[Albion] What will the gap between Albion and Villa be at the end of the season?

[Blue Valkyrie]

We need to avoid last season's december wobble.

 

[LlcoolJ]

Same. Not so sure about the Calderwood impact, but reckon it was far more down to the Albion's now-traditional post-International Break sluggishness and Villa's new manager bounce, rather than them being intrinsically any more of a threat than, say, Norwich. Once we shake off the cobwebs, we'll be hopefully right back on track until the next International Break which thankfully isn't til March.

Agree. There was also the fact that AK was clearly still in bits and his performance was affected. When you take it all into consideration, the fact that we played pretty terribly but came away with a point is a pretty positive one. With all these factors we could easily have lost.

 

[BensGrandad]

I. do not think that we will have a Christmas like last year where we dropped many points and will go from strength to strength.

 

[el punal]

I honestly think we had an off day as a result of the International Break and the Calderwood business. I hope the gap will remain similar.

I reckon the same. Although we were battered in the last twenty minutes we still didn't concede, despite us producing a bit of a lacklustre display. On the Villa fans forum and the Birmingham Mail the concensus was that that was Villa's best performance of the season. The objective fans think that automatic promotion is a step too far (13 points behind us) but the play-offs are a distinct possibility. I suppose we should be thankful Steve Bruce wasn't with them at the start of the season.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Agree with you about the play-offs, but not about Norwich-Villa: a draw would be the best result, in my view.

I'd rather have Norwich out of the equation but every week Alex Neil remains at the helm their threat diminishes.

 

[dazzer6666]

I'd love it to be four points (us second, them third) allowing us to get the cigars out at their place. How sweet would that be!

Or three, but with our massive goal difference intact

1-0, who gives a **** etc [emoji3]

 

[CheeseRolls]

Some interesting assumptions here.

Villa to strengthen in January for example. Given how far off the pace they are a few premiership clubs might come looking for some of their key players, notably the left back who kept Knockaert quiet. Money for replacements is one thing, settling them in and getting consistency is quite another.

From a distance the last couple of away fixtures look tough, take a look at where we have already been and we have got a lot of tricky ones out of the way early.

BHA by 8 points





Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

 

[Mo Gosfield]

I'd rather have Norwich out of the equation but every week Alex Neil remains at the helm their threat diminishes.

The natives are restless.....coming up....Derby ( a ).....Brentford ( h ).....Barnsley ( a ).....Villa ( h )......Huddrsfld ( h )....Reading ( a )......Brentford ( a ).....Derby ( h )......up to 2nd Jan. Reckon he could lose another four of those. Think his days are numbered.

 

[Machiavelli]

I'd rather have Norwich out of the equation but every week Alex Neil remains at the helm their threat diminishes.

I'd rather have both out of the equation, and the draw is what will assist in enacting this.

 

[Peter Grummit]

Interesting context to this thread is that, on the basis of the most recent accounts available (2014/15), Villa's wage bill is 4X ours. This will have closed slightly, I suspect, but still a huge disparity.

PG

 

[perseus]

Pick your combined Villa and Brighton team in the comments bit on:

http://footballleagueworld.co.uk/the-best-current-aston-villa-and-brighton-combined-xi-thoughts/?

Not easy, but I had a try.

 

[Biscuit]

1 point. They'll settle for third and walk the play offs.