Not if Wigan lose to or draw with Arsenal and we lose to West Brom. Then Villa are safe, they don't have Benteke, and they'll be on the beach.
Even if we lose tomorrow Villa can't now be sure that we would not overtake them should the unthinkable happen in Manchester.
Had we not let Villa waltz through to get that late winner last week, we'd be on 39 and Villa 38 and thus safe. Fine margins but too many goals conceded like that, like Reading. All ifs I know but it megs you off.
Sorry, but you've missed the point. That only matters if Wigan beat Arsenal. If they don't Villa are safe. They could lose 10-0 at Wigan and it won't matter.
That's very bold CT, but ManCity will have played 4 matches in 10 days previous to that, including a Cup Final. I think CT was talking about us overtaking Villa, Vietnam, not their safety. I'd rather we win tomorrow than depend on that though! As for the match today, I thought that Lee Mason, the ref, was at least consistent with the second yellow cards being almost identical. Stupid of both players though, as neither foul was necessary.
Yes, but it is irrelevant if we overtake them unless Wigan win that game at Arsenal. That is the important thing. Whether they finish 15,16 or 17 is completely irrelevant. So what I am saying is that the only important thing from our point of view is how Villa approach that game against Wigan. And unless Wigan beat Arsenal, they really have no reason to give a damn about that game, which is not good news for us. Let's hope we win tomorrow and put this to bed. We can't say we haven't been given a chance in the sense that all we have to do is beat a midtable team who have nothing to play for and we are at home.
Two golden tickets for Chris Charlie Bucket Hughton. If he manages to blow it tomorrow he must leave. We need to win. No other result is on the radar. All thoughts of a point possibly being enough should be banished to when we are playing our sixth group game of the 2014/14 Champions League. I felt nothing for Villa today. Benteke was lucky to stay on for as long as he did and I felt Villa were quite happy to leave extremities in where it hurts and Chelsea were provoked for most of the game.
Providing we win tomorrow, I'd like Wigan to beat Arsenal to make the Wigan v Villa game more important and exciting. Can't really say I'm very confident about getting a result tomorrow though, will be a nervous day for the supporters and players.
I'm very nervous too because I genuinely feel that Hughton has destroyed the confidence of the players. I willl shut up tomorrow (and I imagine many people like RBF will think 'Thank God for that') because winning is the only thing that matters and I realise that my negativity is out of place. But in my opinion CH should be sacked the moment the final whistle is blown at the Man City game. I saw tonight in the way Villa approached that game what my team used to be. Only one person is responsible for destroying that and he should be shown the door.
You're right, of course, Vietnam, but I did say: "I'd rather we win tomorrow than depend on that though!" I also agree about Villa, Redruth. Benteke should have had a straight red for the elbow earlier, which was very deliberate. One thing CH has brought this year is a more professional approach to the game, when you think of all the yellows and reds racked up last year under PL. Having said that, though, we'll probably get a red tomorrow!
I'd take a repeat of 2005 when we were 2-1 down with five minutes to go. West Brom were the better team that day but we somehow got two goals to win. OK, perhaps not that close...a comfortable 2-0.
I don't blame CH and I certainly don't think he destroyed the players confidence. Not winning games does that, Hughton is a likeable person and I'm sure he's doing everything he can to lift the players. CH didn't turn into a bad manager since coming to NCFC. I said it before, but if we go down I still think he is the right man to manage us and if we stay up I can see him bringing in more quality players and improving next season.
I'd take anything at the moment, to be honest. I'd take Arsenal scoring 8 against Wigan. Except I'm so negative at the moment I'd expect Man City to score 9.
Yes, I've thought about that too. Not only that, any decisions could go against us, a stray beach ball, etc. If we are 2-0 up too early, does Hughton go defensive? Oh, the joy of football!
Sorry, but I just can't agree. If Hughton isn't to blame, who is? The players? The same squad who got us comfortably to safety last season but are somehow much much worse now even though we all agree that the additions to the squad have been an improvement on what we had? The board, who tried to get Hooper and RVW in January, but had to settle for a player who has inexplicably not even been on the bench for the last few games? The fans, who give their all and, to their credit, haven't started booing and calling for the manager's head during games? No, only one person is to blame for the ugly, negative, fearful, robotic dross that we now see game after game after game. And why do you imagine we might suddenly start playing in a different way next season? In the end teams reflect their managers. Villa tonight reflected Lambert. Norwich now reflect Hughton. Don't you agree there is something of a contrast there? I don't want to be an ineffective version of Stoke. I'm not even sure I want to stay in the Premier League if it means the kind of football we have had to suffer this year. I'll shut up tomorrow, but I really think this man is destroying all the good work of the past three years and we should get rid of him as soon as we can.
That's a cracker from me! Surprised no-one else resisted a similar comment pal! Think I was in dreamland with City being in attack mode ha ha.
Signing Wolfswinkel suggests to me Hughton is already thinking about improving for next season, I'm excited about other players he may bring in too if we stay up. You talk about Villa game today like the were the best team, Chelsea had most of the possession with more shots on target, Villa only had like what, 2 shots on target? hardly attacking themselves. We were riding high last season with the momentum with us, maybe we're just suffering from the second season syndrome? Not denying Lambert was a big loss, but Hughton came in with big shoes to fill. It would have been tough season no matter what manager we'd got in. Lambert also got in the players he wanted with Villa and it's starting to show, Hughton failed to bring in a good striker and that's the thing he went wrong. If only we signed Benteke or someone with that quality at the start of the season, maybe CH tactics may have be different? We will see next season. Being in a relegation fight is horrible, but it's all too easy just to put all the blame on the manager. Don't want to be a team that just sack the manager any time we're in a spot of bother, CH can bring stability and gradually improve the team.
I don't think Hughton is entirely innocent, but the squad on paper arguably shouldn't be in the position we're in. Only Reading have a more cheaply assembled squad, and we've lost our second most valuable player (Ruddy, after Snodgrass) for over half the season. Pilks (4th) has also suffered from injuries/loss of form too this season. What Lambert was excellent at was motivating people. I think he built an "us against the world" mentality at Colney. If you tell players that everyone has written them off, then they're going to respond to that. We also had the initial confidence from promotion. In the second season, I don't think that tactic works so well, the players will just look at you like "Well we did it last year, so clearly we're good enough", and you probably can't quite get the same levels out of them. We don't know how Hughton man-manages, but whether he's the sole reason for the lack of confidence is debatable. Success breeds success, and the opposite is true as well. Our players can play well when they believe in themselves (last season and the pre-christmas run), but defeat after defeat will leave them thinking that maybe they are only championship quality, and the way they play will reflect that. I agree perhaps the lack of a goalscorer in January might cost us, but from the number of bids we put in for Hooper we were clearly trying, and we aren't that rich a club so we need to get the most from what we've got. The board have got an awful lot right of late, but they aren't super-human. No doubt many targets were identified, scouted, and approaches made, but it came down to Hooper and RvW being the only targets we could chase. The fact neither came off is not solely their fault, these things happen, and we don't have the money to throw around on risks.
