Raver50032

I would tend to agree with that analysis - for a wet Monday night on Sky, I thought Sunderland brought a good representation. Though I thumbed my nose big style at DiNazio, I did feel for their supporters who watched a horror-show capitulation of their team on the pitch, knowing it was also on TV and having such a long drive home into the bargain. I was surprised this season how quiet the Liverpool fans were. They never really got out of first gear, even when winning.

The long and short of it is, though our collective relief at what Arsenal did for us last night - some things do need to change at the club to prevent a similar showing next term (or worse). It should be an exciting summer - let's hope the club/owner WILL deliver. Fortunately - though our challenge anywhere near the top of the table is most likely to be stifled for a long time to come, we still live in an age where anyone can get to a cup final and win a cup. Sadly, the last time my club won the FA Cup for example, I was not alive and TV was black and white. The second longest (if not longest) run of seasons without a major trophy in our history? By the time of the next FA/League cup final in this country, it will have been 18 years since our last major trophy success - so anyone born on the day we beat Leeds in the League Cup Final of 1996 will be legally allowed to drink alcohol. That really is a long time. Randy... Make it so.

Actually, now you put that spin on it Mantis, I tend to agree. It was a horrible month all round, but the extra 3 points that Wigan now have cannot be denied. I'd still like the opportunity to throw a rotten egg at Ricky Lambert.

Really? I thought it was a nice gesture to go over and shake his hand and hand Petrov his scarf. S*it... I got angry again for no reason... i didn't see that - I was still spitting feathers about the referee and the Fwankie Lam'ard situation. I think we might have been singing about Christian Benteke at the time and i got distracted. It don't make it right though... All I saw was some guy being wheeled away by several stewards. I'd apologise, but the guy still broke the ground regulations. I think Stan already had one scarf so it was a little self indulgent to actually go onto the pitch and give him another, if that is what happened. Chilling out now - readying myself for unbridled Villa passion tonight.

Mmmm, I think we can point to any number of games that could be 'blamed' on us resulting in relegation. My personal one, is being cheated by Ricky Lambert at home to Southampton. That was the match for me where my heart was in my mouth, incensed and paranoid. If we go down, it will be because we didn't get the result we needed at Wigan - where we always (pretty much) win.

I was more annoyed at the tw@ who invaded the pitch to try and get to Petrov when he was approaching the corner between Holte and Witton Lane. Never worked out if that was a scumbag Chelsea rocket polisher or one of our own...

It was pure karma for Terry to then get properly injured. You will find no sympathy from me for that rat's word removed.

Take care Captain Petrov... You provided one of the best highlights in recent Villa memory for me - that fabulous goal at Derby. I am sure you will always be welcome here.

Having been perusing a few of the threads on here lately, I have to say that it is not often that I agree with BJ10, but here I very much do. Rather than consider it to be just another opportunity to have a pop at our owner, there does appear to be more here than just antagonism. From what I have seen here, GMac has been asked a question, and felt confident enough to state that Lerner had no contact with him (at all) after the Arsenal and Liverpool games. Not even to say 'good win, well done lads' etc? That is odd in my book. Did Ellis not do that sort of thing when he was the owner? I know, horses for courses and all that, but still. Perhaps Talksport asked the wrong question - I don't know, I didn't hear it. I don't think GMac is the kind of guy to start spouting crap to make a scene either, so I am not convinced he said 'I had no contact' (or whatever) merely to cause trouble and make Lerner look a nob. I guess we will never know - but an interesting development BJ10. Thanks.

Fulham at home - will there be a silence or applause prior to the game for Margaret Thatcher? I looked in the 'off topic thread' relating to Margaret Thatcher and her recent death and only looked through the last half dozen or so pages and couldn't see any reference to it. I also checked the OS and upon a search for 'silence' or 'Thatcher' - I drew a blank. I am interested to understand if there is a planned period of silence or applause. For me, whilst I have respect for her with regard to the Falkands, there are other elements that I still feel anger and disappointment with - all for a forum topic away from here. As such, I would not support a silence or applause. Out of respect for the deceased, I wouldn't cause a scene etc. I would merely retreat under the Holte End until it was finished. Any news from the club on this matter? Anyone else have a constructive view on this?

smetrov - that is my fear as well... Trimmed for sale. And if not for sale, then certainly trimmed for everlasting mediocrity as a regressed selling club.

In terms of going forward, technical ability and potential, yes he's a better player. I honestly don't think he's been good enough as a defender this season though. That's not to say he can't improve or won't improve and become a much better defender than Hutton. < blockquote> >All it would have done, would have delayed the re-build for a s eason. Agreed. But then relegation won't help either. Like I said, lots of potential in the team but I think our poor defending is mainly down to players not performing well enough. Injuries and tactics have played their part as well though. It needs to improve next season that's for sure. Did you actually watch Hutton defending last year? He was the worst right back we ever had. so true the only enjoyment you got out of watching hutton was waiting for that horror tackle Not actually true - you forgot to add that apart from waiting for an inevitable 'horror tackle,' was also the strange coloured boots he seemed to 'model.' :-)

Been said a few times. I believe Richard even called for a knighthood. Yes - and to be fair, at this moment, it would be an achievement to keep this club in the Premier League given how things have spiralled over the last few years. A proper tailspin from top to bottom. It's not good enough. As a supporter of this club, I cannot accept that it is ever good enough that this club should be fighting relegation. But we have been, and we are. And it goes way above the playing staff alone and the manager. It's been allowed to happen. But that circular debate rages on in another thread. And back on topic, Lowton alone has provided two very good highlights to this season. I expect him to excell next season - assuming we don't get fingered by a big club in the summer.

that isnt actually true. they were better than us from setpieces but we had more clear cut chances over the 2 games. Benteke should have had 1st half hat-trick at Valley Parade I have to agree with you Zat. Their first goal was laden with a lot of luck. If that guy is really that good to be in the right place at the right time, he will be playing for us next season. A truly lucky break - the kind of which we needed to benefit from at the time to give us a boost, as fans and as a Club. We fluffed our chances, having worked very hard to create them at a time when we were in a confidence crisis. They scored more and deserved to go through on that statistic alone - not because we were outplayed. Of course, having 90% of the watching media and public cheering on the underdog didn't do us any favours. That kind of tsunami of support helped create the 'lowly Braford totally owned mighty Aston Villa, and over two legs' belief... That's how people will remember the tie... The very questionable parade of strikers hogging the 'D' in the closing 15 minutes at VP in the 2nd leg just meant we lacked any space creativity. They were all in the same place!!! That was the embarrassing thing. It was the roll of a dice, except it didn't roll with any numbers on it. Hindsight is great, but I would have preferred us to stick to the plan - we did actually have goals in us to go and win the tie. It just didn't happen. So, the Bantams had their day out at Wembley, which was nice for them... and they got stuffed. Just like we could have been if we had got past 'lowly Bradford.' Actually, it was great to see a reasonably high profile trophy final contested by anyone not in the Sky 5. Pretty one-sided affair, but a breath of fresh air. More next season please, just to prove we are not only in the business of football just to make up the numbers. Swansea have come a long way since I saw them in the old Division 4 (ish) at the Vetch Field getting 'turned over' in the FA Cup 1st Round by Nuneaton Borough. Happy days... As it happens, 'lowly Nuneaton Borough' beat the 'mighty swans' only on penalties in the replay at Nuneaton - but they'll always have that scalp from the 1993-94 competition. They took the 'mighty Bournemouth' to a replay at Nuneaton in the 2nd round too... Anyway, back on topic... Keep up the excellent work (lately) Paul... I loved the outcome on Saturday, the special goal and the confusion prior to kick off about who was playing and why...

Still Playing - Cahill Bouma (I'm sure he is still playing) Milner (Ashley Young can do one - diving little fekker) From days past - The McGrath I Taylor (Sir) D (Fat) Platt Unlucky - A Townsend Yorkie Ugo Rambo Spink

Ghost, I did request from Admin on Friday that this thread be locked.

He's come a long way since that night in Vienna when he got injured and sprayed in the face by a water bottle from his previous Club's fans...

LOL - I was there for that game at Spurs... We were 3-0 up after about 15 minutes (Graham Fenton - what ever happened to him?). Spurs came back through Sheringham and Klinsmann to make it 3-3 going into added time. I was packing my program and other bits into my bag and the Villa fans erupted all round me. As such, I technically missed Deano's winner... Fabulous game. It was an amazing game for sure. Think Jim Barrow was our caretaker manager on the day and was it not Gerry Francis first game in charge for spurs or his last? Sorry Alzheimer's Yes, HDE had just sacked Big Ron following a horror show result against the Dons down at Selhurst. Later on, there was the first ever National Lottery draw. About a year later, I went away with Brian Little's army to Upton Park where we registered a vintage 4-1 win. That was an awesome display... I will always remember Super Tommy Johnson's face when he scored... cheeky chappy... He **** loved it... Almost as much as we did...

LOL - I was there for that game at Spurs... We were 3-0 up after about 15 minutes (Graham Fenton - what ever happened to him?). Spurs came back through Sheringham and Klinsmann to make it 3-3 going into added time. I was packing my program and other bits into my bag and the Villa fans erupted all round me. As such, I technically missed Deano's winner... Fabulous game.

No he hasnt Yes he has He wasn't even shocking on Saturday. He made a bad pass that led to a goal, there were plenty of other mistakes by other players in that goal too. He then went on to play well and his contribution to Andi's goal was excellent. It seems when a player starts badly they get judged very quickly and labelled a joke or shit. This label becomes a regular joke on forums & pubs and the players overall performance is ignored & anything poor is magnified. Its ridiculous to say he has been shocking in every game. Well said Houlston. I'm not JB's biggest fan by any means, but I think he went on to have a 'decent' game after coming on and instantly costing us a goal. That can happen to any player not getting instantly into the pace of the match. And did you see Joe's head go down when Jenas finally did score? That mistake could have crippled him mentally for the rest of the game - but to be fair to him, he dug in and contributed excellently for Weiman's goal. A real mixed bag from the conundrum that is Joe Bennett. Stick with it son.

He did a great job against QPR on Saturday and thoroughly deserved his MOTM award. He showed fantastic commitment when chasing the ball that seemed to be going out, only to majestically jink it back towards towards Benteke (taking the defender with him) to score. Fabulous football. Job well done AW.

I don't necessarily disagree with everything else you posted, but I absolutely disagree with this. We hammered Swansea at Villa Park. It's our best performance of the season. That's fine Stevo... I can only post how I remember that game. It was for me invigorating, a big relief after losing to WHU and Everton previously. I remember feeling as though I had been entertained and finally getting value for money from a Villa game. That said, I can't help feeling as though Swansea had more than their fair share of chances too... they just didn't take them. Hence why I don't recall actually outplaying them. If I was going to watch (endure) any single one of our games this season again, that would be the one I would pick. I agree, it is up there with our best of best performances...

Actually, we were poor at home against Reading - I got slated on here IIRC for saying our performance was 'dog shit.' I still think it was, and we somehow managed to win the game. So that was great. We didn't outplay Liverpool at Anfield. I grant you, I wasn't at the game, but the post match stats indicated that we endured a lot of pressure from Liverpool, and I seem to remember MOTD effectively saying we rode our luck and could have been 3-goals down early doors. The same could have been said against Swansea away, where I got the impression we were actually quite lucky to not be out of the game by a country mile before we got our lead. We certainly didn't outplay Swansea at Villa Park. We just took our chances. It was a great game, and looking back, it felt like end to end stuff. We were in the game at Stamford Bridge for about ninety seconds, totally outplayed by Spurs and Wigan at home in the space of a week and capitulated in the League Cup Semi. And I'm a Lambert supporter. We haven't outplayed anybody I don't think... Maybe Tranmere. But we don't have the quality, some of that is Paul's fault... and some of it (the lion's share IMO) is the fault of the owner/custodian. That circular debate rumbles on... FWIW - Mcliesh was a con artist. He wrote to me (his name at the bottom of the letter I got anyway ftw), specifically telling me it was all rubbish and lies that he set teams up to play shit, negative football. Well, you could have fooled me Alec. Your team here was negative from day one. Houllier was as big a risk, with his obvious health concerns and the fact that we were made to wait for him before he took up formal duty. Same mistake Toon made when they appointed Joe Kinnear. A health scare just waiting to happen. Up the Villa - let's do QPR.

fantastic. The thing is you said we are partially responsible for the decline and I'm afraid your point that "whilst there's a team called Villa etc etc" misses the point about football today. It's no longer about 50000 turning up to watch shirts hanging on a line. Hasn't been for a while. It's about giving people a product and we haven't given a product for a few seasons now. Your issue is not with fans of this club. Your issue is with modern football. That's bull, the only reason its turned that way is because the fans have let it happen. I'm with Richard on this and my views are well aired on this forum. Fair play if you think it is bull... and you are right to a point... bit of both I think... It's consumerism in it's purest form. Fuelled by Sky and big sponsorship and rich club owners... Footballers are not role models any more either - even museum quality Beckham (allegedly) and Giggs are love rats. Have balls, will root. But I'm not paying PL prices, or Championship prices to watch a team... a club, just making up the numbers. Life's too short. It really is, and we all have a lot of other things we can spend on. I certainly do. If Randy can't make us competetive again, he should sell to someone who can. Otherwise, we're just pissing 450+ quid on season tickets out of habit, just making up the numbers. That really would be fans making it happen I guess... Being prepared to just go through the motions, just like their club. Where does it end and what is the point? It comes back to blind love and 'supporters/customers' (whatever) being better than the next one. That's if you have the money for a ticket and a shirt, and a pie, and program, and a pen, and a bike, and a keyring and a DVD and a bar of chocolate... oh, and a pair of shorts and socks... and that's just for the adult. Hmmm, on reflection I guess it sounds like 'spoiled brat' syndrome... That's the world we live in now. When the Premier League first started in August 1992, there were a lot of teams in that division, including us, including Norwich even, who had a chance of winning it. Even Leeds were in with shout as defending champions, along with perenniel success stories like Arsenal and Liverpool. Chelsea and Man City were around, but showing little of their future money-bags. With changing goal posts, Villa have missed the boat to keep up. Those times we finished 2nd and 4th not being deemed good enough at the time to qualify for the Champions League. Our league is fast becoming a Scottish Premier League, albeit with more teams in it. The top two smell as if they are going to be there until I die, then it's a 'fascinating' battle for 3rd and 4th... and an even more 'exciting' relegation conundrum... We had a go at it and got 6th position thrice in three years. Not building on it and throwing opportunities away - Rapid Vienna (twice), CSKA Moscow (Sonic's game) and of course being 3rd and nine points clear of Arsenal only to get to March and end up 6th!!!! Spectopular failure... and yes, that is a word I picked up watching TV with my daughter. Two Wembley capitulations, but nice days out... Now we appear to be bust again. Maybe that's Villa to a tee. Say what you like, the way things are right now and the behaviours I interpret from the club, seriously, there's more chance of us playing in League 1 in five years than there is of us qualifying for Europe. I've been criticised in the past for being a 'half empty' type of person. Maybe I am... But I've turned my back on England (pissed their 'golden generation' away, believing their own hype) and my world certainly didn't stop to watch Man U versus Real. I couldn't have cared less what happened. I heard that there was some controversial 'sending off incident...' Was Phil Dowd reffing? I'm out of love with the game, simples. No Mojo... If the fans made it happen, it may be the fans that turn it back again. Need the financial bubble to burst first. But right now, meh...

Not sure what it is with me Cig... but I read every one of your posts with the voice of Monkey in my head!!!