Newcastle welcome Aston Villa to St. James Park looking to bounce back after a humbling defeat by Manchester City in the last round of Premier League fixtures. The Magpies are comfortably sitting in mid-table, ten points clear of the relegation spots, but will be looking for a good run between now and the end of the season to secure a top-10 finish.

Jack Colback’s versatility would be a joy for any Premier League manager, with the Newcastle-born midfielder able to comfortably operate in central midfield, out wide and also at full back. Colback also guarantees to run himself into the ground in every match that he plays and although he may have been on the wrong end of a 5-0 defeat in the last round of Premier League fixtures, the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index demonstrates that he continued to show great desire throughout. The former Sunderland-man covered a total of 11.6 km – the most in Newcastle squad.

Although usually a forward, Ayoze Pérez was deployed on the wing against last season’s Champions in the last round of Premier League fixtures. Some players have been known to throw their toys out of the pram when asked to play out of position, but the Spanish youngster did the polar opposite and tried his absolute hardest to reverse the Magpies’ fortunes. Not only did he run the second highest distance in the Newcastle lineup, covering 10.8 km, but he also won an impressive 80% of his challenges. Perez may have put in an impressive defensive shift against the Citizens on Saturday, but if you fancy him to get up the other end of the pitch and find the back of the net, head to 888sport.com who have the striker at 24/5 to score the first goal of the game.

If pundits were asked at the start of the season who Newcastle’s best performing defender would be this campaign, it’s unlikely that Paul Dummett would unanimously have been at the top of their lists. The Newcastle academy graduate, however, has been something of a revelation at the back this season, making a total of 204 defensive contributions (based on blocks, clearances, tackles won and interceptions) according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index. It will certainly be a blow for John Carver and his men that the defender is likely to miss the rest of the campaign through injury.

Tim Sherwood’s return to management began with an unfortunate stoppage time defeat at the hands of Stoke City. It was a pity for the Villains who had taken the lead through a Scott Sinclair header and who had looked bright for many parts of the game.

If Villa are to maintain their Premier league status this term then they’ll need England international Fabian Delph to reach the levels of performance that led to his first England call-up last year. The former Leeds man delivered a peach of a cross for Scott Sinclair to score the opening goal of the game, which added to an all-round solid attacking display. The EA SPORTS Player Performance Index demonstrates that Delph made a total of 20 attacking contributions (based on passes in the opposition half, crosses completed, dribbles completed and shots on target). This was the most in the Villa squad.

Scott Sinclair’s stated aim when joining the Villains on loan was to achieve more game time and when featuring for Sherwood’s men on Saturday, he certainly showed his desire to get stuck into the thick of the action. The on-loan City man covered a total of 11.2km on Saturday – the second most in the Villa lineup with only Fabian Delph (11.4km) covering more. If you think Sinclair can continue his goalscoring form, then head to 888sport.com who have the striker at 12/1 to score the first goal of the match.

Alan Hutton has been like a new signing for Aston Villa this term, featuring prominently after spending much of the last three seasons out on loan. In addition to performing extremely competently in defence, Hutton has also been a real attacking force for the Villa this season with the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index demonstrating that he has made a total of 414 attacking contributions. This is the fourth most of any Villa player and the eighth most of any defender in the Premier League.

Comments 182

  1. Hello Matt and thanks for trying to get us in the right frame of mind…!

    I’d differ with you on couple of points about the Stoke game and the players, but, hey-ho, there’s not much point in looking back to last week when it’s the future (starting today) that matters.

    The selection at left-back could be interesting today, with TS already hinting that young players might be making an appearance if they’re good enough, and suggesting that young Kinsella is being considered for today.

    Well, bring ’em on! It’s unfortunate that any youngsters would have to be brought in under pressure, but on the other hand some thrive on pressure, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing in my book. Still not sure about Grealish, mind you.

    I’m looking forward to at least a point today, but a win would be far better, of course. A hat-trick for Tekkers and a couple for Sinclair would go down well with me! 😉

  2. Morning,
    John Carver stirring it up again about how our fans reacted when they were relegated at VP, nothing about their dire results and no blame attached to the players and the coach who was ……John Carver.

    Any fans of Gary Gardner should read the NFFC fans on twitter, every one of them raves about his latest performance and one even describes him as ‘a genius.’ Hope we get him back and install him in the first team and if TS takes Kmacs advice then i’m sure we will, he’s several classes above anything currently in our first team and when you look at Cleverleys caps you wonder how many GG would have won if he’d
    avoided injuries.

    1-0 today, Benteke.

  3. Afternoon all. Much like you John, id take a draw but would love a win. The effect of losing this match could be devastating.

    I think the preview is from Ea Sports, not Matt himself, looks like they didn’t do their homework with Colback suspended.

    442 no changes is what I expect.

    1-0 Villa LEGOOOO

  4. 01 Guzan
    34 Lowton
    06 Clark
    05 Okore
    21 Hutton
    15 Westwood
    08 Cleverley
    16 Delph
    09 Sinclair
    20 Benteke
    11 Agbonlahor

    Substitutes
    07 Bacuna
    10 Weimann
    24 Sánchez
    25 Gil
    28 N’Zogbia
    31 Given
    40 Grealish

  5. The toons haven’t anything to play for – safe from relegation – no glories in store and they’ve nosedived under Carver. There’ll be tension from their own fans particularly as Palace leading the hammers 3-0 and they’re beating by Man City.
    It’s an ideal time fur us to play them so I’m gojng with a 0-2
    Teckers and Gil . Just got time to take dog fur walk – then KO can’t wait .

  6. I see TS has made changes.
    I thought Westwood and Cleverly played well in the FA cup game against Leicester and I was surprised they both got dropped against Stoke
    I am not impressed to see Gil on the bench, he is our most creative player.
    I would have dropped Agbonlahor
    I would like to see N’Zogbia back in the team with him and Sinclair behind Benteke. Play Gil in the hole with Delph and Cleverley protecting the back four.
    I feel if we lose today we are certainly relegated.
    Come on the Villa!!

  7. Don’t like seeing Gil dropped. Three CMs, I guess he’s playing 433 unless he plays Cleverly out of position. I hope this works out. Not as confident with the team sheet. Hopefully Cleverly and Westwood sit back and allow Delph to get forward.

  8. Jenny – The toons are not quite out of relegation scrap. They’re on 32 points and if they were to lose a few in a row then they could be in the mix as well.

    Richard S – Two years ago we were in a very similar position but gained 17 points in the last 10 matches to get out of jail. This time around does look more dicey though as we’re not scoring or shooting many.

  9. Good team though i’d have played Given up front instead of that fat bloke. Bad decision about Gil, no doubt. With that MF you need more creativity up front, Gil has it, Aggy doesn’t, apart from which he has no talent, doesn’t try and is finished.

  10. Jen,
    TS is interested in a sports psychiatrist, i’d drop your resume in. If we lose today i’d also get a rabidly fantatical fan in the changing room, pre-match, who would spell out a few home truths. Several clubs have done it and sometimes it works.
    TS must be confident to play with ten men.

  11. I’d go even further, i can’t see us getting another point this season. Its going to be the most embarrassing season for ANY professional club in England EVER. And Olbyon will piss all over us in both games.

  12. Yes Steamer, Lerner has single-handedly destroyed the club. This is the worst Villa team in my 40 years of watching them.

    Weimann…how can he be on the books of any professional club, in any division, in any country?

  13. Long Ball Tim Sherwood
    We played well in the first half
    Terrible long ball tactics in the 2nd half – we never looked like scoring
    Why keep playing Agbonlahor and Weimann??
    Why didn’t he play Gil?
    We are absolutely doomed. Going down. And we deserve to go down.

  14. even god himself couldnt do anything with this squad
    thank you randy lerner for giving lambert 3 years to build a side for league 1 or what ever its called
    guzan hutton cissko sendross delph westwood gabby cole cleverly wiemen zog brutal
    clark the onlyshining light
    lowton done ok today but 3 mistakes in sherwoods 2 matches no points instead of 4
    don t know what sherwood is going to do but it involves dropping gabbywiemen westwood from entire squad donkies would be more use

  15. Utter disgrace – woeful and embarrassing. The fans have been treated like fools.

    Lerner has treated Villa like a Billionaire’s play thing.

    Lambert was completely clueless and it’s unbelievable how the Villa Park faithful supported him for so long.

    Fox knows nothing about football and appointed his friend Sherwood.

    Lerner has never met Sherwood. How can you appoint someone to manage AVFC if you have never met them???

    Sherwood is long ball – clueless

    We are going down as one of the worst teams in Premier League History

  16. Richard,
    I can’t honestly think of any decision Lerners made that has been positive, the bloke is unbelievably stupid.

    Some of the fans on other blogs think that we’llwalk the Championship, they’ve forgotten we can’t even beat Bradford City, Sheffield United and Leyton Orient who were in the division below that league. IMO we’re more likely to go straight through, no ability and no goolies make for a bad team but when admin is poor it makes for a bad club. Even before today i was thinking that TS wouldn’t last two seasons.

  17. Look on the bright side (hahaha) we are top 50 in the English Leagues.
    There was some improvement. The offsides are down. Newcastle players have nice haircuts. Carver for Prime Minister.
    Move the team to Cleveland. Free paper bags for all fans with eye holes of course. Dig up George Best. Buy 20 pairs of magic boots. Best grass in the league. Teams like playing at Villa Park.
    Have fun on the drive home Frem. I hope the Newcastle beer was worth the trip.

    Learner—absolutely fucking amazing and not in a nice way.

  18. Just back from the beach….to find out we lost again,nothing new there then.TS can now see how bad we are ,concede,and it`s all over.I haven`t watched any of the game ,but I bet out FKS,and corners were dreadful.New manager ,same dreadful attitude and performance I bet.

    If/when we go down it will be Lambert`s team,if TS saves us,then he is the hero.5 years of decline and ineptitude is catching up with us ladies and fellas,have a good weekend all.

  19. Just seen we had 5 yellow cards,CNZ came on as did Winegum,while Gil was left on the bench,wow ,we must have been overflowing with creativity to leave him out.
    The one thing I know about TS is that he has a blind spot re the Flabmeister,he joins a long list though.

  20. In the last three games we’ve played injury hit struggling teams just at the right time and lost all three, we have nothing to offer at this level anymore. If our players think that other EPL teams will come in for them when we’re relegated then they’re in for a shock, Benteke,Guzan, Vlaar, Delph may find a top division club but the rest have very little chance unless one of the promoted clubs dabble.

  21. miraculously results are with us and if arsenal do beat qpr we are still in with a fight, never give up til the final whistle is blown! I don’t rule out Hull nor the Mackems from going down yet either… still a long way to go. We must beat West Brom next match or it’s lights out however if we do and we can manage to beat them in the cup as well and get the confidence back then one just never knows. I a believer to the end! UTV

  22. Ronnie,yes ,it`s still possible in terms of the maths,but can you,in your heart of hearts,see this rabble,rolling up their sleeves and doing it??????????????

    Steamer,the warning signs have been there and ignored, for 5 years,we have to slip eventually,and it`s probably this year.

  23. get f%$&/(in cleverley out of the side… I expect to see Sanchez, Bacuna and Gil in the derby with the Baggies, we need some fresh blood and ideas, step up and make a decision wearing your big boys trousers Sherwood b4 it’s too late! UTV

  24. A good manager and a few big characters who step up can make the difference and carry the rest of the rabble on their backs and across the line. Sherwood has to experiment a bit Brasil (lived in Rio for a year and a half by the way and LOVED it mate!) and find one or two players on form who inspire the rest of the mob to new heights. I think Sanchez and Bacuna and one of either Gil or Grealish have to play against the Baggies or who knows Insomnia might wake up like a good Rip Van Winkle and pull a rabbit out of his hat, stranger things have happened. You have to believe!!! UTV

  25. Two years ago we were in a very similar position but gained 17 points in the last 10 matches to get out of jail.

    It’s OK fellers, we have one practice match left (vs Albyun) before we have to start winning.

  26. Andy Gray said that McNeil used to say “Don’t worry we’ll be ok next Saturday”…as Andy said, “We ran out of Saturdays”

    This is exactly the delusion that anyone who thinks Villa will escape is living under.

  27. Steamer – re your comments about Tim
    Sherwood’s decision to employ a sports psychologist – as he said in the press interview . What us shocking is that they don’t have one in place !! For four seasons – our players have lacked confidence – it’s obvious to every supporter in the country . What has been done about this . It is so obvious I despair . Whether the manager believes in it or not – they have a duty to try every thing they can . This supreme arrogance and reluctance to turn to other areas for ideas is mind blowing .
    Even Wolves employ a sports psychologist for heavens sake.

  28. Sherwood’s interview is babble. He talks about needing to work hard and then adding quality to it. There is NO quality in this squad and that is why it has 22 points. The point you’re forgetting this season, compared to previous close shaves, is that never before has the team been on such desperate winless and scoreless runs. There is nothing to build on.

  29. Jenny,

    It makes psycho-sense, doesn’t it? 😉

    I can’t believe it either – all the great managers I can think of knew how to get into the minds of players when needed – Ron Saunders was just one example. Graham Taylor was probably pretty good in that regard as well.

    If, as a manager, you don’t know how to do it then they must bring someone in.

  30. Paul,

    Sorry, mate, you’re reacting (understandably) emotionally to the situation and treating everything badly because you can’t see the sense in it.

    The interview is frank and down to earth and gives an indication that he’s trying to get into the players to get them to push harder. The previous manager just thought the players were excellent – period – even though they looked as though they were playing like schoolboys.

  31. Paul,

    In fact, at least six clubs clubs are in the fight against relegation to the Championship, which means that Sherwood’s Villa do have a good chance of escaping the drop.

  32. Jen,
    Nothing surprises me about AVFC anymore, if you look at recent results with virtually a full backroom staff you realise what a pathetic shambles it was under Lambert & Faulkner. You have to ask exactly what was Lerner thinking when he appointed Faulkner who must be the most inept football administrator on the planet. In my opinion we’ll see an improvement in our play under TS but read the banner. Good luck to him anyway.

  33. You know John, i can still hear Lambert mumbling ‘We’ll be fine,’ fine !! 13 goals & 22 points for 6m in wages, the put the Krays away for less, and people said he wasn’t a liar. Hope the happy clappers are pleased.

  34. Steamer,

    On Faulkner’s appointment I know well that Lerner went down that route as he was a known entity from a previous collaboration together (at MBNA) and because RL wanted to feel as though he could control matters – even though he was not qualified to do so.

    When I first started at Villa (2007) I was made aware that to get decisions on even small ideas it was nearly always the case you had to go through Faulkner to get to Lerner’s ear. And that was way *before* Faulkner was appointed CEO.

  35. A very upbeat,confident manager and interview,but still no points.TS is doing well at protecting the players as Lambert did.
    Watching him on camera(TS) he makes me believe we can stay up,but then I look at the 11 who started and his subs and I feel we can`t.Win on Tuesday and we have a springboard to a lifeline.

  36. Happy clappers eh Steamer?
    Ten reasons to be happy and confidant in Villa

    (1) each player gets a fresh bar of soap after the game.
    (2) no one wears mis matched boots as they’ve learnt left from right
    (3) missed shots on goal don’t go as high up into the stands
    (4) no more running in circles everyone can do figure of eights now
    (5) the fish and chip shop in Gabbies neighbourhood closed down
    (6) pies will be day olds now not on best before date
    (7) pies from Venkies
    (8) all the crayons from Lamberts tactic box thrown out
    (9) less offsides
    And number ten:
    More goals from offside positions

  37. well we can t say we were warned clevland browns fans promised us what the end result would be ,lerner made one fatal error you can t be relegated in america
    relegation will cut another 100m of our value because when we go down benteke will go for 10/15 m at most don t think you would get fee over 3m for any rest
    think that we will come straight back up bradford lost over 2 legs div 4 side sheff utd l orient div 3 sides milwall don t remember was it 2/3 div they were in scraped past blackpool bottom div 2 by long way
    lerner came in thinkng we where going to makemoney for him and with 3 top 6 finnishs cup final we were not far away yes mon spent heavy but our squad was in poor shape after doug only giving doleary 25/30m to spend yet he picked up some good ones laursen bouma both who had to retire early along with deleany propably 3/4 our best defenders last 10 years
    mon spent miner young downing big profits swapped baros for carew we had 3/4 great seasons as villa fans then lerner went what i think mid life crisis fell out with mon lost later court case sold milner for cash plus ireland valued at 8m plus 3 m a year in wages WHY 3 managers nobody could get him to play plus 2 loan spells appointed houiller with healtj probs signed bent for 18/24 m plus over 3m a year in wages got great return 1 18 months then came lambert makoun for 6 m who managed less than dozen matches disappeared for alot less than half transfer fee then hoiuller healths probs came back to bite another pay off and finally the losing the plot moment appointing mc leish sticking 2 fingers up at all villa fans faulkner seems to be running us at that stage won t ok contract with friedal who had not missed a game for villa from signing but ok deal for 35 year old given at 3.5 m 5 year deal at 3 m a year took injury prone jenas with no get out claus jenas managed about 20mins in villa shirt ,we lost season ticket fans galore onto lambert who created bomb squad new first by any club sign for big money then humiliate them ,gives him new 4 deal after 4 matches best run in 4 years waits to we are in bottom 3 before sacking him after transfer window closes a week after supposedly agreeing to spend 5 m on 34 year old just to save on compensation 9/10 not be much compared to 100 m he going to lose

  38. Hello AVL regulars again, long time no post,

    Best case scenario I can see (hope):

    Fixtures
    ———————————-
    West Brom (H) W 2-1
    Sunderland (A) W 1-0
    Swansea (H) L 2-0
    Man Utd (A) L 3-0
    Spurs (A) L 2-1
    QPR (H) D 1-1
    Man City (A) L 3-0
    Everton (H) D 1-1
    West Ham (H) W 1-0
    Southampton (A) L 2-0
    Burnley (H) D 1-1

    That’s +12pts only and even then I am being optimistic and it all hinges on us getting a boost from beating the Baggies in a surprise win… but under Pulis I think that is more or less beyond us. Have to hope the derby scenario puts them off their game and scares us into something like a football club.

    So the question is, can Leicester, QPR and Burnley accumulate more more than the minimum 13pts from their last 11/12 games needed to overtake us?
    Leicester – I think they will stay rooted to the bottom.
    QPR – Doubt it aswell, will have no stomach for the battle without the original cockney sparra at the helm.
    Burnely – quite possibly but their next 5 fixtures are tough and may take the wind from their sails before their more winnable games come up.

    But all that said, I think we deserve to be in the Championship and it will probably take that scenario to cleanse us off the stench of the past 3-4years.
    If we do scrape by and stay in the division, does anyone really believe anything can change if Lerner escapes again and then pockets the next batch of TV cash?… I don’t!

    I do like TS honesty in interviews though and not the blind “excellent/go again” comments we’ve been sucking up for years and I do think we actually played a little football in the first half today – realistically we should be +2pts following 2 draws but that’s the luck at the bottom.

    Thought Delph was particularly off the pace today and didn’t contribute much bar poor passes, poor touches and getting muscled off the ball – swap for Sanchez please if for nothing else then only the height & muscle!
    I single him out as he is supposed to be England quality… fcuk that

    P.S. Not posted in a very long time as the stink of what is happening to us and the anti-football we’ve been playing has driven me to the point of accepting our fate and just waiting out the end of this miserable era.
    With a new division & new fixtures next year is a more exciting prospect then another year of relegation fears and having to put a face on losses to the dredges of the Premier League.

  39. Jeeeezzz James Gill,I would imagine that`s the longest suicide note ever written.
    True though,this has been coming,we could all see it,except the people in power,who ignored the warning signs.
    I believe in Sherwood,but not the clowns on the field of play.

  40. Ciaran

    Good to see you on here again.It is more interesting following Villa since Sherwood arrived,the results haven`t changed,but change was essential,poosibly too late though.Whatever happens next season will be very,very exciting IMO.If we stay up the exit door at BMH will be busy,if we go down ditto plus we`ll really see what TS is all about IMO.

  41. 7 straight loses
    We have scored 3 goals in the last 12 games
    1 billionaire chairman
    Paul Lambert will leave Villa a multi millionaire for his hapless management regime
    On our worst run for 52 years
    Unbelievable

  42. Richaed S

    Sad but true,many people have become milllionaires,or increased their millions, whilst contributing to our decline.Players,managers,administrators.
    Let`s hope TS can pull us over the line.
    COYVB.

  43. And that is why footy is rotten to the core, the only people who suffer any trauma are the fans. Lerner, as you say is a billionaire he could have splashed a few bob to make his investment secure enough to sell but no, and is he gonna suffer.

  44. Some mug chairman will fall for Lamberts Jeerman badge scam and give him another contract, bet its not in the EPL though. In a few months he’ll show his face and do a McCleish ‘I could have saved them etc.’

  45. Steamer

    Footy is a corrupt ,vile circus,and a circus where failure is rewarded by the million,we are not alone,but nobody does it as well as AVFC.They stroll in,fail,walk out with bundles of £££,and the fans ,with an emotonal ivestment,are pi$$ed on and left to carry on.From FIFA all the way down it is a gravy train where everybody benefits except the supporters.

  46. Sky sofa,being consoled by the usual muppets.Poor Paul,we can`t wait to see you back in footy,blah,blah,blah.`Arry beside him-with his crutches “I was just saying,Paul `as dun terrrifffik,just terrrifffik,I just dunno what de fans want these day Jeff,here`s Paul an `ard workin fella,and his owt of work,a sad day Jeff.”Pass the fekkin Klennex you mugs.

  47. well have just walked through the door after a 5 hour drive home after watching that complete and utter shi te sherwood or kmac are completely fu cking clueless
    today the worst player on the pitch by a mile was sinclere followed by scabby who was better than last week but still sh ite to go through the team as follows Guzan shi te another goal scored from 6 yards out he is rooted to his line and his kicking is useless needs drooping straight away hutton fair game but his passing was shi te okere rooted for the goal but sinclare was at fault turned his back on the cross Clark our best player by a country mile Lowten played well forward passes should keep his place cleverly fair game should have scored deserves to keep place Westwood fuc king useless worst corner and dead ball kicker have ever seen needs dropping straight away fuc king useless delph 2nd worst player on the pitch **** ing useless gave the ball away most of the time senseless booking drop him now sincleare worst player on the pitch did not want to know
    gave them ther goal turnig back on the cross spineless bas terd scabby better than usual but still not good enough completely unfit and knackered in second half drop him now benteke first touch has gone but made chances for others cleverly should have scored have to keep him in
    subs nzognaba useless should never were the shirt again weiman worse then useless gave the ball away every time he had it should never were the shirt again

  48. bacuna should have started in conclusion have had 5 hours driving to think about the game and as i have said 5 need drooping for Tuesday or we will get hamers the tea bags will wipe the floor with this side we need to play Given we have lost the last 7 with guzan in and won the last 2 with given its a no brainer westwood cannot take a free kicks or a corner he is a pub player
    gabby not fit but i think it is k mac picking him as he was good 3 years ago not good enough weiman should never were the shirt again sane as nzog
    so against the tea bags would play bacuna for a cert sanshez insted of westwood and gill insted of scabby alongside bentekee
    and give grelish a run out i will go as far to say we will not win another game if scabby starts he does not run off the ball at all
    but neither do any of the rest think if he persists with this lot we are a cert to go down will wait to here the side tuesday and if scabby starts will stay in the pub as i cannot watch him any more

  49. Just got back home from Newcastle at 12:30.

    Erm, today hurt. What hurts the most is the lack of fight for this club from the players. They were playing like a team who’s safe and who don’t want to hurt them selfs for the summer

    Shocking display again from the main culprits. Gabby, shameful. Awful awful footballer and his attitude stinks. Didn’t pass to a villa player all game. Benteke, crap. Sinclair, crap. Westwood, I thought there was hope but final straw today. His set plays are the worst I’ve ever seen. Fans were getting furious at his deliveries today
    Delph, he knows he’s of In the summer. Wiemann came on, worst performance of the bench I’ve ever seen from a footballer. Another shocking footballer

    Why didn’t Gil get on?

    I was looking forward to the WBA games but they will do the double over us

    Any how, me and mate and still getting tickets for Sunderland. We thought we might as well see as many last Prem games as we can. We might never see them again after May

  50. Captain Mainwaring says…

    There are some understandably angry people on this list – particularly those that travelled that *big* distance to give support to their team – and who came away disappointed.

    The situation – of course – is not at all good.

    Well, from the comfort of his swivel chair, Captain Mainwaring didn’t quite see the match as those who performed sacrifice in going up there.

    The Captain *did* see effort – though it was not particularly well coordinated in the second half … the subs made hardly any difference, and Weimann was definitely not of any help. The confidence factor is the big enemy for Villa right now.

    Perhaps we have to accept that the psychological damage done under Lambert had become solidified, and that Sherwood has got a terrible job to get the minds of the players into proper working order. That being the case, then Sherwood is bound to have a period of (let’s say) ‘re-adjustment’ – and we’re going through that phase right now.

    I don’t accept that the players aren’t good enough to stay up. And even if we haven’t seen a win since TS arrived, in his second game (yesterday) there did seem to be something a bit better emerging.

    Now, whether that something is going to transform itself into wins in sufficient time remains to be seen. We could see yet another defeat against the Albyun on Tuesday, but – looking at it positively – with the shackles of fear off in the Cup and a win against Albyun in that match, *that* could be the turning point.

    Villa saved themselves only in the last 10 matches of 2012-13, and it could well happen again.

    Incidentally, this sequence of matches against the Albyun reminds me of Villa’s relegation fights in the 50s … A 3-0 win over Albyun saved Villa in 1956, but a draw at the Hawthorns (thanks to Albyun’s very late equaliser) saw Villa go down in 1959. Ronnie Allen – Albyun’s scorer in the ’59 match – received abuse from Villa fans for the remainder of his career.

  51. JL,
    Ronnie Allen was class wasn’t he ? Another sad demise.
    JD,
    You can go down any park this morning and see better dead balls than Villa take, remember Kevin Deehan at Alvechurch ? perfect delivery on to Kenny Lawrence’s ( Ex Villa ) head virtually every time, its not all that difficult if you have a modicum of talent, perhaps thats Westwoods fault. What i do object to is that no-one takes over the duties even when he’s wasted every one he’s taken.
    I think we have four games that we should win, will we ? nah, it won’t take many points to stay up this year but if we do then TS must be allowed to bring in at least nine new players to avoid this crepe again.

  52. The Morning after Villa games are always the worst. Still gutted

    John- I couldn’t see effort from where I was, nor could others. ” Your not fit to wear the shirt” tried to get going.
    I thought we played like a team who want there summer holidays already and pulling out of a few tackles not wanting to get hurt. A lot of them are a disgrace

    I really thought the players were more than good enough but after yesterday I’m doubting that. They were crap. They have embarrassed us all yet again

    7 defeats in a row. 3 goals in 12 games.

    I didn’t see a bunch players who will fight to keep this club up and that’s what hurts the most

  53. The only players who could hold there head high was Clark yet again and Lowton

    Sherwood made a massive mistake not playing him right back though. His crossing is very good, Huttons is awful

  54. Frem: I couldn’t see effort from where I was, nor could others.

    I don’t doubt your point of view (nor the others that were there) … it’s always a different perspective when you’re at the scene rather than watching it on the box.

    One thing is (whether you know it or not) you’re influenced by those around you at the match … you become embroiled in the total emotion of it all. This is a topic of psychology in its own right.

    When you see it on the box I think you look it the matter a bit differently – especially if you can keep your emotion out of it.

    MotD pundits were reasonably +ve about Villa’s performance.

  55. Beware, just when you thin its safe to watch Villa a happy clapper appears. A bloke on TVB reckons Lambert would have kept us up and he also doesn’t blame Lerner, the recipient of his ire is a manager who left SIX years ago.

  56. Frem: I really thought the players were more than good enough but after yesterday I’m doubting that. They were cr*p. They have embarrassed us all yet again

    I’m rather fascinated in how today’s fans look on their players when things aren’t going too well.

    Back in the 50s, if things weren’t going too well (and that was very often the case!) there was a tendency of a lot of fans to recognise that the players confidence was down and that they needed lifting.

    I am sure then even today the confidence factor is what is the draining element in their performance and it’s people like Jenny who might help them psychologically to get their confidence back.

    I like TS’s approach – shifting the responsibility back into the players’ court. It’s only they that can make the difference in the play itself and they have to approach their game from the appropriate mental standpoint. Clearly – under Lambert – he gave them freedom from that responsibility. How damaging is that! And yet he was allowed to get away with it for nearly 3 years.

  57. john doyle
    agree with most of your comments team for wba
    given guzan has not made a game winning performance in 2 years
    lowton played well under lambert till he got toobig for lambert to handle hutton has been shocking most of season yet gets away with little critism can t cross pass do any thing
    clark player of season only contender should be captain
    okore no point playing plastic ron
    delph left back best of what we got and if you watch him it where he wants ball most standing on top of who playing there
    bacuna don t understand why he s not playing only deadball hope we got
    sanchez when the other option is westwood who i think is a poor league one player too small slow his deadball would make a ten year old cry
    cleverly bit like sanchez we don t have options
    grealish at least he won t be worn down like rest after 3 years of lambert
    gil ditto
    benteke its coming only striker looking like scoring if off side finnishes counted he would be doing well
    subs
    god help us
    sinclair
    some of young players

  58. Well that’s it we are done, I’ve waited until the morning after to post as I was too angry/drunk/depressed yesterday.
    The fat lady is already well into verse one , I can’t honestly see us winning another game this season. The financial implications of relegation are catastrophic , we really couldn’t get relegated at a worse time, a £5billion TV deal of which we will miss out on £100m per season, add to that the lost revenue from gate receipts/merchandise/sponsorship etc etc and we stand to lose a minimum £130m per season, we could do a Portsmouth or Leeds and drop through the divisions, If we go down we will finish below blues, we are a spent force a club on a long winding road to self destruction , because that is what our problems are , self made by Randy Lerner the Yank cunt, Ebola is too good for that prick given the years of suffering he has forced onto Villa fans. I honestly can’t see us getting over the line and I’m depressed at the thought of going to watch Villa v Brentford in front of 20000, our fanbase has given up we haven’t sold out for years and average fuck all compared to the likes of Sunderland/Newcastle/Everton/Spurs and co who we liked to believe we were comparable to, but RL has destroyed this club and turned us into another Blues.

  59. Guaranteed win against Olbyon with this team –
    Given;
    Vlaar, Clark, Baker;
    Hutton, Sanchez, Cleverley, Delph;
    Gil, Bacuna;
    Benteke.
    Subs – Guzan, Lowton, Sinclair, Grealish, Cissy, Burke.
    Not a system that i like, just a team that will win a game and get me the job as next Villa manager, if McKnob & Lambert can do it etc.

  60. b6 to brazil
    not a suicde note butone thing of note hughes walked out on fulham and randy aresole lerner wouldnt interview for villa manager but appointed mcleish

  61. Frem get onto Perksy , they have a coach going to sunderland , he knows about you .picks up in halesowen, cotteridge and aston . by the 5 a side pitches , at least you’ll be able to have a drink and a laff ,

    wasnt convinced with sherwoodd but as l said earlier he’s here , but can someone on here explain to me why the only player with a modicum of skill is left out ?? Gil (heel as the numpty commentators call him) , like B6Brasil l cant see another win this season , and the fucking 6 finger lot are rubbing their hands ,
    picked up a new motorscooter for nephew yesterday and the seller said ” l think your down mate ” turns out he was a fucking Palace fan , even he said we should have got pulis to turn us around ,

    steamer be round in a bit mate

  62. Steamer: Guaranteed win against Olbyon with this team – …

    Well, I like your team, but I don’t see any sense in changing the defence around any more. They’ve been chopped and changed as it is and in that department you do need stability. I have no cause for thinking that any change there will be beneficial.

    It’s mainly the midfield that concerns me, and I’m not sure what the best combination is. I’m Tom Fox-ed by it – thank goodness it’s TS that’s there to make the decisions.

  63. 5 years ago today we put out side
    friedal guzan
    cuellar hutton
    warnock cissko
    dunne vlar
    collins clark
    young delph
    petrov cleverly l
    milner sanchez
    downing sinclair l
    carew benteke
    gabby gabby
    subs
    guzan given
    clark okore
    young baker
    delph gil
    sidwell zog
    heskey wiemen

    and over 100 m spent on side since and 3 managers sacked new ceo but same shite owner

  64. When picking AV teams in your mind you used to struggle with who to leave out, the dearth of talent at VP now means that you have to select players who are no-where near good enough to wear the claret and blue, good news though is that there’s only about nine of them.

  65. Behave steamer , not in mood , on motorway for ages yesterday , good thing was the radio didnt work so had micks diddly diddly cd on as its stuck in the player and it wont turn off ,
    need the use of your vice so will be bringing welding gear over later

    me on TVB praising lamberk , yea mate !

  66. Morning all and ST 75 x

    First of all , those travelling fans need a medal . Those big haul away games never seeing your side score a goal are torture – and Frem I admire your loyalty .

    The positive for me is that after four seasons of us witnessing a team frightened to lose and self belief on the floor , Tim Sherwood after ten days in the job has come up with the idea of getting in a coach to help with the mental side. The new manager honeymoon hasn’t come – and I think that as John says , this dreadful lack of confidence is so deeply ingrained from previous seasons that it is going to take more than the temporary new manager fix.

    Tim Sherwood has said they look fantastic in training – and it’s great to see photos of him on the training ground with the players – working hard .

    But what us going on in training isn’t happening at the game , because of nerves. Take Westwood , you can bet your life that he takes perfect corners in training – why else would Tim Sherwood nominate him . The pressure of corners , albeit less is similar to the penalty shoot out . Players rarely miss pens in training – but we know what happens in the game.

    I agree with John – we do have better players at least three other teams . When you look at their performances , and they’re run in then we shoukd get more points than QPR, Sunderland , Leicester and Burnley .

  67. We had more shots at goal yesterday . We just couldn’t hit the target – but this is still an improvement . As I said previously , I am sure those shots are going in in training – but the “lowest scorers in Europe” tag and the pressure of being in the relegation zone is keeping the ball from the net . Nothing else .

  68. Morning Lifers

    John,totally way off topic.How many managers have we had,including caretakers for 6 or 1 game etc.?Thanks.

    Whilst Frem and many others carry the misery of yesterday`s result over into today,the players are with the friends and famalies,at home or in lovely restaurants planning their summer trips.Villa are not unique in this,my point is the modern player is not a fan,and once the final whistle is blown,they have finished work.This not going to change and how TS or any other gaffer can motivate 11 or 15 young millionaires to fight and give their all is beyond me.The desire and grit is either in your DNA or it isn`t.CNZ is a clear example of a worker, at Villa to pick up his £££ nothing else.Grealish on the other hand although raw,and prone to losing the ball .has I believe the “right” DNA and for all his faults will scrap for the club.Just a thought.Keep going Frem and JD thanks for stll turning up.

  69. John- In some players it might be confidence, but for a few it’s just a case of being awful players. Gabby and Wiemann top that list. Yesterday was shameful from those two

    ST75- Cheers for his number mate. Me and my mate are thinking about going to Sunderland, in fact I’m pretty sure we will. Might as well. Might never see us in e prem again after this season

  70. Hello Folks,

    Little to say over what has already been said, other than disappointed in Sherwood, having encouraged a mediocre side to go on and win against Leicester, I would have thought that he should basically kept the same team, and just tweaked it a little, and had a plan to defeat Stoke that would have taken in to account the size of the players, and done something similar against the Toons, which should have then gained at least a couple of points, if not more, but no, he does exactly the same as Lambert and makes wholesale changes to the team and the tactics…Giving the players no real time to get used to it, or giving them any confidence.

    The only thing that would work now is for Steamer to take over with Jen as psychology coach and Frem as 1st team coach, with ST75 dishing out punishment for non-triers..!!

  71. B6,

    We’re on our 26th team manager since 1934. Ron Saunders was our 11th so over 30 years we’ve seen quite a number come and go. Note that the number of 26 counts Graham Taylor’s two periods as two appointments.

    There were two periods (1935 into 1936 and 1949 into 1950) when in the absence of a manager the board took direct control over team affairs.

    I haven’t kept track of caretaker managers, but I think Kevin McDonald has been the only significant caretaker.

  72. Great strike that by Gards, why have we not recalled him?? Another banner produced by the away fans yesterday, too little, too late Lerner Out.

  73. think that low-ten has to start along with a recalled GG scabby weiman and westwood and nzog should never were the shirt again as they are all spineless useless and not even pub players and Sinclair needs a severe kick up the hole as he was the worst player on the pitch yesterday by a long way gave them the goal by turning his back on the cross spineless coward
    i suppose he will play scabby as K mac thinks the sun shines out of his arse id like to put my boot up his arse lazy fat ba sterd

  74. Gill has to be playing along with sinclair. Those two are the only ones to assist. I can only imagine ts had west brom game on his mind to rest gill.

    Pulis is going to school ts over these next 2 games im afraid.

    Like i have said i have accepted relegation after the stoke match.

    Moving forward in the champ we weed gardner in to replace westwood.
    Going to be a busy bloody summer at vp!!

  75. andrew sinclair was hiding all game yesterday and gave them the goal by turning his back on the cross no bottel for a fight which is what it will be against the teaa bags i personaly think we will get beat by at least 3 goals as they are a far better team than us under pullis and hae let in 1 goal in 8 games so us winning is simply out of the question a ) ) is the best we can hope for if they score first they will run riot sorry but true they are far better than stoke or newcastle

  76. Well what a huge week ahead

    As a guy on twitter says, it could be the best week of the season, or the worst week of our lives

  77. GG is probably 50 times better than our best MF player, he’s been fit most of the season yet Lambert ignored him, dunno if we can call him back but 100% would he improve our current shower, hope Kmac showed TS the vid although i would expect TS to know him from the youth team.

  78. steamer could not agree with you more he should start on Tuesday first name on the sheet show lamberts clone westwood the door along with scabby nzog and weiman

  79. OldVilla- You will be even more depressed now

    Since Xmas we have played 10 Prem games. Lost 8. Drew two. Scored two. Conceded 16

    I wonder what our players think? Do they care ?

  80. Frem,

    Sigh ……. To think back to the 50s and later 60s when this kind of thing was *normal*!

    Relegation worries most of the time …

    There’s always a silver rainbow, Frem! 😉

  81. Another game gone, another step closer to top two form being required to save us and only one team below us instead of the normal three. I said before this will be the worst run in in years. We don’t need to equal to the teams above us we need to do better and given our inability to score, draws aren’t enough.

    Feeling less positive but Sherwood needs the support and I reckon there will be wholesale changes in the playing squad regardless of whether we survive or not, the likes of Gabby and Wiemann and a few others are not prem quality. If we do manage to survive, a massive investment in the squad is required having bought bargain basement for too long we need quality, we need 10m pound players in most positions so Fox will need to get his skates on at the end of the season to get some big revenues coming in.

    S75 is your son Chris Miah, he came up on my facebook page for jumping up the MMA rankings, did you ask him about Artem Lobov

    UTV

  82. Hi Darren yes its Chris Miah , he’s my nephew , no l never asked him as to be honest l forgot the name on the saturday , l will see him today so will ask , no doubt he’ll know him or know of him , lv also been asked by an old school mate if he knows this Liam Geary ? another l need to ask about ,

    seen in the telegraph , “Well on facebook ” would’nt buy that paper , saying there’s 2 interested parties in buying but it hangs on relegation as to what the price would be, l hope we stay up but lm struggling to see where the points will come from , so l hope the bollox loses £millions on the sale .

    have a good week all , uh’ oh forgot Tuesday

  83. Not sure I can condemn those that travelled on Saturday jesus we did some stupid trips back in the day Hartlepool away midweek springs to mind but at least we had players who gave it a go, not like this bunch of wankers who are taking the club down with a whimper.

    Funny how since Sherwoods taken over we cannot keep out of the daily papers at a time when we could do with less exposure, TS says we need six wins from our remaining games Christ on a bike if anyone deserves to be drug tested he does, what is this bloke on although I admire his balls to even say it.

    Looking like the trip to Brizzle is one step closer but the bad news is they are rebuilding Ashton Gate over the next two seasons and the away fans only get 1100 tickets although a day down the cider mines is still on the cards.

    We could become one of the forgotten clubs like Leeds,Sheffield etc , lets be honest we deserve everything we get because of our lack of ambition over the last four years.

    AVFC RIP

  84. GULP ””’ OOH SHHHHHHH T

    Things are looking very bleek indeed right now

    I have a slight positive spin to put on the situation thou — we are in a battle with another 3 teams all with 3 points of each other and that is the battle we have to win

    We need a win no matter how it comes — if we can get a win in our next lge game we will more than likely be out of the bottom 3 which will be a massice sycological boost for the team

    Sherwood had gone more direct but we are in a fight with very little time so i can’t see how approaching thing any other way is going to help right now — we just need to scramble over the finishing line some how

    not expecting a win but hope but hoping we will turn a corner in the dog fight for survival

  85. Our -GD will be the death of us, no matter what division we are in next season, this has to be addressed, every year we have a massive negative GD, at the moment it’s worth a point to our relegation rivals, a could eventually seal our relegation fate.
    We play Sandwell town tomorrow who have kept four clean sheets, they are extremely well organised and will easily cope with us unless we take a different approach to those games that have gone before. If we are to win 6 games as Sherwood wants/aims to do ( not going to happen IMHO), this game is one of the six we stand a chance in albeit a small one. Lose tomorrow and it will be almost an impossible task, as pointed out we can’t just match what others are doing, due to GD we need to better them, I hope it’s a big crowd tomorrow night, and loud, we have to get behind Sherwood and the lazy fuckers on the pitch, and show them indeed Tipton wankers what a truly big club we are and can be again, once we rid of ourselves of Randy the toad Lerner

  86. 6 wins in 11 games…..LMAO

    I will be pleased if we score 6 goals in 11 games.

    As SWV says, and as we all know we desreve to go down.

    Lack of football knowledge, lack of interest, poor decisions hiring managers, no investement, poor players is only going to lead to relegation. Its been coming and it’s arrived.

    Could we as fans have done more last season or in the summer to get change?

    The sign at st james ‘too little, too late’ summed it up well.

  87. Negative stuff, fellers. Sorry.

    TS is exactly the breath of fresh air that’s needed. Someone to say in reasonable terms just “how it is”.

    We need 6 wins? Right he says so and makes sure the players know what they have to do. It *is* the players that have got a lot to answer for, and they need to buckle under and change the attitude that developed under Lambert.

    I don’t believe the player are that bad – they are just low on confidence. Players like Weimann were shooting some lovely goals a couple of years ago – and Benteke of course – so what’s so different now? Purely lack of confidence developed under a manager who, once Culverhouse and then Keane had gone, has shown that he wasn’t able to do it.

  88. John,

    I don”t blame Sherwood for stating the bloody obvious I blame Lerner and Fox for not giving the bloke a chance, if they had got rid of Lambert earlier any new manager would have had time to assess the squad and make some changes in January, the team and the squad is very poor the table does not lie even without their two strikers, if injured, I am sure albion will get a result out of us.

    Dropping Gil mystifies me he seemed to be the only one who possessed some creativity.

    AVFC RIP

  89. SWV,

    Good points. On Gil, that’s a funny one. Perhaps TS doesn’t see him as a strong enough player to be able to contribute too much in a dogfight? If that’s his view, I’m not sure I’d totally agree with him – in fact Sinclair’s selection at the Toons backfired and Gil might have done better.

    I think we may see Gil back tomorrow or Sunday.

  90. John,

    Although we all hope that we can get out of this mess with 5 wins in 27 so far to expect 6 from 11 is a tad ambitious, it will come down to hoping the others do slightly worse than us if that makes some sort of sick sense, in fact out of the bottom four we have the easiest game this week but can we make it tell.

    AVFC RIP

  91. I’ve got a nasty feeling that it will go to the Burnley game and we’ll blow it in similar fashion to when we played them in a vital game in Vic Crowes last season, it was virtually a them or us situation, whoever won was favourite to join QPR in Division 1, they outclassed us and after another loss at Leyton Orient Vic was sacked.
    Lots of coincidences with those clubs, too many.

  92. SWV,

    Well, I go back once more to the situation 2 years ago. 5 wins and 2 draws (17 points in the last 10 games) proved enough and that would probably do this time as well.

    It’s better, of course, to set an upper bar target (6 wins), but (as all have been saying) to get that scoring mechanism back into working order is a difficult task, so you’re right to feel dubious. We’re all apprehensive I think..

  93. afternoon folks,
    just watched the extended highlights of the game, first impressions we were unlucky to lose. We still don’t have good movement, hoof the ball forward without supporting it too much and have got no idea in front of goal though.
    TS is no tactical genius, well no more than Lambert was and the players appear to be going through the motions a little to much for my liking.
    On the plus side Benteke much better, stronger in the air better movement at last. 433 doesn’t suit Sinclair or any one much used as it was on Saturday entire midfield look lacklustre and short of ideas. mystified why Gil stayed on the bench when we were crying out for a game changer, nzogbia not the worst I’ve seen him but obviously rusty.
    Saw the GG goal for forest and hope the lads back to his best because if so he is everything we need and more. in fact if we hadn’t sold johnson I’d start him, GG, Robinson, gil and Grealish in the cup and I can guarantee you would see better movement and understanding. I think the team is low on confidence but worse than that self belief, most of our players don’t believe they are up to this standard which makes them right.

  94. Steamer,

    As I recall QPR and Burnley were much better than us in ability in that promotion race. And it’s a bit of a different scenario to a relegation battle, though I take your point about the fact that Burnley coming up again as a challenge *is* a coincidence of a kind.

    Yes, I agree that it may well go to the wire.

  95. Mark,

    I saw a completely different game to you I think! 😉

    I saw the confidence factor as being a major issue. If Villa *had* scored one – particularly in the first half – then I’d say we’d have seen a better performance ensue.

    And – as TS is saying – it’s now a question of getting points – simples. *How* it’s achieved in tactics/skill is now not much the issue but the determination to battle and push up. Even at one point in the 1966-67 season (when all kinds of things went wrong) a makeshift team put in a huge effort at one stage to survive in the top tier, beating the league leaders (away) and a massive 3-3 draw at home vs all-star Spurs – but the effort of all that (and injuries) then dragged then down.

    The point I’m making is it’s the effort that TS is trying to whip up, and selecting a team that is ‘up’ for a dogfight. It may take a match or two before he’s got the best blend.

  96. JL how John? after reading the posts on here I was expecting a shocking display, it wasn’t, it just wasn’t very inspiring and a second rate Newcastle won without much real effort on their part, just one slip up by Okore.
    we had a 1-0 lead against stoke and managed to play worse in the second half, nothing short of dynamite will get this lot going upwards.

  97. Mark,

    Give TS a chance for goodness sake!! The Stoke match was his first in charge and he was also taking over a team that had lost all kind of sense as to where the goal was (remember the direction finders provided by the fans?!) – that we scored a goal vs. Stoke was a minor miracle!

    And as for blaming Okore for the Toon’s goal…! Eh? I notice these days that whenever an opponent scores it’s the fault of a Villa defender. These days Guzan gets stick (just for the fact that the ball goes past him into the net!) but now Okore gets stick as well, eh? … From what I saw, Okore just could not get his leg to the ball properly. If you’re blaming him for the fact that his legs aren’t telescopic then I suppose I see your point…! 😉

    As I say … 17 points from the last *10* games. That’s all we need as per 2013. And TS is moving towards the 10th game to go by getting the 11 best fighters together. That’s why he’s left you out! 😉

  98. I applaud you John for being positive.

    Im afraid i recommend you to become like me and accept the drop! It’s calming once accepted.

    The one glimmer as said above is that somehow we are not all ready relegated and have a chance.

    Unfortunatly we are not good enough to take the chance and it’s only pro longing the agony.

    I like Tim though and will give him 2 years of support to re build us in the champ and put together a proper team who can play football….you know…..pass it to each other and score goals.

  99. JL- he left the player to intercept the ball and it came off his shin/leg to the opposition player while Okore was on his arse, Guzan was not best pleased, it was poor judgement on his part. it certainly wasn’t good play by Newcastle other than cisse had the time to trap the ball and shoot.
    Give TS a chance? he gets one every game from me John its just not been impressive so far, is there something wrong with stating the truth as I see it now? He may produce miracles and when he does I’ll give praise where its due.

  100. Afternoon Lifers

    Vlaar struggling to be fit.what`s new?

    I see a draw tomorrow,but hope for 3 points.I too back TS,but I don`t see a fiercely.motivated team of battlers on the field,just 11 or 15 young millionaires at work.Not being negative,but I am going by what I`ve seen all season.Oh for a 26 year old Des Bremner,dragging us to safety by sheer ,guts and determination.If I may state the flippin` obvious,once we concede we are finished,the players ,staff,and fans know this,so too do the ruddy opponents.

    That said,if we get sneak it,in an ugly encounter,with an OG or deflected shot then I will be delighted.

    Anyone know who the ref is tomorrow?????Please not Phil Rolly Polly Dowd.

  101. brasil- we got 5 bookings on sat and I’m buggered if I saw a bad tackle among them, one cynical pull by Lowton (no surprise) but what’s more annoying is Newcastle committed plenty of similar fouls and get 1 yellow. when the lucks against you. don’t think we have ugly left in us mate, the barrell is well and truly scrapped and we are down to spawny.

  102. B6B,
    RE Refs, they’re all as bad as one another. The tackle on Stephen Ireland was attempted murder, the only bad injury i had was similar, 15 stitches, bloody painful.
    Des Bremner carried Sid and Mortimer when we won the Lge and more so the following season, very, very underrated and arguably the cleanest tackler i’ve seen at VP.

    More optimistic under TS than any of the last three managers, not saying he’s some kind of maestro but he’ll give it everything, unfortunately if Lerner stays he’ll probably last two years but, unlike Lambert, he’ll have the integrity to walk. I think he talks sense but didn’t realise just how dire the situation is.

    Don’t like this impress on the training ground stuff though, Aggy and Weimann apparently are ‘electric’ at BH, they’re absolutely crepe during games though. We’ve heard assessments like that for donkeys years and it usually means ‘i don’t rate him and he’s out as soon as i get the chance.’

  103. Mark: he left the player to intercept the ball and it came off his shin/leg to the opposition player while Okore was on his arse…

    It was not quite as you describe, Mark … footie is a fast game (sometimes!) and you can’t always think with the speed of light.

    I think the problem is that Chris Nicholl or Martin Laursen aren’t still playing … with their legs they wouldn’t have let that happen! 😉

  104. Mark: Give TS a chance? he gets one every game from me John its just not been impressive so far, is there something wrong with stating the truth as I see it now?

    Forgive me, Mark, but once upon a time we used to give a guy a chance. I think they call it patience! 😉

    With what he’s inherited, and from whom, I wish just positivity for TS – nothing else. He’s got a big job and we should in my view just let him get on with it.

    Don’t forget that thought waves actually generate energy and therefore -ve ones don’t help very much – if at all.

  105. We’ve had years of sheets with X OUT, lets save the sheets for a few years and back Villa come what may.

    We can see this clearly as a player issue in terms of performance, albeit TS is a novice to mgmt and to managing relegation avoidance but he has so little time to get things going the direction we want.

    As we all focus on our results, Sunderland are in freefall, QPR have a novice manager and a poor squad, we can do this but are heavily reliant on how other teams perform.

  106. Agree Darren, there’s some diabolical teams this year, if they hit their bad spell anything can happen, ours has lasted five seasons. As you said Slumberland look most likely to be our nearest fall guys. Everton are only just safe IMO, it’ll change regularly before the end but somethings got to change at VP because folk are walking away in their droves.

  107. JL- he is getting a chance and I wish him only success but he did nothing to effect the game on Saturday tactics wise. we were one down and continued to play the same way just swapping players out like for like. Call it criticism or an observation, sometimes you have to change things up when your losing.
    I have watched the goal a dozen times and in slow mo, he should of kept on his feet and cisse would never of had his shot, its a fine margin but it is professional football not Sunday league, these are the kind of errors of decision (such as Vlaars against stoke) that change a season, 2 points dropped IMO.
    As far as negativity goes if it didn’t exist neither would positivity its neither good nor evil it just exists in balance.

    Graham unfortunately I think your right and other teams appear to be making a better go of it

  108. what bothers me most is we look like a team in pre-season training not fighting for survival. TS truly has his hand full with this group of players.

  109. Mark,

    Vlaar’s error against was a clear error – no question about it and that one can indeed change Villa’s season.

    Okore … very marginal as to being an error. Nobody’s perfect and at the pace that it was played anything could happen.

    On negativity – to counteract it you need to generate +vity! 😉

  110. JL- I don’t care if it was the trickiest ball ever, you stay on your feet in the six yard area, he ended up doing the splits. I’m not suggesting we take him out and shoot him but its an error of judgement by an otherwise solid player.

  111. JL- if he turns nzogbia into a player I would be converted, in fact I’d be fecking amazed. I can’t help but think valuable games are being wasted accessing players who have been tried time and time again with the same result, nothing. unfortunately you know he has to go through the process to find out for himself.

  112. Mark,

    (On Okore) We have a difference of opinion …. we’d better leave it! I just don’t see your view on it and clearly you don’t see mine. 😉

  113. Mark,

    It’s clear that valuable time *is* being “wasted” … but to me that’s a logical conclusion as a result of awful direction from the top. Clearly PL’s management broke down in the middle of last season (or at some other remote time) and since then nothing was done except trying to patch things up. Trouble is with patching things up, if the wound has not been cleansed properly it festers even more. Keane leaving sort of revealed that … you can’t heal something when what it really needed is amputation (Lambert’s sacking). Lambert was sacked too late in the game.

    TS has come in in the wake of all that … and we expect immediate miracles. It looks to me as though the players have been under some sort of mind control and now they have to be re-programmed.

  114. Mark (on Okore)…

    I think that what I really wanted to say was that although he had an involvement in the incident it (for me) didn’t constitute a conscious error on his part. Vlaar’s error clearly was (more like absentmindedness) … but not Okore’s. You may still disagree.

  115. JL- if you watch him and hutton okores man cisse gets between them okore should of been goal side of him while hutton watches the player just behind cisse. Instead Okore throws a leg at the ball instead of standing his ground and marking the man. its an error of judgement or poor defending. if he had stayed on his feet he would of tackled cisse as he trapped the ball if indeed it even got to him.

    its hard when you see the likes of Gil sidelined when TS is calling for more chances to be made and gabby and tekkers made blameless

  116. Oi YOU TWO!!!!!!!!!!!
    Leaving Okore aside for a min,in all seriousness,how did Cleverly perform on Saturday,were the MF players filling the 18 yard box.

  117. team for wba
    given time for a change
    lowton done well sat at least he can cross the ball
    okore
    clark captain
    delph left back natural left footer
    bacuna can hit dead ball
    sanchez we need him for his size set pieces both ways
    cleverly last chance saloon
    grealish delph behind him let him attack
    benteke
    gil play close to benteke

  118. JL- yes you did and so did I but you wouldn’t let it lie, so in your view there is no way I’m right that sounds fair 😉

    brasil – he made 24 forward passes and generally did ok had a shot which he should of buried keeper to beat stuff. not exactly filling it more occasionally dipping a toe

  119. B6,

    Cleverley? Not bad but he might have done better with a shot on goal that went straight to the keeper. But nobody really had their shooting boots on apart from a Benteke-Ellis overhead kick.

    Midfield still not strong enough for me and Westwood’s deadballs were … dead.

  120. Mark,

    Not a question of not wanting to let it lie – I suddenly felt I hadn’t explained my idea of what an error is, which (again) differs to your apparently. I just think that a real football error is one where it is clear that a player had time to consciously do better.

    We used to be far more forgiving in the old days. Much better days perhaps.

  121. JL- “clear that a player had time to consciously do better”

    he did but he chose to let cisse get away, went for the ball and missed it, error in any era. had he marked the player I’d bet my house they wouldn’t of scored.

    “We used to be far more forgiving in the old days. Much better days perhaps.”

    John i’m describing what I saw as much as you are convinced of what you saw, there is no need to make me sound heartless. Not so long ago you were questioning bentekes worth quite rightly, you were not saying the poor lads having a bit of bad luck then.

  122. Brown Ideye and Berahino “doubtful” for tomorrow . Or is Pullis just not showing his hand .
    I like the fact that Nzog is going to be given another chance and TS thinks be can still do it for us . Let’s hope he’s right .

  123. The Newcastle game has drawn very different responses . Personally , I saw a slight improvement as at least we had more shots on goal , that has to be a start . We turned into a pub team the last five mins with frenetic hoofing but then that’s what pressure does .

    So I was surprised to hear Ian Taylor saying “this is just not good enough ” . Frem you should listen to his pod cast on FB Tom Ross Goalzone – entitled An angry Ian Taylor rants about the Newcastle game as first of all he salutes the travelling fans , up in the gods who sang their hearts out and who deserve more, particularly when they faced a horrendous journey back to Brum. I think the club underestimate hiw much bother and expense it is getting to these grounds – to get a usually crap seat !

  124. B62 print this off and warn them dingles you work with

    Police have warned west Brom fans attending the game at Villa Park tonight , that Flares will not be tolerated and end in arrest

    couple of albion fans fans have complained
    “l cor believe it wem bin wearing em and our denim jackets since the seventies” !!!!!!!

  125. I see Daniel Johnson scored again for Preston, a decent attacking midfielder, ex u21 captain and we sold him for a pittance. played several pre-season games with the first and didn’t look out of place but never got a look in, even though we couldn’t score in a brothel.
    Some of TS’s statements about if they do it in training they will play is slightly worrying if it means the likes of gabby and weiman shine and Gil doesn’t. we have watched this team enough to know they haven’t really produced all season while Gil was a breath of fresh air 4 games 1 goal 1 assist.

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