by bigmick » Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:46 am
redrover wrote:bloody hell can we stay on the subject for more than two posts people please.
in my readings on this mb the people (yes you gybs) who defend rafa the most point ,to progress, as in we are in contention at last ,that we are second ,and its because of rafa ,and he needs more time ,and he and he catch my drift. but this begs the question. what do you make of martin oneill and the job he has done with villa. are they in contention at this stage of the season? yes. is it because of him ? yes. are they making progress ? yes. has he had as much time at villa as rafa has ? no. has he spent as much money as rafa has ? no. if rafa is doing such a great job then how would you explain the incredible progress villa have made in 1 season when it has taken rafa 3 years more and multi millions of pounds more to be more or less in the same position give or take a few points

?

???
With the greatest respect I looked at that situation as well, and in all honesty depsite Villa's fantastic first two thirds of the season, they are about the same distance away from us as they normally are. They've also get some really tricky games on the horizon so I wouln't myself be quite ready to hail their season as the second coming.
If they come unstuck in a couple of their trickier games I don't think at this stage they are anything like certainties even for the top four. O'Neill has done a good job but the hardest bit it still to come.
I think climbing the premiership is a bit like getting your golf handicap down. It's easy to shave loads of shots off at first, just like it's relatively easy to gain points on mediocre previous efforts. Once you get towards the optimum of the teams capabilities though, it gets difficult. All of a sudden, fielding relatively sensible teams for the dozen games isn't going to gain you eight points or so, just like the fact that you don't do air shots anymore isn't going to bring your handicap down any.
Villa have improved, but when they start going to the big clubs and beating them, I'll sit up and take notice. They'll also discover like we will next season that the big clubs have a really annoying habit. When you improve and have a better season than them, they improve quickly the following season and overtake you again.
Last edited by
bigmick on Mon Feb 16, 2009 12:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
"se e in una bottigla ed e bianco, e latte".