JoshVilla

Love our special teams.............................................

As usual, we play a team that are on a bad run and we bend over for them, failing to capitalise. It's a strange feeling. I know that most of us didn't expect to beat Utd, but it's not the first time that we've let a chance like this slide, and that's what makes it sting. It wouldn't have felt so bad if we'd have hammered Fulham last week, but that was another chance we had that we threw away. The home form really is a worry, and if we fail to beat Crystal Palace, then a lot of questions are going to be asked. A good home form is the foundation of a successful team, and we really have to sort it out. It's not the loss here that is so hard to take, it's that fact that it's just intensified several issues that desperately need to be addressed. Albrighton was, by a massive amount, MOTM today. The best chances that we had came via him, and he replaced Delph today in terms of being one of the few players that looked to do something positive whenever he had the ball. We need Vlaar back desperately, and I'll be very worried about our Xmas period if he's out for the entirety. In terms of what we can take from this that's positive; If Albrighton builds on what he did today, we could have a pretty handy player there when it comes to getting the ball in the box for the big lads to attack. Whether he's one dimensional or not, if he can keep putting crosses in like he did today, we might actually be able to make use of having some big strikers up front. Apart from that, Weimann, to me, always seems like he's more effective coming off the bench that starting games (at the moment, at least). Perhaps it's better to have Albrighton in his place and use Weimann as an impact sub for a little while until he finds his form again.

After how we started, trailing 0-2 at half time is really difficult to take. Albrighton has been giving his all and seems to be our only creative spark at the moment. I don't really know what we can do to change this in the second half, but we'll need a miracle now.

I'm pretty happy with that squad. Weimann really needed to be benched, and he could still make a difference later on in the game with pace when Utd's defence is tiring. Albrighton should give us a bit more width too. Defence is a lot more balanced too. Gonna be interesting.

We'll never have a chance like this again. I read what Lambo and various players say about being fired up for this, with Guzan in particular saying that the team "owes" us 3 points at home here after the dreadful display at Fulham, but yet, I still just can't feel confident. We have a brilliant opportunity to end this dreadful record against them, but I can't help but think we'll get screwed over by a decision (or several), or we'll give them too much respect. Fingers crossed we'll seize this chance, and hopefully Villa Park will be rocking for it, even if we concede first.

My Christmas wish is for McLeish.

Probably for the best in terms of next season to bench RG3 for these last few games. Hopefully after the full off season his confidence will be back and he'll be the player he was in his rookie season. I bet Cousins will end up having a great game though and everyone will say "should've done it sooner".

I know that poor refereeing isn't anything new, but this season in particular, the standard is shockingly bad. It's tough to call in terms of whether we should use technology to aid the decisions as it obviously affects the flow of the game, but surely when it comes to potentially game changing decisions such a penalties, there should be something more to make sure the correct decision is made. Obviously, it'd still be a bit of a kick in the teeth for everybody, since every team, including us, has benefited from a soft penalty being given against the opposition. Or alternatively, the refs need to just pull their f'ing fingers out and sharpen up.

So I had to put up with that terrible display from Villa earlier, now I get to watch the Redskins get battered. Today sucks

I hope we can show the fearless streak that everybody else has showed when playing United. Balls to all of this bad home form stuff, lets just go at them with pace and keep them on edge. After the performance we had to put up with today, the squad really need to look at this fixture and think that they can get something out of it, rather than surrendering to the fact that it's Man U. Hopefully Vlaar and Luna will be back for this one, otherwise I will worry.

Very valuable 3 points chucked away there. Had a perfect chance to go level on points with United before we play them and we bottled it as we often do against teams we should be beating. Difficult to defend that.

10 minutes left and now's the time to make a change when we need 2 goals??? Baffles me....

Can't see us coming back from this now.

This is atrocious. 2-0 down against a side as poor at this. Having the best that we can hope for being a draw against Fulham is terrible. Something magical is gonna have to happen in the second half now.

'kin hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Herd at RB. Ooh err!

Yeah I personally would leave Kozak in, but I think that Lambo will start Benteke. I can't see him leaving him out twice.

I reckon it'll be something like: Goose Lowton Clark Baker Bacuna KEA Westwood Delph Weimann Benteke Gabby That back 4 is not at all what I'd want, and Bacuna at LB isn't ideal at all, but I'm not sure what choice we really have. Herd isn't exactly match fit, but I wouldn't be surprised if Lambo threw him in. He also said that Benteke looked more like himself when he came on at Southampton so I reckon he might start him again tomorrow. It's a difficult one to call now in terms of formation, with all of these injuries complicating things, but I'd really go for it in terms of attacking and just hope that we can get at least 2 goals, because I reckon we'll leak at least 1 due to having to use players out of position. The midfield are really gonna need to cover the defence, but if they do and our forwards are feeling as opportunistic as we were on Wednesday night, then I think we'll be okay.

Yeah Bennett's still out I think, so I think that probably our only choice unless Lambo puts Herd in somewhere.

I do worry about our defence now that Vlaar and Luna are such doubts. I can only imagine that it'll be Lowton, Baker, Clark and Bacuna at the back. As much as Baker and Clark have upped their games this season, it's still a little unnerving without Vlaar. We'll probably be mostly relying on our forwards here to score first and take the pressure off the back line.

I really like him. He's not a phenomenal striker by any means, but he works hard when he's on the pitch and you can see how much it means to him to be scoring for us. 3 goals at this point is pretty good, I reckon, considering that he's still pretty new to us and is settling in. His height is always going to be a threat, especially from set pieces, even if it's more of a case of him drawing defenders away so someone else can get their head on it. I have a lot of respect for somebody who'll give it their all and shows how passionate they are, and his celebration on Sunday showed just that. There are definitely areas of his game that he can improve, of course, but if he's gonna continue scoring goals then he's alright for me, since that's the only statistic that's gonna win a match for us. He seems like a genuine guy who wants to do well for us, and I hope he can do just that.

The team is definitely a lot more exciting with Gabby in. I always feel that we'll be able to create something when he plays, and his movement is key to how effective our counter attacks can be. Glad he got his goal yesterday, so here's hoping he can go on a bit of a run now.

Another game that we should win, but there are no guarantees in this league. It's a shame that Jol went before we had chance to play them, as I think it'd have been pretty much a given. Again, I'd probably start Kozak and bring on Benteke on the hour or so mark, to exploit their tiring defence. 4-3-3 is probably how I'd go about this and out-do them with pace. They've got a bit more fight in them now so I don't think it'll be easy, I'm gonna say a very nervy 2-1 win. However, with the way our results always end up going this season, we'll probably end up drawing/losing this one and then beating/drawing with Utd at home. We like a shocker.

Bloody hell.......................... Chuffed that Gabby got his goal, chuffed that Kozak got another, chuffed that Delph FINALLY got the goal he deserves (our midfielders like scoring top class goals, don't they?). There are definitely issues that need addressing. I know possession doesn't win you games but 23% against Southampton is a tad worrying, but at least we used it effectively. I don't expect us to have that low amount of possession again, and it's hard to tell whether we let them dominate on purpose, but if so, that was a little too much as the pressure was getting very worrying. All in all though, 3 points from this game is fantastic, and it definitely takes away the disappointment from the Sunderland draw. If we'd beaten them and drawn tonight we'd have been ecstatic. UTV!!!

Benteke might be more effective to bring on later when Southampton's defense is knackered. They won't wanna face Benteke at that point.