John

After our first 15 games of this season we have 18 points. After the first 16 games of last season Fulham had 19 points and they would have finished the season second had they won at rather than slipped to an embarrassing last day of the season at Small Heath. If we win this game we will have 2 more points than they did at that stage of the season, draw and we will have the same. Automatic promotion is not therefore quite beyond us yet assuming that we can put together something like the sort of impressive run that Fulham did last season. Can we? As Ron Saunders once put it "Do you want to bet against us?" We beat The Trotters at Villa Park last year 1-0 and they are currently one of the few teams that are below us in the league table. They last won at Villa Park 6 years ago and we have 61 wins to their 56 in the 154 league meetings between the two clubs to date. We are both founder members of the Football League and did the double over them in that first (1888-89) season, winning 6-2 at home. Having won the first and last league meetings between the two teams we really need to win this next one. Do it Villa and make it the start of a late run for the top six or even the top two!

I think we need to be realistic about how much we may be able to do in the January window. Our crucial needs are a centre half, a goalkeeper and a left back in my opinion. Get three players in and I for one will be well satisfied.

Set pieces are a real issue for us that urgently needs addressing. I think we switched off for the goal last night. We were undone by the referee playing advantage with his whistle to his mouth but could just have easily been caught the same way by a quickly taken free kick. Our problems start from a lack of confidence in the keeper who really needs to do some work with a goalkeeping coach on commanding his area and how to deal with high balls played into the box. The defence itself needs organising by JT again. This time unfortunately off the pitch rather than on it so that we can make the best of the defenders that are currently available to us until we are able to bring in players in the January window.

How on earth did we get nothing out of that?

We really cannot afford to lose a second away game within a week and could do with a third successive win at Loftus Road tomorrow night to keep in touch with the top six. This game will be between a club managed by one of our own and one managed by the Wally with the Brolly and there can only be one winner! This is another club that have had the better of us in league games on their own patch having won 14 and drawn 5 of our previous 24 league meetings. A 2-1 win would do nicely.

Alan Brazil said this morning on Talksport that he had backed us each way to win the league and added "I don't think Villa are going to be far away.. have a look at the points they're not far behind."

I have and I am. Fulham came from behind last year and teams like Blackpool did it before them. Our defence is our weak link and can be worked upon prior to being strengthened in January. The same is the case between the sticks. We will hopefully look and play like a different and better team in the New Year.

Automatic promotion has not gone yet. We are only 8 points behind the leaders with 32 games to play. We are also only 3 points off the play off places. We do need to put a decent run together though sooner rather than later as each defeat makes promotion look increasingly less likely.

Dean, JT and RO'K know the scale of the task and will need time to turn HMS Aston Villa around. This was always unlikely to be a quick fix. We need to somehow stay within reach of the top six until January when we should be able to bring in a couple of reinforcements. We can then hope to kick on and finish up somewhere in the top six. It's not over yet and promotion remains a target for us. It may prove to be a rocky journey but don't stop believing!

Well I'm sure our new management team knew the size of the job they had before last night. If they were in any doubt this game along with a league table that shows us behind Small Heath puts it into perspective. It's not going to be an overnight fix but it is a job which can be done. We now have to try to stay in contact with the top six up until the New Year when we can send for reinforcements. Nyland went back to square one last night. He still has a vampire like reaction to crosses and I wonder if Moriera might now be worth a look. McGinn has become indispensable to us so quickly. Last night's game turned on a goalkeeping error and on Abraham's effort striking the post rather than going in off it. We go again...

Win this and another 25 and we will win the league!

Newcastle and West Ham as rumour has it.

In 1975 after a last game of the season 4-1 win at Carrow Road our then and now late chairman said that we would bring our first team next time (we did 4 months later and lost 5-3). We have won 5 times at Norwich in the league since then and have drawn 7. We have been defeated on our last three visits to Norfolk, having lost half of our 24 league visits there since that 1975 promotion season for both clubs so they have had the better of these fixtures. In all they have 16 home wins and have had 6 home defeats in their league games against us. Their ground is clearly almost as tough a nut to crack for us as Villa Park is for them (where they have recorded only 3 league wins). Both clubs were managed by Villa legend Ron Saunders and we met at Wembley in the 1975 League Cup Final. We can go above them in the league table with a win tonight and we owe them one after last season's costly defeat. A draw would be an acceptable outcome but a win would be better. Make it so you Villa boys!

The vultures are sniffing around then. Hopefully we can get him a contract extension before they try to turn the young player's head. We can't afford to lose our young prospects and I trust the new management team will be sorting this one out quickly.

It would mean the result that matters most (our own) had gone for us. It's a bit early to worry about other teams results for me. Let's put a good unbeaten run together and let other teams start worrying about us.

Tough to judge him on a few minutes coming on as a substitute as is his current role for us. I think he has it in him to win games for us with his ability but he needs a run of games. I have given him the benefit of the doubt this time because I don't think it right to single one player out after this win when he wasn't on for half an hour. Generous perhaps and I admit that I changed his mark from a 6 to a 7 at the last minute.

We tried placing round pegs in round holes rather than in square ones yesterday and it worked! It was nice to hear applause at half time and again at full time from a packed Villa Park on Saturday as the team left the field. It is very early in Dean Smith’s tenure at Villa Park and he has only had a couple of training sessions at best with some of his new players but there were still some early encouraging signs. We pressed our opponents in their own half and showed a willingness to do so. Doing that took some pressure off our defence and we didn’t let Swansea begin to cause us too many problems at the back until the last quarter of the game when they had us on the back foot as we tired and might have denied us the victory our overall play and improved work rate had deserved. We even started to look a bit more like a team than a group of individuals yesterday. This much needed win brings us level on points with Dean’s former club Brentford and only 3 points off the play off places. Leeds and Albion will soon be looking over their shoulders and don’t look so nailed on for promotion after their defeats yesterday. Dean, JT and Richard O’Kelly have a 100%-win record. Dean Smith has a win from his first Villa game and that is something that none of our previous six managers achieved. We had lost to Swansea on their last two visits to Villa Park, so this was a case of third time lucky for us. The acid test will be our next two games which are away from home. We took 3 points from these games last season and could do with getting at least the same this. Let’s go to Norwich and QPR looking for wins instead of with our backs to the wall. Six points from these two games would really get this season started and we do have some ground to make up. We are also Aston Villa and are claiming our new manager bounce! We are not going to become a team that will walk away with this league overnight. We started well and got a win but lacked a clinical finish and enough invention in the final third. We don’t dominate games although we have the players who on paper look capable of doing so. The problems we have found so far this season will not have disappeared and they may well rear their ugly heads again. We just may through hard work and application have it in us to turn the corner and make this a season to remember rather than one to forget. We may just have witnessed the start of something big yesterday. Let’s hope so! My player ratings from a game that we kept a clean sheet for only the second time in a league game this season are: Orjan Nyland – 7 – This was his best performance to date for us by some distance. This can be a new start for him as well as others and he can take some confidence from this display. Horton tried to turn in a cross on 23 minutes from just inside of the box that Nyland pushed away to his left. He then cut out a dangerous looking 56th minute cross low at his near post. Made a good reflex save on 69 minutes from a close-range Fulton header. Alan Hutton – 7 – Gave his usual whole-hearted performance. James Chester - 7 – Solid following his return from suspension. Axel Tuanzebe – 7 – Looked reasonably comfortable alongside our captain in the heart of our defence. Worth a run in this position. Its not as if we are spoilt for choice when it comes to central defenders after all. Neil Taylor – 7 – Has an opportunity to make this position his own again now. Looked solid enough at the back and denied the visitors an equalizer on 79 minutes when he got a foot to deflect a Roberts shot wide that had beaten Nyland who had come off his line towards him. Hit a nice cross on 22 minutes that McGinn almost connected with. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Claimed his fourth assist of the season yesterday. His crosses often find their man, don’t they? I was a little surprised to see him still a starter, but I guess managers know what they will get from him and Dean got that yesterday. Bikir Bjarnason – 7 – Looking more comfortable in the holding midfield role with each game. Likes a tackle and worked tirelessly. His distribution is something he could do with looking at. John McGinn – 8 – MOTM – Back to his best yesterday. John pressed and harried his opponents throughout and worked incredibly hard for this win. We will miss him at Norwich. Jack Grealish – 7 – Play him in the position in which he feels most comfortable and you are likely to get match winning performances again from him. This was an improvement from Jack and I hope he will kick on from this and begin to consistently produce what we know he is capable of. Hit a 21st minute free-kick from the right edge of the box that just needed a touch from someone that it did not get. Hit a 47th minute shot from the edge of the box that took a deflection off a defender before Nordfeldt got a hand to it diving to his left. Elmo picked up the loose ball and Adomah headed the cross back towards Jack whose attempt to hook the ball in from around 8 yards was saved by Nordfeldt. Albert Adomah – 7 – A much better performance than of late. Albert seems keen to impress again and made a couple of decent crosses being much more involved than he had been recently. Hit a 37th minute shot that was gathered easily enough by Nordfeldt. McGinn found him with a quickly taken 29th minute free-kick and his resultant cross took a deflection off Roberts that led to the ball eluding Nordfeldt and almost creeping in at the far post. Hit a 52nd minute effort just wide of the post. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Got our early winner on the 8th minute and on another day, he could have had a hat-trick. Got into the positions to score and this was his 4th goal in 7 games for us which is a more than acceptable strike rate. His goals can get us promoted this season and earn him international recognition again. He was a threat to the visitor’s defence from start to finish and seemed to be enjoying the game and the responsibility of leading the line. Jack hit an 8th minute free-kick against the wall after Tammy had been fouled on the edge of the box. Elmo picked up the loose ball wide on the right beat a defender and cut the ball back to Jack who found Elmo again whose flighted cross towards the far post was headed past Nordfeldt for our winner from just outside of the 6-yard box by Tammy. Couldn’t quite reach a 58th minute Adomah cross and brought down a cross from Adomah 4 minutes later that Nordfeldt dived to his left to save. Headed a 68th minute cross from Bolasie downwards which bounced over the bar with the keeper ending up in the back of the net rather than the ball. Substitutes: Yannick Bolasie – 7 – Replaced Elmo on 64 minutes and hit a nice cross 4 minutes later for Tammy that could have given us some breathing space at the end. Jonathan Kodjia – Came on for Albert on 74 minutes. Not on quite long enough to earn a rating or to make the sort of impression that might demand a starting place. Conor Hourihane – Replaced Jack on 83 minutes. Unlucky to find himself on the bench again in my opinion. Not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

We tried placing round pegs in round holes rather than in square ones yesterday and it worked! It was nice to hear applause at half time and again at full time from a packed Villa Park on Saturday as the team left the field. It is very early in Dean Smith’s tenure at Villa Park and he has only had a couple of training sessions at best with some of his new players but there were still some early encouraging signs. We pressed our opponents in their own half and showed a willingness to do so. Doing that took some pressure off our defence and we didn’t let Swansea begin to cause us too many problems at the back until the last quarter of the game when they had us on the back foot as we tired and might have denied us the victory our overall play and improved work rate had deserved. We even started to look a bit more like a team than a group of individuals yesterday. This much needed win brings us level on points with Dean’s former club Brentford and only 3 points off the play off places. Leeds and Albion will soon be looking over their shoulders and don’t look so nailed on for promotion after their defeats yesterday. Dean, JT and Richard O’Kelly have a 100%-win record. Dean Smith has a win from his first Villa game and that is something that none of our previous six managers achieved. We had lost to Swansea on their last two visits to Villa Park, so this was a case of third time lucky for us. The acid test will be our next two games which are away from home. We took 3 points from these games last season and could do with getting at least the same this. Let’s go to Norwich and QPR looking for wins instead of with our backs to the wall. Six points from these two games would really get this season started and we do have some ground to make up. We are also Aston Villa and are claiming our new manager bounce! We are not going to become a team that will walk away with this league overnight. We started well and got a win but lacked a clinical finish and enough invention in the final third. We don’t dominate games although we have the players who on paper look capable of doing so. The problems we have found so far this season will not have disappeared and they may well rear their ugly heads again. We just may through hard work and application have it in us to turn the corner and make this a season to remember rather than one to forget. We may just have witnessed the start of something big yesterday. Let’s hope so! My player ratings from a game that we kept a clean sheet for only the second time in a league game this season are: Orjan Nyland – 7 – This was his best performance to date for us by some distance. This can be a new start for him as well as others and he can take some confidence from this display. Horton tried to turn in a cross on 23 minutes from just inside of the box that Nyland pushed away to his left. He then cut out a dangerous looking 56th minute cross low at his near post. Made a good reflex save on 69 minutes from a close-range Fulton header. Alan Hutton – 7 – Gave his usual whole-hearted performance. James Chester - 7 – Solid following his return from suspension. Axel Tuanzebe – 7 – Looked reasonably comfortable alongside our captain in the heart of our defence. Worth a run in this position. Its not as if we are spoilt for choice when it comes to central defenders after all. Neil Taylor – 7 – Has an opportunity to make this position his own again now. Looked solid enough at the back and denied the visitors an equalizer on 79 minutes when he got a foot to deflect a Roberts shot wide that had beaten Nyland who had come off his line towards him. Hit a nice cross on 22 minutes that McGinn almost connected with. Ahmed Elmohamady – 7 – Claimed his fourth assist of the season yesterday. His crosses often find their man, don’t they? I was a little surprised to see him still a starter, but I guess managers know what they will get from him and Dean got that yesterday. Bikir Bjarnason – 7 – Looking more comfortable in the holding midfield role with each game. Likes a tackle and worked tirelessly. His distribution is something he could do with looking at. John McGinn – 8 – MOTM – Back to his best yesterday. John pressed and harried his opponents throughout and worked incredibly hard for this win. We will miss him at Norwich. Jack Grealish – 7 – Play him in the position in which he feels most comfortable and you are likely to get match winning performances again from him. This was an improvement from Jack and I hope he will kick on from this and begin to consistently produce what we know he is capable of. Hit a 21st minute free-kick from the right edge of the box that just needed a touch from someone that it did not get. Hit a 47th minute shot from the edge of the box that took a deflection off a defender before Nordfeldt got a hand to it diving to his left. Elmo picked up the loose ball and Adomah headed the cross back towards Jack whose attempt to hook the ball in from around 8 yards was saved by Nordfeldt. Albert Adomah – 7 – A much better performance than of late. Albert seems keen to impress again and made a couple of decent crosses being much more involved than he had been recently. Hit a 37th minute shot that was gathered easily enough by Nordfeldt. McGinn found him with a quickly taken 29th minute free-kick and his resultant cross took a deflection off Roberts that led to the ball eluding Nordfeldt and almost creeping in at the far post. Hit a 52nd minute effort just wide of the post. Tammy Abraham – 8 – Got our early winner on the 8th minute and on another day, he could have had a hat-trick. Got into the positions to score and this was his 4th goal in 7 games for us which is a more than acceptable strike rate. His goals can get us promoted this season and earn him international recognition again. He was a threat to the visitor’s defence from start to finish and seemed to be enjoying the game and the responsibility of leading the line. Jack hit an 8th minute free-kick against the wall after Tammy had been fouled on the edge of the box. Elmo picked up the loose ball wide on the right beat a defender and cut the ball back to Jack who found Elmo again whose flighted cross towards the far post was headed past Nordfeldt for our winner from just outside of the 6-yard box by Tammy. Couldn’t quite reach a 58th minute Adomah cross and brought down a cross from Adomah 4 minutes later that Nordfeldt dived to his left to save. Headed a 68th minute cross from Bolasie downwards which bounced over the bar with the keeper ending up in the back of the net rather than the ball. Substitutes: Yannick Bolasie – 7 – Replaced Elmo on 64 minutes and hit a nice cross 4 minutes later for Tammy that could have given us some breathing space at the end. Jonathan Kodjia – Came on for Albert on 74 minutes. Not on quite long enough to earn a rating or to make the sort of impression that might demand a starting place. Conor Hourihane – Replaced Jack on 83 minutes. Unlucky to find himself on the bench again in my opinion. Not on long enough to gather a rating. Up the Villa! John Lewis

Whilst I agree that everyone should have a fresh start they will have to earn it and in some cases that might include winning a 100 metre race against that Jamaican bloke that now plays with McCormack (to give him a chance we could make it a 110 metre hurdle race).

With him and JT on board now hopefully we will have our worrying centre half situation sorted sooner rather than later then. ?

I thought that the press were trying to suggest that he might not have wanted to work alongside JT during the conference. Trust them to look to find a negative in this.

How about looking across the pond in January? The MLS may well have the odd South Americium or Californium playing in it that could do a job for us.

Hit a comparatively dodgy spell lately though haven't you (10 points from a possible 21)? I had thought that you might run away with it this season but you are only 8 points clear of us and we've had a miserable run. We both need to begin consistently good runs now (in our case picking up a few more points than you need to do). Come the end of the season we both have it in us to be in the top six. I for one would rather like it if we both finished in the top two. ?

Well done on finding it so quickly. One thing my programmes aren't are organised. It would have taken me hours if not days. The wife would vouch for that! Love to look at them though they bring back so many Villa memories from years gone by. By the way, that beer was delayed not missed.

In place of or as well as the stand that currently bears his name?