Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
Dr T has indicated that nothing less than promotion will be acceptable, but can Bruce deliver a team and a system to bring that about?
Last season we just couldn't score the goals to win enough matches. We won just 16 out of 46 games and scored 47 goals. Only three teams scored less than us and 2 of them got relegated .... the other was Birmingham City!
Only 4 teams conceded less goals than us, which shows that Calderwood's defensive coaching had an effect, but we still ended up with a negative minus one goal difference.
New players do not make a difference to our current system. That was proven by the dumbing down of Lansbury and Hourihane, both of whom had previously proven their worth in fluid creative support play. The majority of our forward ball was either lumped up in the air or given to the willing but aimless Hutton to waste. We are a team built on the premise that possessing the ball isn't important, it's getting onto the end of something (anything?) and hopefully putting it in the net. We are tactically naive to the point where we don't appear to have an identifiable "tactic".
That has to change, but will it? If it doesn't then we are doomed to another season of mid table mediocrity, and when you look at the potential quality of some of our players that simply isn't good enough. My own opinion is that we will be outfought, out thought and outplayed by enough teams to make Promotion a wish rather than a fact.
What do you think?
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
Something's got to change. In my opinion I think Conor Hourihane needs to be at the centre of it. He was terrific in the last game against Brighton and his form for Barnsley spoke for itself but I don't think he's been the player he could be for us so far.
Sandie- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
The default position for Villa is clearly ten men behind the ball, which means that however much we change the numbers .... 4-4-2, 4-3-3, 5-3-2 etc, it's not going to translate into more goals. There's going to be no way that our midfielders can do what they're best at, simply because the basic coaching premise is far too negative.
That's not a basis for a promotion challenge.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
Wagner showed what a tactician he is by adapting his tactics against Reading's really deep and packed defending, and Huddersfield were unlucky not to win in normal time.
Jaap Stam nearly got away with his anti football plan, so the fact that he came close means that managers like Bruce might see no reason to change.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
With four of the next five away games being shown live on SKY, we will certainly get a close up view of our prospects. Failure to win automatic promotion is unacceptable with the squad we have. In my opinion of course.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
Sandie- Admin and Moderator
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Re: Promotion prospects 2017/18 season.
It shouldn't be like that given the strength and quality of our team, but I'm well aware that that Bruce is capable of returning to total negativity at the first sign of pressure.
villabromsgrove- Admin and Moderator
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