Against Queens Park Rangers, it felt very much an almost game – and “almost” is probably a fair reflection on many performances. Looking back at the recent game against Swansea City, the feeling was that Villa almost secured a point – although Batefimbi Gomes ensured that the Swans walked away with all three.
On Tuesday night, Villa had, at least, managed to score goals and come from behind not once, but twice. Such praise may well be faint in its nature, but Villa are not a club who are really in a position this season to be speaking of grand achievements – barring a surprise win of the FA Cup, the biggest achievement Villa can have is surviving the drop.
Whilst a point against QPR keeps the club out of the bottom three – for now at least – this was arguably the most winnable of a quartet of matches in April, and failing to take three points will be invoking fear and dread in many of the Villa fans walking away from the game.
The harsh reality is that Villa are still very much in the mix in terms of a relegation scrap, and Tim Sherwood will need to find something to get the required points out of a team who are arguably lacking in confidence, illustrated by panicked clearances and a lack of real comfort in terms of not only keeping hold of the ball, but doing something with it.
This isn’t to suggest that Sherwood’s arrival is some cataclysmic harbinger of doom – Paul Lambert failed to cover himself in glory during the current season and was rightly sacked – but Villa are looking shaky, and will be outsiders for both the game against Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City.
In the worst case – but far from the most unrealistic – the Villans could take no points from the next two and find themselves in the bottom three. Whilst it is obviously not over until the proverbial fat lady sings, the fear is that a team lacking confidence will face an uphill struggle against relegation, with both Hull City and Burnley having a game in hand compared to Villa.
Should Hull and Burnley win their games – and Villa lose theirs – Sherwood will be heavily under pressure to deliver a run of wins to ensure survival. Villa may well have done the right thing in removing Lambert, but Sherwood is – at best – unproven and, at worst, something of an cocky time bomb that may explode in the face of owner Randy Lerner.
Few can argue that a manager has to start somewhere – and even fewer will be able to suggest that Villa would have had their pick of candidates before Sherwood was appointed – but this season feels inherently risky, not only for the fans, but for Lerner in terms of his return on investment with his plan to sell the club.
Of course, the fact is that Villa are a club who are very much based on risk in recent years, albeit for the wrong reasons. Their risk of cutting spending to avoid invalidating Financial Fair Play was an obvious risk, and the club have subsequently languished at the wrong end of the table, arguably stifled in terms of both money and quality.
For Lerner, a man who seems keen to wash his hands of his investment, the risk is similarly financial – selling a club in the Premier League, even if they are struggling, offers far better return than one who has just dropped through the trap door into the Championship. For Sherwood, the risk is two fold – not only may have a black mark against his name if he goes down (though he will arguably state that it was Lambert’s tenure that put Villa in their position), but he also faces the risk that new owners may well have differing views on how the club is run in terms of managerial structure.
Getting back to the on-the-pitch side of things, Villa are – on paper at least – a decent enough team. Sure, they are still light years away from solidly being in mid-table – never mind the top six – but they do boast a number of quality players, although how a team looks on paper is not always indicative of how they might perform in terms of reality.
With that in mind, the team can not afford to base survival on the poor fortune of teams around them. Of course Sherwood will want to win matches, but present form still indicates that it will be the ineptitude of others teams who will guarantee Villa’s survival as much as it will be the Villans trying to secure the requisite points to stay up.
If Villa can manage to survive, there will need to be a hard look taken at the club – by Lerner or whoever Villa are sold to – as luck only lasts so long. For a club the size of Villa – a team who manage respectable turnover as Premier League ever-presents – there must be potential to do better than they are, although such a possibility is far from a certainty.
Losing to QPR is not the end of the world, but Sherwood’s Villa must improve as despite an increase in attacking mentality, the team are still in dangerous touching distance of the drop zone, leaving all connected to the club nervously hoping things can get better, and keeping their collective fingers crossed that the players can avoid getting caught up in confidence issues at a time where the team need to have faith.
If they do get inspired, Villa will live to fight another day. If they don’t, then this could be a continuation of Villa’s bad form and the start of an uphill struggle to get back up from the Championship.
The Author
Matt Turvey
Matt is the owner of, and chief writer for, Aston Villa Life. He is also a columnist for the Wolverhampton Express & Star, appearing in the Kick Off pullout on Saturdays and the Final Whistle pullout the Monday after Aston Villa play, as well as every Thursday as a blogger on their website. He has previously been featured as a writer on Football365 and Life's A Pitch, and was a regular pundit for Sports Tonight TV on Sky.Comments 84
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Hi all,
Following on from comments about team selection…
Think it’s a but harsh to slag TS off for starting KR at left back Lowton would have been destroyed by the pace of Phillips, the other other option would be Bacuna who I don;t think has played that position before.
The negative comments on starting Vlaar, sorry I just don’t get that. it’s like people like moaning for the sake of it sometimes.
Also seen a lot of negativity on social media about Gabby post match which I find even more baffling.
Having said that I’d like to sit down with Tom Cleverly and show him how to cross a football, guy couldn’t cross a road. On and it”s time to drop Carlos Sanchez and bring back Ash ‘pub player’ Westwood- at least he kick a ball 5 yards in a straight line.
Finally I do not blame Gill for walking out the ground for obvious reasons, more talent in his left boot than the rest of the midfield combined.
To be honest i’d have selected Vlar too, also Richardson gave the team better balance but i’d have played Lowton RB, still, thats why TS is manager….. for now. dog walker who’s come up with some decent info before told me that the new owners ARE the Guggenheim mob mentioned last week, $200B worth of assets, problem is that apparently want to make Villa an AMERICAN team with American coaches and players etc so it looks like TS is out, possibly Jeerman Klinsmann as boss, whatever, i don’t like the idea of Randy Lerner clones destroying our heritage, the only good thing would be that at least Lerner will be gone.
Even Blose are being sold when the season ends, they’ve manage to find three bidders for the mugs. What with Olbyon going too, its all happening in the West Midlands.
When you watch TS during games he kicks every ball, he really is a genuine bloke, unlike Lambert who was a fraud. TS has delivered on the entertainment front but a combination of bad luck, uncharacteristic blunders and diabolical refereeing has held us back. As Ree said, WTF was that clown of a ref doing with the Austin & Caulker incidents, don’t the rules apply when you play Villa ?
Steamer,
I’m extremely saltly about all the sendings off we had earlier in the season, the Gabby one, the Benteke, the KR one, the Delph one! Then two of our players get assaulted and yellows, not even sure if Sandro/Caulker (sorry couldn’t get who it was) got a yellow… Referees are not fit for purpose, the game has moved on in terms of pace, pressure, media glare and finance and they can’t cope. Something radical needs to be done to support them and fast.
Rags sandro was booked for his assault on gabby, he was that late my mrs would of been proud. Possible straight red the goal gave the ref the chance to go yellow which matched his bottle all game.
On ts, dont forget he has inherited a team prone to error and has not made a signing yet, weird about gil though unless they have had words in previous weeks or is ts’s illegitimate son from a pre-season tour.
We dont appear capable of attacking and defending its a bit either or. Mainly i think due to the quality of our fullbacks who are the worst in the clubs history and have been since poor since mons time. What would we give for a wright or gidman? Is bouma still playing?
Also thank god the real benteke has arrived where the hell has he been, possibly his best game for us ever, gives me hope maybe we should try the 9 1 formation
Rags,
What about a step ladder and a rope around their necks to break their fall or is that the sort of support you are not talking about.
Some of the decisions baffle me I am not sure what these idiots see the inconsistency of referees these days are causing a major problem in the game.
Talking of decisions that baffle me just what has Gil done wrong, I like Grealish but to play him instead of Gil does not make any sense, talent should be everything in our game especially if you can make and score goals, we all marvelled at his goal in the cup and not many of our current side would have even attempted that shot, Sherwood needs every player pulling together in this fight and I think he may have made an error of judgement shutting the door on Gil.
This one is going all the way to the last game can we keep our nerve lets hope so, a rejuvenated Benteke will help immensely we just need the players around him to start chipping in, I thought Clark had another good game last night but our defence is still too weak.
AVFC ITWT IH
Maybe I was at a different match last night, but the boys put in a 110%, each and every one of them, and yes there was the odd mistake, the unlucky part, was that Rangers, a far more experienced side, when it comes to a real relegation scrap were not going to go down, and took every chance they got…..They put three of their five chances away!
People seem to forget how these teams who are at the bottom are going to fight tooth and nail to the end, and the easier games may well be against Spurs and City, with less at stake.
I also do not understand the attacks on Sanchez, as he had a good game, fought for every ball and rarely lost it, and where he did make a mistake was quick to recover. the more you are involved in anything , means the more you will be liable to make a mistake. there are never complaints about the guys who don’t do much. Gabby also played his heart out, and we would not have had the second goal, if it had not been for his bravery, and risking serious injury.
The weakest link last night was Guzan, who had a nightmare game. He is the only one, who could be replaced with Given. Richardson against Phillips was the most difficult challenge, and wouldn’t he be a great acquisition for any side. Has to be one of the best wingers in the country right now.
Steamer,
You are on the mark with your comments, as are JC and JL. We are in areal struggle to field 11 fit players for the next couple of weeks or so.
Very harsh to blame TS if we go down but the Issue with Gill is giving fans ammo against him….is very strange.
I really don’t think a point at home to qpr is enough. Im ready for the drop as i dont see where the wins will come from.
Away games at spurs, city, saints will yield 0 points.
Home to everton, hammers and burnely is tough seeing as our last 2 home games against swans and qpr gave us 1point.
It’s just not going to happen.
Burnley, unless they are already down by then, will be the biggest scrap, as the Hammers and the toffees are not fighting for anything in particular. Last night’s game was about next year’s millions to both sides, and was never going to be easy, after QPR’s destruction of the Baggies.
Again there will be a fight with Spurs, City and Saints, but their positions are not so desperate, and hopefully, we my get some fit players along the way.
Agree with practically everyone on the Gil issue. If he did walk off after not being in the squad it is a show of petulance but he’s a kid who’s living in a foreign country. Started off on fire on the pitch even though the team was mostly useless, but hasnt been given a fair chance by TS. I really hope his Villa career aint over cos he has shown touches of class, tbh I rate him more than Grealish, who I rate too.
Paul – Agree with Guzan being poor (not sure about weakest link – Richardson last night), he has been for a long time. Where is the Guzan that got us points almost single handedly? Sanchez did misplace a lot of passes and made other mistakes, but also did a lot of good thing too. Agree about Gabby.
Agree with Rags about Vlaar too, he did well imo. Clarke made more mistakes but also did some good things.
Not really sure how to feel about this result, it leaves things in the air and gives those under us more hope. Almost feel the same as I did under Mcleish when we were drawing our way to safety, difference being the matches themselves are a lot more exciting. There will be freak results and right now we could do with one of them, hopefully against Spurs this weekend. We need 2 wins to be safe, out of Everton, West Ham and Burnley its not impossible. We’d all rather it didnt go down to the last game of the season but Its looking that way right now.
Andrew – we did draw our last 2 at home but Swansea are a very useful team and we didnt set up right and lets be real, QPR were very lucky to come away with that result. If they came away with a win it would have been a travesty. I think we are due some luck again.
We might not even need 2 wins, a win and 2 draws may be enough. I really do think we can pick up some points from our away games. We’re still odds on to stay up with the bookies, shorter odds than all of our rivals. And bookies dont usually make bad judgement calls.
Wow what an event last night – i went throu all the emotions , but at the end of it all how could we end up conceeding 3 goals after such domination of the game overall
Gabby gets big props for the shift he put in last night – he didnt score but his hard work , running and chasing opened up oppotunities for the team.
He’s one of our own super jack grealish he’s one of our own — this kid is the key to us being more of a threat going forward — joe cole came on and looked not even half the player that jack is
Cleaverly wasnt great was he
Why would our own player head the ball back into the penalty area to allow qpr’s first goal – shocking mistakes at the back who hardly had anything to do all game
Sanchez – was brill for me at stopping qpr playing ang getting any foot hold in midfield
Tekkers – form is temp class is always perminant — 2 world class stikes last night
Sherwood – i love what he has brought to the team and how he kicks every ball — i think he was again out thought though as when they went 5 at the back it got them back into the game but TS doesnt seem to have the tactical knowleadge to counter these things by changing our shape which is were i think he needs to improve the most
Richardson was poor for me but its a case of needs must at the minute with all the walking wounded
In Richardson’s defense, besides being not match fit, having trained only twice in the last four weeks, Phillip’s stats are only Lionel Messi has better ones….!!
Mixed emotions like everyone today, 2 points lost or 1 point gained, we’ll know at the end of the season.
Mixed emotion about the new owners, if it is Guggenheim, this is an investment firm so their priority is return on investment, so we may be seen as good value for future sale, I hope we are not just seen as an investment but all that is great about AVFC celebrated and the reason AVFC exists is the priority and that is to play football and win matches.
We need another win fast and lets hope like the weekend of the Sunderland game we beat Spurs who are doing their best to avoid the Europa league and other results go our way.
Great seeing Grealish start, great seeing Benteke score and great not to lose to QPR eventhough Mr Turvey seems to think we have 🙂
UTV
By view on Gil is that if he has not kept to the training schedule and he believes he’s the only player in step, then it’s right that he’s left out. It is a team game and that includes the preparation effort.
On Sanchez, he does have some silly moments, but I’d prefer him to Westwood. Sanchez can tackle and intercept – Westwood can’t and often gives away free kicks in bad areas. Okay, Westwood is the better passer of the two, but with Delph, Cleverley and Grealish we have enough passing ability. Or should have.
Darren: I hope we are not just seen as an investment [assuming Guggenheim takeover] but all that is great about AVFC celebrated and the reason AVFC exists is the priority.
My gut feeling is that all will be American gung-ho and razzamataz … we’ve not had a happy experience with RL this past 5 years so I can’t see any great improvement in empathy from the named organisation. Indeed, they may even be more remote.
This country is ever so gradually being Americanised. I had to ring the council yesterday, and though the main recorded voice was a council person, when I pressed something incorrectly it was an American accent that corrected me. Uck.
Nil points from me.
Darren,
When you put it like that, there were actually a lot of positives about last night.
http://www.msn.com/en-gb/sport/premier-league/aston-villa-3-3-qpr-five-things-we-learned/ar-AAayWMJ?ocid=mailsignoutmd
The Telegraph being complementary.
Runtings,
Hate to disagree with you about Cole. Grealish was played out of it second half in terms of being able to create something.
When Cole came on I saw us doing better.
Wba are asking £150 m???
For what, you could buy West Bromwich for half that.
A couple of pals said Gil was sitting in the stand watching the game.
I actually had an email from one our customers oop north who is a Preston fan and he apologised for stealing Daniel Johnson from us, they absolutely love him up there and although they realise he has dropped levels they truly believe they have a real player on their hands, nice one Lambert I wonder what we did with the £50k.
AVFC ITWT
JL that’s a turn up for the books us disagreeing 🙂
But i will stick with my line that Jack even though we may not realise it yet is key and if we want to stay up we must continue to play him — i thought cole was ok but didnt causde anywhere near the problems that jack did and his legs have gone so 20 mins is all we can expect from joe with all due respect to him
i think we need to drop cleverly
my team for spurs
guzan
bacuna okore clark lowton
nzogbia sanchez delph
grealish
gabby tekkers
Swv – i think johnson grealish gardner and carruthers would if made us a decent midfield by next season if not now
Rigjt now I’d make the defence more sold but put another attack minded player in zoogy/ gil/sinclair
Runtings: But i will stick with my line that Jack even though we may not realise it yet is key and if we want to stay up we must continue to play him — i thought cole was ok but didnt causde anywhere near the problems that jack did and his legs have gone so 20 mins is all we can expect from joe with all due respect to him
Yes … I agree with that. I was not saying that Cole is better than Grealish. 😉 It’s just that QPR worked out how to stop Jack in the second half and he’s still a bit green. Cole came on and created a couple of chances that did rather go begging.
Cole seems to be limited in how much (in time on the pitch) he can contribute and a 65/35 percentage split on the field for these two is probably right.
We can beat Spurs on Saturday. They were dreadful against Burnley and look like a team who are desperate to avoid the UEFA Cup next season.
Hopefully we can continue the attacking football and sort out the problems at full back
Why drop Cleverley? I think he’s become a much better player under TS. Yes, he can’t centre too well, but neither can a lot of others! 😉
Second half he was shackled, as was Grealish, so the subs were vital.
Hot dogs and Coors for sale in the stands? JL
There is a popular belief that American is all flag waving and no substance, i’d hope that the financial backers in Guggenheim who want this deal to go through, have the foresight to appoint football people to senior positions, these are self made men as opposed to daddy’s money so they are clued in more than Lerner could ever be on how to make money. As long as this money making machine invests in players and player development then I’ll be happy.
I’ve read the comments on the players selected yesterday, i’d fall on the side of scraping the barrel to have 11 players out there in as close as possible to their natural position and as close as possible to MATCH fitness. At the wrong time we’ve lost key players and it doesn’t help our cause in fighting for points when players are not match fit, even Grealish isn’t match fit.
I think TS needs to think bigger and look at dropping Guzan for Given, I really do think he needs to trust the Okore/Clark partnership more but if Vlaar is to contribute to the end of the season he needs game time too.
Shame about Gil, hopefully he gets a clean break in the new season and knuckles down or gets an oppotunity to play elsewhere as he’s got a bit of talent
UTV
Talking to a Palace fan (there is one in Ireland) and we reckon the Europa League needs to return to a knockout competition for cup winners only as opposed to being a domestic league losers competition. It hasn’t taken off as being a mini Champs league in terms of TV or more importantly fan interest. It should be played on the opposite weeks to Champs league, usual rules apply if you do a domestic double your Europa place goes to the beaten finalist.
Something for AVFC’s future, i think we treat it seriously given where we are now.
With a lot of our players they come in, do well and you think thats a problem solved then they start having nightmares and the process starts again.
I think it was virtually unanimous in August that Cole, Senderos and Richardson were ridiculous signings for various reasons, unfortunately that assumption has been proved correct.
I still think that we need nine decent players before we can call ourselves a football club again.
If Tekkers keeps up this form the wolves will be circling again, CB really is our one hope of avoiding the drop, i dread to think what would happen if he sustained a bad injury, someone mentioned he was playing with a knock anyway.
Steamer i think without senderos we would be 12 points lighter. Shame he got injured
JL point taken in your reply and the commentators were saying jack is tired – which i dont understand as i could run for hours at 19yrs old without the training these guys get
i think cleverly isnt any type of asset to the team and am of the believe that gardener , johnston -sold are much better / braver footballers but due to the the wisdom of lambert we are stuck with a very highly paid sub standard flop
Tekkers looked the fittest ive seen him id wager a few had pain killing injections to play.
in terms of jack becoming ineffective i think that has a lot to do with qpr going 3 at the back which closed the spaces we were exploiting — this is were i think TS lacks know how has if he was tactically clued up he would have countered with his own formation adjustments — imo
Darren: There is a popular belief that American is all flag waving and no substance,
Well, I’m not exactly holding that view. I worked for big American companies and know that in a pure business setting they’re usually very good employers – if you show a ‘get up and go’ attitude. I enjoyed working for IBM and Chrysler – a positive attitude there of the type that I rarely found with British companies. But that was some years ago now … I’m sure business here has learnt some lessons.
I think it’s more the culture thing in sport that concerns me … but if I’m proved wrong, so be it.
Maybe ramsey is the taylor to ts’s clough.
Personally, I wouldnt want an American investment firm buying out Lerner and owning the club. The club would continue to be run on a strict budget for profit and if things go wrong they will be ruthless about cashing in on club assets.
Ramsey definitely out-manoeuvred Sherwood with the tactical changes. Then again, if we didnt make the mistakes we made, QPR wouldnt have been let back into the game.
I did the Prem predictor again and its way too close for comfort. I have us staying up with a point from one of our away games (Spurs, City, Southampton) 4 points between Everton and West Ham and a point on the last day against Burnley. It is unbelievably tight the way I worked it out, there was still a possibility for all of the 5 teams at the bottom to stay up or go down on the last day. If we lose to Burnley we could well go down.
Hope it doesnt come to that and we get a surprise win away to lift the pressure off. An unexpected result for one of our rivals could make life really difficult.
Runtingz I think we need to look around jack. Johnson gardner etc know his game In this team hes junior in rank but not talent
Ree
I have looked at the fixtures like a hawk…it’s going to the wire and i think we are doomed.
Going to be bottom 3 after Man city game and we aint coming out i’m afraid.
Make peace with the relegation gods now.
Hi Steamer,
“When you put it like that, there were actually a lot of positives about last night.”
Yes, there really were. Our attacking play in the first half was excellent. We had not seen anything like that in more than 4 years. I agree with Paul Pears that the whole team gave it all they had – that is part of the reason why we faded in the second half. Also QPR were not there to make up the numbers. They too were fighting for their lives. It was a terrific game and when they went 3:2 up with 8 minutes left, it looked pretty bleak. CB’s free kick was fabulous. I think the point we won is going to prove very valuable at the end of the season.
Also thanks PP for explaining the Carles Gil situation. Rumours in the North Stand were saying that he had stormed out, but we could not verify anything.
TS has transformed the atmosphere within the club. He is not going to get everything right, but he is working with what a failed manager left him. TS has brought a great deal of positivity; I am quite optimistic about going to the Lane – my favourite Laandan team!! TS’s Aston Villa has almost scored as many goals in his short time here than the previous incumbent’s 80% of the season.
Onwards and upwards.
hope the USA razzmatazz is true new owner new manager will suit me last night team selection and subs same as 2 games before awful without CB would already be down those are the facts okere can run viliar can not play him full back he will stop anyone
I can see the reasoning behind the bomb squad in lamberts time but im buggered if not using gil at all makes any sense even if the fitness tests rumours are true. Can anyone say cole is fitter? The lad had more energy than the entire squad when he first played
Hello FV,
The first time i went to Tottingham was that night in 1967? alongside 15,000 other Villans who made it a home game, Barrie Hole and Peter Broadbent scored in a 3-2 defeat in which we outplayed Spuds, the following year we played at Charlton in the cup, Harry Gregory scored the winner and later signed for us, and a couple of proper footy fans who had been at WHL that night kindly paid us some nice compliments on the way we played. That’s why i think the performance is as important as the result, i couldn’t/won’t watch negative or untalented teams irrespective of them winning trophies or not.
Regarding Ramsey, TS said that tactically he was the best coach he’d ever seen so maybe he realises his weakness and wants CR to join him. To be fair it wasn’t rocket science, just basic stuff that CR implemented which is a bit of a worry.
Kojack back for the reserves tonight, it’s nice to see the guy playing again after such a long time out. Good luck to him.
Mark,
Ignored for a 16 year old, dropped from the bench, somethings not right is it ?
Bloomin’ Charlton and Palace are the worst grounds in Laandaan to get to, especially for night games.
@Andrew I cant accept that. It aint over till the fat lady sings (where the hell did this phrase come from?).
All it takes is one unexpected away win and the probabilities are massively in our favour. Leicester have a lot of work to do and cant afford ANY mistake. Hull have a horror set of fixtures and could very possibly only pick up 3 or 4 points. QPR are running out of games with Chelsea, Liverpool and City to play. Burnley have a couple tough fixtures after which it’ll be last chance saloon. Sunderland HAVE to win this weekend or they’re in serious trouble.
I still fancy our chances. Good news is we’re creating a lot of chances and scoring goals.
steamer i rember the night game at spuds it was the cup if memory serves and did not JG score 2 for them in the 3/2 defeat and gilzeen get the other i rember sitting outside harry parks at 3 in the morning waiting for the old 14 night service bus to get home no cars in them days but happy days
Steamer- 200 Billion ?!?!?!?
If hey are that rich, they better do better than signing bloody American players !!
On Villa, we couldn’t beat the worst away side in the league, a very nearly lost. We have two games where on paper we will lose and could be in the drop zone after Man City game. Sherwood will have a point to prove against Spurs though.
I really don’t know of Sherwood will make a good manager at this level or not. Can see him being a great championship manager which is about motivation and less tactics. Prem is about tactics and I don’t know if he has it in him
And the most worrying thing, we couldn’t beat an awful QPR side, and we couldn’t even draw against two sides in Swansea and Stoke who’s season has been over for a while now.
day to think about last night
great first half
poor second half
why can t we perform for 90 mins
ref was awful austin should had yellow card for handball then red for tackle on sanchez villa had 4/5 sent off for less than austin tackle this season
caulker on a booking takes grealsih out nothing, barton up to ref moaning about dive
gabby should had clear pen think it was hill tripped him, hill was also booked in 2 half
players rating
guzan 4 shocking for long time needs a rest now
bacuna 6 very good first half qpr tactics closed him off second half,yes should done better 1 goal
vlar 4 where world cup player gone 2 matches 5 goals conceded makes clark look nervous
clark 6 steady eddy should done better 2 goal big effort
richardson 4 rubbish never rated him shocking performance hope it is last
grealish 7.5 great 1 half faded qpr tactics should have scored but at least hope with him
delph 6 don t get him where do you play him
sanchez 7 yes gives away ball but his size scares players what a tackle for 2 goal
cleverly 5 good first half disapearred 2 where is this 80 thousand pound week player
gabby 5 same as cleverly only he calls himself a fan
benteke 9.5 world class please god stays fit for last 6 games
subs
cole 4 he was finnished 10 years ago waste of sub at least wiemen can run
lowton 5 should have started before richardson
zog 5like cleverly before him show some effort for 6 games and then run along
manager
sherwood 6
plus points starting bacuna grealish
minus points starting vlar richardson using cole
why fall out with gil, breaking upokore clark
no more mistakes from now on sherwood
JD,
Not certain but Mike England may have netted.
I remember one of JG’s goals, it must have bounced 10 times before it rolled over the line.
Ree,
It aint over till the fat lady sings (where the hell did this phrase come from?).
I have a feeling it originated in Chelmsley Wood, i was there today and some of the burds have arses the size of Cuba, never heard any singing though.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_ain't_over_till_the_fat_lady_sings
It’s something to do with the overweight valkyrie in a Wagner play:)
steamer you going to the next fight for steamer 75 kid if so will come with the lads and have a night out let me know
JD
yea steamer aint missed a fight , quite a lot of the old lads are going , we’ll be meeting up on broad street around 4pm , it starts at 5pm and chris will possibly be on at around 7pm, we took 100 to wolves so hope to double that and it is a World Title , and he’s a villa lad , the number here is my brothers (his dad Roff ) ring him for tickets 07802190978, if anyone else fancies it . its Sat 25th April at the Barclaycard Arena ( old NIA) ,
if you want to see what he’s capable of have a look at his last fight on BAMMA18 , Chris Miah ,
steamer you really do have a short memory mate , remember the Asda carpark ?? if it wasnt for that burds arse you would have gone into that lamp-post , thankfully hitting her arse you saved loads on dents on your car and a bill off the council , and she even smiled , and l like big arses , and l dont mean arses like SWW
enjoy the sun all , …l cant stand it
see you soon Jenny xxx
Sorry Runtingz but someones got to sort out Raheem Stirling, cheating, lying slacker, a real low life. apart from his court case he plays when he wants to, has a vastly over-rated opinion of whatever talents he supposedly possesses and epitomises everything that is wrong in both football and society. Good job he has a manager with the same qualifications.
So its liverpoo, want to win but dont think the distraction and potential for injury will help us. Could go the other way and spur competition for a place in the final team. Wonder how guzan will feel with given likely to be in goal if we get there?
Feeling down abouth the villa.
Not won in 3…next 3 games are spurs, pool and man city and will almost certainly be in the bottom 3 and out the cup come end of April.
Happy days
Confident about beating Spuds, 2-1. Gil was injured in the u21 game yesterday so TS doesn’t have to think of an excuse not to play him.
For the good of football i hope we stuff Poo, never seen so many cheats in one club what with Sterling and his imaginary cards which i thought was a bookable offence and that Championship player Henderson wanting 100,000k a week, great life being a footballer, vastly overpaid, mollycoddled and above both footballing and legal law.
Steamer
I would be very surprised to beat spurs. A we are shit and b we have the worst record ever against spurs at the lane.
Good to see Kozac back for the u21 too. Im just going to forget about Gill, he aint going to feature, that much is clear.
Fingers crossed Grealish lives up to the hype, he is certainly going to get a chance to prove himself.
Agree with you Steamer.
We could have a real chance against the Spurs…..Time we beat them and maybe TS can start reversing some of Villa ‘s bad records..!!
Let’s just hope we have enough fit players to field a strong side…
Guys if we put in a proper performance i reckon we could get the points we need so i am far from convienced that we are down and spurs are good but they aint great
Steamz i think leano stirling isnt really interested in liverpoo and can’t wait to get back to landan town next season and is playing like a guy with his head turned – but he is a talent imo
TS has been a breath of fresh air and has fired the team to improved performances. But, someone should advise him to stop talking about his time at Tottingham. Its all past history there. His sole concern should be, and needs to be, Villa.
Excellent leader Matt – agree entirely with your sentiments .
We won’t go down – I’m 100 per cent certain as there are 5 worse teams in QPR , Sunderland , Hull , Leicester and Burnley . We have breathing space . We also have Bebteke who on current form is worthy of a place in any of the premier league teams . I can’t see him enduring another season of uncertainty and Inter Milan are first in the queue – though there are German teams watching him also .
Frankfurt Villan – agree entirely with that .
Looking forward to the spurs game – it’s a battle of two egos . Poccetino will want to prove he was the right choice and TS will be desperate to show Levy , this is what you could have had .
ST75 – look forward to seeing you both in the morning 🙂 x
Unfortunately i can’t see CB being at VP either, even if we have mega wealthy new owners it’ll take time to rebuild the club from this shambles. At least CB is showing the form that will attract the big money fee that the manager will need.
Agree that TS needs to shut his trap about Spuds, monotonous and needless and does anyone actually give a monkey’s.
what happens if TS showers the spud fans with kisses like Gerald did at liverpoo ,
At least it’s not the Houllier I love Liverpool crap we endured a few seasons ago. He was shafted by Spurs and given TS personality and the typical journo questions to make a story (if the need questions or answers these days) will mean TS will respond.
As i said ages ago, Sherwood is a young Harry Redknapp in personality (ego) and possibly tactics as well but he’s not Lamberk and he’s given us more of a chance of staying up then Lamberk ever could.
Flights, accom and tickets paid for v Everton roll on May 2
UTV
I also agree with Frank. We need to win more often, don’t care about Spuds, except beating and mashing them.
Wembley sorted and now a member of the Somerset Lions !!!
Looking forward to a trip with fellow Villa fans..!!!
really hope we can do the business on Saturday, and looking forward to seeing Grealish play again with Benteke and gabby. If Delph puts in another performance like he did on Tuesday, and the defense can tighten up we may stand a chance of winning. Will Clarke cope with Kane..?? This will be the big test.
Would we take a point at city & spurs or a win in the cup?
Id like us to stick with the same formation against qpr, suits us best.
Id like the same formation too maybe with a couple changes in personnel. The fullbacks esp, both had a mare against QPR, although it has to be taken into consideration it was Richardson’s first game back after a while out and he did come up against a winger bang in form. He will perform better imo so dont mind him staying in the team. Bacuna definitely needs taking out, probably for Lowton. I would also bring in Nzogbia for Grealish, even though he did a great job last game it was at home and I think the added experience will help us. Grealish to come on when Nzogbia wanes. Besides that Id keep the same team.
I have a healthy dislike of Spurs, mostly based on their arrogance and sense of entitlement exaggerated by the press they get. You could level the same accusation at Villa I guess, but without the media love in. This is exacerbated by our decline and their rise in recent seasons. Also, the last game at VP really riled me up. Mason will forever be a hate figure for the way for the way he cheated in provoking Benteke into a reaction. Benteke should not have taken the bait but the Ref’s should have been wiser. That piece of cheating cost us that game. Id love nothing better than 3 points to stick it back to them! Actually I lie… Id rather win the FA Cup.
The two late goals too… Gabby losing his man and the deflected free kick. Not a fan of Kane’s, imo he is hugely overated just really in form atm. Props to the lad but the sun does not shine out his backside. We still need to stop him though. Rest of the Spurs team look like theyre on holiday. Benteke will be riled up and he’s on form, Sherwood will be too. Nice article on how Benteke comes good in the latter part of seasons.
http://www.whoscored.com/Articles/y15viu536estb52d9heebq/Show/Player-Focus-Why-Benteke-Being-Back-Should-be-No-Great-Surprise
Given how bad our defence was last game I cant be overly confident, seems like Spurs fans are dreading the return of Sherwood too. I still back us for the draw but we could sneak a win. Benteke to score!
1-1 UTV
DarrenO,
Chuffed you were successful, tickets are VERY hard to get here, loads of mates are going ticketless. Lets hop you get to the final too.
PP,
Joining the Somerset Lions should make it a bit easier and cheaper for you.
Ree,
What pees me off is that England continually use the cheats who drag the game through the mud, obviously some are worse than others but are the likes of Mason, Rooney, Gerrard etc really good adverts for the game ?
whats wrong tonight nobody posting
Massive weekend again, we need something from the Lane, although I don’t think we will pick anything up from the next two league games, either side of a difficult Wembley tie( not hopeful there either but I’m still going). We need points because we are 4 points down on where we should realistically be under Sherwood, 2 points dropped against Stoke and Swansea at the death and we should have put QPR away in the first half alone.
We need QPR being brought down to earth by Chelsea , Burnley need a ton king from the Gunners, and wins for Saints, Palace and the Albion would be nice, although recent results show we can’t simply rely on other teams. Some are saying we need to beat Everton, West Ham and Burnley to survive, if that’s the case( and I don’t think it is, 7 pts may be enough ), we will have to win our last 3 home games which will match how many home games we have won ALL season , fucking 3, which in terms of my ST value = £170 per win
B62
Really is a shocking thought that we have won only three at home. We really need something out of today’s game, and then to kick on with next week at Wembley, where the result is not as important, as staying up is.
I am hopeful that we will put on a display to repay the fans for their loyalty, and not disgrace ourselves.It would be great to win and go on to win the final, but do not want to do a Wigan……and again it would probably be against Arsenal in the final..!!!!
Or maybe we could really upset the form books and win the cup and stay up…Thereby Villa doing the double !!!!
Steamer – About that incident in particular, hardly anybody in the media commented about how Mason cheated, everybody blamed Benteke for striking back (hardly more than a push anyways). Compare that to Matic’s sending off and everyone saying how ‘understandable’ the reaction was thanks to Mourinho’s media manipulation. Also, that red card was given by the over zealous 4th official who told the ref straight away red card. Imo it was a borderline red card, taking into account the provocation, which the 4th official blatantly didnt, and the fact that Mason fell like he’d been shot it should have been a yellow. This is where we need video officials in the game, so they can judge an incident before the officials make rash decisions.
B62 – ithink you’re right about the 7 points. 3 wins at home all season is really poor… if it wasnt for the decent away record we’d be in so much crap. 7 wins altogether in 32 games… and 3 of those came in the first 4 games! Take those away and its 4 wins out of 28, or 1 win every 7 games!! That really is piss poor form. But I dont think we can look at these final fixtures in light of the whole season, situation is massively different now. 2 or even 3 wins at home is very possible from those fixtures. A win away from home would be massive and who’s to say we cant get one from Spurs, City or Saints?
Paul if we do that then one of the worst seasons in our history would turn into one of our most glorious! Its these moments that will live on in the memory for a lifetime. The deadbeats who turned it around and won the cup…
RK
You are right, the previous form and results don’t matter a jot as we can’t change them, we simply have to try and win every game we play from here on in, however away from home or in the final few minutes of a game, if a draw is on the cards, take the point rather than lose the game, we could still stay up by drawing games( long shot I know). As the weeks pass though the harder it becomes, hopefully we will get something today, my heart says 1-1/2-2 but my head says Spurs 3-2.
I hope we don’t get a real drubbing at Wembley play self pity city( I really hate them fuckers) as I could see a collapse in confidence and mentality and we could go on a real downwards spiral, it’s gonna go to the wire and it’s gonna be close, and still any 3 from 6 can drop
Ree,
Although it wouldn’t compensate fully for dropped points, retrospective disciplinarary action should be taken, and when a Spuds coach, Brad Friedal, admits that Pocchetino told Mason to get CB sent off and their is still no action from the league then you can only conclude that the people running the game are dishonest or incompetent or both.
B62,
I don’t fear Liverpool in the semi, what i do fear is the ref and the fact that Stevie Me is a habitual diver for penalties.
2-1 to Villa today, Harry Kane ? we have Benteke who is infinitely superior in every aspect of the game, they’re the ones who should be nervous.
B62 – I cant stand Liverpool either, although I do like Brendan Rodgers. Hate the way everyone is turning the cup into a Stevie G memorial. Really hope we beat them.
Steamer – where did you hear that? Sounds a huge controversy but I never heard a peep about it. Agree that Benteke is much better than Kane but both are on form. Everything Kane touches seems to turn to gold atm.
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