FLVillan

Oh I know it's a long shot and a big IF, but this time last year I was looking at IF scenarios that could have seen us get a few points higher above the relegation scrap....

Here I am, looking at the league table and fixtures and seeing we could go 2nd today if Fulham pull off an upset and Spuds-Citeh draw. What a difference a year (of Unai Emery) makes!

Not one for the ages, but a decent enough performance. Legia were well up for it and did a decent job of putting us on the back foot first half. Tielemanns played a lovely ball through to Diaby for him to cut in and bury a shot from 20 yards for the first. They equalized when Kamara played a blind pass (towards Cash) straight into the path of a Legia player who took a touch and planted it in the far corner. Second half we were better and got the winner from a Moreno volley at the back post - another brilliant ball across from Dougie. After we got the second goal Legia resorted to kicking anything that moved and with the aid of an abysmal referee, got away with it. Bailey hit the underside of the bar late on. Legia never really threatened to do much in the second half (except kick us). As I said at the outset, it was not a classic, but we did enough. Bit like the Luton game really.... Nobody played badly, and nobody looked outstanding. An overall 7/10 collective performance that was enough to win the game.

Yes, I noticed that too. Digne grinning and applauded Moreno off the pitch. Genuinely happy for his teammate.

Mislead by their own club, maybe. But the concept of traveling to another country, then going to stadium without a ticket when it has been made clear what the TICKET allocation is (you need one of those to get in to an event believe it or not) is, at best foolish, at worst dangerous (as has now been proven once again by Legia fans - see Leicester, see AZ Alkmar). It was published a month ago what the ticket allocation was.... It's been somewhere close to 30 years since you could go to matches without tickets and just "pay at the turnstile." Trying to pin blame on police or UEFA or anyone other than the people themselves who showed up without tickets is ludicrous.

Just listened to a clip from a phone-in from a UK-based Warsaw fan who is angry because he showed up at Villa Park without a ticket and was then "caged" into a car park with thousands of others. What is wrong with these people? This guy on the phone-in literally believed if they showed up in big numbers that authorities/Villa would cave and just allow them in. And he's angry because their "plan" didn't work.... I hope ALL of those who caused a disturbance, got drunk and disorderly, threw projectiles, assaulted police and any other offence, however minor, get to spend some time behind bars and have their passports confiscated. Is Winson Green prison still open? Kudos to the local police who 100% made the correct decision and put themselves in harms way to protect the Villa fans and local residents. The legitimate Legia fans with tickets who are angry have every right to be angry, but direct your anger to the morons who claim to be supporters of your club and the utter morons running your club who failed to cooperate and passively encouraged this situation. Don't blame Villa Don't blame UEFA Don't blame the Police

Round Trip ticket for the tea lady. Woodward gets a one-way.

Brilliant away performance. I watched it live and my thoughts haven't changed. The so-called domination of Spuds created very few real chances - yes they got in behind us and had shots, but the majority came about because the linesman isn't allowed to flag. Their goal was a shot straight at Emi, but took a nasty deflection. We had two very clear cut chances in that early period - the Cash "chest shot" and the Torres header that went wide. We could/should have had two goals inside the first 15 minutes. Spuds were the home team, they are expected to be on the front foot, so the fact that they had a lot of the ball and created some opportunities is to be expected. Cash was massively psychologically affected by his foul/yellow card/injury to Bentancur and he was completely out of it the rest of the half. Before that he'd been OK. I can see why Unai started him, as the Spuds left-back has got some ability. Credit to Bailey for coming in and doing his defensive work well. Emi did make one brilliant save from Hjoberg in the second half and played well overall, but crediting him with the reason we won is misplaced imho. He did what he's expected to do, and away from home you need your 'keeper to do that. The fact that we have a really good goalkeeper doesn't make Spuds unlucky. Diaby is going through a poor spell - his early form seems to have faded. Hoping he'll come back stronger. This win will give the lads some confidence that we can go away to the bigger teams and get a result - should help exorcize the Dippers/Saudi Arabia ghosts.

Don't get me wrong, Bruce is not a favourite of mine, but I don't get all the ill feeling and insults. He was brought to our club when we were an absolute s**tshow both on and off the field. A broke, dishonest charlatan of an owner, a succession of "executives" who didn't have a clue what they were doing and a group of players (they weren't a team) that was led by an out of condition "captain" who had rebelled/downed-tools against a succession of managers. If we had continued on the trajectory that existed before his arrival we'd probably have finished up in League One and the investment by Wes and Nas would never have happened. He wasn't great and some of his decision making was bizarre to say the least, but he did at least stabilize things to the point of getting us to a play-off final and brought in a few players that served us well. SJM from Hibs was perhaps the deal of the lot.

Quite honestly, even Sir Ron Saunders had plenty of naysayers back in the day. Up until the moment we actually won the league there were plenty who moaned about his style of management, how he couldn't manage top players, and questioned many of his signings and sales. Fans couldn't understand why he had broken up the team that did so well in 77-78 for example. I can only imagine if we'd had social media back then what the reaction would have been when we sold Gidman and Gray and tried to sell Brian Little to Small Heath. Ken McNaught and Gary Williams would have been absolutely slaughtered on social media in their first season+ in the team. I think Unai is absolutely different-level, and I don't think he can be compared to anyone who has ever managed the Villa in my lifetime. We've had some well-liked/loved gaffers such as both of the Rons, Little, Gregory and Taylor, but none have done what Emery has done in such a short space of time. He's not just well-liked by the fanbase, he is trusted and respected.

Wow, my mates goat was back after 4 weeks. Goat farmer physios need to be questioned here...

Yeah I know. I was trying to be funny..... should have put a smiley emoji in there...

100 million IS value for money for SJM. Or they can have Dougie for 180 million...

Detroit has a posh suburb?

These forums are my best connection to the club, to the normal fans. People ask me all the time if I miss living in England and my response is "only family and going down the Villa." I don't have much involvement on social media, too much nonsense and drama for me, but with a few exceptions these forums are just normal fans giving opinions and having some banter. Sort of reminds me of the walk back to the car after a match, listening to all the other fans around me as we made our way up the grassy hill past Aston Hall. And you're so engrossed in your conversation/rant/celebration that you slip on the wet grass and fall in to a pile of dog sh*t.

Whenever I get blank looks from Americans about the City of Birmingham, I ask them two questions: 1. Have you heard of the industrial revolution? 2. Which city in Europe has the most miles of canal?

I went to St Peter's catholic school in Solihull (I was the best footballer until bleedin' Grealish came along.... ) I always joked that there were 800 kids at the school and 799 were Irish or of Irish descent. I was the outlier....(my great-grandad escaped Lithuania before the Ruskies took hold). That 1994 World Cup Irish squad was brilliant for Villa fans....

And there was I thinking I was the only one who finds this bloke insufferably annoying. I actually think Dixon is quite a good co-commentator and do like the banter when he does games as part of a tandem with LeSaux. But Drury is a clown who spoils the match. He's getting worse as he gets older. One can only think it's because he thinks of himself as the show, not the game itself....

See your point, definitely not up there as an elite level player, but 302 goals and 58 assists in 760 career games isn't bad to be fair. And most of that for middling teams like Spuds, Wet Spam and Sunderland. Scored 140 for Spuds. Scored 20 in 57 for England. I think his biggest achievement was his longevity. Most strikers have a shelf life of 6-10 years whereas he kept his levels up well into his thirties.

Pros: Compressing the game means no opponent ever gets comfortable in possession in our half, and we never have long periods where we're chasing side to side and having our goal peppered from all angles. This means we finish games as strongly as we start them. When opponents do get in behind us they have to commit players from midfield to break the line, hence we can exploit the gaps they leave behind to devastating effect on the counter. Cons: It means we have to listen to numpties on the telly saying it's flawed whenever we concede. Ex-pros don't like it because they know it requires a high level of discipline.

Grew up in Solihull (surrounded by noses). Season ticket holder from 1972 to 1991 when I moved to the states. Have lived in Rhode Island, New York, Arizona and now Florida. Get to an average of one match a year at Villa Park, plus have been to every state-side match since we started coming over (New York to play Fiorentina). Favourite trip was a road trip to Montreal then Columbus, Ohio about 15 years ago. Got to meet most of the squad at a reception in Columbus. All family still in UK. Mom & Dad still living in the house I grew up in. Mom was born in Nechells - her family weren't really into football. Dad was born in Yardley, and his Dad was hardcore Villa. My grandad never talked about blues as a rival - it was Wolves and West Brom in his mind as blues were never at the same level...

At the start of the day, the four teams I mentioned were 1 or 2 points behind blouse. A win took them above them. Three of them did, taking the sty dwellers from 15th to 18th....

Similar survey for them would also be five choices: Yardley, Sheldon, Small Heath, Hay Mills or Acocks Green. Their international fans are in Chelmsley Wood, Marston Green and Stirchley. To be fair, more fans have participated in this survey that they get at the Sty each week...

Right then, just need wins for Watford, Norwich, Millwall and Plymouth to make it a beautiful start to the weekend...

I would have thought that the ball traveling 30 yards wide to Bailey with all of their team between him and the goal would surely be considered a new phase of play, as it cleared anyone in a direct goalscoring position and the defence had ample time to react/get behind the ball. If he had headed straight out to a Villa player who had popped it straight in to the goal, then same phase of play for sure, but 30 yards away and wide? AZ literally had 11 men between Bailey and the goal. Also, the moment the ball leaves Watkin's head the goalkeeper is falling back with one arm stretched out behind him (he can play the ball with that arm unlike an outfield player) so both he and the player on the line were technically keeping Bailey onside.... OK, I'll shut up now...