John

I suspect Guzan was just having a dig at him about his brother.

You couldn't make it up could you? I wonder which foot they wanted us to shoot ourselves in? Did they really think that we would do them a favour when it's them that we are playing? They really must think we are as thick as they are.

He's a Villa boy. He obviously can't make too much of it at the moment but just because his brother is a nose, it doesn't make Gary one. I'm only sorry that he currently has to sully himself by wearing their kit.

We probably would, but I'm sure we would get games given there are no stadiums in the Midlands that are close to our capacity. So all we need is to be given the World Cup, as Theresa May would no doubt say "simples".

We aim for a double against the knuckle draggers on Sunday. They will “welcome” us to their sty at the weekend, if that is the word for it. As Sir Alf Ramsey once said when a member of the press shouted, “Welcome to Scotland!” at Prestwick Airport in 1968, “You must be f*****g joking!” Small Heath Alliance have not beaten us in a league game since 2005. Since then we have won 9 of the 13 league meetings between the two clubs. Overall, we have won 48 and have drawn 31 of the 115 league meetings that there have been between the clubs that represent the pride and the shame of Birmingham respectively. A win will take us above the club from the dark side of the city and will restore natural order. I know that you shouldn’t change a winning side, but I think that we must crowbar McGinn into our team for this one. It’s a game that he will relish taking part in following his enforced rest. Just win this one for us Villa!

If that is actually our valuation then we had better raise it to £30m then.

The Ratings & Reactions topic on the individual match forums is open from the final whistle of every home and away game. It provides VT members with an immediate opportunity to post their comments on a game and to cast their votes on the MOTM, Manager/Referee performance polls. As well as their views on how players performed and their player ratings. My player match ratings appear later, when the dust has settled a little on the game and I have reflected on it for a bit. I have been posting my player match ratings for our home games on the front page of Villa Talk, as a member of the VT news team for many years now. I also do the same on the VT blog. I was posting these player match ratings when Dion Dublin was starring in our forward line, rather than presenting Homes Under the Hammer! All opinions on games and player performances from VT members, wherever they appear are equally valid. I welcome any comments readers may have upon my ratings and I thank everyone that looks at my regular contribution to this terrific site for taking the time to do so. I hope this will clarify why my player match ratings appear on the VT front page, rather than on the match thread.

They have not beaten us in the league at the sty that they call their home since 2005. We won the next 3 there after that defeat. They should be the ones who are not looking forward to this one.

Jack’s back and so were the Villa yesterday! Alan Durban, Kevin Hector, Roy McFarland, Alan Hinton, Archie Gemmill, Roger Davies and Francis Lee. Your boys took one hell of a beating! Captain Jack invigorated the team on his return and led by example. We have not looked nearly as good as we did yesterday, in the 13 league games that we have played without him, since injury deprived us of our talisman. One player does not make a team, but one player can help a team to play like one! Three first half goals won it for us at Pride Park in November and four first half goals won it for us at Villa Park yesterday. We have scored 7 goals against Frank Lampard’s Derby and have kept two clean sheets against them this season. If we could play them every week, then promotion might still not be quite beyond us! Villa rather than our visitors looked the serious promotion contenders yesterday. If only Jack had been able to come back a month earlier, we might have made a late run for the play offs. As it is, we are 6 points behind sixth place Bristol City. That gap could be pegged back to three points as they still have to visit Villa Park, but they do have a game in hand. Derby also have a run of 4 successive home games to follow this defeat, which still leaves them 3 points ahead of us. A more realistic and achievable target is therefore making it another double on Sunday! Our visitors were not at their best yesterday, but they seldom are at this stage of the season, are they? The scintillating first half performance that we produced yesterday, would have blown away any championship team though. We eased through the second half with the game already won but lost another central defender through injury during it. Tommy Elphick can now be added to Axel and Chester, on the treatment table, on the day that we got our Jack back. Could Chester be fit for selection by Sunday, I wonder? My player ratings from a game that left us remembering how good it feels to see a Villa home win and how hard it can prove to stop smirking after a victory such as this, are: Jed Steer – 6 – Had a quiet afternoon but his presence may be giving some much-needed confidence to the defenders who are in front of him. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – He retains the ball. Sometimes he plays the ball back behind him to do so but he doesn’t give the ball away too often. He does what it says on the tin and did so yesterday very well. He got an assist with a well-placed cross for our second. A good solid overall performance from Elmo. Tommy Elphick - 7 – Solid again alongside Tyrone before he was stretchered off on 67 minutes. He was unfortunately on crutches after the game. Appeared to catch his foot on the turf when moving towards a pass from Mings. This was cruel luck for Tommy, who has been twice the player he was before his loan spell, since returning to the club from Hull. Tyrone Mings – 8 – He looks increasingly composed and comfortable with each game. Headed an El Ghazi cross wide of the far post on 57 minutes. We must pull out all the stops to try to keep him at Villa Park next season! Kortney Hause – 7 – He wins plenty of ball in the air, doesn’t he? He understandably tends to drift towards the middle of the defence, which leaves room on his flank. Looked solid yesterday and played some nice balls out of defence. Looked comfortable when switched into the centre of our defence following Tommy’s substitution. Glenn Whelan – 8 – Glenn turned back the years yesterday and produced a very good solid all round midfield performance. He also hit the corner that Jack volleyed home to make it four before the half time whistle. Albert Adomah – 7 – Albert was involved, keen and made a positive impression during this game. Hit a shot over the bar from inside of the box on 20 minutes. Conor Hourihane – 8 – Back to his best yesterday at long last. Conor popped up here, there and everywhere. Grealish played a nice ball forward to El Ghazi whose cross was hit wide of the far post by Conor on 5 minutes. Four minutes later, Jack floated a superb ball for Abraham to run onto. Tammy’s attempt on goal was blocked by Carson, only for the ball to run onto Conor, who turned home our first. He then swept home our third and his second on 44 minutes, placing the ball past Carson from the edge of the box with some aplomb. Jack Grealish – 9 – MOTM – So much for needing a couple of games after a lengthy injury break to get back to his best! Jack was simply tremendous on his long-awaited return to the first team. He hit a magnificent, unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to give us our fourth goal in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time from Whelan’s corner. He then hit a 55th minute shot from the edge of the box that Carson pushed away for a corner. He teased and worried Derby until leaving the field to a standing ovation on 71 minutes. Hopefully he will get a little more protection from match officials following his return from injury, although it only took 17 minutes for him to receive a first clumsy challenge that went unpunished yesterday. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – Good to see him tracking back a couple of times and he did well when doing so. Made a strong run before hitting a cross that Tomori blocked a minute into first half stoppage time. The ball then cannoned off Wisdom into the side netting and we scored from the resulting corner. Took a touch on a 79th minute Hourhihane cross before hitting a shot that Carson blocked near the far post. A step up on his recent performances. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Hit his 21st goal of the season to end a barren run of three games without a goal. Whelan found Elmo on the right on 37 minutes and Tammy stretched to prod home his cross at the far post for our second. Claimed an assist for our third, when he won a high ball and ran on towards the box before playing the ball to Hourihane to score our third. Hit a 76th minute shot from the edge of the box, having been found by Grealish which forced a good save from Carson. Great to see him nodding his head in reaction to this encouraging win on the final whistle. Substitutes: Neil Taylor – 6 – Came on for the unluckily injured Elphick on 67 minutes. Fitted in well enough, enabling Hause to move into the middle of the defence. Tom Carroll - 6 – Replaced Jack on 71 minutes and got some more first team minutes behind him during what was a less than pressured finish to the game. Andre Green - Came on for El Ghazi on 80 minutes. Andre was not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Jack’s back and so were the Villa yesterday! Alan Durban, Kevin Hector, Roy McFarland, Alan Hinton, Archie Gemmill, Roger Davies and Francis Lee. Your boys took one hell of a beating! Captain Jack invigorated the team on his return and led by example. We have not looked nearly as good as we did yesterday, in the 13 league games that we have played without him, since injury deprived us of our talisman. One player does not make a team, but one player can help a team to play like one! Three first half goals won it for us at Pride Park in November and four first half goals won it for us at Villa Park yesterday. We have scored 7 goals against Frank Lampard’s Derby and have kept two clean sheets against them this season. If we could play them every week, then promotion might still not be quite beyond us! Villa rather than our visitors looked the serious promotion contenders yesterday. If only Jack had been able to come back a month earlier, we might have made a late run for the play offs. As it is, we are 6 points behind sixth place Bristol City. That gap could be pegged back to three points as they still have to visit Villa Park, but they do have a game in hand. Derby also have a run of 4 successive home games to follow this defeat, which still leaves them 3 points ahead of us. A more realistic and achievable target is therefore making it another double on Sunday! Our visitors were not at their best yesterday, but they seldom are at this stage of the season, are they? The scintillating first half performance that we produced yesterday, would have blown away any championship team though. We eased through the second half with the game already won but lost another central defender through injury during it. Tommy Elphick can now be added to Axel and Chester, on the treatment table, on the day that we got our Jack back. Could Chester be fit for selection by Sunday, I wonder? My player ratings from a game that left us remembering how good it feels to see a Villa home win and how hard it can prove to stop smirking after a victory such as this, are: Jed Steer – 6 – Had a quiet afternoon but his presence may be giving some much-needed confidence to the defenders who are in front of him. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – He retains the ball. Sometimes he plays the ball back behind him to do so but he doesn’t give the ball away too often. He does what it says on the tin and did so yesterday very well. He got an assist with a well-placed cross for our second. A good solid overall performance from Elmo. Tommy Elphick - 7 – Solid again alongside Tyrone before he was stretchered off on 67 minutes. He was unfortunately on crutches after the game. Appeared to catch his foot on the turf when moving towards a pass from Mings. This was cruel luck for Tommy, who has been twice the player he was before his loan spell, since returning to the club from Hull. Tyrone Mings – 8 – He looks increasingly composed and comfortable with each game. Headed an El Ghazi cross wide of the far post on 57 minutes. We must pull out all the stops to try to keep him at Villa Park next season! Kortney Hause – 7 – He wins plenty of ball in the air, doesn’t he? He understandably tends to drift towards the middle of the defence, which leaves room on his flank. Looked solid yesterday and played some nice balls out of defence. Looked comfortable when switched into the centre of our defence following Tommy’s substitution. Glenn Whelan – 8 – Glenn turned back the years yesterday and produced a very good solid all round midfield performance. He also hit the corner that Jack volleyed home to make it four before the half time whistle. Albert Adomah – 7 – Albert was involved, keen and made a positive impression during this game. Hit a shot over the bar from inside of the box on 20 minutes. Conor Hourihane – 8 – Back to his best yesterday at long last. Conor popped up here, there and everywhere. Grealish played a nice ball forward to El Ghazi whose cross was hit wide of the far post by Conor on 5 minutes. Four minutes later, Jack floated a superb ball for Abraham to run onto. Tammy’s attempt on goal was blocked by Carson, only for the ball to run onto Conor, who turned home our first. He then swept home our third and his second on 44 minutes, placing the ball past Carson from the edge of the box with some aplomb. Jack Grealish – 9 – MOTM – So much for needing a couple of games after a lengthy injury break to get back to his best! Jack was simply tremendous on his long-awaited return to the first team. He hit a magnificent, unstoppable volley from the edge of the box to give us our fourth goal in the 2nd minute of first half stoppage time from Whelan’s corner. He then hit a 55th minute shot from the edge of the box that Carson pushed away for a corner. He teased and worried Derby until leaving the field to a standing ovation on 71 minutes. Hopefully he will get a little more protection from match officials following his return from injury, although it only took 17 minutes for him to receive a first clumsy challenge that went unpunished yesterday. Anwar El Ghazi – 7 – Good to see him tracking back a couple of times and he did well when doing so. Made a strong run before hitting a cross that Tomori blocked a minute into first half stoppage time. The ball then cannoned off Wisdom into the side netting and we scored from the resulting corner. Took a touch on a 79th minute Hourhihane cross before hitting a shot that Carson blocked near the far post. A step up on his recent performances. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Hit his 21st goal of the season to end a barren run of three games without a goal. Whelan found Elmo on the right on 37 minutes and Tammy stretched to prod home his cross at the far post for our second. Claimed an assist for our third, when he won a high ball and ran on towards the box before playing the ball to Hourihane to score our third. Hit a 76th minute shot from the edge of the box, having been found by Grealish which forced a good save from Carson. Great to see him nodding his head in reaction to this encouraging win on the final whistle. Substitutes: Neil Taylor – 6 – Came on for the unluckily injured Elphick on 67 minutes. Fitted in well enough, enabling Hause to move into the middle of the defence. Tom Carroll - 6 – Replaced Jack on 71 minutes and got some more first team minutes behind him during what was a less than pressured finish to the game. Andre Green - Came on for El Ghazi on 80 minutes. Andre was not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

They sure do a lot of tests in hospital don't they? They do pay off though, as your case demonstrates so well. Their tests enabled preventative action to be undertaken to address your future risk of having a stroke, when you had been admitted for something else. In my case, the tests done after my stroke proved to all be ok, so I guess we could both be considered fortunate. Looking around the ward at those that survived their strokes, I know I have been lucky to come out of it with just my left leg slowing my walking down a year later. Don't hesitate folks, if you ever notice anything unusual be sure to get it checked out!

I would start with the following, who would represent a decent Five-a-side team: Kalinic, Guilbert, Chester, Jack and McGinn. I hope we can hold onto the last two above and sign Mings and possibly Hause permanently. I would also try to get Axel and Tammy for another season and use Green, Davis, Hepburn-Murphy, Sarkic, Clark, Doyle-Hayes and O'Hare regularly. Looks like Dean will have an awful lot of transfer work to do and I hope we will be able to dance around FFP so that he has the cash he will need to do it.

My thoughts as soon as I heard the news as well. I hope he plays another season with us and then gets to play in the top flight with us the following season. I'm also hoping his family links with Celtic are a part of what attracted Rodgers to him and that he will look elsewhere first, now that he has more money to spend.

That's what I was trying to say.

He was on Saturday.

Agreed, I suspect the number of games that he has missed during the last two seasons may also make potential bidders think twice and that he needs to give us one more full season.

Yes, I think the PL was a big pull here, but I suspect he did think about moving to us when there were rumours of it.

Perhaps he didn't get the backing that he had been promised from the Celtic board that had persuaded him to stay on when we were in for him earlier in the year?

We welcome Derby County to Villa Park on Saturday (3pm). They seem to have hit the wall once again as the season draws towards its conclusion and are currently 2 points off the final play-off spot. Our own season hit the buffers a month after we won 3-0 at Pride Park in early November. We have only accumulated 14 points from our last 14 games, having taken 31 points from our previous 20. Their season might still be reinvigorated by a couple of wins. 10 or 11 wins from our last 12 games would be needed to do the same for us! Derby last won at Villa Park in 1988, but as this season has already too often proven, good records are there to be broken. Overall, we have won 62 and have drawn 23 of the 123 league meetings there have been between the two clubs. It would be nice to record our second league double of the season on Saturday afternoon. It would also be nice in doing so, to record our 2nd home win during what will have then been 3 long frustrating months. Is it too much to ask for a clean sheet as well? 15 draws are probably enough already, but another would be far better than a second successive depressing home defeat. Win it for us Villa!

We know the season is over. It's a pity the players seem so ready to accept it too.

Nice touch.

It was the right decision, it's just that we have made it look like one that he might now be regretting. He's still better off playing for us than sitting on a Wolves bench for me. I wouldn't put it past Chelsea getting this transfer ban delayed for a window and their buying their new manager a new striker either. We might then have a squeak at getting him back next season. One can but hope.

I would have liked to have found out. I rather think that the squad would have looked a lot different next season had we been able to get up as well. Yes, I probably was one of the ones that got carried away. Although, I suspected that we might lose one or two games... It was nice to feel optimistic about the club for a bit though.

Yes and if someone had told me that they would be 16 points ahead of us 2 months after they had stolen a home draw against us in December, I would not have believed it possible.

We have managed 10 wins from our 33 games to date, so 10 from the last 13 seems a tad ambitious. Looking forward to it though.