Grim Start
Last month when MOMS looked at Aston Villa’s form it made for grim reading. With just one point from seven games, Villa were winless in 2017 and had the joint worst record of any team in the four English leagues.
Their odds of around 8/1 for the play-offs quickly expanded and expectations of Villa making any kind of late play-off bid were written off.
The finger of blame could have been pointed in several directions. For starters – the Villa boss not getting a style of play or his first XI down pat, poor preparation in covering for the African Cup of Nations, and trying to blood too many new players at one time.
No doubt it was a mixture of all of the above and then some, but ultimately, it’s a case of “excuses, excuses”, as most of the teams in the league are in a worse position than Villa, who have spent millions. One MOMS reader argued the point that Villa weren’t in a position to cling to excuses in that context.
Upturn in Fortune
The good news is though, while Villa were bottom of the last six games form guide last month, this month they are top.
False Hope?
While only the most optimistic of Villa fans have started to talk about the 100/1 shot of a play-off place, the reality is those back-to-back home loses against Ipswich and Barnsley early in February and a woeful January have put paid to a late assault on the top 6.
Some fans may point to the fact that Villa have already made up 11 points on the sixth placed Sheffield Wednesday in the last six games, the amount they are currently behind the Owls with eight games to go.
Of course, you have to factor in the other teams. Fulham are currently 10 points ahead of Villa and sitting in 7th place. In the last six games Villa have caught them up by six points. But gaining a-point-a-game with eight to play will not be enough.
Here at MOMS we’re not even thinking about such miracles and while the results have been good (largely against teams short of form), the performances haven’t suggested this Villa team will storm through the rest of the season.
Other Business
Gaining 34 points from Villa Park, Villa’s home record is currently the 9th best in the league, while the achilles heel of their away record is rated 18th in the division.
These two stats are meaningless now with the season now essentially deadwood. There’s only one aim now and that’s to be number one, not only in form but in the Championship league table next season.
UTV
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Seems we need to release a few more players next summer. Also, we need a quality goalkeeper, a forward and an attacking midfielder
All we can do is win every game we can between now and the end of the season, if not for a play off place for confidence and team spirit going in to the closed season, if they can carry it through to next season then we will be in a much better position at the start of the season to make a realistic push for automatic promotion.
Whilst the performances aren’t there yet they are getting better, this would indicate that SB now has a better idea of his starting XI. which again is a better place to be starting the new season from. UTV
but if one goes purely on the form guide being top of that league by winning 5 of the last 6 games surely Villa could possibly make the top 6 ! But can they ? I’m not holding my breathe , but whilest it’s still mathematically still possible I’m not giving up on hope that promotion might be attainable ! And talk of building for next season should be put on hold until top 6 is not mathematicaly possible
Absolutely. Too much defeatism on line! They simply must aim to win all matches. They owe fans this! It should be noted teams above us have hit poor form.