kayarcee

Would love to see Martin show some cheek and bring in Donovan to play off of Gabby's shoulder.

So doing the "Chelsea circle" round the ref is an admirable trait?

Those United shirts have been confirmed. Meaning that probably will be what the shoulder of the Villa shirt looks like. Also looks like it'll have a claret collar.

At any rate, you can see that next year's kit will be pretty basic (at least from the view offered behind next year's ManUre kit) here

Saw that, too. Looked like Young said something to him in jest, and Jamo replied by telling Ash to do one.

Well, then, Tony Mowbray shan't be inviting YOU to any of his parties.

I saw the game and thought we were shocking. You honestly thought we played well, not one dimensional or predictable in the slightest? A goal from a cross i blumin hope so as thats all we do, how about the rest of endless overhit crosses we put in? Pompey are a terrible side with a left back who was born the same year as the premier league was established. Pointing out how poor we were is not being negative its being realistic, you carry on sticking your head in the sand if you like. Well, here's the thing. We were certainly predictable in where the final ball would be coming from, but were never stopped from crossing. Young, Milner, Warnock, Downing and Cuellar all created space time and again from which to cross. And when we did go through the middle, Pompey hacked our players down in the box-- often without punishment from Lee Probert. I saw Villa knocking the ball around the midfield pretty much at will before creating space on the wings. I saw Gabby make a few tricky turns to set up an absolute sitter for Carew, create a penalty appeal, and basically give Portsmouth's centerbacks a lot of trouble. I saw a ball go over the top to Carew, who finished the chance beautifully. I saw Milner absolutely sting one that would have evaded a lot of keepers. I saw Portsmouth twice put the ball into their own woodwork, and once force their own keeper into a tricky save. I saw three dead cert penalty appeals and one close one, with only one given. I saw O'Neill go to the bench twice, and both substitutes take part in the winning goal. Most importantly, I saw Villa take three points when the three points were needed. And if you can't be happy with three points, I simply don't know what to tell you.

here's my prediction for the match; no matter what the result, the vast majority of posts to the reactions and ratings thread will in some way point out how the team and/or Martin O'Neill bottled it and could have done better

Same old Everton team. You'd think Moyes would change tactics to catch the team directly in front of him off guard. And maybe Louis Saha can go to a manager that doesn't frequently play an injury prone, washed-up center forward in front of him. /Bizarro VT

Even a draw, though, still puts us in good position to challenge for fourth place. Our run in is: Everton, Pompey, Hull, Noses, Citeh, Blackburn City's is: MUFC, L'Arse, Spurs, us, London Bongo. We can afford draws in two matches (likely for me to be Everton and Citeh), as long as we win the remaining four, which, against that opposition is quite likely. Because I see City losing its next two matches, then drawing against us and Spurs before ending the season by defeating Ann Summers United- which leaves them with 5 points from 15. Our 14 from the last 18 would put us a point ahead of them on 68 points. Liverpool have West Ham, Burnley, Chelsea and Hull left, so the 9 points I see them getting puts them on 65. Finally, Spurs have Arsenal, Chelsea, United, Bolton, City and Burnley. Even if they scare up draws from Arsenal and United, I also have them drawing City, which would mean 9 points (beating Burnley and Bolton is pretty foregone for Spurs right now)- putting them one behind us if we can pull 14. GET IN!!!!! Is this MON's teamtalk for tonight? Haha - if only it was this simple. This is villa remember - I wouldnt read anything into the fixtures - it doesnt mean a jot. If our following fixtures were: Man Utd (a) Liverpool (a) Chelsea (h) then you would assume the worst - but we have won these games this season. Likewise with seemingly "easy" fixtures, we have dropped points against Wolves, Burnley, Blackburn, West Ham etc -all games we would think we shouldnt have problems. Therefore, I conclude that our success this season (with the remaining fixtures) is less about who we have to face, but more about how we decide to approach each opponent ,our confidence and our state of mind. UTV. Fair points; What I was trying to say is that, looking at the run-ins of the other sides, and how they've played this season, 14 points would probably have us pipping City and Spurs to the post for fourth. So a draw today is not catastrophic as long as we get the other results. That's all.

Even a draw, though, still puts us in good position to challenge for fourth place. Our run in is: Everton, Pompey, Hull, Noses, Citeh, Blackburn City's is: MUFC, L'Arse, Spurs, us, London Bongo. We can afford draws in two matches (likely for me to be Everton and Citeh), as long as we win the remaining four, which, against that opposition is quite likely. Because I see City losing its next two matches, then drawing against us and Spurs before ending the season by defeating Ann Summers United- which leaves them with 5 points from 15. Our 14 from the last 18 would put us a point ahead of them on 68 points. Liverpool have West Ham, Burnley, Chelsea and Hull left, so the 9 points I see them getting puts them on 65. Finally, Spurs have Arsenal, Chelsea, United, Bolton, City and Burnley. Even if they scare up draws from Arsenal and United, I also have them drawing City, which would mean 9 points (beating Burnley and Bolton is pretty foregone for Spurs right now)- putting them one behind us if we can pull 14. GET IN!!!!!