On the pitch, Aston Villa defeats now seem to fly by in the blink of an eye, surprising nobody and deepening the sense of inevitability about the club's Premier League demise. Off it, supporter protests and general unrest is taking hold as boardroom inaction and incompetence raises the fans' anger levels to boiling point. So, if you're expecting us to talk about Stoke City beating Villa in this week's show, think again. We can't face it. We've been there before. Over. And over. And over. Instea
Mercifully, Chris and Steve were unable to record last week because of work commitments. But we were at the Aston Villa v Liverpool match and we haven't avoided it altogether because we discuss it very briefly in this week's episode of Aston Villa Review. There's also a short preview of the Stoke City game, but we kind of get distracted. But the main focus this week is the #OutTheDoorOn74 demonstration. The shape this football club is in is a disgrace and a group of supporters is leading the wa
This was a shambolic, embarrassing and disappointingly rancid performance. The light we had thought we had spotted at the end of a long dark tunnel was all too easily extinguished as was our recent run of improved performances and fragile confidence yesterday.
We started this game with a better goal difference than Newcastle and level with Norwich. We had an opportunity to move to being a slender 5 points from safety with a win. Given our dire home record against yesterday’s visitors most
It's been a busy week for Aston Villa. The transfer window ended on Monday with no business done and the board under fire, but it was right back to Premier League action on Tuesday evening. Villa's last game at West Ham United's Boleyn Ground resulted in a 2-0 loss, a defeat made all the more painful by the fact that Jordan Ayew's sending off gifted it to the Hammers before the match really got going. But the weekend was brighter and even brought with it three precious points. Joleon Lescott an
The Villa lion showed the visiting canaries that there is still some life and fight left in him yesterday. A defeat would have left us doomed to relegation but this was a 6-pointer that we won due to hard work and determination on the pitch.
There was not too much to choose between the two teams in the first half. Norwich are currently on the crest of a slump having now lost their last five games and the first goal was always going to be crucial given the brittle confidence of both teams.
Aston Villa's brief and slight resurgence ended with a bump on Saturday afternoon. A 4-0 home defeat by Manchester City ended Villa's FA Cup involvement until next January and the nature of the loss was difficult to stomach. Chris and Steve discuss the game in this week's Aston Villa Review, but not before a quick chat about one Charles N'Zogbia. But there are more important matters at hand. This week sees Villa travel to East London to play West Ham United on Tuesday before welcoming Norwich C
There is to be no return to Wembley for us this season and we are now free to concentrate on the league. The earliest we can again lift this trophy for the eighth time will be a long 60 years of hurt since we proudly lifted it for a then record seventh time in 1957. We are now left with 15 Cup Finals in which to save our season!
Nine seasons ago we finished sixth in the table with Manchester City ending the season below us. We finished sixth again in the next two seasons and yesterday’s
Aston Villa remain unbeaten since their devastating loss to Sunderland and appear to gradually putting together some kind of solid footing. The FA Cup Third Round replay against Wycombe Wanderers meant they had another two-game week to negotiate, and they did so in satisfactory fashion. On Tuesday two late goals saw off the League Two side to set up a Fourth Round visit from Manchester City, and Villa faced West Bromwich Albion on Saturday in a Premier League clash that ended, somewhat predicta
We have won more cup than league games this season and this one sets up the return of a slithering snake to Villa Park in the Fourth Round of this cup competition which we last won 59 years ago.
We are now three wins from a return to Wembley but after last night another semi-final seems a very much longer way off; particularly if our team against Manchester City gives anything like the same sort of inept performance that our starting eleven did last night.
We did finally struggle
In the context of this abysmal Premier League season the last week has been something of a triumph for Aston Villa. Last Tuesday Remi Garde's team finally logged their first league win since the opening day of the season, benefiting from a Wayne Hennessey error to defeat Crystal Palace by a single goal at Villa Park. On Saturday they took their twelfth point of the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Leicester City in the most woefully officiated game for years. Roger East, have a word with yourse
There was little to choose between the team that currently sit on top of the league and the one that is rooted to the bottom of it yesterday. Leicester had the confidence that comes of being high flyers but Villa had the spirit and never say die attitude that produced this well earned point.
Our first half performance was below par and it was Leicester who had the better of the first half. The second half was a different story we became more direct and had the better of it by some distanc
Our first home win and only our second league win of this frankly embarrassing season left us all leaving the ground with smiles on our faces and trying to remember how we used to react to winning a home league game.
If our players are to be heroes just for one day then at least we will have the memory of a minimum of one home league win to look back on as we face the drop at some point between now and mid May.
Yesterday we showed that at Villa Park we can beat them, just for one d
As easy as it is to criticise Aston Villa supporters who cross a line in terms of their expressions of anger - and we certainly criticise them in this week's show - Villa's season is going from bad to worse and the very fabric of the club seems to be falling down around us. It's not, but it's been a minging winter for us all and it's going to get worse before it gets better. Villa followed up a defeat at Norwich City with another against Sunderland, the team directly above them in the table and
The season goes from worse to worser to worsest for Aston Villa and the Christmas period hasn't been much different. There was a glimmer of hope in the performance against West Ham United, just enough to make supporters wonder whether a miraculous escape might be possible after all. Sadly, two days later, any remaining hope was dashed. In this week's Aston Villa Review we use the phrase "by our standards" a lot in order to try and squeeze some positives out of the West Ham match. There's a curs
There's no Defense!
Nobody will deny, the goals against Villa this season are going to send us down, but who is to blame? We can look around the Villa team and see areas with a lack of experience in their positions. Villa have Gana, Veretout, Ayew, Amavi, Okore, and more, but one area we have experience is defense. We look at Guzan, Hutton, Richards, Lescott, Clark, and Richardson, and we have 1490 games at a Premier or Championship
We showed some much needed fight and spirit yesterday against a team who were no better than we were and were perhaps fortunate to leave Villa Park with a point. But when we concede the first goal this season it is very unlikely that we will win the game because try as we might we do not really pose a significant goal threat to our opponents.
West Ham had their best moments at the end of each half. They went ahead in first half stoppage time and seemed the team most likely to score when it
It's Christmas! Well, nearly. Aston Villa kicked off the festive period with an improved performance in difficult circumstances at Newcastle United, where torrential rain threatened the match itself but Villa's players worked through the conditions and a first half Newcastle goal to push for a win in the sodden second half, eventually taking a point. In this week's show Chris and Steve assess Villa's performance on Tyneside and discuss whether draws picked up here and there are of any use to Vi
A 2-0 loss at home and a pair of clubs near us in the table beating clubs at the other end of the table. Disaster?
Our chances of staying up actually slightly improved.
16th 0.1% unchanged17th 0.6% +0.1%18th 2.4% +0.9%19th 12.3% +4.1%20th 84.6% -5.1%Villa: 99.3% (-0.1%)
Sunderland: 86.9% (+8.0%)
Swansea: 43.4% (+7.4%)
Bournemouth: 28.8% (-12.6%)
Newcastle: 24.1% (+1.2%)
Norwich: 15.2% (-3.2%)
West Brom: 1.2% (-0.3%)
Chelsea: 1.1%
No team has ever avoided relegation from the Premier League with single figure points at this stage of the season. This is being widely quoted as a reason to conclude that our fate is already sealed. That may well prove to be the case but there was football before season 1991-92!
In season 1990-91 Sheffield United had managed only 4 points and 4 draws by mid-December after their first 17 games in Division 1. They ended the season in 13th place on 46 points and well clear of the relegation
Aston Villa are in 20th place in the Premier League. Sunderland, the team immediately above them, have twice as many points. Twice. As. Many. Points. The debacle of this season, in which Randy Lerner is finally getting his deserved comeuppance, just drags on and on and Villa wins are beginning to feel like a thing of the past. Villa haven't won at home yet this season and Sunday's visit from Arsenal was never likely to buck the trend. But other teams in the bottom six have upset the odds alread
Aston Villa took the lead in their Premier League match at Southampton on Saturday but were pegged back, not without a degree of inevitability. Taking a point from difficult away games like this one should be satisfactory but Villa's predicament means that the draw has left some supporters feeling nothing other than empty. In this week's show Chris and Steve discuss Villa's latest performance as well as looking ahead to Sunday's visit from injury-hit Arsenal. We also take a look at the first ex
As we move towards the festive season, we will find out if Villa have been naughty, or nice. The next five fixture will show if the Remi has worked some magic on the training field. As we analyze those fixture, we will see if Villa will arrive at the New Year in high spirits.
Southampton (away): In the last six fixtures away to Southampton, Villa have only walked away with one win back in 2013. Delph's late strike secured the win, but with him slithering away to Manchester, do we have s
I would condemn that too. Especially since Unai speaks so highly of the prestige of the cups.
However, this is more on the likes of Klopp, who for years rubbished the cup and replays, refused to attend one and lobbied for them to go.
Wouldn't surprise me if this was a kite flying exercise and the FA will re-introduce replays for rounds 1 & 2 as a way to throw a bone to the lower league teams.
He was AEG like though. Never any question that he wasn't going to stick his penalty in the back of the net. Just like you knew that Emi was going to save at least one penalty but probably more.
The events of last night will go down in Villa folklore, like Jed Steer's stare, Phil King's penalty and Bosnich's heroics against Tranmere. What a night.
There I was regretting the value of my TNT sports service, thanks Dibu!
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I would condemn that too. Especially since Unai speaks so highly of the prestige of the cups. However, this is more on the likes of Klopp, who for years rubbished the cup and replays, refused to attend one and lobbied for them to go.
Wouldn't surprise me if this was a kite flying exercise and the FA will re-introduce replays for rounds 1 & 2 as a way to throw a bone to the lower league teams.
He was AEG like though. Never any question that he wasn't going to stick his penalty in the back of the net. Just like you knew that Emi was going to save at least one penalty but probably more.
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