VillaAus

Better performance and probably should've been a win for the villa. We need to maintain high levels of intensity for longer periods of time, not just a few minutes. Please start the fonz and not a half-arsed Carew. Who knows what the blues did to those posts, but something wasn't right with them!

From the very start it seemed as if the desire and passion was present in the entire team. The early protests from the Villa players against some of the ridiculous yellow cards and even the penalty proved that they do care and are willing to turn this season around. Extremely nervous finish and at one stage there I felt devastated that we may have left Chelsea with no points, despite such a great effort by the team. They never gave up and with a bit more luck we could've left with the 3 points. A draw is a great result though and will hopefully give the entire team a boost, as well as confidence. I really hope this isn't a one off performance, rather the beginning of a new year and new future for the club. There was a real sense of unity amongst everyone during the entire 90 minutes, and the feelings and prospects have definitely changed as a result. The team and coaching staff needs all the support they can get from the fans at this crucial time, however only time will tell if change has really occurred.

Very dissapointing....if I wanted to watch a joke I wouldn't have the TV tuned to the sports channel Don't know why I bother to stay up to 4am to watch performances like that. It was beyond a stage where I would be pissed off, it became a joke...which is what the villa fans who travelled to Manchester tonight were probably feeling. With Chelsea coming up, I don't know if it 's worth losing sleep to watch the game, despite Chelsea's poor form. Credit to the Villa fans tonight though. Despite being down all game they still sung their hearts out and were pretty funny too. To be honest, the only reason I didn't stop watching at half time was because of them.

Very dissapointing....if I wanted to watch a joke I wouldn't have the TV tuned to the sports channel Don't know why I bother to stay up to 4am to watch performances like that. It was beyond a stage where I would be pissed off, it became a joke...which is what the villa fans who travelled to Manchester tonight were probably feeling. With Chelsea coming up, I don't know if it 's worth losing sleep to watch the game, despite Chelsea's poor form. Credit to the Villa fans tonight though. Despite being down all game they still sung their hearts out and were pretty funny too. To be honest, the only reason I didn't stop watching at half time was because of them.

Sorry about the multiple posts, sent the post from my phone :S

Very dissapointing....if I wanted to watch a joke I wouldn't have the TV tuned to the sports channel Don't know why I bother to stay up to 4am to watch performances like that. It was beyond a stage where I would be pissed off, it became a joke...which is what the villa fans who travelled to Manchester tonight were probably feeling. With Chelsea coming up, I don't know if it 's worth losing sleep to watch the game, despite Chelsea's poor form. Credit to the Villa fans tonight though. Despite being down all game they still sung their hearts out and were pretty funny too. To be honest, the only reason I didn't stop watching at half time was because of them.

Very dissapointing....if I wanted to watch a joke I wouldn't have the TV tuned to the sports channel Don't know why I bother to stay up to 4am to watch performances like that. It was beyond a stage where I would be pissed off, it became a joke...which is what the villa fans who travelled to Manchester tonight were probably feeling. With Chelsea coming up, I don't know if it 's worth losing sleep to watch the game, despite Chelsea's poor form. Credit to the Villa fans tonight though. Despite being down all game they still sung their hearts out and were pretty funny too. To be honest, the only reason I didn't stop watching at half time was because of them.

Just adding to Harry's post, Houllier also acknowledged that lifting the confidence of his players will also be a key factor. He insists Villa need to be mentally stronger. "I think we need to address that [confidence] - both players and staff," he added. Don't often read what he has to say and frankly I don't really care, but at least it seems he has FINALLY pin-pointed some major concerns. It's a mystery why the team plays with no passion anymore, maybe Houllier isn't harsh enough and it definitely seems that way since he doesn't drop out of form players. A lot of the players need a wake up call and I think it is time he took a harder stance and began to demand results, rather than saying 'we had our chances.' Not to mention, it'd be nice if he tried to motivate players during the game, or yell out orders, instead of sitting silently on the bench. I still have some faith in him, and the upcoming transfer window will definitely be a 'make' or 'break' scenario. If he cannot muster some wins soon, I see no future for him at the club. The same applies to many of the players. I did lose some respect for him today as well. It's a joke that he would say things like that after such a horrid performance.

This is what annoys me as well. I don't understand why Villa went into the game with a complete defensive mentality, especially when it's a home game. We have nothing to lose against a team like Arsenal, so go all out. Carew is useless now, and really needs to go. Just had to say that. But getting back on the point now, it always seems that we sit back waiting to concede before we actually have a punt and go for goal. We should be aiming to hit the lead first and continue to apply the pressure throughout the game. Two strikers should be starting from the very first minute, not when we are 2-0 down, that was a very poor choice. Throughout the season we have shown good signs when playing attacking football, not defensive, so why the team is set up so defensively every week still beats me. The defence is far too slow and allowed Arsenal too much space. My other concern is that we always concede either late in the first half or at the end of the game. I wasn't worried about the late goal against Arsenal for obvious reasons, but in general it seems the players are more worried about getting off the pitch than playing every minute of the game. It's pretty sad really because Villa are, and deserve better. But the injuries have really hurt us this season.

I ordered a home kit with Ashely Young on the back from KitBag a few months ago and just received the jersey a few days ago, after they had officially been released. It's a great jersey and I'm very happy with it, however my only concern is that Young may not stick around the club much longer. We ended up buying a number of different jerseys off the website at the time, mainly because of the free international shipping that was being offered. Like someone else noted in this thread, I was pretty surprised to see 'Pride of Birmingham' written on the inside of the shirt, on the back of the badge. Nobody can disagree with that though.

We just need to go all out like we did against Man United. Play an attacking game and expose Arsenal's defence like the spurs did last week. I'll be disappointed if we adopt a defensive style and play for a draw, but if we go out onto the pitch looking to score then I'll be glad no matter the result. Villa need to become more confident in their ability to score. They are definitely capable of it. My whole family and a lot of my friends barrack for Arsenal so the tension is definitely high. I'll be watching the game from Australia tonight to hopefully see the Villa snatch the 3 points. C'mon Villa!