fantram

Final score: 2-1 to the Toffees Our goalscorer: Daniel Johnson Team: Siegrist; Herd, Williams, Donacien, Lowry; Carruthers (Darkin 62), Gardner, Johnson, Cameron; Burke (Taylor 46), Robinson. Substitutes not used: Barrett, Caira, Bryan.

Thanks to the Charlton website, here's our team details for the Charlton game: Barrett; Jenkins, Bryan, Donacien, Webb; Graham, Melvin, Ward, Grealish (Barton 72); Serrano de la Cruz (Darkin 46), Robinson (Nelson 72). Substitutes not used: Hill, Bartram. Bartram is a new name on me - is he one of the 1st years, sir_gary?

Tell us more sir_gary, and which ones are the 1st years? I haven't seen any team sheets for the games so far, but the goalscorers all seem to be names that were around last season.

Jenas has always been injury-prone....not a good start to his loan spell at Villa :cry: We need to pick up points off the Barcodes because the signs are that once we start meeting the better teams, we're gonna struggle. I think I'd drop Hutton for Herd, N'Zogbia for Albrighton, and Delph for Ireland - I'm not sure that any of those three deserve to start based on performances so far. Up The Villa

Villa slipped to a second defeat in a row - losing 3-2 at Charlton on Saturday. Callum Robinson and Charlie Ward the goalscorers for us.

I couldn't find a thread for this season's Academy matches, so I may as well start one.... Results to date 20 August – Crewe Alexandra 3 Aston Villa 7 Goalscorers: Malcolm Melvin (2), Umit Eminoglu (2), Callum Robinson (2), Darious Darkin Team details unknown 27 August – Aston Villa 2 Newcastle United 1 Goalscorers: Umit Eminoglu, Charlie Ward Team details unknown 3 September – Ipswich Town v Aston Villa Result ???? Fixtures September 10 – Charlton Athletic v Aston Villa 17 – Aston Villa v Fulham 24 – Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa October 1 – Aston Villa v Leicester City 8 – Reading v Aston Villa 15 – Aston Villa v Milton Keynes Dons 29 – Cardiff City v Aston Villa November 5 – Aston Villa v Watford 12 – Coventry City v Aston Villa 19 – Birmingham City v Aston Villa December 3 – Bristol City v Aston Villa 10 – Aston Villa v Milton Keynes Dons 17 – Aston Villa v Cardiff City January 7 – Watford v Aston Villa 14 – Aston Villa v Coventry City 21 – Aston Villa v Birmingham City 28 – Bristol City v Aston Villa February 11 – Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur 18 – Leicester City v Aston Villa 25 – Aston Villa v Reading March 3 – Aston Villa v Norwich City 10 – Arsenal v Aston Villa 18 – Aston Villa v Crystal Palace 31 – Chelsea v Aston Villa April 21 – Aston Villa v Portsmouth May 5 – Semi-finals 12 – Final

A pretty fair assessment of a mediocre season. Thanks, Mr Understudy However, not sure I understood the relevance or meaning of your point that "81.3% of our league goals were scored by Englishmen"?

Aren't we at home to Chelsea tonight...or has this fixture been moved?

Wow! Stunning result! Goalscorers: Gary Gardner (2, 1 pen.), Andreas Weimann (2), Chris Herd (3), Jonathan Hogg, Nathan Delfouneso (2) Team: Parish; Herd, Baker, Lichaj, Lowry; Hogg (Forrester 46), Osbourne, Gardner (Deeney ?), Stieber (Berry ?); Delfouneso, Weimann. Substitutes not used: Siegrist, De La Cruz Vidal.

I didn't see the game but this is the most positive report I've read. Perhaps you were a little too enthusiastic? Never mind - I like positivity, and it was a great read. Thanks

Yes, this is an excellent, positive and thoughtful post. The contrast between the front page posts on this website, and the many negative and thoughtless posts on the message board is stark. I know that many people seem to find Houllier's passing game frustrating because it often doesn't get us anywhere, but neither did the 'hoof and hope' game under MON. For me, Villa are a far more attractive team to watch these days - we just need to solve that same problem we had under MON - finishing. We have long wanted a top striker and nothing has changed there. The defensive lapses in a previously strong defence are not easy to explain. Smetrov suggests it is due to players resisting change, or being unable to change, and there may be some truth in that, but I don't really see how the role of the defenders has changed greatly under Houllier, except that the ball is now played to midfield, rather than hoofed as far as possible upfield. The defensive lapses seem to me to be due to poor communication and positioning, and lack of concentration at times. If we could convert our chances into goals, the defensive lapses wouldn't be so critical anyway.

Good to see Nathan Baker back after his injury on 27 September (Sunderland game), but bit of a disappointing result

Good assessment as usual, John. Thanks. I see you thought that Hogg had a solid debut - I thought so too, but I've heard others say he looked out of his depth. He certainly didn't stand out as a weak link to me. I was most impressed with the performance of our young and inexperienced midfield...and, of course, with the total commitment and battling performance of the whole team. Well done lads, even though the result in the end was disappointing.

Thanks OBE. Fabulous report, as usual, and as BOF says "Your reports are the next best thing to being in the stands."

1-1 at home to Sunderland is a disappointing result for Big Mac's first game back in charge - particularly after the 4-0 and 1-4 wins over Blackpool and ManUre

No need to spend 7.4 million quid - we got Barry 'Bebe' Bannan :winkold:

Totally agree with TRO - every appointment is a gamble. Houllier is probably one of the most experienced and successful managers that were available to us. Let's see how he goes....I'm looking forward to it

Done a bit of googling to try to answer my own question about Thomas Dau....it looks like he's gone back home to Austria and is playing for a club called SV Horn. It also appears that fellow Austrian, Dominik Hofbauer, has gone home too He is playing for FAC Team für Wien :| Looks like Andreas Weimann is the only one of the Austrian trio remaining and likely to make the Prem grade.

What has happened to young Austrian keeper Thomas Dau? Has he been released by the club? Also, is there going to be a 'sticky' thread for Academy Under 18 games this season? There has been two Academy league games played already.

SGC (or some other knowledge person), what was the result of the Under 18s game away to Chelsea? It was originally scheduled for 27 March but was postponed. The Premier League website shows Villa as having played 28 games (16 wins, 5 draws, 7 defeats). My own records show 27 games played and only 6 defeats. We must have lost to Chelsea at some stage. Somebody suggested that the second leg of the Youth Cup Final also counted as a league game - surely that can't be right???

Good knowledge indeed! Thanks very much for that I didn't realise Josh Barnes was so young.

Do you know who was in the team against Spurs, and who scored for us?

What happened to Josh Barnes, a young keeper signed from Bolehall Swifts at the beginning of the season?

The Premier League website gives the final result as Villa 1 Palace 2 ???????

Definitely not....and that's not a reaction to the Chelski result...it's been clear for some time...