MadridVilla

It is absolutely staggering that the most in-form English midfielder in October doesn't get an England call-up, especially as it seems it's not injury related. Of course competition is tough, and if he is to play out wide there's little chance he would get past the likes of Sterling, Sancho or Maddison. But I would still expect Southgate to find room in the squad given his unbelievable recent form. The man's in the WhoScored European team of the month, and doesn't get a call up for a European qualifier. I am beginning to wonder if Southgate is trying to play to the crowd by not picking him. He will know that Grealish is almost universally hated by fans of other teams and doesn't want the backlash by picking him. Perhaps he feels he cannot yet trust Grealish to win the rest of the country's support. It's wild speculation, but possible. On a side note, it's not just Grealish's non-inclusion that is ridiculous - Jack O'Connell has kept 5 clean sheets and only conceded 8 goals for Sheffield United, the lowest in the league - and he's nowhere near the squad. Meanwhile Joe Gomez gets a call up having played 96 minutes of league football this season. Unbelievable just doesn't cut it.

And also because stoppage time is longer than 1 minute. Of course you're more likely to score in stoppage time if it lasts 5 minutes compared to, say, the 55th minute which is only a minute long. The other factors you mentioned are just as valid, but it's a statistic you can't read too much into imo. The issue still remains with late goals in games - whether it is fatigue, loss of concentration, poor substitutions or poor tactics it's a mistake we've made several times already this season and lost a lot of points because of it. I wonder now whether it is becoming a mental block for the players too because it is happening so often to us.

Dean Smith isn't responsible if someone doesn't track their man - the equaliser was because El Ghazi didn't follow Robertson, and the winner because Kodjia (I think) didn't follow Mane. There's only so much a manager can do.

On another note, Liverpool have that champions quality to them, that is, winning a game in which they were poor and arguably second best. If they do become champions this year, we can be proud with our performance. Games like today don't win or lose survival. If we want to right these wrongs then we will have to do it next season with an even stronger team. Don't let the result make you forget how brilliant we were to watch today - competing with the European champions and league leaders is not something I thought this side was capable of, and they've surprised me in a good way today. Keep the faith VT. UTV

No shame in losing, but to lose like that is beyond gut-wrenching.

Brilliant half of football, both teams right in the game. Refereeing has been absolutely awful, and VAR is shite. Yes decisions have gone in our favour, but they're still wrong. VAR should not be intervening if the lines are touching imo - the system is nowhere near precise enough to make those decisions and regardless it gives players a negligible advantage anyway. The Trez goal and the Firmino non-goal was literally drawn onside and offside within a tiny move of the mouse they're using before they decided on it - it's ridiculous. Mane non-penalty was the right call, although there was contact he definitely simulated the extent of it. Patiently awaiting the real Liverpool to please stand up - they've been all over the place considering their normal self, but still look dangerous when Villa get out of shape.

Villa have been fantastic, buzzing around the pitch and making tackles everywhere. They're incredibly prone to losing their shape however.

Game plan is clearly 11 men behind the ball, strangle the game. Have to just wait and see how long before Liverpool break through, if at all.

I was optimistic until I remembered VAR exists solely for Liverpool, and shafts Villa at any given chance. 0-3

I would go for a strong team tonight - it really doesn’t matter who we play on the weekend against Liverpool because we won’t be winning that one in reality. Doesn’t matter who is in their team or how strong they decide to go - the stronger our team the more likely we are to win. Then we would only be a couple of games away from a cup final and a shot at our first prestigious silverware since the Cup of Traditions.

We all realise just how good Grealish is for Villa, but it's only when watching other teams you truly appreciate how good he is relative to others. I've been watching a lot of Atletico Madrid this season and it is noticeable just how much their midfield is crying out for a player of Grealish's skill and ability. All the qualities that Grealish brings - fantastic passing, dribbling and bringing in other players - were missing last night from the Atleti midfield, even though they have some big names in their midfield like Koke and Saúl. Right now he would not look out of place in a lot of Champions League sides and that is something we cannot take for granted. I think there was a media piece in the week saying that Villa have to keep up with Grealish's ability and to some extent that is true, though obviously there are the other factors like Grealish being the captain, a boyhood fan, and owners who won't cash in on their best players that would stop him moving away. We should all just appreciate how fantastic it is that our club has been blessed with a gem from the academy, because there are a lot of top clubs who would love to have a player like him.

I would start Luiz over Hourihane myself. I'm a big fan of Conor but Luiz is a better passer of the ball - he has the highest pass completion percentage of the Villa midfield this season at 87.3% according to WhoScored. He also shares Conor's ability of being able to create goals out of nothing. Not only that but there's the intangibles of playing against his old club, he will certainly have a point to prove to Border Force for not giving him a work permit to play there! In all seriousness, debating whether to start Conor or Luiz is just rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic - we still don't stand much of a chance of winning regardless of who starts. But it's nice to pretend these decisions will win or lose the game, I suppose...

That is a hell of a story. Sadly the opposite happened to me during the Arsenal game - took off with 10 minutes to go leading 2-1, landed 2 hours later having lost 3-2!

Hilarious quote from the Brighton forum: "Villa were terrible but will stay up as they have the refs and premier league in their pocket. They are a more marketable team you see." Of course we have the refs in our pocket, especially Kevin Friend. It's all part of the PL conspiracy to only keep teams in the league who are marketable, as opposed to a more fair system of, I don't know, points for winning games? In fact, Hourihane's disallowed goal was specifically to set up that last minute winner - it's more marketable that way

My stream cut out right up until just before Targett took the shot - I thought Keinan was going to tap in the winner...

That is a huge 3 points. Thought we struggled to break them down when they sat back, even when they had 10 men we just seem unable to cope with breaking down teams who sit back which is a little worrying because that does make us quite easy to play against. We were incredibly wasteful with the ball in the second half - thankfully we just managed to score the one goal we needed, but really we should have won that comfortably on another day. Grealish was absolutely phenomenal, probably his best game of the season so far. He HAS to be very close to an England call-up. I thought during the game that there really aren't many English players who play in the same style as Grealish (if any), so I'm sure by the end of the season he will be in that squad for the Euros. Weekly shoutout to VAR for being comically bad - how Hourihane's goal was ruled out I have no idea. Wesley puts a hand on the keeper's shoulder - surely that is not a clear and obvious mistake to not give that as a foul? This supposed 'high bar' for intervention seems to collapse to the floor against Villa. I think the end of season awards may need a 'Best Disallowed Goal' award to complement the usual goal of the season trophy Much to work on in the week - but given that Villa particularly struggled when teams have sat back, I think that playing against teams coming at them like City and Liverpool may well make it easier for Villa to find the space to be creative. UTV

**** off, none of you are welcome at the Villa. These players and their families have sacrificed a huge amount to reach the level they are at today, particularly Nakamba who no doubt did not have a smooth route into the Premier League coming from a country that has suffered a lot of hardships over time. And after all those sacrifices and your own 'fans' call you a slave. God, it's infuriating just knowing we have to stand with these lot every week. Hopefully the club takes action about this, and shame on them if they sweep it under the carpet. I know people at the club read these forums to gauge fan's opinions from time to time so they should be aware of this. If they don't take action then other fans must intervene. Season bans and some proper history lessons has to be a minimum punishment. We shouldn't be afraid to call out this behaviour because it makes us 'look bad' as a club - what makes us look bad is allowing it to happen. And on a side note for all those who don't understand how this is racist, think it's too PC etc - give your head a wobble.

Wow! What a fantastic game that was, I don't think many would have predicted that one... I don't care how awful Norwich were, the performance from Villa was superb and they executed the game plan perfectly. The confidence they can take from that is absolutely massive. The best thing was that even at 5-0 the players were still chasing down looking for another goal. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the Dean Smith way. Finally we got to see it today.

Huge, huge chance for 3 points here, but I just can't see us outscoring them. We don't have the goals in the team to outscore many teams, unless we manage to keep a clean sheet. If we do win, it will have to be a classic smash and grab 1-0 I think. A draw is more likely, I would say 1-1. I would imagine that Norwich would score at least once at home, even with their injury problems. I would love to be wrong and see a Villa side, furious from a string of poor decisions and performances warranting more points, tear into an unsuspecting Norwich side and win comfortably, proving to everyone just what they're capable of - but I won't be holding my breath.

I think the realisation is dawning for a lot of people, myself included, that this team just somehow is not good enough to be winning football matches. It's frustrating because the football is easy on the eye and we do look good in spells, so it's obvious that they do have the ability to do it, but they just cannot keep it going for 90 minutes. Coupled with a string of bad refereeing calls over the season, becoming tired and sloppy towards the end of games and a striker who is a serious downgrade from Abraham and you have a team who look set for relegation. I think it will hurt less if I assume that's the case now, and if we stay up then it's a bonus. Not even going to the Madrid derby cheered me up, as it was another frustrating draw. Can't seem to catch a break today...

I believe the second row of floodlights on the Holte and North stand were added at the start of the 15/16 season because of new PL rules for a minimum brightness level for TV viewers, but it's possible that they have upgraded the lights since then as well.

It's a good chance for Smith to try something different, a free hit and hopefully we give some other players a game. It would be nice to win it but in reality the cup will not be the priority of the club at the moment as we're sat in the bottom 3. Perhaps if our fortunes turn in the next couple of months we can give the FA Cup a proper go, but the League Cup is a little bit of a distraction at this stage of the season. I'm normally very keen to do well in cup competitions, but I feel so deflated from the last few weeks of disappointment that I just want 3 points in the league, I don't really mind what happens in the cup. Having said that, it is a good chance to right some wrongs immediately and a win would be very good for morale at a time where we can't seem to buy one for love or money.

Bitterly disappointing to lose in the manner we did, given the man advantage and having the lead into the last 10 minutes. I'm still positive about Smith and the players, there were just a number of mistakes out there that were punished and that is the reality of this division - you cannot afford to do what Villa did today if you want to stay up. It's so frustrating because it seems like every week we keep shooting ourselves in the foot - we should have picked up points against Arsenal, Bournemouth, Palace and Spurs and yet we didn't manage any. My worry is that at some point if this trend of dropping easy points carries on, the rot will set in and there will be a belief that this team is destined to fail despite the performances justifying points. We will start to believe there is some fatal curse preventing us from seeing games out and causing referees to consistently make inexplicable decisions and VAR not intervening. Fans calling to DS to go need to take a long hard look at themselves. May I remind everyone with a short memory that the man was a hero in everyone's eyes only 6 games ago and he has not even been at the club for 12 months. This is a club that nearly ran out of cash only last year and the turnaround to be promoted the following season showed an unbelievable amount of progress alone. We entered the league by replacing half the squad and in many cases the performances have warranted more points than we have. I've thought right from the first game of the season that Villa are 80% of the way there - against Everton it all came together and they showed what they can do. Come the second half of the season, I believe that Villa will be firing all cylinders and with a couple of new faces in January (particularly a striker) we will start to pick up those lost points from these early games. I would give Deano the whole season, and if he takes us down it is not necessarily the case that other managers would have kept us up anyway. I'm not saying Smith is perfect or blameless because he has made mistakes, but I do still believe he is fundamentally a good manager. I don't disagree with his starting 11, his formation or his style of play - there are just issues with substitutions and game management that need to be addressed. He is learning the hard way not to make those mistakes again in this league. Still staying positive despite today's result. 5 or 6 points from the next 3 games and everything starts to look rosy again, and that is very doable imo. Keep the faith.

Agreed. But as I said, he's 22. He's not much older than Green who most people would agree is not ready for the PL. I won't defend his past record, because you make a good point - it's not particularly impressive. But he still has a lot of potential for improvement if given the chance.