Ponky

The Big Things of Australia This is only a sample of the numerous "big" attractions in Australia. Of course they have omitted Jonathan Coleman, Clive James and Germaine Greer's mouth, because they now reside in England.

Freddie Bouma must be pretty close to a competitive comeback. This might be just the match for him.

Cracking second half after the players just didn't look switched on in the first. Downing and Young were superb. Gabby was also magnificent and I have to say we just look so dangerous when we get the ball in behind the defence for him to run onto. I though his ball over the shoulder to Young for Downing's fist shows just how clever a footballer Gabby really is. And kudos to Mon for not leaving Gabby limping around for the rest of the game. If we are to have a successful week Gabby will be the key to it IMO.

Warnock I think you were spotted crying like a jilted schoolgirl on the sidelines

Am I the only one who saw them replaying the lie of the ball for the corner for their first goal and it was about an inch over the line of the little semi-circle thingy?

As I said above they showed the replay of the corner for their first and ball was clearly not on the line when he took it. Cry about that one Neil.

It was always going to be a tough match with them backs to the wall and desperate for a big result. The ref & linos were just gobsmackingly poor, their keeper pulled off some amazing saves, and we play as a bunch of individuals up front - not a team. That said they scored from an illegal corner the ball was not touching the line when taken and a stunning striker that perhaps Friedel could have done better for. Add to that Delfouneso being through on goal and getting called for offside with a defender 2 feet in front of him! We were not fantastic but on the balance of things I thought we were still the better team. Carew looked a little more motivated than normal and I though Delph was pretty decent. Collins was my MOTM - was pretty solid dealing with that cheating, whingeing, dirty diving word removed Lee, and he scored a cracking header and nearly scored a 2nd late in the game. Also drove forward and let fly with a defence splitting pass that really should have resulted in a goal.

Welcome to the score sheet stan. Thank ****.

**** amateur refs.

YEllow for taking the ball cleanly??

Brilliant free. Have to hand it to them.

Heskey down - this is getting boring now.

Anyone think Weimann & Clark might be a chance for the bench?

Be interested to see what your preferred lineup would have been then considering our only option to Downing with NRC and Albrighton injured would have been Sidwell in the middle and Milner out wide.

Was very interesting watching MON and Fergie walk off the ground arm in arm. Interesting relationship, considering the contrast with Wenger andBenitez.

People are being too harsh on Carew for tonight's effort. I though he threw himself into plenty. The problem was that we couldn't actually get the ball into the final third of the pitch. So many simple passes went astray or failed to carry - Milner Downing and Young the main culprits - and I thought Evra was pretty much unpassable, while Fletcher and Carrick were very good at breaking us up through the middle. And I don't think for a second that Martin was settling for a draw - to me taking off Delph for Carew was an attacking move - Utd weren't really bothering us but we weren't bothering them, so maybe he thought Carew might put a bit of pressure on their defence. But unfortunately our ineptness in midfield let us down.

1. Brunny = a typo 2. I understand it's actually great to be a Villa supporter. It just feels like Jonestown on here sometimes

Can I just ask what is the point of going to watch your team if you can't barrack or celebrate? Might as well just watch telly? As for the glory hunter debate, I think us non-Brunny Villa supporters should be called misery-hunters

Saying Milner is not much of a CM on the basis of the last match is like saying Defoe is not much of a striker because he hardly got the ball and when he did he couldn't hit a cow's arse with a banjo.

FWIW my impression of the treatment of Spurs / Redknapp / Glaston on this thread has been a bit of friendly banter and taking the piss, with a few posters going completely over the top and misinterptreting said piss-taking for full-on hatred or puerile name-calling. On the whole I suspect it would help if a few posters - and I am including Glaston here - developed a bit more of a sense of humour and were a little more self-deprecating over the things said in this thread. I think you'd find a witty response or two would be the perfect deflection for any thing getting a little too personal.

Don't worry about this game, we'll bore them into submission!

I suspect we should have been more considerate to the Spurs fans and taken off a defender to bring on another striker, you know, for the sake of making it more of an attacking spectacle, because after all, the Villa players were just supporting actors for the main stars. I mean how disgraceful would it be for the Washingto Generals to start playing a bit of defence, make it hard for the Globetrotters to score once in a while. In fact, as a gesture I think Randy Lerner should refund all Spurs fans' tickets for boring them in such an offensive manner, thereby robbing them of the 2 points they were rightfully entitled to.

Problem for Downing is he has no right foot. He is constantly being pushed over to the right by Young who also prefers the left, but he ends up running the ball into the centre because he can't whip it in on his right. I have been reluctant to condemn Carew this year but watching that game I was staggered at the number of times Gabby or Ash had the ball deep in the corners and Carew was sauntering along up field instead of bursting into the box to get onto something. Heskey and his glass groin are just as bad. Certainly his contributions are better than Carew's but what's the point if he does a Ledley King every second game?

I thought the Spurs plan of crowding our midfielders worked well for them. Our boys don't like being crowded at the best of times and the Spurs midfield just didn't give them any time on it. So Spurs were pretty much dominant in midfield but their celebrated attack was no match for our defence. We have conclusively proven over two matches that Dunne / Collins >>>>> Defoe / Crouch. That said I think Friedel was our MOTM today, simply because the buck stopped with him all day, and he did not let us down. I was livid that the non-penalty on Defoe was given 'moment of the match' status on the broadcast. Defoe was clearly on his way down when Petrov's leg went in. Yet what of Dawson's hanball in the area in the first half? And how was Huddlestone not given at least one yellow (deserved three at least) for kicking the shit out of our players, not to mention his flying karate kick on Collins that could easily have ended his season? Definitely a point gained for us here, rather than two lost. Grab a draw or sneak a win off Man Utd on Wednesday and we are not too far off the pace.

Arrogant Yanks - maybe NBC ripped it off Channel 7!! There is a bit of a viral campaign going on to save that guy's job after that. Apparently some of his mates sent the emails to him during the broadcast as a prank, knowing his screen would be in view. Classic setup if true.