benevans

I will be absolutely distraught if this game gets called off, been looking forward to it for as long as humanely possible, and I really would hate to have to take more time off work.

I personally don't think he'll go to Liverpool while their current board is there, there's no stability whatsoever.

Not really sure about United, I don't think they'll go for him. Either way, I think he wants to be somewhere where things are done properly and the conduct of a club as a whole is perfect, which is exactly how it is here. I don't think he'd get that at either Liverpool or United.

anyone know how good the attendence was today?

It was just over 25k.

FWIW I thought Sidwell was awful when he came on, and Heskey was useful for the whole game.

Not sure if Guzan was fouled for their goal or not, it all happened so quickly. Almost expected him to save the pen though, his record now is pretty unreal.

The two halves were day and night if I ever I saw such a difference. First half was fluid, some great passing moves going down both flanks. Delph was awesome, put his foot in defensively and was spraying the ball all over the place with either foot making clever passes. Just wished he'd shoot a bit more when it opens up for him as you can tell he's got a foot like a traction engine.

I personally thought that Delfouneso was excellent, chasing down lost causes and tracking back when he needed to was good to see. Took his goal very well and I thought he was making some excellent runs in the second half but for one reason or another none of the other players seemed to look for him.

I was going absolutely ape shit at Sidwell in the second half. Even when he had room in front of him he just kept going sideways, so infuriating.

We definitely made hard work of it all, but gotta be happy with the result, especially given the number of changes and how easily they seemed to slot into the team.

Not read through the entire thread but how can people say the goal was partly Warnock's fault? He layed the ball back for Dunne to hit upfield and Dunny slipped on the turf. Recreate that situation another 9 times and it's going way past the half way line. It was just incredibly unfortunate, as was the place where the ball ended up after Gabby's tackle on Benayoun.

Extremely disappointed, but we move on.

So Sidwell's unbeaten run comes to end. Time for a change now I think.

4-5-1 with NRC and Stan with Delph ahead of them.

Worst part of this is probably gonna be Richard's "I told you so" bollocks.

I've said it already in this thread and I'll say it again, the numpties that want him out really don't know how good they've got it.

I swear some people really don't know how good we've got it at the moment.

I voted go the last time and i am voting go this time. Just don't think we play the type of football that should grace Villa Park. I don't think we will gain the success we all crave playing the Martin O'Neill way and he has wasted millions on transfers. He has taken 4 years to build a solid defence and we still lack creativity in midfield and that 20 goals a season striker. Even when such a striker becomes available, he refuses to buy him. Bent's success at Sunderland should be giving O'Neill nightmares and that very player might jump up and bite O'Neill in the arse!

I want to see the type of football that 'Big Ron's' 90s team played and gained success with it. 'Big Ron' had an eye for the player who could do that something extra and win matches. Martin O'Neill views that type of player with suspicion and although we have gained some very creditable results and league finishes, i do believe with a more forward thinking manager at the helm, we would as far as quality of squad and Cup success is concerned, be much further forward.

I hope i have to eat a huge lump of humble pie at some stage inside the next year which will end the 'five year plan.' However, i sincerely doubt it and i believe O'Neill has taken us as far as he can!

Good lord...

A monumental performance from Petrov today. He just reads the game so well and anticipates where the ball is going to go magnificently.

AVFC: VILLA: Guzan, Beye, Collins, Cuellar, Shorey, Milner, Petrov, Delph, Gardner, Agbonlahor, Carew. Subs: Friedel, Sidwell, Dunne, Albrighton, Delfouneso, Warnock, Clark.

I enjoyed my first visit there the last time they were up and we won 4 - 0!

Remember JPA's goal in that game? The toe poke from the edge of the area in the (keeper's) bottom left hand corner on an angle? Awesome goal.

Have that you dirty twelve toed fucktards :-)

It's at times like this I find living in the B37 postcode area highly satisfying

Me too Rob! Ah Chelmsley seems far more safer with them c**ts off the streets. Watched the game in the Bell in Coleshill and christ you could tell noses from their tattoos, inbred looks,

I watched it in there too

What the **** is up with that team? Why the hell has he dropped Beye and is playing 3 centre backs? Little bit worried by that.

Just to wet people's appetites..

That could possibly be my favourite Villa goal ever. The block on the line. The cross. The header. The ball hitting the back of the net. The fans going absolutely **** mental. Every single time I watch it I get major goose bumps. I'll never forget it as I was watching it in a pub of mainly Blose fans and my mate (who's a nose) said "if Villa score now it's a travesty" as the ball fell to Ashley Young. Amazing.

More of the same this Sunday please!

Squad has been announced on the OS:

Villa have revealed the squad to travel to Vienna for the first leg of their Europa League play-off.

Martin O'Neill has a 22-man party to pick from as they gear up for Thursday's clash with Rapid in the Hanappi Stadium.

Goalkeepers

Brad Friedel

Brad Guzan

Andy Marshall

Defenders

Curtis Davies

Nicky Shorey

Habib Beye

Carlos Cuellar

Eric Lichaj

Ciaran Clark

Shane Lowry

Midfielders

Steve Sidwell

Ashley Young

James Milner

Marc Albrighton

Fabian Delph

Stiliyan Petrov

Nigel Reo-Coker

Craig Gardner

Forwards

John Carew

Gabby Agbonlahor

Nathan Delfouneso

Emile Heskey

Efan Ekoku.

100% miss him.

I'm not going to go into the hows, whys and whereabouts, but a good situation to compare this to is Liverpool's. They've been winning games and coping quite amicably without Torres in the team, but does that mean that they're a better team without him? Of course it doesn't.

Apologies if this has already been posted but after listening to 'Stay Young' by Oasis, I couldn't help but think it would be a great chant for Ashley.

The original lyrics for the chorus are:

Hey! Stay young, and invincible

Cos we know just what we are

And come what may we're unstoppable

Cos we know just what we are

My proposition goes something like:

Ash-ley Young, he's invincible

Cos we know just what we are

Ash-ley Young, he's unstoppable

Cos we know just what we are

The 'cos we know just what we are' bits definitely need work to make them Villa related, but that's the base of the song anyway.

In case you don't know it, Oasis - Stay Young

Go to 1:00 for the chorus.

Thoughts?

It was when Arteta had the shot (I think Arteta) from the left hand side of the goal and Friedel parried it out, in the first half when you were attacking Gwladys stand

I know what incident you mean pal.

Cahill had the shot, Friedel parried, it came to Curtis Davies who cleared to his right only because a late sliding tackle came in and jolted his kicking foot back. Then I think it was Gabby that miscontrolled the ball and it went out for a throw.

Definitely should have been a free kick to us. Poor decision.

After seeing what they did with The Italian Job I would like to cast a vote to keep them away from the classics!

Remake a mediocre film to make a good film.. but do not remake an epic to make it mediocre.

Did you hear they're thinking of making a sequel to the remade Italian Job as well? They were talking about it with Mark Wahlberg on Top Gear, planned to be called 'The Brazilian Job'.

Sounds SHIT.

I heard that they're actually thinking of casting Samuel L Jackson as Robocop...

"Your move....muthafuckahh!!!"

They're definitely remaking Robocop, a few details here and a teaser poster for the new film here.