Five Ken McNaughts

Birmingham an "unattractive place to live"? Telly Savalas would beg to differ...

I guess it's a change from having an army of right-backs and no centre-back. Maybe next season we'll have fifteen strikers and no goalie.

Looks to me like we are re-signing Carlos Cuellar and Alan Wright (who may have gone a bit overboard at Advanced Hair Studio).

Come on, @briny_ear, you know the answer to this. It's sung from the heart, not the head. Hell, maybe we'll all be standing on an uncovered terrace and belting it out in the Evo-Stik Premier a few years from now. But who would ever change their team? Villa Till I Die... four simple, truthful words (sung by supporters of the greatest team the world has ever seen).

A fine example of the insanity of the new handball situation. Once the ball has hit Declan Rice's hand from very close range, West Ham are correctly and legally in possession of the ball (under IFAB laws, Rice has committed no offence) yet cannot legally score. When the goal is ruled out, VAR is not correcting an error or oversight by the match officials – it is actually implementing a totally different criterion to the on-field laws.

Söyüncü: "Hold me back! Hold me back!... You are SO lucky these people are holding me back."

I think your point of view is rather harsh, @Laughable Chimp, though you are not alone in holding it. A striker who buries every chance he is "expected" to is called clinical or lethal. A goalkeeper who makes every save he is "expected" to rarely gets the same plaudits. Seems a tad unfair. I thought Nyland was superb from beginning to end.

I'm glad you didn't write Henry V's pre-battle speeches.

Very true and entirely up to Drinkwater as to whether he realises this.

A player on the downslope of his career with a recent history of bad decisions. Don't mind giving him a chance to prove the doubters wrong, but his conduct and attitude need to be impeccable from day one (which should, of course, be the minimum requirement anyway).

Seems I'm in the minority in wanting us to win tomorrow then. Ah well. Guess I'm a bit old-fashioned.

Fair enough, but have we not had a rotating team all season? We have plenty of senior players who could do with game time (Jota, Kodj, Lansbury, Chester...). You can reach an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley without ever facing another PL team. Lets not throw in the towel before we even get off our stool.

Happy to rest those who need it but let's still have a serious line-up, please. I cannot stand the Paul Lambert "we could do without this" mentality (didn't work out too well for Martin O'Neill in Moscow either). Let's get into the fourth round and roll on to Leicester away on the back of two away wins. Football is about glory at the end of the day. Having a tilt at it should never be an unwelcome distraction.

I believe it's only Villa and Arsenal who play it routinely. Eight home wins between us – not much of a lucky charm this Neil Diamond fella.

I rather liked the Leeds version, but that same tune is now too associated with the ill-fated Konsa song (and whatever that nonsense was about Nakamba). Doubt it's a melody that will get another chance even with a wholesale change of lyrics.

Like him a lot. Rate him highly. Think he has a bright future. Watch the highlights of our 4-2 home win v Norwich a couple of years back. Not many teenagers can dominate a game like that.

Exactly! At Norwich earlier in the season, Chelsea were allowed a goal with a clear offside in the build up. The official explanation was that the passage of play subsequently featured a backwards pass that "re-set" everything, creating a new phase (even though Chelsea maintained possession at all times and Norwich never touched the ball). So how the hell was the Wesley incident deemed all ONE phase yesterday?? With Burnley regaining possession and shanking an easy clearance back to Villa who then had to re-gather the ball, move it out to the right, cross and score? VAR is checking players' heels in an attack that was repelled FFS! Or is it just different rules for different clubs?

Agreed. Though after seeing Aaron Cresswell's straight red absurdly downgraded to a yellow by VAR, it seems the current trend is towards encouraging the "but I got the ball" scissors tackle rather than punishing it. More staggering ineptitude from the clowns in the booth.

Is it not possible that the previous criticism of Wesley and yesterday's criticism of Kodjia are both correct?

Best humble pie I've ever tasted!

Horrible tackle. The ball was an irrelevance. All of Mee's weight went beyond it and into the scissors assault on Wesley. No doubt at all what the intent was (though BT's crack commentary team naturally expressed no interest).

Not a bigger game for Villa than the play-off final but, strangely, possibly a bigger game for Smith (defeat at Wembley would not have threatened his job). He may have infuriated me at times this season but I sincerely hope he can navigate a way out of this mess. The clock is ticking though.

VAR’s ridiculous armpit obsession is enough to drive you insane. Pukki can’t legally “play the ball” with the join between his chest and arm! Half the ball would be in contact with his arm and it would be handball! The first part of the chest with which he can actually “play the ball” is – in reality – about 3-4 inches closer to the sternum. So, on top of everything else (the frame-by-frame limitations… the on-screen Etch-a-Sketch nonsense… the problems around the ‘exact’ moment a pass is played…), the striker is being penalised for having a body part beyond (ha!) the last defender with which he can’t even play the sodding ball! Talk about anti-logic and anti-football. Are we all meant to look forward to a new generation of strikers who run around bolt upright like Michael Johnson? Worst thing to happen to football since the laws were first written down.

The comments about Wesley’s weight are spot on. I have never seen a striker his age with so little zip and snap. And why have the coaching / medical team done nothing to address such an obvious issue? I was lucky enough to watch Mousset up close at the Etihad yesterday thanks to a relative’s spare ticket. Wow. No comparison. And less than half the price.

Targett sitting on his bottom while Watford waltzed through us pretty much summed up that sorry capitulation. For pity's sake, man. If you can't walk, limp. If you can't limp, hop. All I ask is that every time you put on a Villa top, you bloody FIGHT to the end.