briny_ear

I didn't say that I wasn't going because I thought we'd lose. I went to the CC Final knowing that it was going to be a very tough game and probably anticipating a loss. I went to the FA Cup Final against Chelski years ago knowing that we were big underdogs.

I said I'm not going because I am frustrated with MON's selection and tactics and I don't think we are giving ourselves a chance to compete as a consequence. I don't fancy a four hour journey back thinking "if only ......." again. I don't mind losing if we give it a go, or else I probably wouldn't have been a ST holder for nearly 20 years!

All I can say, mate, is that you are very lucky to be in a position to pick and choose.

There are a lot of people who would love to have the opportunity to see this semi-final and wouldn't be so picky and lukewarm as you appear to be in their support for their club.

Just because you seem to think you could pick a better team and arrange better tactics than our current manager, I don't see why that should lessen your support for the club, or for the team, who will undoubtedly go out there and do their best to win.

I would expect that season ticket holders (who sometimes unfairly have a grumble at every man and his dog trying to get a ticket to a final) come up with better excuses not to go to a semi final than, it shunt be at wembley or wel probly lose or wembley's difficult to get out of. Id kill for a chance to go

Must say I thought this, from the OP was a very weak excuse.

If we do happen to beat them, which I am sure we can, it will probably be a backs to the wall victory with us hanging on at the end as it was against them at our place or against ManU up at OT and I will probably be just as overjoyed watching this on TV as I will be if I had gone to Wembley.

Of course it will be backs to the wall, it's against Chelsea and it's an FA Cup semi final! I sometimes wonder if we've missed out on proper cup football for so many seasons that people have forgotten what it's like. It's very rarely a stroll.

Looking at some of the reasons people give for not wanting to go, I'm not too unhappy that you won't be there because you all seem very lukewarm about supporting Villa in an FA semi-final. Must say I find that a bit bizarre.

I would kill to go but can't because I'm not a ST holder.

Sidwell.

Without him shooting we'd not have the equaliser.

Of course.... how could I forget that, well done Steve the Sub.

So then, that would be ONE shot from our midfield in 90 minites at home against one of the bottom clubs in the league? Is it any wonder we don't score enough?

Does Downing's header just before half time not count as a "shot", then? :confused:

Another MON master class in tactics - tired players, players out of position and Heskey

Woeful to watch

The team came out playing class. It's individual sloppyness that's cost us, nothing to do with tactics. MON takes no blame here for me.

Agree. MON's tactics looked OK when we were destroying them for the first quarter of an hour. I think it's rather stupid defensive lapses we should be looking at as the reason for the score line, I'm sure they're not any part of MON's tactics.

What a very silly comment to blame MON's tactics for this.

ESPN really want Wolves to win

:confused: I'm watching it on Sky - so so they!

I think the poll results so far show that MON is dead right to be unclear what Villa fans want!!

Will be happy with 3 points however we win them. Scrappy 1-0 will suit me.

I suspect Martin has taken against the "Villa fans" a bit, and I don't see any sign of this wearing off (although he did go over & applaud the travelling fans at Reading). That's a shame, because I think he is the best manager we have had for quite a while who, if he sticks around and is given enough time and respect, can get us into the Champions League.

The reason he is picking up confused messages from the fans is simple in my view. There is a genuine split between those who see League position leading to CL as the top priority, and those who want to win Cups.

My top wish is for CL, but I expect him to make his own decisions on priorities depending on his assessment of the strength of the squad and the opportunities to make progress.

I also think he's overlooking the argument that fielding a weakened side against CSKA was akin to planting an enormous flag on the pitch saying "our squad can't manage all this." and that, in my view, must have had an effect on squad morale.

But that's just an opinion and anyway he's sorted it by building a stronger squad this season which so far has looked capable of competing both for Cups and League position.

In the pre-match thread at 7.19

I fancy Jimmy to score tonight.

Glad I was right.

I fancy Jimmy to score tonight.

People are saying this is a "must win" game but they are also proposing significant changes to the team, bringing in one or two relatively untried players.

Don't think that adds up & I suspect Martin will go with what he sees as his strongest side.

Is there a repeat of the match on afterwards or highlights?

Yes, on Sky Sports 2 at 10.30

yeh its not like kicking a flag at a chi...

erm

never mind

Almost spit my cornflakes out when I read this earlier today

Craig Gardner digs deep to keep Birmingham in with a shout for Europe

Premier League

Birmingham City 2

* Jerome 26,

* Gardner 51

Everton 2

* Anichebe 19,

* Yakubu 22

* Paul Doyle at St Andrew's

* guardian.co.uk, Monday 15 March 2010

Once, Birmingham City and Aston Villa could have joined forces to conquer Europe. That was what City officials proposed in 1955, when their club were invited to become the first English participants in European competition, but Villa rejected the idea. So Birmingham contested the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup by themselves, and over the next few seasons enjoyed successful campaigns on the continent – 50 years ago this month they became the first English club to play in a European final, losing in the Fairs Cup decider to Barcelona. This could be the season in which they finally secure a return – but that may entail leapfrogging the team in the last of England's Europa League places, one spot and two points above Birmingham: Aston Villa.

If Birmingham pull off that unlikely feat, it will partially be because, unlike in 1955, they have been reinforced by former Villa players. Liam Ridgewell has been a mainstay of their defence all season, Kevin Phillips has struck important goals, and against Everton another who once earned a living at Villa Park finally made a goal-scoring contribution. Craig Gardner's equaliser in the 52nd minute was his first goal for the club he supported as a child and since joining from their biggest rivals in January. "Anybody who has any doubt about him [because of his Villa connection] should realise now that he's a proud local Blues fan," said the manager Alex McLeish.

"He was ill before the game but he said he was OK. I knew when I signed him that he's got that heart and is the type of character that would play through injury and illness, but I still had to say 'you can't let us down here – if you're going to collapse after 20 minutes it's a problem'." Gardner played almost an hour, during which his dynamism, in addition to his goal, helped his side recover from two goals down and salvage a point that spared them losing ground to Villa, and prevented Everton from gaining any on either of them.

When Victor Anichebe and Aiyegbeni Yakubu struck twice within three minutes in the first half they not only gave Everton a seemingly commanding lead, but also became the first team September to score twice at St Andrews. They could have inflicted more damage but when Cameron Jerome cut the deficit by wafting a Keith Fahey cross into the net, Birmingham rallied. Gardner's subsequent equaliser was deserved. Gardner's form proved that Birmingham have greater depth than earlier in the season. In recent weeks that has enabled McLeish to practise rotation for the first time, a welcome option as players who excelled earlier in the campaign started to suffer from fatigue. McLeish still believes that the other clubs challenging for Europe have greater playing resources, though not superior mental ones."The other teams might have bigger squads than us and more experience and maybe more quality, but our players again showed terrific resilience," said McLeish. "They will never give up."

It seems like the Guardian have started copying their match reports out of "Keeprighton". It's shocking they can't afford proper reporters these days.

Last season Stoke took 4 points & Villa 1 from our two ties. We flipped that this season so I suppose that is progress. Doesn't sound like much of a perfromance though. We must now beat Wigan to get a bit of momentum.

After a lot of thought I voted for Ashley Young as MOTM. It may seem unfair to Carew, who absolutely destroyed Reading with his hat trick, But Young got the first goal and I really like the way he dived into the goal, picked up the ball and was back at the centre spot in a nanosecond with only a cursory handshake for anyone who happened to be passing. No showboating for him. He then proceeded to play superb football for about 20 minutes, absolutely shredding the Reading defence, and then stopped what looked like a certain Reading equaliser for 3-3 by heading it off his own line! It's fantastic to see Ashley coming back to such great form and, if we do progress in the FA Cup, a lot will be down to him

It's really important to win this in my view, both to kill the memory of that awful defeat last season and to help us stay with the 4th place-hunting pack.

I haven't got a clue if we can/will win it. It's very hard to call.

Our lack of firepower almost cost us again.

That remark does seem odd given we won 4-2, following on from results in earlier rounds of of 3-1, 2-2, 3-1 and 3-2. So an average of 3 goals per game.

I hadn't really thought of lack of firepower as being our main problem in this competition, or indeed in the League Cup.

WTF is with all this shit?!

We played poorly first half but the effort was there for all to see. Bottlers? hmm.... we weren;t playing well at all but like I say it wasn't because of effort whatsoever.

Doubting the manager? MON has got us to the final of the carling cup, the semi final of the FA (and still going) and challenging for a top 4 position... from where we were before he came I see no reason how anyone can doubt MON. We have got better every season.

Some people are getting on our players back far too easily too. We are doing so well at the moment then as soon as we play poorly well.... we are back to an average - below average team going nowhere with shit players and a shit manager.

If we had gone out of the tournament today I would be just as disappointed as anyone else but as long as the players gave there all i wouldn't have complained too much. Wouldn't have questionned the manager or the players... they can't get it right everytime. Look how far we have come. We can boast more than most teams about our tournaments this year.

JEEEEEZ some people need to get a grip.

(All purely imo of course)

:evil:

Thank you, this needed to be said.

I'll vote for this too. I was on a train for most of this match. When I got home I read through the match thread and became really angry at how a few posters slipped so easily and quickly into the usual thoughtless and ill-informed slagging off of the team and the manager.

Honestly guys, if the best you can manage when our team is struggling is to turn on them and start spraying around panicky and blame-ridden abuse, it might be better just to switch off.

This reminds me of the Sheff United defeat a few years back under DOL. Out battled and out played

The difference now is we have a proper manager and a proper team.So we can come back.

Just not good enough in my book........ it shouldn't have even been at the stage where we we 2 down against a struggling championship team.

Yes, 12 manic minutes got us the upper hand, but what happened then, once we had a goal lead? We sat bank again and encouraged Reading to take the game to us again, without offering much in way of reply.

Errr...except for scoring a fourth goal & putting the tie to bed. Maybe you had already switched off in your rage by that point?

There are just too many options in that poll!!

I wanted to try and cover all the angles, otherwise you end up with people moaning that their preference isn't an option etc......

Who'd have thought being thorough would back-fire on me!? :oops:

Even so, 8 people have ticked "none of the above"!

There's always one or two troublemakers...

There are just too many options in that poll!!

The thing that hurts most about yesterday is that Dunne put a foot wrong.

What a time to make your first major error for Villa! :cry:

Define "world class" and I can answer the question.