I’m currently sat here in Marmaris, enjoying the sun and have been itching for something to write about.
The international breaks always give me the hump, as I find England incredibly tedious to watch these days and I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s footy generally that bores me. It’s all too cagey and there aren’t enough “bums off seats” moments.
Perhaps my hindsight isn’t what it was though and I just find it easier to recall more exciting footy of years ago, while blanking the mundane stuff?
Couple that with the fact that I’m bored witless reading the usual rubbish that we see generally in the media and here we are, with me posting earlier than normal.
It’s a good game to talk about though, as after our very decent run, which sees us eight games undefeated, we now face a very tough test against a Wolves side who are playing nice footy.
And yes, they look quite fearsome at the moment and it seems some of us are almost scared of what they might do to us.
But I don’t quite see it like that.
I know we’ve played some poor teams lately, which has helped us top the current form table, but whichever way you look at it, surely our record lately means we’re very hard to beat?
Of course, it would seem Wolves have the tools to open us up, but we do seem to have a very solid defence.
The latter has been weakened though, with Taylor’s suspension for his reckless tackle and it’ll be interesting to see who Steve Bruce plays there.
Whatever, you’d expect Wolves to put severe pressure on our left hand side and my worry is that we play Bjarnasson there. I’m sorry, but I just don’t rate the bloke as anything more than run of the mill back-up.
And indeed, you could even say our defence hasn’t been really tested at all yet.
And on the odd occasions when it has, we’ve looked quite vulnerable to any pace, which would seem a Wolves strength.
I’m rambling.
The simple fact is the above is not really very good analysis, is it?
But the truth is, I don’t watch other sides much, particularly in the Championship and I just tend to go with my gut feelings.
Which quite simply say that we need to get something from this game, to prove that we have what it takes to seriously challenge for promotion.
And while I find myself a bit worried about our defence, so I also think our attack has enough to make Wolves worried too.
Will Bruce go careful and just put one up front (in which case I’d play Davis, with Kodjia behind) or will he stick with two, which has worked well?
I’m certainly expecting five in the middle.
Those instincts tell me we’re going to lose this one, but it won’t be the end of the world if we do.
It’ll be a setback, no doubt, but this is as tough a test as it’ll get this season.
If we put up a decent show, I’ll be able to live with it.
Meanwhile, the hopeful side of me sees a draw and that’s what I’m going for.
1-1, it is then.
I’ve added a poll to see what you think;
It seems Davis might not be fit.
That’ll be a big miss, if he’s not
I was looking at news now but it’s all doom and gloom. Some Sky pundit is saying that Wolves will dispatch us easily, and another article says Sky’s championship predictor has us finishing in 17th place. Not great reading.
I just hope we can put in a good performance on Saturday. I would be pleased with a draw I think.
I saw that Sky Sports predictor.
I can’t see us finishing as low as 17th in what’s frankly a poorer league this year.
There was also an article in the Expess which practically wrote us off too.
It’s interesting that much of the media seems to be writing us off for the season.
Let’s hope they’re wrong.
IF we play the way we did the last few games (despite beating the worst of the worst in the league, and Forest), we’ll get dispatched easily by Wolves. I don’t think people understand just how good they are from front to back. Neves, Jota and Saiss can do real damage to us if we’re not on our game, especially Jota. Truly will be the test of does Championship and English experience matter or not. We have a crap load of experienced players taking on mostly foreign, young players with a foreign, newer manager.
I know what you mean Andrew, but I always go back to that old saying;
“It’s a funny old game”.
Where anything can happen and you just never know.
The thought of Wolves running at us does concern me though.
The only thing in our favour is that we go there as underdogs and that may suit us. They will have a go at us so we should be able to create on the break. If we had Taylor I might of gone for a hard earned draw but they have too much for us so 2.1 to them but will be close. We will have to settle for top 6 top 2 is out of our league the squad isn’t strong enough.
Wolves are evens, with my gambling head on that is a great bet, hope it’s a losing one though!
2.1 to Wolves I think
Wolves are a good side no doubt, but i would have backed us for a win if Taylor was fit. We still have a great keeper and centre backs though and de Laet can do a job at LB. If Brucey picks Bjarnason or Hutton at LB we will lose. Our midfield is solid and can score goals from the wings so I fancy us to score. Davis and Kodjia will cause anyone in this division problems.
I think we will get at least a draw unless Brucey players either of the shitters mentioned above at LB. I think Clarke should get a go at LB he did well against WIgan. If Jedinak gets on the pitch late on it will bebecause we are closing out for a draw or a win. Squad is strong, we are going well, playoffs at keast this year.
I forgot about Taylor being out. They will really exploit that he’s absolutely brainless getting sent off like that no need for it
Also, Wolves last 6 has only seen them beat Burton, Forest and Barnsley – same as us and we’ve been criticised for only beating them. Millwall are also shit and thats is there only other win. THe two decent team they have played are Bristol and Sheff U – loss and a draw – doesnt matter that they had a man sent off – that is there problem. WE should be getting a draw at least.
I think we will get it spot on and beat them. We are a good side with our tails up at the moment. Should be an exciting game.
We’ve no chance of a win tomorrow it will be 2.1 to Wolves but a close game. A draw is best we can hope for and as the scum did us a favour it would be a good result
Must admit to fearing the worst as Hutton is starting. I really hope I am wrong. What does De Lest have to do to get a game?
buy spuds takeway for week
Hutton is playing a blinder so far. Il take a 0.0 at this stage
not hard when albert is playing 5/10 yards in front and whelan just inside of that so we have 3 players covering 1 place left back,
One team looks like winning this. We will do well to come away with anything.
Same shit different game, Bruce has got 1 of the best squads in the league yet our style of football against even Bolton is as if we have the worst squad in the league! Wolves play like a top team we play like relagation fodder, another season of misery I sadly predict.
So we’re now losing. Like I said if we played as badly as we did against Bolton, we’d lose too a much better Wolves side. A couple pro-Brucemen claimed that was wrong that we are just as good as them. Odd now isn’t it.
Whelan oh Whelan. All his gears are for reverse. Never looks for a forward pass always seems surprised to receive the ball. Then has an awful first time touch. Then passes it back.Thats great when you play two wide players.
Dosnt matter whole team had been poor except for ironically Hutton. Kodja is crap away from home in these types of games. Last year at the sty he hardly touched the ball he gets bullied too easily. Bruce Out
It’s rare, but I’ve just had to turn it off!
There’s a few on here stated as we struggled to beat the lies of Bolton that the 3 points is all that matters. At the moment it’s hard to see anything other than 3 points for Wolves. I still don’t agree it’s all that matters. We are poor and seem to have no ability to develop moves forward. For the amount spent it is abysmal.
I don’t get how no one seems to agree with me that performances matter. They matter huge in situations like this.
course performances matter but bruce is only result type manager,like his couple good runs last season ,all they did was paper over massive cracks
That’s just the problem is people don’t seem to realize, performances matter. With how many games we have left, winning ugly does nothing but have your shit manager attempt to win ugly ever game, and unfortunately there’s only so many relegation fodder we can go up against.
I agree with you on that one
We all knew we’d lose today no one is surprised. May as well stop the game we’ve no chance of a goal team is crap. No fluidity. Look at Wolves they play good attacking football.
Actually quite false. Most Villa fans I’ve seen claimed we were going to win, it’s only Wolves. They only beat the same teams we did, yada yada.
They are making a laugh out of us, we are shit and we are not getting promoted this season. This championship is going to be our home for a long time. I am disgusted with our performance.
Me too it’s not the fact we lost it’s the way we lost. Wolves are a progressive club getting super agents to do signings for them with a forward thinking manager. We have Bruce the dinosaur. The last 5 results just paper over the cracks like IV always said.
45% of us in the poll said we’d draw and 31% said we’d win.
So we’ve got 76% optimistic deluded supporters then 😄
You win some you loose some. Not good enough tonight. Move on.
You win some you lose some but the football is always shit! I could take a loss today if we played anyway decent but we play with no fight no passion no composure and no creativity! If we had a bad game today you could say NVM it’s just a bad day but this is EVERY game we win by luck even against Bolton.
Agree Kerryvillan the club is still in terminal decline imo. If we somehow did go up with this squad and manager we’d be straight back down again next season. Wolves on the other hand showed they could finish midtable to top ten imo
It’s the way we lost though we were outclassed by a team just 4 points ahead of us.
I wouldn’t say TOO poor from Villa but it was Wolves that really shined bright ; amzzing footwork , nice setups and a lot more. It put them in 1st place but still , Villa CAN (not saying for definite) get at least 3rd or 2nd. It’ll e a tough ride since the teams that we have been playing are fairly poor so it just puts us Villa fans in the position of ‘what will happen next?’.
Interesting thoughts and shows you’re reasonably confident, even if you’re doubtful.
I like it 🙂
But just as I’d say to anyone else, please post on the latest topic 😉