Daholteend

Brilliant play by Bannan out of the right back position to offence! shows the defenders how to play.

I think Downing has played so many games without a striker that he forgot thet Gabby was there on that one

Downing close

Ref gives Basham a yellow as an apology for not giving the penalty for the foul on Albrighton

Gabby on for the Fonz..Happy Days!

Should be a penalty!

Refs allowing this one

Gabby warming Up!!

Let's be thankful that Harewood only scored one in the first half. With another ref he might have got a shout or a penalty and then with only Friedel to beat he shipped the ball over the bar when he could have slid it left or right past an advancing Friedel.

So despite the lax defending that allowed that goal, I am thankful we are level.

Nice shot from Ashley on target in the 46th min

We have to be careful not to build them up to quickly though.

There is an argument that building BB up might not be a bad thing.

The HGH clinic that Barcelona reputedly sent Messi to didn't hurt Messi's game one little bit

I am happy for BB.

I have read Scott's reserve reports over the last couple of seasons and BB has always figured prominently. I hope he continues to get better and would be delighted if his game got so strong that he becomes a first team regular.

Keep it going BB! Well done on the hattrick that spoiled Bebe's debut with ManU.

AshVilla, I would bet that you won't see 4-4-2 at the Britannia from K-Mac .I think he was stunned at St James to the extent he won't try that again.

Come on lads, look on the bright side, K-Mac's Young Lions get another chance to shine and convince the Board and new manager that K-Mac has an extremely valuable role to play in the Villa organisation.

Secondly, it serves us absolutely no purpose whatsoever to jump all over these newspaper quotes even before the bloke has appeared before the media circus of his first official press meeting as Aston Villa's new manager.

While I am hoping we do better than 7th -12th place this season, it won't break my heart. It is an important rebuilding season in my view, and don't forget what Houllier did in his second full season in charge at LFC.

Don't miss the woods for the trees.

Gerard Houllier is special let there be no doubt about that.

Look at what he accomplished at LFC and then decide.

At LFC Houllier inherited a team which needed a whole new defence, two midfielders a striker and a kick up the arse in terms of discipline.

A number of players were not giving of their best.

Houllier brought Gerrard through. Gerrard was stuck in the U19's while Murphy wasn't going anywhere under Roy Evans and wouldn't have been the player he became without Houllier.

Houllier rebuilt the playing staff of LFC and made two good defensive signings in Hyypia and Henchoz who became the corner stone of their defence. He got the best out of both Danny Murphy and Jamie Carragher.

Houllier made LFC competitive in his first full season, and they became a decent European side competing well with Man U and Arsenal.

Owen's's game developed in Houlliers time in charge and added to his ability to scoring and creating goals.

Several players left and were replaced with overall equal or better players.

Fowler - Replaced by Baros

Friedel - Replaced by Chris Kirkland Jerzy Dudek

Redknapp - Steven Gerrard directly replaced Redknapp.

Ince - replaced by Dietmar Hamann

Matteo - replaced by John Arne Riise

Berger - Le Tallec replaced Berger who decided to leave

McManaman - was the only one that I would say wasn't replaced properly when he left. Kewell wasn't the answer.

The Houllier effect was such that In Houllier's second full season in charge, Liverpool won a treble of the FA Cup, League Cup and UEFA Cup .

In taking over at AVFC, Mr H inherits a lot of talent. He doesn't have to rebuild our defence and he has a host of capable midfielders and strikers who may find that, given new direction, tactics and motivation , that there is a strength and cohesion that may have been missing last season.

One thing that we can glean from Houlliers time at LFC is that if a player doesn't fit in with the program he will be moved and replaced by one's that do. Whether this comes in the form of a sell to buy program remains to be seen, but I have confidence that M. Houllier is the right man for the job and is the man to take us to the next level.

The more I think about this the happier I become.

To Randy and General K , as they say in Paris "Muchas Gracias" :winkold:

I am delighted with this appointment.

Best man for the job out of all the candidates.

Welcome to Aston Villa "Mr H" ( as our favourite General addressed him.)

what has he done so far to warrant the abuse he is getting from some? MON came because Randy was here so he did ok with that, he did ok supporting MON and improving the club the best he could; what has he done so wrong?

Absolutely nothing but good things IMO. However Jez, there are some at B6 who see through the glass darkly if they can see at all and all they see is shrouded with negativity. Some say it's a Brummie thing. I just think that Prozac should be prescribed more often when the GP's find out that they are Villa fans !

Failing that a full frontal lobotomy would seem appropriate, that way the rest of us could avoid having to bang our heads against the wall when we read the vitriolic drivel that some dream up.

Emile Heskey is nothing like Jermain Defoe yet they're both strikers?

yup, one scores goals regularly and the other one only rarely.

Meanwhile back to SI. I agree with those that think he should not have been played straight away. A couple of weeks in training and getting used to the style of play would have been ideal.

When he does reach peak fitness I am confident that he will shine. He has a wicked first touch when he is on his game and I think he will work well with Gabby, Carew and Heskey.

I still think he was a bargain. SI is easily worth 10M of anyone's money. Milner was worth 22M IMO so in essence we got SI for 6M. If he does half as well as Dunne did in his respective position last season then we have to be pleased with the trade.

deja vu all over again

How do you like him now !!! Goal!!Petrov certainly does

In the short term, to use OBE's phrase, there's plenty of space for him on the bench in the squad.

The "Rapid" goal that Bannan scored from Albrighton's assist was a gem. K-Mac knows that these two understand each other like Messi and Tevez, and while they have not reached that level by any means, there is a lot to be said for keeping Bannan around the first team and playing him in Europa games, or The Carling and FA Cup games.

He is a fast intelligent player who can score and create goals, there is little to lose in keeping him. If he can put on a little weight and build up his strength like Messi did, we might have something really good.

IMHO he offers more than Salifou or Osbourne and if Sidwell does move on then who else do we have that could step up?

mon was concerned about his size, but did his size matter when he scored in Vienna ? Fortunately K-Mac is well placed to make the call as far as BB is concerned, so now it is up to BB to make the best of the opportunities in front of him.

however much you might want to think otherwise - there is very little hooligan element in top flight english football anymore.

That might change if Leeds ever get back into the Prem

Back on topic, the way the Rapid fans treated Andreas was disgraceful. What should have been a happy proud night for him turned sour.

That treatment might well haunt Rapid if Andreas ever wishes to play in Austria, but I hope he never does and that he is hugely successful with us.

Weimann is a great lad with a tremendous attitude. I suppose the Wieners don't take kindly to one of their own playing for the opposition.

If the roles had been reversed and Rapid had a Brummie playing in their team, would we have given him the Harry Redknapp ovation ?

Albrighton to Bannan, GOAL!!!!!!!!!! for me that said enough.

Job Well done! K-Mac got a chance to get another game completed and see more of the youngsters, some of whom will be playing an important role this season while others will be loaned out or let go to further their careers elsewhere.

We got the all important away goal that destroyed us last season!

I am looking forward to watching this team playing tonight. I don't have the negative or concerned outlook that some previous posters have revealed.

I think that at some stage we have to trust that someone with K-Mac's coaching experience at B6 since 1994 knows what he is doing.

Those of you that recall the Moscow trip two seasons ago will perhaps remember that the youngsters were two years younger back then and accredited themselves well.

As for formation we might be in for a surprise. Most of us will be expecting a 4-5-1 but have you considered what also a flexible 4-3-3 might look like using the same players?

................................... Guzan .............................

Beye........ Clark........................Davis ................ Warnock

...............Albrighton........ NRC ............... Downing

............ Fonz/Bannan .............Heskey................... Weimann

These youngsters are fast especially Bannan. Weimann is the future star of Austrian football and will be playing in front of the team he grew up supporting and will be very highly motivated. It should be an awesome night for him. I would bet that there will be a lot of support for him in the Vienna crowd

K-Mac has already indicated that Weimann is in form at this time. What better night to pick to give him a start ?

Those of you that recall our away game against Litex Lovech in Bulgaria will also recall that NRC has the abilty to play a blinder. I wouldn't worry about NRC, he is very willing to prove himself and get into the first team.

It makes good sense to rotate Stan and NRC, it will bring out the best of them. Having Heskey upfront and being able to lay off to either Weimann or the Fonz or both could very well prove to be a strategy to reckon with, if used.

Heskey also has the abiltiy to track back and help out the defence.

There's a lot of pace in this team along with a huge motivation to win.

Not sure if this is the place to ask this question but does anyone know whether Ian Storey-Moore is still Chief Scout or did he also leave with the mon brigade of trainers ?

Kevin Macdonald has a Fonz

ee aye ee aye oh

Fonzie scores from Ashley Young

ee aye ee aye oh

We'll beat West Ham and Rapid too

With Goals from Ash and John Carew

Kevin Macdonald has a Fonz

ee aye ee aye oh!