Stevomanila

Hairy Hands, legend, another beer opened and plenty more to follow, happy weekend and up the **** Villa, ecstatic, top 8 here we come...

Loved the goal around 1 min 40 Yep still reckon we will add a number 10 type player/ AM before the window closes, hopefully sooner than later, we were a bit spoilt with 6 new signings so early...loved it!

Come on Hairy H. I have a beer in hand and am looking forward to it tasting even better at around ?pm!?? Can you give us some clues as to what this good news will be?... Thought the day couldn't get much better after Lowton signing a new contract!...

Well, my Dad must have chosen my first match carefully as I was 8 years old and he took me to what is still our biggest league cup win I think, the 8-1 victory vs Exeter in October of 1985. I was also with my gran who had apparently patted all of the players on the back as they walked up to receive the FA Cup in '57 and my sis. Have loved the Villa ever since and always will. My daughters who are 6 and 4 also now know that Aston Villa are by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.

Yep I agree with this, I think the top 7 from last season will remain unchanged, I see no reason though why we can't be the best of the rest, and then over the next few years build a challenge again against Everton, Liverpool and probably Spurs for a top 5/6 slot and with it a route into Europe. Sadly, I cannot see us mounting a realistic challenge for a top 4 spot in the foreseeable future.

yes and with Wigan losing 8-0 to Spurs to top things off nicely, and Stoke losing to Norwich (putting the latter safe) in time for us to play them next week whilst they are still in party mode... Here's to wet dreaming

I think taking 4 points from our next 2 matches will be enough to see us safe...just. (I even think we might nick a point against Chelsea?! or is that just the beers talking?) I think Wigan will lose to both Spurs and Arsenal- conceding a fair few in the process, thus making their goal difference worse than ours and I don't think they will have enough to catch us in the end. For the Sunderland game I'd go: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Clark Baker Sylla Westwood Delph Weimann Benteke Gabby And if we play to the best of our ability, I think we will get 3 points in the bag. Come on you Villa boys!

So, if it stays 0-0, that'd be the 80th minute then? yes that would be about right! By the way what are the numbers looking like for our **** brilliant away fans? How many are we taking up there so far?

Wheres the width going to come from? Yeah I know it's not ideal Paul, I just don't see us getting anything out of this unless we 'park the bus' somewhat as has been suggested and I think that both Benteke and Weimann can run the channels too with balls either over the top or played through the midfield, I just think being a bit more direct on Monday night is the only way we are going to get anything out of it- keep it tight, try to hit on the break and put balls into the box from any set pieces we get...use the pace of gabby later on in the game, bring on N-Zog too if we think we can nick something... Hopefully if results go our way later, there will be less pressure on us on Monday night..? Here's hoping. Anyway, up the Villa

The thing is with this fixture is noone is expecting anything from us, many assuming we will lose, so we may as well go **** at them, but look for a few uglier tactics such as long ball from the back over the top for Weimann to chase but also keep it tight with a more defensive line up... So I would go: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Baker Bennet Clark Sylla Westwood Delph Weimann & Benteke With the option of bringing on Bent, N Zog and Gabby as game changers with 20 or so minutes to go if it's still tight and he feels we could knick it.

Oh and my line up would be: Guzan Lowton Vlaar Dunne Baker Clark Westwood Weimann N-Zog Gabby Benteke

I actually quite like the scandalous rumours- at least it adds a bit of excitement...the present lack of transfer rumours is as depressing as our goal difference/ league position/ odds of getting relegated...

Well, a clean sheet is unlikely, but we have had a few goals in us lately, 3-3?!

What is Mellberg doing these days?

Yeah I think a win is important to build confidence, I would go strong but also try to rest Benteke... So my line up would be; Guzan Lowton Vlaar Clark Bennett Westwood Delph Weimann N-Zog Gabby Bent That team SHOULD be enough to beat a resilient Millwall team... Don't see us keeping a clean sheet, but think it will be a 3 2 victory to the (not so) mighty Villa!

This for me too, well said.

Agreed, Bradford's shape is a lot better than ours

I wish Delph would stop shooting

should have scored there

vital touch from Clark there, **** that was close. Bit of patience in build up and passing, we can still go through- have to keep on believing...

Agreed, I will start to relax once we are 6-0 up

Cracking strike, keeping the ball well too

great run by Bennett, unlucky

fu£king great goal, get in

Agreed happy with the line up, not expecting such a strong bench either, reckon we will win this 2-0, Bent and Bowery to score...