we need to recruit quality over quantity to ensure we are not in such a stressful position again – the heart can’t take another final day like that!
Damn, we never do things easy…I was still celebrating Grealish’s goal when we conceded!
We dragged ourselves out of the mire, and now have a very decent, resilient squad to build on…
Happy days!
MOTD. What joy!!!!
I hope what I’ve been reading is true. Grealish is ready to sign a
new contract. It’s not from Facebook sites but one with 30 thousand followers, that would put the icing on the cake for me.
Ah what a day that was we can definitely move forward from this would be happy with mid table and another good cup run next season