srsmithusa

Oh, and what was the point buying Stevens, but not giving his debut at one of the best possible moments of the season? He isn't even on the bench.

You can just tell McLeish is desperate not to lose this because of the pressure under the fans. That's why he was always a bad appointment. Dumb mentally sick board.

Or, another way to say the same thing... the constant negativity, pessimism, and sniping of a number of fans that are never happy no matter what happens is having a negative impact on the club both on and off the pitch... as some of us have been warning for some time.

A loss might get Lerner thinking of a McGash exit strategy

I suppose it's OK on this forum if I prefer that Aston Villa win?

Hey gang, remember at Chelsea when Drogba straddled Warnock while he was laying on the ground and whipped him like a horse that had been run to ground? Dyer is doing the same thing, only it's not a joke this time.

bit of a mistake playing gabby on the right instead of marc imo.

other than that the team is fine, but id just have done a straight swap of gabby out, benty in and left the midfield balance as it was

Respectfully disagree. Gabby does a lot of work off the ball that Bent does not or cannot. Don't think the Chelsea alignment would work with Bent in place of Gabby.

I predicted a win. Glad to see some of the chronic purveyors of negativity give credit where it's due. It helps remind me that you love the club, you're just mad at current problems and think that getting rid of some club employee(s) are the only way forward. I disagree with you, but like being reminded that you want AVFC success.

Very encouraging day today. I watched on my computer "live". The game plays on delay in the states, so I recorded it and will watch again later.

A few comments on Halsey, the Laws of the Game, and other posts on this thread.

Offside - The poster who thought it was offside is technically correct that it doesn't matter if the player is behind the teammate that gets the last touch. It's critical whether the player is behind the ball. However, almost always the teammate with the last touch is behind the ball (as was the case today). So, if Bent was behind Ireland, he was also behind the ball, and therefore, onside.

PK - What was Dunne thinking?

PK - Most referees would give the one on terry against Bent, it's psychologically easy to give matching PK's.

Foul by Petrov first half. Not a foul. He placed himself strategically between the ball and the opponent. really poor call.

Handball by Terry. If you stop the play and give the foul, you can give the Send off and PK, but if you let play continue you cannot give the foul. You can't go back and caution because that would mean you played advantage through the handball, but by FA board decision there is no advantage greater than a pk. So, Halsey had two choices. Red card and PK or wait and see...if goal goes in, ignore the handball by interpreting it as not deliberate. Some would rather have the red and PK, but there's a good argument to just keep the goal. I'm OK with Halsey going either way on this one. But if he allows the goal, he can't then come back and send off or caution Terry for a foul that, if it occurred, would have stopped play before the goal was scored.

The most obvious display of a lack of neutrality was a small matter after Halsey did a terribly stupid thing and gave a throw in when the ball had not gone out. Two possible courses. If there was no whistle, then you could give a free kick to Chelsea because the AVFC player handled the ball to take the throw in. But since Halsey gave a drop ball, I assume he had incorrectly given a whistle for the throw in. But he dropped the ball to a chelsea player. Now, there is no law that says you have to drop a ball between two equidistant and aware opponents, it's legal to drop the ball for a GK to pick up for example. But when there is a 50/50 call or referee error, it's pretty clear bias to drop it for only one team to play.

Good management with Ireland IMO. he will have had his bollocking this week for that pic, maybe it AM saying right, your in today show me and the fans your not a word removed .

Last chance saloon.

Most insightful post I've seen in months. :notworthy:

Guzan

Hutton, Cuellar, Dunne, Warnock

Albrighton, Petrov, Clark, N'Zogbia

Bent, Agbonlahor

ugly, scrappy, 2-1 win for villa

once again, all those that would like to apologize about guzan, go ahead, you'll feel better.

Finally !

Whitehead and Palacios should be in criminal court.

nice run gabby, nice touch delf.

Everybody that hates on heskey and wants him out got your wish. In this match, I thought he had actually done well.

We had more shots on goal than our opponents in the first half !!!!

OK, everyone that said Guzan never comes off his line to take care of danger should post your apologies now.

I think clattenberg saw my prediction and decided to give no more cards no matter stoke do !! should have been three (two on Palacios) and one off the ball since my post

Stoke thugs.

Thats a bit hypocritical

Or redundant

Palacios not carded for that?

Gabby takes out clattenberg !!!

I predict at least 2 more cautions to stoke. Also expect they will give up a penalty.

Clark with 2 very nice touches to find teammates. the first very nice through ball to heskey.

2 corners conceded - no goals conceded !

1 corner without a goal !!!!!!!

If Bent is injured and heskey and gabby are both in front with a 4-4-2 then I'm actually OK with this line-up. If we are trying to match stoke's one dimensional attack with a one dimensional defense then I think it's a very bad idea. we'll know better in about 30 minutes.

with the assumption that Herd is out injured... I would start

Guzan

Cuellar, Clark, Dunne, Warnock

Albrighton, Gardner, Petrov, nZogbia

Bent, Agbonlahor

Attack with speed and aggression.

....When you get fouled in the box, it is only a foul if the player being impeded still has the ball under control. Look up the rules if you don't believe me. Now watch the incident again and tell me Walcott still has the ball under control? He quite clearly kicks it too far in front of himself in the box, and therefore Clark's subsequent raised arm, in the rules of the game, is irrelevant. It was never a penalty, despite the petty insults you throw at me. I've backed my argument up with facts, thanks.

.....

I didn't see the foul, joined the match late, I've agreed with several of your other points, but on the laws of the game, you're wrong. Makes no difference if a player has control in determining a foul or PK. If a member of the defending team commits a penal foul (normally warranting a DFK) against an opponent in the defending penalty area the correct restart is a PK. Makes no difference where the ball is. The only exception is if the ball is not in play at the time the offense is committed. You could argue that the ball must be playable to award a red card for DOGSO, but has nothing to do with a PK. If guzan in his own penarly area punched van persie in the mouth right before albrighton scored at the other end, the correct restart would have been a PK to arsenal. Regardless of the position of the ball, as long as the ball was in play.

Not saying it was or wasn't a penalty... didn't see it... but your point of law is not accurate.