4Serious

It's incredible with just three injuries (Gabby, Delph and NRC) how threadbare our bench looks in terms of experience. Love some of the young guys but compare it to some of the teams around us and it's a little weak.

Who's gonna come on and change the game if Wolves start to frustrate us? Whether we're struggling or flying I reockon the Fonz has to see at least 15 minutes today. I'm looking forward to it.

I just don't get posts saying 'I want to get 4th so we can get better players so we can have a chance to win trophies... like the FA Cup.'

The chance is here. We didn't need to get 4th to compete this year. This is a major trophy, and it's within our grasp. Screw the CL in comparison. I think people that think we'll attract a whole new caliber of player by finishing 4th would be very disappointed. Those players would know that it might be a one-year event. We wouldn't mortgage our future on higher wages without knowing we'll qualify again. Perhaps we'd move from signing a 12m player to an 18m player. No guarantee he'd be much better, anyway.

Clubs like Sevilla, Villareal, Deportivo etc are in and out of the CL every couple of years. When they get in they don't suddenly attract superstars. People know it'll be harder for clubs like them to remain in Europe consistently. We're in the same boat.

So let's go and win the trophy on offer, write another major honour into a frankly glorious history, and worry about all the seasons in the future when the off-season comes.

(Also my brother and many of my family are Chelsea supporters, and I've been dragged to the filthy Bridge far too many times, so I suppose I might be biased here.)

Also note that Gabby was apparently fit. MON mentions in his interview on the BBC website that 'it was a combination of everything' (ie. Gabby's late return to training/missing the last match, Carew's hat-trick, Heskey+Carew's height) that made him not play Gabby, going on to say that it's only 'the second time in the 3 and a half years I've been here when Gabby hasn't played other than through illness or injury.'

The quotes are paraphrased from memory, but basically Gabby was rested/dropped. I don't have a massive (any) problem with it to start the game as his reasons are sound, but it's interesting. He should have been brought on sooner if he was fit enough, though. I thought that was a mistake.

edit- Obviously the benefit now is that Gabby has had quite a nice rest over the last two weeks to get ready for all the games coming up in a row. Hopefully we'll see the benefit. If we do, this point will seem all the better considering Gabby got a rest out of it.

People are pissed off and some other people can't understand. A point away to Stoke is not a terrible result, as Stoke away are difficult, we all get that.

But it's not the result, is it, it's the performance that led to the result. We just never looked like threatening them. They had us sussed from the start and MON refused to change. I understand he trusts in his guys, but sometimes you have to take a chance, change your shape.

I'll never understand the people who think a draw is such a great result from a points perspective. If you lose a couple of games going for wins and win a couple in the same manner you will end up ahead. If not at least you had a go. The odd point gained from drawing really only helps further down the league. Man City have lost less than any other team in the league and yet are miles off the top due to draws. What I'm saying is that in the race for 4th there's two results - winning and failing to win. That's all that matters. And yet on days like today our team seems happy enough with the point. Arrghh.

For my money (and people will probably hate me going back to this) I'd still love to see 4-5-1 with Gabby up front. I think it brings out the best in our players.

There's so many people saying 'Heskey was better than Carew, don't slag Heskey.' The point is neither should be in the team when they play like that. I like Heskey, I see what he offers, but he doesn't suit us one bit.

If you're happy with a point from a game like this you don't deserve 4th, nor will you get it.

If you get a point, that's a fine result, fair play. But if you're happy with one then you're a long way away from where you need to be.

Rubbish.

A point isn't going to be enough at the end of the season. We need to be going for this. If we lose, we only lose one point. Effin' go for it. This has been absolutely dire.

Heading out to the pub now. Hopefully we get the result we want - it's freaking me out how many pundits have picked us to win. We have a fighting chance, let's hope the boys do us proud.

Dunney to score the winner from a late corner. 2-1 Villa.

See you guys on here much later.

Up the Villa!

Tactics, anyone? Anything special you think we need to do to win the game?

Obviously the danger man for Utd is Rooney, so Dunne will just have to deal with him as he usually does. The guy I'm worried about is Valencia. Warnock hasn't been in the greatest form since being injured, and Valencia is quietly putting together a fantastic season. Some of his crosses remind me of Beckham, he's a crossing machine. I really think he's been a massive part of Rooney's good form, and needs to be shut down.

Everton apparently put two men on him, and it worked pretty well, although Rooney was typically poor against them as he often is. Still, whichever of our wingers is on that side will need to help Warnock out, or I can see him being burned by one or two crosses. That's all Rooney needs at the moment.

Not scared by Utd's midfield at all, and fancy Petrov and Milner to get amongst them and get on top. Hoping Gibson plays.

And if it's Vidic and Evans, then we have to play those balls in the channels to gabby and behind the defence for ashley. Basically, you know, our usual plan. Evans has looked like a baby deer over the last month. There's goals to be had here.

Lastly, we've two great wingers who can play both sides. I wouldn't be surprised to see us dictate our play towards the side that Evra isn't on, as the guy is properly world-class. If it's neville or rafael, either downing or ash should have a field day. It'll probably be downing vs rafael (right? not sure) so we need downing to step up and be willing to take on his man.

So excited for this game now, I really think we've a great chance. What really blows my mind is that unlike most seasons, we could lose a cup final and still have everything to play for - 4th and a winnable FA Cup. How good is this season?

Up the Villa!

What a super performance. I'll leave the ratings to everyone else, personally it's nines all around for me, as you can't do much better than 5-1 no matter the opposition. Here are my thoughts after the game.

It's been a frustrating year so far. Will we curse all the stupid dropped points or should we be happy we're so well placed after playing poorly for so long? Today's performance suggests the latter, that we may be over the hangover from last year's collapse and getting back to our best going forward. We knew these players had more to show than the stale football of the last months (even in wins over Fulham and SHA), and it's back again. Hopefully it continues.

How good was NRC and how much of it was down to Bolton being utter pants? Important to find out for the rest of the season. I've supported Petrov and bashed Sidwell a bit but I may have to reassess my views. But like I said, maybe this was just an easy game.

Who's going to take our bloody penalties? Important as we seem to win a few.

EDIT: Forgot to add that the most (only?) worrying thing to come out of today is the fact that we keep falling asleep at the end of the half and end of game. MON needs to really drill it into their skulls that you play to the whistle because it's becoming a problem and they are the most demoralising goals. END EDIT

The whole attitude of the team seemed right today. With City drawing it couldn't have gone too much better. Now I hope to see Utd battered tomorrow just to put a little more icing on an already delicious cake.

Ronaldo has more to his game in my opinion WHEN he's happy and playing properly.

Sorta reminds me of Drogba and Torres. Torres/Messi probably more prettier to watch, yet if Ronaldo and Drogba play too there full ability, they have everything in their locker.

By the way the Ronaldo goal (flick to start with) was unreal. Great form.

You saved me a bunch of time, this is exactly how I'd feel. If we had our choice at Villa (if! only if) it would have to be Ronaldo. Coming to the Premier League would be a nightmare for Messi, Ronaldo's showing that going the other way isn't hard at all. Some very easy games in La Liga.

Didn't catch the game but delighted with the result.

With the NRC thing if we'd dropped points tongues would have been wagging about all sorts. A solid, committed win puts all that to bed, and ensures a happy squad for NRC to come back to, no issues.

I reckon we could get all 3 points at blackburn, which would be a blistering start by any standards. Then we've got Man City and Chelsea, and we'll finally find out what this squad is really capable of this year. The UEFA exit seems quite some time ago now.

Overall though, I feel we're much more solid at the back, but far less fluent going forward, and poor in possession. Some of that is Ashley's subdued play, some of that is still missing Barry's passing. If we can get Carew and Ash up to speed, we'd look at properly frightening team. Looking forward to the next few weeks, for sure.

EDIT - I've really got to change my sig. Collins looks superb so far. He and Dunne are a confident, no nonsense partnership. I also really rate Cuellar, it's a shame he's out on the flank when it doesn't suit him in the slightest. But he'll struggle to get back in the centre with our new boys keeping clean sheets.

Brian you're completely wrong on this one. Teams can still spend large sums of money BUT wages need to be paid from actual revenues. The point of the new rules are to have clubs as sustainable if a rich owner cuts off the money. So if a team gets 100 mil from an owner to spend on players that is allowed, as long as their revenues can pay the wages.

I think it's a good idea, it means clubs earnings have to service their debt too. It'll benefit Villa, we are a well run club and because of that we'll stop more City type takeovers jumping ahead of us in the league.

Totally agree with Conor here, not sure why so many people on this site don't see that this is designed to protect football in general. I don't think it'll adversely affect Villa at all - it's not like we can compete financially as it is, is it?

Very happy with the points and the performance overall, even if it wasn't the most seat-clinching, balls to the wall kind of game.

I do wish MON would've subbed in a couple more players near the end, though. Ashley was looking a bit gimped in the last few minutes, so we could've pushed Shorey forward and brought on Warnock at LB, and maybe Delph for Petrov or Sidwell. Games we're winning comfortably are perfect opportunities to start working our new and/or inexperienced players into the side; we desperately need them to get time with the squad in league matches so we'll have reliable options in those games that might not be so comfortable.

You say bring on subs, and I usually agree, but a 2-0 lead can change in a hurry (see: Stoke last year) and as far as I'm concerned we're still in the 'righting-the-ship, feeling our way into the season' stage. We need consistency. MON was right to be conservative today, in the future I want to see Delph given the last 20 minutes of games if we're either 2 up or 2 down. Screw it, just get Delph on the field!

From what I saw it looked like Cuellar was the CB who did all the difficult defending (there wasn't much) and coached Clark through superbly. To say it looked like Cuellar was making his debut is bizarre. He didn't have a shaky moment! Contrast that to the greek guy for Liverpool who was seriously off the pace on his first game, upsetting the entire Liverpool defence. Clark and Cuellar were both excellent.

Hard to analyse the match as Fulham were really poor.

At the same time it's clear that 4-5-1 suits our players down to the ground. Didn't think our midfielders were particularly good, but with three of them in there they stopped Fulham playing very easily.

Where we were great was at the back. When Cuellar and Davies play together, it often looks like they don't know who should lead and who follow. Today Cuellar walked Clark through the match like a proper veteran. Clark was super on his debut, far more composed than we had any right to expect. But Cuellar did the hard years, stepping out of defence to clear up any danger before it became a problem. That said Fulham didn't pose much danger, so...

Beye and Shorey were fine, both had solid games. Young and Milner average by their standards, which is still pretty decent. Carew looked a full of class when he came on. But possibly the best thing to come of the match is Gabby back on the scoresheet. He wasn't fantastic, but he struck his shot beautifully, and poor defending or not, if you get on the scoresheet you've done your job as a stiker.

So my man of the match for sentimental purposes: Clark.

If it wasn't Clark's debut, Cuellar.

As for how much an easy win tells us about our team, not much I'm afraid. We can chill over the next two weeks though, Villa Talk would be unbearable if we'd lost.

****. That really, really sucks. We are terrible in cups, and MON got it wrong again with Delph and Heskey.

Ah well. Goodnight all, don't let it get you down too much. (Fat chance, I know.)

Ref is freaking out. He's lost it. ****. Terrible decisions.

4 minutes of stoppages! Come on! UTV!!!

We're in trouble here. Big trouble in little china.

Why are we as a club so bad at cups in the last decade?

Delph wasn't quite good enough today. He and Petrov didn't have the grip on the game they should against a team like Vienna. Only in the start of the second half were we in total control. Other than that they've had plenty of possession.

Holy god. We were out there.

I got so many bitches y'all can call me Shane Lowry. Amili amili amili amili...

Come on Villa, we actually have the squad for europe this year. COME ON VILLA!!!!

About time Hesk came off. Offered nothing. Lovely bloke I'm sure, but offered nothing.

With Heskey and Carew we should be doing much more from corners.

When the commentator said there'll be a big cheer from Vienna 15 minutes from time, I thought it was tradition. Instead it seems we're up against a team of bloody psychics!