John

A4 sized grey plastic envelope get down there Neil!

So you can buy the club in the summer then? I did not put quite enough on to be able to do that.

I would disagree if that is true. Its is the semi finals, you play your first choice keeper. Shay has done a good job in the early rounds, but now it is serious. Not really that fair on Guzan as he played every game of the league cup run and was dropped for Friedel when we got to the final. I think there is very little to choose between the two at the moment and I would not see it as fair if Given did not get a game on Sunday. But there will be a decision to be made on which keeper should start when we get to the final.

I just cannot understand why so many people (including the bookies) see this as a one horse race. Corals for example have us as 9/1 to win the cup but 11/2 to beat Liverpool (which appears the easier of the two potential barriers to our lifting the trophy). This is not the Liverpool of the 1970s & we beat them 5-1 in 76/7 in any case! I have backed Benteke to score first and us to win 3-1 or 3-0 @ 210/1 & 340/1 respectively so I may well invest my winnings in Club Wembley seats for the Final!

I think there are young players who could do a job for us in the league(s) below us but the best of these will not come cheap and we have not been able to afford the likes of Hughes at Derby or those mentioned already on earlier pages up until now. You get what you pay for mostly so if you pay say £5m - £8m you can expect them to be better than those you pick up for £2m or less in most cases.

I imagine he just stares at the keeper the entire game I think he was known for that sort of thing on and off the pitch in his days at Small Heath.

We were linked with Lewis Cook & Sam Byram of Leeds along with Teddy Bishop & Tyrone Mings of Ipswich in "The Times" on Monday.

Looking forward to giving Stevie G some polite applause (or a chorus of we'll meet again) as he goes down the tunnel with his head in his hands for the last time having tasted a bitter defeat against the mighty Villa. It would also help our cause and even things up a little if one or two or more of their players missed the game through suspension or injury picked up during their game on Monday. This really is a "must not lose" game for us!

They always want more than they are entitled to. They cannot be allowed to have them. Don't they have any consideration at all for the 20,000 + corporate clients, Club Wembley members and neutral fans who hoover up tickets for games like these?

I have 3 home wins for us from our last 5 league games. But I think 4 points would be enough now along with 2 cup wins. Villa 41 Leicester 36 WBA 34 QPR 33 Burnley 33 Hull 31 Sunderland 29

A horrible result for the teams below us and for WBA who would not have been expecting our win!

Thanks for adding your comments PaulC.

I think Townsend, Eriksen and Kane are well above average av1 but I am hoping they will not be today.

I think 99.9% of us would have gone Lowton for Richardson or possibly played 3 at the back with Okore coming in alongside Vlaar & Clark. I think we may need another 3 goals to get a point from this one.

If we stay up/win the FA Cup/get a new owner who will bring in some players and would not want to spend around £30 - £40m for a like-for-like replacement or any 2 of these happen he may yet stay with us. I think it would be best for us and for him if not for his agent if he is with us again next season.

Point taken. I really like what I have seen from Jack and I am sure he will get the chances to play that other young players have not had in the past. I am confident he has it in him to be a future star (having compared him with the young Brian Little in the past) but I think he has had better games than this one for us and will have even better ones than those in the future. As above regarding Jack and I did say "He (Benteke) should have tried to make a more determined challenge for the cross that led to their second".

Anything from this one would be a big bonus and if we cannot get anything point wise then we need to keep it tight because goal difference may well be crucial.

I hope they will exclude the booking history from the Liverpool match at VP if that is the case.

Paranoid for me.

I was at the club this morning and they did say it would be 4 tomorrow.

Source: Player Match Ratings: Benteke’s hat-trick gives us a lifeline!

Our makeshift defence was breeched three times last night by a QPR team that had looked destined for the drop until scoring four at WBA and taking a fourth point over the Easter period yesterday. We fell behind to them twice and defeat in this six-pointer would have seen us replace them in the third of the three relegation places. That would have been very hard to come back from with just six games remaining of the league season. A Villa team that was ravaged by injury always faced a tough test against a Rangers side that came to Villa Park with renewed belief that they might yet avoid the relegation trap door. But Villa took an early grip on the game and despite going a goal down on 7 minutes had the resilience to come back to go into the break a goal to the good. Two second half goals from our visitors left supporters fearful of a defeat that might well have gone a long way to deciding our fate for this season and it seemed the game was drifting away from us. But Benteke was not prepared to either leave the field a loser or without claiming a well deserved hat-trick. This was without doubt a must win game but having failed to secure a win it most definitely was a must not lose game. Having achieved that minimum objective we live to fight another day although winnable games are fast running out for us. I consider that we need to remain unbeaten at Villa Park in the run-in and to win two of our remaining three home games to secure our safety. That will not be easy and I really hope we have somehow got two more wins on the board before we reach the final showdown against Burnley. My player ratings from a game that has left us sitting precariously just three points clear of the three relegation places are: Brad Guzan – 6 – Brad had little to do last night but there seems to be a question mark developing concerning his confidence and conceding three again will not have helped this. He may now face increased competition from Shay for the shirt in our forthcoming league games as well as for our Wembley appearance(s). Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Leo produced some good crosses such as on 27 minutes when a defender just beat Benteke to an inviting ball and was a regular threat when coming forward. But he was also unsurprisingly often unsteady at the back which is to be expected given he is no full back. Ciaran Clark – 7 – Another solid display at the heart of our defence. Ron Vlaar – 6 – A welcome return for our former captain if a very harsh one on Jores. He was no doubt selected to add experience, organisation and some degree of coolness to our back four which unfortunately still leaked goals despite his return. Hit a fierce shot from inside the box that cannoned off Sandro on 23 minutes which Green helped over the bar. Kieran Richardson – 3 – Beaten too often and too easily on his return following injury. Effortlessly beaten on the edge of the box by Phillips on 78 minutes who then found Austin for their third. Here is another starter who would not claim to be a defensive full back Tom Cleverley – 7 – Put in a big shift last night. The work he has put in and the improvement in his overall game since the arrival of the new boss is clearly evident. Hit a sweet ball to Benteke inside the box on 6 minutes but our striker was clearly offside. Carlos Sánchez - 7 – Stood up to be counted last night and gave a midfield performance that was something near the level he had been producing regularly earlier this season. Unfortunately the frequency of his misplaced passes continues to be a cause for concern. Fabian Delph – 7 – He really wanted the win last night and gave his all for the cause producing a hard working captain’s performance. Jack Grealish – 5 – The boss took a throw of the dice by starting Jack in such a crucial game. It was always going to be tough for him to make a big impression on the game with Barton having taken a grip on the middle from the start and with opponents putting themselves about at will. He hit a 13th minute free kick that was gathered easily enough at his near post by Green and hit an effort on 53 minutes that Green also kept out at his near post with a bit more difficulty. Jack had a golden opportunity to give us the lead on 16 minutes having made a very nice run into the box. Benteke aimed the ball to him and it ran onto him off Barton but he then hit the ball at Green rather than attempted to lift it over the prone keeper. He will learn from this experience but he still has some work to do not least on getting his corners over. Gabriel Agbonlahor – 6 – His runs troubled their defence. Gabby appeared to be clipped from behind inside the box on 25 minutes after some good work between Benteke and himself had put him in a dangerous position. He was so unlucky when a good header from a Bacuna cross sailed a foot wide of the post on 40 minutes. Christian Benteke – 9 – MOTM – Without him we would have lost this one and we are again relying on his goals saving us from the drop. He has done so before and if he stays injury free can do it again! He hit his first on 10 minutes when he cut inside the box before hitting a shot that deflected off Caulker’s leg and into the far corner of the net for a timely equalizer. Christian then gave us the lead on 33 minutes when Gabby played the ball to him before being clattered in the centre circle. The referee played a good advantage allowing Benteke to run to the edge of the box where he fooled both Hill and Green into thinking he was going to hit it right before hitting it inside the left post. Having been as cool as a cucumber with the finish that gave us our second goal he then did the same in claiming our vital equalizer on 83 minutes. Undeterred by the referee pacing out the distance for the wall and then allowing it to stand several feet in front of that Benteke hit a free kick from the edge of the box over that wall and in off the inside of the post. He should have tried to make a more determined challenge for the cross that led to their second and might just have won it for us on 88 minutes when Cole did so well to play a one-two with Lowton whose cross was just behind Benteke who was not able to get his effort on target. Substitutes: Joe Cole – 6 – Replaced Jack on 70 minutes. Made a positive impression on the game and could yet have an important role to play in our survival battle. Tried to hook a Lowton cross into the net in stoppage time but it flew behind. Matt Lowton – 6 - Replaced Bacuna on 75 minutes. Given our current paucity of choice at full back I would have started him for this one but it may be that he did not have 90 minutes in him having been out due to injury. It was perhaps a toss-up concerning which of the players who started at full back he would replace but I suspect most of us would have gone with Richardson last night. Charles N’Zogbia – Replaced Cleverley on 81 minutes. Not on long enough to merit a rating but made a positive impact during what limited time he had to do so. Stay up the Villa! John Lewis

A real 6-pointer and a must win for us. The results this weekend have made this even bigger a game than it already was for us and given them a shread of hope. I think we will need 7 - 9 points from our remaining home games and this needs to be win number one. Surely Gil will get a run out if Sinclair is missing?

"When Dennis went up to lift the European Cup we were there, we were there" also had a ring to it.

"Six foot two eyes of blue Sammy Morgan's after you" - sung to Bob Wilson by the Holte End. "Francis, Francis, I'd walk a mile & a bit to rub your face in the sh*t oh Francis" when a black cat ran onto the pitch in front of the Holte. "Brian Little walks on water". "The sun is shining for the claret & blue". "The Villa, The Villa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la" instead of "The Vikings" from the Kirk Douglas film. "Bertie Mee said to Bill Shankley, have you heard of the North Bank Highbury? Shank said no I don't think so but I've heard of the Holte End Aggro".