Do any Villa fans think we’ll go down?
Robbie Savage has just tipped us, and while I and many others think we’ll be safe this year, there are still a number of Villa fans who seem to genuinely believe we might go down this year.
Savage has essentially said that the side is pretty much the same from last year, and he’s not sure whether or not Paul Lambert has enough talent to keep us up. I know what I think about that, and if McLeish can keep us up, then I’m hopeful that Lambert can. I don’t want anything to do with a relegation battle, it’s stressful for one, it makes writing this blog less fun and the online Villa community turns ugly.
I asked the question on Twitter if anyone thinks we’ll go down, and had these two replies:
From @marcadderley
‘Savage always predicts villa to do badly, most likely cos he’s an ex bluenose. #bitter #avfc #prideofthemidlands’
and from @AVFCBedders
‘Savage is the biggest waste of space, we wont go down for sure, i think Southampton Wigan Reading’
Personally speaking I think we’ll end up lower mid table, maybe around 12th and I’d be happy with that given the last few years. Anything above that position would be a definite bonus. There are Villa fans I’ve seen on other sites though that are quite concerned about our chances this year, citing reasons ranging from our small squad, to Lerner’s supposed lack of spending.
Whether these are the types of fans that are negative about everything Villa related or not, there are a few out there. Looking at our side, and while we still look frighteningly thin at some areas, I still think it’s an improvement from last season.
Lowton, El Ahmadi, Vlaar and Holman have come in, with Cuellar, Collins and Heskey the main players to leave. What will be really interesting is to see whether Lambert will use players like Hutton and Warnock, given that it must be clear to the pair of them that they have no real Villa future. The younger players have another year of experience, and while I don’t believe they can all make an impact, or indeed have the quality to do so, I still think players like Weimann, Herd, Gardner, Carruthers and others can be valuable members of the squad.
So does anyone actually believe we’ll go down like Savage has predicted? If not where do you think we’ll end up? I still hope we bring in a few new faces, we certainly need to and if we can, I think we’ll be in good shape.
UTV.
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We will be safe this year, 1 or 2 new faces still to come in.
As for Lilly Savage, a very average player at best who spent all his career fighting relegation, oh and he s**gs sheep !!
@marcadderley was bang on – Savage has to say that as an ex Blue nose and MON fan. His opinions are on par with his hair style and his dancing, not worth the effort!!
Hate Savage. Not even a pundit really, just someone who loves the sound of his own voice. To the question though… I suppose the argument is that although we just about stayed up last year, the standard will be much higher this year given the quality of the promoted clubs. The thing that worries me is Norwichs defensive record under PL. If we take a couple of thrashings early on it could really affect the morale of the squad for the rest of the season especially the younger players. I think we should be ok but I wouldn’t completely rule out the big R.
We avoided it with the worst manager in our history so obviously we won’t go down with Lambert! Savage is still suffering concussion from when Dublin nutted him!
Dublin’s finest moment in a Villa shirt.
Regarding the hero Dublin and that moment, had this gem of a tweet from someone:
‘We won’t go down kid , not like when DION planted one on him anyway #avfc’
Genius!
Who cares what Robbie Savage thinks? Poor footballer and self-important opinionated idiot on the radio, he hates Villa because he thinks we “sacked” his hero MON. This would be the “genius” who bought Knight, Harewood, Reo-Coker, Davies, Shorey, Beye, and Sidwell for about £40 million and rarely played them (all later sold on at a massive loss), bought Cuellar and Luke Young and rarely played them in their correct positions as well as signing Warnock, Dunne and Collins (average players on high salaries). He also managed to sell Cahill. I know he bought Milner (not hard to spot he was talented), Downing and Brad as well as Ashley (genuinely great signing) but overall should have done much much better with the money he was given.
I think we will be okay. We will not play one dimensional football, there will be changes of tactics during games, there will be inspired use of substitutions and full use of the squad….this did not happen under MON, Gerard or the last bloke. At last, it’s great to be a Villa fan again.
Would not waste too much time talking about this so called ‘pundit’. If he was such a great football expert as he thinks he is, he would have realised there are 4 or 5 clubs who you would class as relegation fodder before the Villa.
Plonker.
Although I do not think we will get relegated I do not share the opinion that we will be around 8th. Still think we will struggle as this is a very inexperienced squad and lacking class in several areas. This sell to buy policy will cost us dear we ought to be after a winger ( Matt Phillips )
a goalscorer and a dominant midfielder and full back. Lambert has bought wisely up to now mostly youngsters with a sell on value. Darren Bent is in need of a partner and supplier. Pinning all our hopes on Gabby and Albrighton could bite us in the backside.
I would also predict to finish the campaign somewhere between 11th and 14th place this season, need to stabilise things and slowly build up to a higher (Europa League?) place the following season.
I’d be happy with that mate certainly, might take a while, but hopefully we’ll be back in the higher reaches of the league sometime. Really like the appointment of the new European scout, things like that could make such a massive difference to a club like ours. UTV.
Well i am concerned i have to be honest.. Purely as we lack experience either through the age of players or the fact they have not played in the Premier League before!
Bannan, Delph, Baker, Delfounso, Lichaj, Guzan, Gardner, all have a little bit of experience but is it enough to cope?
Then we have Vlaar, Kea, Holman all having never experienced the pace of the Premier League whatsoever.
My main concern is that we have been declining now for the last 2 seasons & literally stayed up by the skin of our teeth last time out.. Since then we have lost
Collins
Cuellar
Makoun (Off to Rennes)
Petrov (Illness)
Most likely Hutton & Warnock too
& Heskey.
Now add to that injuries to Gabby, Dunne & Albrighton!!
So yeah.. i’m concerned!
I will reserve judgement though until the transfer window has closed! Take a look at this
Hutton Cuellar Collins Dunne Warnock
Albrighton Makoun Petrov Heskey
Gabby
Thats what we are down from last season as it stands including injuries
& we only survived by the skin of our teeth!?
Other then Stan, i do not rate any of the others we have lost. In fact not playing the likes of Hutton and Warnock surely makes us stronger doesn’t it?
Everybody,just go onto utube and type in dublin nuts savage, it really is the funniest most brilliant thing you’ve ever seen. The blokes a jerk! What really would have been brilliant was if they’d have played that vid of dion nutting him behind his back as he was giving us his ‘expert’ opinion.
Add to that Lowton too & of course we already have an injury to Holman too!
The thin squad is definitely a concern mate, and I share your worries there. Hopefully we add a few more new faces before the end of the month. If we see injuries like we saw the last few years, things could get ugly otherwise.
If we dont sign anymore players before the end of the transfer window we are going to be fighting relegation again i dont know about everyone else but apart from the big six teams i always felt we could get wins against all the others but how much as it changed we have a bottom half team now with no flair or invention we need to spend .
Plus villa need to get rid of paul faulkner he is full of shit!!
Based on what?
I am not concerned about going down if we play decent football, unlike the dross of last season.
I admit I was one of the “Ugly” ones last season and apologise to all those I upset.
This season will be different even if we struggle at times,but we must get behind Lambert & believe in his ability to keep us safe.
Keep positive as we have a manager in Lambert who knows what we want & I for one will keep the faith.
The dark days are behind us now and although we ain’t going to be winning much for a while we still after all are The Villa!! VTID
I am very worried. If we stay healthy, we should be fine, but if PL is dealt as bad of a hand as AM, we could surely go down. Although I like our players, they are very injury prone and we have no depth in the squad. No Bent, no goals. We leak goals like a sieve. We need to stay healthy and add quality to the team. Otherwise PL will need to get the players to overachieve. West Ham will give us a good idea.
Going down. End of story. Best go root for the Baggies–the Pride of the Midlands!
You know what the real hilarity of the “Dublin nuts Savage” game was? Blues won 2-0…boing
YES