VillaFaninLondon

I'm not denying City have done well - and they've had De Bruyne out for most of the season, undoubtedly their best player. Mendy has also missed most of it too after a promising start. But when you have got the squad they have got from being able to spend vast sums of money on every position in your squad, injuries can easily be dealt with. I guess nothing surprises me with City which is why I struggle to give them the kudos others do. They've enticed arguably the world's best manager with a blank chequebook. Their financial firepower is far greater than everyone else in the league. Only United have anywhere near the net spend City do over the last three years which is why their predicament is shambolic. It was inevitable that at some point with City's finances they would be the dominant force of the PL and win title after title after title - I guess we are finally seeing that potential now and they'll probably dominate for the next decade unless something drastic happens with one of the other clubs.

That's a bit of a weird way to look at it. If they'd won every game 10-0 and got a perfect record with a +380 goal difference you would be saying they hand't exceeded expectations because they were expected to win the league? I think there is some jealousy there from my side that City have come from where they have and are now one of the greatest club sides ever, certainly in the PL era. Of course I wish that had happened to us and sometimes wonder why we had to be bought by Lerner who absolutely ruined the club and they got bought by Sheikh Mansour who has made them an absolute superclub in the space of 10 years. But equally, my point is fair. Most pundits at the start of the season expected City to win the league again under Pep. I don't think anyone expected Liverpool to do what they have and get 97 points - so as much as I'm glad they didn't win the league given the arrogance of their fans, I think Liverpool deserve the most credit for keeping this title race interesting.

To get 198 points over two seasons is incredible but everyone expected City to win the title so when someone said that they've exceeded expectations they were talking rubbish. Liverpool mightily unlucky to get 97 points and come second, though we'd never hear the end of it if they did win so thankfully they didn't.

Said Hourihane should start and that game kinda shows why he should have. Whelan has done well of late and we all make mistakes, but it was a howler for their goal. I'd expect to see Conor start over him on Tuesday. Green in for Adomah too, he showed far more when he came on. Hopefully we can do what we need to and get to Wembley. UTV

When we played Leeds in December Alioski absolutely tore Taylor to shreds, like I said we are playing better teams now so we should just pick the best players. Hause is much better the left back and offers more at set pieces as well. Not Taylor's biggest fan but he didn't even play that game - Hutton played left back and was awful. Elmo also had a bad game but has improved a lot since. Pretty much agree with DDIG's team except I'd have Hourihane over Whelan purely because I think we should go for it and Hourihane is always a goal threat. But wouldn't complain too much if Whelan started given his ability to build attacks from the back.

Battered us twice! A lucky late winner at VP and a draw at Elland Road can't be construed as two batterings. Give your head a wobble! Maybe battered is a bit extreme, but in the league games against Derby we have won 3-0 and 4-0 and comprehensively outplayed them in both. So I'd rather we play them. Leeds press, they're dirty, and they keep the ball well. Even when they were in dire form and we were in good form, we had to defend heroically at Elland Road to get a point, even though we shouldn't have been down to 10. I'm not saying we can't beat Leeds in the final, but for me personally I'd be more optimistic if we played Derby. We have to get past West Brom first anyway, there'll probably be lots of goals and I'm hoping we get through. We were the better side in both the league games this season and would have won the away game but for blatant cheating for their goal, so hopefully justice is done in the playoffs.

No way we should play Jedinak in either leg - he's done a job this season but is a cart horse and ruins our general play if he plays. If we play a DM we have to play Whelan, but I think Hourihane, McGinn, Grealish is still our strongest midfield albeit one that doesn't protect the defence so well. It's a shame we don't have someone like Kalvin Phillips who looks excellent at this level in that role. Regardless of which division we're in next season, I think a young holding midfielder should be a priority signing in the summer. If we get past West Brom, which I think is 50/50 and could go either way, then of course would much rather Derby than Leeds in the final. Leeds have battered us twice this season and we can't seem to hold possession against them - though having said that very few teams can get the ball off Leeds. The only thing you could say is that Leeds may be psychologically scarred from finishing third, aren't in great form, and miss lots of chances. I'd still much rather play Derby though who we have completely outplayed twice this season and have a 7-0 aggregate lead over.

Last two performances for me have been a bit concerning, we've conceded roughly 50 shots in two games. Obviously we need to put into context we played a weakened team against Norwich and were down to 10 for the last 20 mins against Leeds, but hopefully the freshening up of the team against Norwich means they'll go all guns blazing against Albion whilst staying tight defensively. Albion are very good on the counter attack, so we need to be wary of that as I'm sure we'll be the dominant team in the home leg. Jack and John will be crucial and key to opening them up. Team I'd go for: ....................................Steer...................................... Elmo............Tuanzebe............Mings............Taylor .......Hourihane..........Grealish...........McGinn......... Adomah.....................................................El Ghazi ....................................Tammy................................ Potentially subbing out Adomah for Kodj, but he concerns with his lack of tracking back. Green could potentially also play over Adomah, and Hause over Taylor, so some good options. Hopefully Chester makes the bench.

The Championship's been fun, but a club like ours should be in the Prem. No offence to any of them, but when the likes of Bournemouth, Watford, Brighton and Burnley are in the league above Villa you have to wonder how we stooped so low. It's a great league to be a part of, but now is the time to get back to the Prem. I believe our current owners are ambitious enough to make us competitive if we go up. And if you look at what Wolves have achieved this season, it's very possible to win promotion and compete against the top sides. Hopefully we can do it and get ourselves back there.

Well if they do play their strongest team our fringe players who do get the nod will need to put in a shift to get a result. I don't care too much about the result, but worry a defeat might throw us off a bit. So a draw will do just fine.

I'd probably play Tammy if he's fit, or at least have him on the bench. Rest Jack, McGinn and possibly Mings and El Ghazi. Would quite like to see Chester play if he's available and also Kalinic seeing as we paid £7mil for him. Hause should be back as well so maybe give Taylor a rest and see how Hause does at left back. Would have a strong bench just in case - ideally we'd at least draw this game so as not to halt any momentum we have. Just give McGinn the whole match off. Difficult to say how Norwich will play as they're already promoted, but they'll want to finish 1st and need a point to do so. So I imagine they'll play a reasonably strong team and give a rest to a few as well.

Sanchez had one of tbe great footballing cameos last night. 1 touch in 15 minutes Granted he got a 100% pass accuracy He has been an absolutely woeful signing for them. He's on about 500k a week as well. Hard to believe he's only 30. He looked world class only a couple of years ago when he was carrying Arsenal.

Davis does have end product, he showed it at times last season 2 goals in about 30 appearances, and he's the same age as Tammy. Nowhere near enough goals in him. Davis does have some decent attributes, but strikers should first and foremost score goals and he just doesn't do that.

Exactly, Tuanzebe has literally just come back from injury FFS - absolutely cracking player as well. Pray that he and Tammy are gonna be ok

Hope Tammy is ok. Davis is good at holding the ball up and I kinda like him but we’ll be ****ed if we’re relying on him during playoffs - nowhere near prolific enough. He’d prob have to put Kodjia in

Why do we always get injuries FFS

Get in Super Jack. And scored with his head!

No complacency today - we need to turn up fully motivated and get this game won. We need to treat this game like we would treat the Leeds and Norwich games and put Bolton to the sword, even though I do have some sympathy for their plight. Would go with this team today: ....................................Steer...................................... Elmo............Tuanzebe............Mings............Taylor ..................................Hourihane............................... ..................McGinn.....................Grealish................ Adomah.....................................................El Ghazi ....................................Tammy................................. Fingers crossed McGinn doesn't get booked.

No **** way. All that matters to me is furthering our own goals. Obviously if we're 4-0 up with 20 minutes to go it's worth giving key players a rest, but we need to make sure our goal difference is as high as possible. I don't mean in terms of the game itself - I obviously want us to win and if we thrash them so much the better if it helps us. I just mean we should be respectful to their fans if they go down - it can't be nice to go through what they're going through, we've been through the embarrassment ourselves when we down from the Prem.

Obviously we need to focus on our own game and picking up the win, but I really feel for Bolton and their fans right now. Hope we go there, get the job done, but also keep it respectful if we send them down. We need McGinn for the playoffs 100%, so Smith has to manage that intelligently. If it means having him on the bench for the next couple of games, I don't know, but either that or he has to be reined in a bit.

Definitely would not have Benteke back. Should be scoring a hatful in that Palace side playing alongside the likes of Zaha and Batshuayi etc but his goalscoring in the last two years has been truly terrible - 3 goals. It would be very difficult to try to revive a player that is in his late 20s and who relies far too much on confidence. I look at Tammy, and even when he misses a penalty against he still has the gall to step up and take one against Bristol. That suggests to me he has a lot of belief in his own ability, unlike Benteke. I also think Tammy has a lot more of an all-round game than Benteke, who struck me as quite physical and reliant on a lot of balls into the box. Not gonna deny he was brilliant in his heyday for us and one of the few very good signings under Lambert, but we had an absolutely shocking team at that time. He was about the only decent player in it along with Delph and Vlaar. You can see why he left as he knew the only way was downwards for Villa with no investment, but moving away has hardly been a success for him.

Is that Compatable? Yes sorry - I meant in terms of results our best period. As you say 6th, 6th, 6th is certainly good and we'd all take that again - though put in context Man City were not the club they are now, Spurs also, and Liverpool and Arsenal were hot and cold. And as mentioned the football was pretty dour, there was very little one-touch silky football, most of it was knock the ball over the top and play on the counter. The signings in particular were hugely lacking in ambition considering we were spending a fair amount when Lerner first came in. Meanwhile Spurs were signing the likes of Modric and Bale. Anyway, the past is the past and O'Neill is in the past now. Smith looks far more capable of giving us sustained success and hopefully he can take us back to the Prem.

To be fair it does annoy me somewhat when people say we were moaning when we pushing for CL under MON. Like we didn't have any right to be there and should have just idly backed whatever MON did. Since then MON has gone on to do nothing of any note, he failed with Sunderland, Ireland and he is now failing at Forest. Shows that as a manager he was actually not anywhere near as good as the media were making him out to be. We had our best period of recent times under MON, this is true, but I still think he deserved a lot of criticism and left us in a terrible state. The football was dour a lot of the time, when he left we only had about three or four saleable assets which once they left meant we were on a hiding to nothing, he put very average players on big fat wages and never played them, and he failed to build a talented squad capable of competing on multiple fronts. You look at how we are under Smith and his modern way of thinking and playing the game and you realise just how backward Martin O'Neill actually was.

Was a great win yesterday without Jack and Mings, two key players for us. When I saw the team sheet I worried when Grealish wasn't there, but we absolutely dominated Bristol for the whole game. Noticed that their fans really don't like us and how they're moaning about yesterday. Tbh it's pathetic what they've come out with, saying the ground is **** and the surrounding areas. Maybe they should go to Liverpool or Tottenham and see the surrounding areas there, maybe we should stick them in the Championship for that reason according to their logic. And to say Villa Park has no atmosphere is absolute dogshite, the Holte End is always in full voice and our away following along with Leeds is the best in the Championship. Very, very bitter club. Just let them get on with it. As they wish ill on us, I hope they lose out on the playoffs and Derby beat them to it. At least their fans are respectful and they actually have some quality players unlike Brizzle.

Thoroughly deserved to win manager of the month. Let's keep winning and maybe he'll win two manager of the months in succession I have to say I had my doubts about Dean when we were on that terrible run, but I always felt he was the best appointment for us and he's clearly got Villa in his blood. I love his positive style of play and he's got us playing some of our best football since the 90s under Ron Atkinson and Brian Little, albeit in the Championship and not the Prem.