John

We had the opportunity to win a fourth game on the trot yesterday, to win three league games in a row for the first time in 5 years and to win two successive home games for the first time in a year. We had arrived buoyed by our recent performances and with perhaps too high a level of expectation. But those records have stood for a while for a reason and Tim Sherwood had warned us that there might be days like this when he took over. Swansea had the better of the first half yesterday and we were relieved still to be level at the break. We seldom produce a good level of performance throughout a game but of late have had one good half that has made amends for a below par one. We were better in the second half but the improvement from one half to another was not as striking as it has been during our recent improved run. We did make some chances but so did Swansea and the law of averages tell us that Gomis would inevitably convert one of several opportunities that he had. The biggest surprise was that Gomis took until the 87th minute to do so. We had looked more likely than not to hold onto the point that would have edged us nearer safety when Swansea as did Stoke a month ago hit us with a cruel late blow that there was no coming back from. We now need to take the international break as an opportunity to get some of our many injured players and we can now add Benteke along with Cleverley to that list fit for the run-in. I think two more home wins might just prove enough to see us safe from the four we have coming up of which two are 6-pointers. Three wins would give us 37 points and that should be what we aim to get. Yesterday’s game however proved that we cannot take getting home wins for granted. But we should start as favourites against QPR and Burnley and have a decent shot at getting a minimum of a point against Everton and West Ham. But Villa are still a work in progress and if the new boss does manage to keep us up given how low we were when he came in then that will represent a significant achievement. My player ratings from a game during which neither Robert Madley nor his assistants did anything to assist our cause by producing one of if not the most one sided referring performance that I have ever witnessed at Villa Park are: Brad Guzan – 7 – Made a close range save with his leg from a Gomis effort after 6 minutes and kept out a shot at his near post from the same player 18 minutes later. Failed to hold a 36th minute Sigurdsson free kick that he palmed into the path of Routledge whose shot was cleared off the line by Clark. He then hit Gomis with an attempted clearance on 41 minutes that thankfully bounced wide towards Okore who was fouled by Gomis as he challenged for the ball. Brad tipped a Sigurdsson free kick over the bar on 53 minutes which had gone over the wall but had been placed too near to him to cause us any major concern. He also denied the Swans a second in stoppage time when he blocked a shot from Routledge who had ran from the half way line into our box. He had his worrying moments but these were outweighed for me by his saves that kept us in the game. Leandro Bacuna – 4 – Leo struggled when defending particularly in coping with Montero who outpaced him all too easily before finding Gomis for their winner. He also failed to produce anything like the service to our strikers that he did at Sunderland. This was a disappointing overall display. Ciaran Clark – 8 – MOTM - Did not put a foot wrong yesterday and it was tough on him that he was just unable to win the race with Gomis to Montero’s cross that led to their winner. He really looks like an established international central defender now and did well to hold what is a makeshift defence together for much of this game. Ciaran did very well to block an on-target shot from Gomis on 74 minutes that had threatened to put them ahead having already got one off the goal line. Jores Okore – 7 – Another solid defensive performance. Alan Hutton – 6 – Alan was played out of position on his return from suspension due to our lack of defensive options through injury. This was particularly noticeable when he got forward but needed to work the ball to his other foot to get crosses over. Alan was solid enough at the back and worked hard as he always does for us. Charles N’Zogbia – 7 – Charles ran well at defenders and showed just how effective he can be as a winger when his confidence is as high as it currently is. We missed his runs when he was substituted on 68 minutes and it was therefore surprising that we did not go for Gil to replace him who would have been a more like-for-like replacement. Tom Cleverley - 6 – Replaced due to injury on 25 minutes and we missed him in the middle. Fabian Delph – 8 – Another very solid midfield performance. Fab found time on the ball, rarely lost it and played some dangerous balls forward. If only his shots were on target more often. He did force a near post save from Fabianski on 34 minutes after Sinclair had done well to find him and he won a vital 77th minute challenge that would otherwise have left an opponent with just Guzan to beat. Made a threatening run towards goal on 84 minutes but his shot went well over the crossbar. Scott Sinclair – 6 – The ball just refused to run for him yesterday and although he clearly wanted to get one over on his former club he did not bring his shooting boots with him. He was just unable to stretch enough to get a touch to a cross from Gabby that then ran behind Benteke on 69 minutes and then pulled a shot wide of the post having been fed on the edge of the box by Delph. Scott had a shot gathered by Fabianski at his near post on 79 minutes and riffled an 89th minute volley over the bar which hit the far stanchion behind the net after Delph had found him well. Gabriel Agbonlahor – 5 – This was some way off the displays he has produced in his last couple of games for us. He was lacking in service but he also seemed to lack the commitment, energy and goal threat he has shown us of late. This was a frustrating return to the Gabby we have become accustomed to seeing at Villa Park for most of this season and he really does need to maintain the levels he has now shown he is capable of on a more consistent basis. Had a golden opportunity to give us the lead on 59 minutes when a Benteke header from a Hutton cross fell to him. But instead of hitting the ball with his right he waited what seemed an age to work it onto his left foot which gave defenders time to set themselves for the shot that was to come that was deflected over the bar to safety off Taylor. He also had the last chance of the game during stoppage time but he did not get enough on his header from a Westwood corner that went harmlessly wide of the post. Christian Benteke – 5 – Another player who lacked service yesterday. Nevertheless Christian can be more of a headache for defenders than this and he was too easily kept quiet before he left the field due to injury which may well have had some impact on this performance. Substitutes: Carlos Sánchez – 5 – Replaced Cleverley on 25 minutes. He remains some way off the performance level he was producing a few months ago and the improved performances he had shown up until the Arsenal debacle. Ashley Westwood – 6 - Replaced N’Zogbia on 68 minutes. Ash did well enough following his introduction and solidified our midfield. Andreas Weimann – 5 - Replaced Benteke on 75 minutes and made little impact on the game during the time he had available to do so. Stay up the Villa! John Lewis

So its going to be on Sunday at 3pm folks.

His first game at Villa Park was way back in 1923! What changes and football he will have seen at Villa Park over the years. Jack kept the Holte End and many other fans around the ground up to date with the half time scores from his scoreboard for 35 years. He has now moved on to be a HEITS. My thoughts are with his family. RIP Jack.

I guess Arsenal have yet to tell them which day they would prefer. It gives Saturday @ 18.00 when you go to book tickets although it adds the date and kick-off is not known. Great choice available for those who met the first test for tickets today (not). Tickets near the corner flag or right at the back top centre to choose from @ 12.00. Looks like they will be staggered again with batches at each price being made available every day. I will be having a dip in later when my son's booking history kicks in.

We would be in a right pickle if he took over. But if he is then bring out the Branston!

Wembley for cup wins (lots more times), somewhere to see us win a ECF or six (again) & Florida/Washington/New York round trips (again). Once is never enough...

I said 5-7 points. Never in doubt was it? I would be more than happy if a third win proved me wrong at the weekend though!

I would be more dubious if the story was from The Mirror or The Star for example. The Telegraph has continued to show an interest in our potential sale where other papers have not and I would not see any cause for them to speculate on this without any background work having been done to back up their story. I hope that if this has been in the melting pot for some time now the potential new owners have ok'd the recent new appointments so there should not be much if any change following a takeover in the backroom staff. It would be nice if the main change was in the money our manager will have available to bring in and hold on to players in coming transfer windows. Randy's passion and spending on our club was significantly reduced when his fortune was cut in half. It would be of great credit to him on departing if he left us in safe hands with owners that had money to burn whether they were from China, Qatar, the USA or from anywhere else rather than with the first person that was prepared to meet his present asking price. I hope he will choose right for himself, the club and for us.

This is a must not lose game but a win would be very acceptable which is what I thought about our last game. Burnley's unexpected win and the run of games we have to come after this one does lead me to think that 3 points would give us some distance on the bottom 4 and it is better we get another 3 wins sooner rather than later. It would also be nice to keep the winning run going! For me Hutton needs to come back. But Bacuna also deserves a start somewhere given the quality of service he provided to our forwards on Saturday.

We're Aston Villa we score when we want! Sunderland were poor but we were top notch and took full advantage. Keep those wins coming in..

Yes we should get 31,799 as Arsenal have done so. If they have told their fans I wonder why we have not got round to doing the same by now on the club's web site?

He has looked destined to move to Everton on a free from the start but he has done well for us recently. Why he might still want to leave the FA Cup winners who will be playing in Europe next season to move to a Championship team playing in Liverpool is beyond me!

It would be a good idea for us to play on Saturday as we and Liverpool/Blackburn would find the return trip easier by public transport on a Saturday rather than a Sunday evening and a minimum of one if not both of the other semi-finalists are either in or near to London so travel will be less of an issue. But this is the FA so I guess we will play on Sunday at 17.30 or later!

Defoe always scores against us. But Okore and Clark will have something to say about that. I think even if he does get his usual goal we can get one or two into their net and that is something I have not thought we might do too often this season. I would take a point but I would not say no to all three.

They will never know!

Thanks for the above ViolaVillan.

Pool did us last time we played them in a semi-final at Old Trafford. But that was then and this is now and we will not be playing them in any case we will be playing Blackburn and we do very well against them in semi-finals.

Thanks for that osmark86.

We already have! WBA are a good little club and Bournemouth are a very good Championship team.

I would guess she used your client reference number when buying the second ticket. If so I would anticipate that you would both be able to get a ticket.

I suggested the following semi final and final for us prior to the QF draw: SF: Villa vs Blackburn F: Villa vs Bradford (we get even and they have a nice day out) That is still on and it would do for me (although I would not grumble if we played Reading rather than Bradford or if the semi and final were the other way around).

Source: Player Match Ratings: We’re going to Wembley!

Villa fans will be heading for the Wembley arch next month after our second ding-dong derby win in a week against WBA. But the only arches that Albion fans will see are the Golden Arches at McDonald’s as they queue for their Unhappy Meals. I’m lovin’ it! We were late coming out of the traps for this game. Albion were up for it from the start this time, they had the better of the first half by some distance and we were fortunate to go into the break still level. But the second half was a different story in much the same way as was the case in the previous round. After a brief chat with the boss it was our players who had the energy and that were prepared to make runs in the second half. Our pace proved too much for our visitors to handle and so their cup run came to an abrupt end as we brushed their challenge aside. So it will be Tim Sherwood who will be leading out a team at Wembley just two months after his appointment as manager rather than the whinging Tony Pulis and Albion’s 90-year wait to knock us out of the FA Cup again continues to run and run! This second successive win and scoring two goals in each game in the process must add to our confidence for the coming league games. The same is the case at the back where a makeshift defence managed to keep a rare clean sheet for us. As the boss has said “I don’t care who the semi-final is against so long as it’s Bradford or Reading”. My growing confidence is such that I would even add Blackburn to that list! Sadly it is the pitch invasion before the end of the game that makes the news in the press today and will in the days to come rather than the team’s great second half performance. There were some mitigating factors such as the additional drinking that can be associated with the late kick-off for this derby game that was demanded for television purposes and the fact that fans who have been starved of success felt a need to take their rare celebrations onto the playing area. But we all know it is an offence to go onto the pitch. To do so after the game would be something that could be excusable although it did stop the players being able to thank and celebrate with the fans after their win. But to do so during it will lead to the Football Association investigating the incident and looking to punish our club for the action of those fans. It might even have led to the game being abandoned by the referee. The trouble caused by Albion fans in the lower Scottish Stand (DE) and the seats thrown by them will be brushed aside without a mention. The flare that was set off inside the ground will again lead to a fine for the club. But the pitch invasion before the final whistle will cost us. We should remember that there were calls for our expulsion from the European Cup in 1982 when just one supporter came onto the pitch in the semi-final and we did have to play our next home game behind closed doors as a result of that incident. The regrettable thing is that this pitch invasion was avoidable. Fans had already twice come onto the playing area in the corner between the lower Scottish Stand and Holte End to celebrate our two goals. So clearly that rather than the lower North Stand where the available stewards were out in force was the main risk area for our fans. What police there were and there were not enough inside the ground for this high risk game were gathered around the Albion fans in the lower Scottish Stand. That left just a handful of stewards who were vastly outnumbered in the corner that the fans came onto the pitch from with the impossible job of keeping fans off the pitch. This has detracted from our victory and the vast majority of supporters let those who had run onto the pitch know what they thought of them. But Pulis has already fanned the flames by calling the incident “disgraceful” and adding that “it put the players in danger”. Villa will now no doubt need to be seen to act swiftly with promises of banning orders to try to lessen the severity of the penalty they are destined to face from the FA. I have to admit though I wonder if the reaction to this would have been had it been Bradford fans on the pitch celebrating making an FA Cup semi-final trip to Wembley? My player ratings from a game that will linger in the memory for both the right and wrong reasons (but predominantly for the right ones) are: Shay Given – 7 – Shay got down well to keep out a Berahino shot on 6 minutes after a heavy touch from Lowton presented Gardner with a 50/50 challenge that he won before feeding the striker just outside of the box. Made a comfortable save from an Ideye header that deflected off a defender which took any pace off it on 33 minutes and tipped a deflected Brunt shot from the edge of the box over the bar 2 minutes later. Shay was grateful to gather an attempted Okore that deflected toward goal off Lescott on 56 minutes. He then did so well to anticipate the threat on the hour mark when he ran out to the edge of the box and spread himself on the ground sending the ball out of danger to his right to deny Berahino a goal scoring opportunity. We are fortunate to have two outstanding keepers to call upon and he deserves his semi-final appearance. Leandro Bacuna – 6 – Leo is far more confident creating goals rather than stopping them but his performance got better as the game wore on. Ciaran Clark – 7 – So very solid again alongside Jores in the heart of our defence. Jores Okore – 8 – Nothing and nobody was going to get past him last night. A solid totally committed central defensive display. Matt Lowton – 6 – A decent display again. Charles N’Zogbia – 7 – Ran at players, showed good touches and wanted the ball. His best game for us and he showed signs of the player he has been in the past. Keep it up now Charles! Ashley Westwood - 6 – Had a shot deflected wide on 72 minutes after Delph had picked up a loose pass in the middle and fed Gabby who played it wide to N’Zogbia. Charles then hit a cross past three defenders that Gabby played back to Westwood for him to hit. Ash gave us a solid midfield display. Fabian Delph – 8 – Kept us moving forward particularly after the interval and put us a goal ahead on 51 minutes. Gabby headed a Bacuna throw on to N’Zogbia who ran from just inside his own half to the edge of the penalty area before playing the ball across to the unmarked Delph who drilled a low shot through Dawson, past Myhill and into the corner of the net. Tom Cleverley – 7 – His best performance in a Villa shirt. Tom gave everything he had prior to his substitution. Hit a nice cross in for Gabby on 23 minutes but he failed to look to get in front of his marker before the ball was hit and Gabby did not therefore get to the ball. Tom could not get high enough to a 57th minute Gardner corner and his near post header flashed across the goal to Lescott whose far post header for once against us was badly off target. Scott Sinclair – 8 – MOTM – Made several strong runs into the danger areas and his move looks like being a good one for both him and us. Scott made a good jinking run into the box in first half stoppage time but his cross which was deflected towards goal by Olsson was gathered by Myhill. He was again denied by the ex-Villa keeper on 69 minutes who rushed out to the ball after N’Zogbia had played Scott in. One minute later Gabby flicked on a ball from Given that Scott ran onto before pulling his shot wide of the post. Sánchez played a nice ball to him inside the box on 77 minutes his cross was headed back towards him only for Gardner to get a foot to it that touched the ball just over and onto the roof of the net. Scott’s decisive goal came in the 85th minute when Grealish played the ball between two defenders just inside their half for him to run onto. He took the ball into the box before checking inside and hitting a sweetly curled shot past Myhill and into the corner of the net. Gabriel Agbonlahor – 6 – Gabby was quiet in the first half during which he lacked service and missed balls being played to him from Benteke to run onto. His performance in the second half improved no end as he like the team in general upped their game considerably. Substitutes: Carlos Sánchez – 6 – Replaced Cleverley on 65 minutes and did his bit to keep the midfield ticking. Jack Grealish – Replaced N’Zogbia on 74 minutes. Did not have sufficient time on the field to earn a rating but he was on long enough to claim an assist for our decisive second goal and to pick up two yellow cards from a referee who had become card happy near the end. Carles Gil – Replaced Gabby on 89 minutes so was not on long enough to gather a rating. Up for the Cup Villa! John Lewis

There is nothing not to like in that Daily Mail article. I thought there were shades of Sir Ron Saunders in the following comments from Sherwood: "We were playing Chelsea. Nearly an hour in we had them where we wanted them. Then Jan Vertonghen makes a mistake, Younes Kaboul gets sent off, and we capitulate, lose 4-0. ‘I’m hot, I’m upset. Jose Mourinho shakes hands, doesn’t say much. Steve Holland, his assistant, comes up and he’s trying to be nice. “Unlucky mate,” he says. “You played really well in the first half.” I tell him to f*** off. Lost my temper. Called him a patronising c***. I had to phone and apologise. Still fuming, but it was my mistake. He didn’t mean it as I thought." "‘People say the fans have got to get behind the team. Hold on, why must they cheer? You make them cheer. They’re the only loyal people in the game. Make the difference for them, get them on your side." "I’ve told the players, if you’re not in the team, I can find an excuse for why you’re not playing,’ he explains. ‘But you want the truth? The other 11 are better than you. If you train properly, next week it might be your turn. If you don’t, you’ll never get the chance to show me." "Then, when I was at Watford, I was playing against him (Brian Talbot) in training every day. And every day I was tackling him, flying in, didn’t care.‘The coaches used to call me Tackler Tim, or some rubbish. One day, I put one in and he said to Graham Taylor, “Why’s he keep doing that?” I have never forgotten his answer. “Brian, you know that shirt you wear on Saturday?” he said. “That’s the shirt he wants.” He was right, too."

I guess the daily order will be something like: Season ticket holders in the cup scheme. Season ticket holders who have attended cup matches. Season ticket holders. Half season ticket holders. Fans who have attended league/cup games this season starting with a full attendance record and working down on the number of games missed by say 2 games a day until our allocation runs out. The club cannot hope to please everyone and it will be worse when we make the final. But I suspect our best bet would be if we play say Blackburn in the SF and Bradford in the Final because I think the number of seats given may well be linked to average attendance and for no other reason. (honest!!)