Max the Silent

Why does it always come down to "what are other teams going to do?" at this time of the season? I always get to the run-in and can't wait to find out what's going to happen, so I start looking at the remaining fixtures and try to figure it out in advance. There's a few reasons I shouldn't - for instance, it's a bit like reading the last chapter of a book first so I know what's going to happen. I don't do this because I don't want to ruin it. Also though, football is at its best when it's unpredictable, and this season (with Villa in particular) is really difficult to predict, thus making the exercise entirely pointless (no pun intended). I did it anyway, and am now the not-so-proud owner of a spreadsheet that shows Villa maintaining top flight status on goal difference above Sunderland in 18th, followed by Fulham and Cardiff respectively. Naturally I've assumed that, being that we can't beat Fulham (and have in fact gifted them 6 points in their inevitable relegation year), we will not pick up another point at all this season. That kind of drove it really - the question, "is it possible this year to survive on 34 points?". I think it is, sadly, although it assumes there will be no surprises from now on, an assumption that is stupid to make if nothing else. Note that I also assumed Norwich will beat Fulham this weekend, primarily because I don't like them at the moment. Having said that, if Norwich can't win, they're officially down looking at their final 4 games. Another assumption of course. Anyway, longwinded as it is, the point of this post was really a nostalgic one. As I said, I have done this once or twice before, but a few years ago I was trying to spreadsheet us into the top four under MON, and assuming that we could beat many teams in the process. Now it's flipped around, and I'm assuming we're not capable of picking up anything, yet hoping to still spreadsheet us into remaining in the Premier League next year. Depressing stuff. If we're going to do it by ourselves, our hopes rest on away fixtures at Palace and Swansea I'm afraid.

I'm wondering if Christian will consider changing that damned goal-scoring celebration of his now as well...

We'll just have to play any of our defenders up front - they always manage to lose players and find the space in our own box anyway. I don't care about Belgium's World Cup prospects - I only care right now about how we get enough points to be safe. We're not safe now by any means - and there's always one team that drops like a stone this time of year (remember when Birmingham went down? Happy days ). I'm also worried that "6 months" has been pulled from nowhere. It's already been mentioned that the Zog had this injury 9 months ago (?) and has missed the whole season - I just hope CB manages to recover more quickly than that. Removing football, relegation scraps and replacement strikers from the equation, get well soon Christian, we're all behind you pal. Despite our last overriding memory of you in action being that mis-kick from 3 yards out

I tried to pick a line up, but realised that I somehow have to choose between Clark and Baker.... option 3 is to field only 10 players, so that's where I'm veering towards right now. Either that or ask Lambert to play there himself - he clearly can't see how shocking we are defensively from the "technical" area, so maybe he'd get a better view of it standing next to Ron as they all let the opposition walk past them. As a bonus we could play Lerner in goal, so every time he picks the ball out of the net someone can give him an almighty kick up the arse. Predictions - as Fulham are almost as terrible as us, I think we could end up with a lucky 4-4 draw - a Mitroglou hat-trick of penalties and an own goal for them, with Westwood scoring twice direct from corners, Guzan direct from a goal kick, and one off Benteke's arse after another mis-kick for us. When we settle for that scoreline, we can bring on Tonev who will make sure the ball stays in the Upper Holte for the best part of the remainder of the match. Honest opinion - a win is the only acceptable outcome, but we won't get it.

That was a truly difficult game to watch, and a very difficult result to take. Clearly the scoreline didn't reflect the balance of the game, but obviously goals are the only factor that counts. Unfortunately to score goals you need to have strikers that can hit a barn door, and to prevent them you need defenders that have a modicum of awareness of their surroundings. We were severely lacking in both aspects today. On the positive side, we are able to reflect on a good performance from our midfielders, for the most part, which is rare as we normally bypass them completely. The other positive is that we don't have to play Manure again this season. Form has nothing to do with it - we have an intolerance to them; they clearly don't agree with our sensitive disposition.

When I read that there had been a shock at Villa Park, I thought we'd won.

Sickening. Reminds me of the Wigan game last year, funnily enough at a similar point in the season. Difference is there's a despondent hopelessness about it all this time around. If Lambert goes I wouldn't have any feelings either way. I know it's not the answer, but at least it would feel like someone cares enough to do something about it. Who could do better? I could. Brace yourselves people, relegation beckons. Villa 0 - 3 Swansea is my prediction for Saturday, with a managerless club playing against Sunderland midweek.

At least the youngsters will be able to concentrate properly after Father Christmas has been.

Negative: Everything. Summed up by the fact that Libor Kozak has come out as the best player in our team today. Positive: We have Crtstal Palace on Boxing Day Negative: Our Boxing Day form over the years is terrible. Positive: There are plenty of other terrible terrible teams in the Premier League this season. Negative: There are more fixtures in the Championship every season, so there'll be even more of this next season. Positive: It's Christmas in a few days (I'm scraping the barrel now...)

Great save. The beard was responsible.

Disappointing return of 1 point from 3 games in October, but in fairness Spurs & Everton are pushing top 4 year in year out. Looking at November fixtures it could define our season: West Ham (A), Cardiff (H), West Brom (A), Sunderland (H). On paper (I know) the harder games are away from home where we're better, so I personally will be disappointed with anything less that 12 points in November ;-) We were unlucky yesterday, and on another day (with a different referee or a sharper Benteke maybe) we would've won. Don't be downbeat about it.

Counter attacking is an effective weapon when you have some of the attributes this Villa team has - namely the pace of Gabby and Andi Weimann, and the hold-up ability of Benteke. The problem is, especially at home, you need teams to come at you, and the only way to do that is to score the first goal. I don't believe we've opened the scoring in any of our home games so far. When we're forced to attack, we play surprisingly well - which is why we seem to play so much better after we change tactics at half time. Like many people here, I think PL needs to consider going at teams from the off when we're at home, then maybe counter attacking when we have something to defend. Saying that, I'm happy overall with the start to the season, given the fixture list we've had. It will be interesting to see where we are at Christmas.

Hey fellow Villans, I live amongst a VERY small community of Villa supporters on the Isle of Wight. Brief explanation - I started enjoying football during the 1990 World Cup, and my best friend introduced me to Villa during the early '90s... say no more. Being that I'm not local to the Midlands, I consider myself to be a "glory hunter" - just not a very good one :-) Main thing is (in my opinion) that my support for Villa hasn't wavered over the years, despite David O'Leary's best efforts. Unfortunately I don't get up to VP often - my only visit last season was the game against Wigan... a day of my life I won't get back :-(. I consider myself to be fairly level headed, with a positive outlook that will help to counter any "Paul Lambert Out" opinions I hope. Thanks for your time - Max the Silent