John

I take your point TRO and thanks for making it. As you say it was a horrendous mistake that had such a telling impact on the final result. That is why he just about shaded a 5 rather than a 6 for me. As I said above his very solid 90 minute defensive display for 90 minutes was undone in stoppage time and but for that I would have been looking at a potential 7.

I have just looked at the remaining games and had the following bottom 6 before the last game of the season: Villa 32 pts Leicester 31 pts QPR 31 pts Hull 30 pts Sunderland 30 pts Burnley 30 pts So that would be any 3 from 6 on the last day. I had us getting our points against WBA (1), Sunderland (1), Swansea (3), QPR (3), Everton (1) & West Ham (1). On the last day 4 of that bottom 6 play each other (Leicester vs QPR and Villa vs Burnley) with Hull vs Manchester United & Chelsea vs Sunderland. I had Sunderland to lose, Hull to win (with Manchester United helping their old boy Bruce) and Leicester to win. That would leave us needing a point to stay up on 33 points but I have us to get 3. So 11 - 13 more points please Villa! Relegation really is not an option for us. We have been there and done that. Games against us would be like Cup Finals for our opponents down there and we do not have a great recent record in such situations.

"as of a few years back we started putting clauses in playing and non playing staff's contracts where in the event of relegation wages are cut". That shows the budget we have been working with since then was known to be insufficent to ensure we would retain our top flight status useless but that it was a risk the owner was prepared to take. It seems prudent now in our current sad situation but I doubt that Spurs or Everton for example felt the need to do the same back then.

A must not lose game for us although we could really do with a win after Saturday. Every game we have left this season is a must win/draw other than the games with the two Manchester clubs, Southampton and Spurs where anything other than a sound spanking would be a bonus. I would try Given (on his old patch), Hutton, Cissokho, Clark, Okore, Gil, Cleverley, Westwood, Delph, Sinclair & Benteke for this one.

Source: Player Match Ratings: So much for the new boss bounce!

Optimism and hope were replaced by pessimism and gloom yesterday at Villa Park. Stoke came back from a goal down to win at Villa Park for a second successive season. Tim Sherwood can be under no illusions after this sad performance of the magnitude of the task that he faces in trying to maintain our top flight status this season. Given the change of management and our stirring cup victory last weekend following Sherwood’s half time intervention we arrived at Villa Park unusually with some level of confidence. We anticipated this game might be the first to demonstrate that we would see an improvement in our league performances and in our abysmal run of results which had seen us slip into the bottom 3. We started this game well enough. We were unfortunate that they levelled just before the half time break and they would have happily left Villa Park with a point until our captain’s late howler gifted them all three. But as Sherwood said post match “we didn’t do enough to win it”. Although a draw would perhaps have been a fairer result as Tim also suggested “I thought neither team deserved to win” you do not always get what you deserve when you are floundering at the foot of the table. We were encouraged that we could turn a corner by a splendid second goal in two games by Scott Sinclair. But rather than look for another to try to seal the win we sat back on the lead after going ahead and all but ran out of ideas up front. Given this was only our 13th league goal of the season admittedly we do not score often enough to be able to make a real habit of doing this. But their 45th minute equalizer knocked the stuffing out of us and that has become a regular occurrence this season. So with our new found belief dwindling it was an injury weakened Stoke that had lost their last two games 4-1 who went on to have the better of what remained of the game and to take all of the points. This was a game that we really needed to win as winnable games are quickly running out for us and the belief that we can actually win all of those winnable games is fast disappearing. A win would have lifted us out of the bottom three and it would have left us three points clear of the teams who would have been occupying those relegation places today. A draw which I would have settled for early in the second half given the way the game was unfolding would have also taken us out of the bottom three and a draw really was the minimum acceptable result for us from this game. But a sixth successive defeat and an eleventh winless league game drops us down a place to leave only Leicester below us. It has left a three point gap between the bottom 4 and Sunderland who sit uncomfortably in 16th place. It threatens to make this relegation battle one that could be fought out between the bottom 4 or at best 6 clubs and one that it seems likely we will be involved in right up until the last day of the season if our fate has not been determined before then. Other clubs such as Burnley have developed the ability to get unexpected league points as they did at table topping Chelsea yesterday. But we can be relied upon to lose on a consistent basis and this is a habit we need to kick quickly if we are to maintain hopes of survival this season. We have not won a league game since early December and have won only 2 of our 13 league games at home this season. It will take an incredible change of fortune and run of favourable results for us to get out of this mess. We cannot rely on poor results from the teams around us to keep us up unless we are able to lift ourselves out of the bottom three. Given we have won only 5 of our 26 league games to date it is quite a leap for us to aim to win a minimum of 4 – 5 games of our remaining 12 league matches. But I suspect we will need to do this to prevent the ignominy of relegation becoming a stain on our football club’s proud history. My player ratings from a game that left us second from bottom of the table having conceded goals at the end of each half are: Brad Guzan – 6 – He once saved penalties for fun but that has not been the case for a long, long time now. Moses converted his stoppage time penalty with ease to win the game for the visitors stroking the ball calmly to his left after Brad had dived to his right. Brad gathered a Moses shot low down that took a deflection on the edge of the box off Hutton on 29 minutes and also produced a good one handed stop to keep out a Walters effort on 84 minutes. Alan Hutton – 7 – He did his bit for the cause once again and he is a player who is more reluctant to readily accept defeat than are others at the club. He worked hard, was solid at the back and made a positive impression during his regular forays up front. Made a strong run just after their equalizer and his effort was pushed away by Begovic. . Ron Vlaar – 5 – Ron produced a very solid defensive display for 90 minutes that was undone in stoppage time when he made a terrible hash of things. The ball ran to his left following a Sánchez challenge on Moses but his first touch was clumsy and heavy and it put the ball back into the path of Moses. The striker ran into the penalty box and our captain scythed him down to earn a second yellow and to concede the late penalty that did for us. Ciaran Clark – 7 – Had another good, solid game from start to finish. Had a header from a Delph corner tipped over the bar on 89 minutes and will mow resume his solid partnership with Okore next week. Kieran Richardson – 5 – Left the field on 42 minutes due to injury and after Sherwood had needed to implore him a couple of times to get into a more forward position. Carles Gil – 5 – Carles was unable to make quite as positive an impression on this game as he has done in others since his move to us. He appeared to be bullied out of it by Stoke’s uncompromising approach and by their strong challenges although he did have some bright moments early on. Carlos Sánchez – 4 – Carlos was no doubt selected to provide some bite and strength in our midfield. He was unlucky to have lost his starting place after one poor performance at Arsenal but this was another to add to that one. He again surrendered possession too often and hit a number of wayward passes. Fabian Delph – 6 – A display that was below par given what we have come to expect from him but he unlike others around him did improve as the game wore on and tried to get us back on the front foot in the second half. Fab lacked sufficient support alongside him in the middle where we were badly outnumbered and we really needed to bring Westwood on to try to rectify this. Hit an 81st minute cross that was headed just the wrong side of the post by Wilson when under pressure from Benteke. Scott Sinclair – 7 – MOTM – Scott picked himself up off the floor following a clash inside the box with Bardsley when trying to reach a Gil corner to head an inviting 20th minute Delph cross into the corner of the net. This was a header that Benteke would have been proud of when he was at his best. His performance particularly in the first half showed that he has not lost his pace or ability and he was the one player who worried their defence with his movement. I just hope we can stay up so that another club does not benefit from his resurgence with us come next season. Gabby Agbonlahor – 4 – For a player who is often described as being Villa through and through he again did very little to show it yesterday. It hurts the fans to see us staring relegation in the face but this was another no show from this one club man. I was surprised to see him back in the starting line up but had hoped this might just be a game in which he would want to impress the new manager. Sadly it seems it was not. Christian Benteke – 5 – Won some aerial challenges but nobody moved for the balls that he flicked on. He lacked both support and service. But he was again some way below his best and that was particularly disappointing given he had showed some signs of improvement last weekend and that the new boss had stressed his importance to us in our being able to pull things around in what remains of this sorry season. Substitutes: Aly Cissokho – 6 - Replaced Richardson on 42 minutes. He struggled to make the contribution we were looking for on those occasions he was able to get forward but was reasonably solid at the back. Andreas Weimann – 5 - Replaced Gill on 58 minutes but failed to make a significant impression on the game. Stay Up Villa!! John Lewis

I look forward to having him available for first team selection again. It has been a long and a tough road back for Libor and he deserves a large slice of luck when he makes his first team comeback.

Yes the 69 one against Southampton, didn't we have something like 59000 in the ground. We did 59,084 although it seemed many more on the night. Great game and atmosphere. Goals from Broadbent & Martin gave us a victory as well as some belated revenge against the team who had beaten us on the last day of our 66-67 relegation season 6-2.

Bit selective that. I mean, if the SF defeat to Chelsea in 2010 is a low then surely the 4-2 win over Reading (when we came back from 2-0 at HT) has got to be a high as well? I think it is all about being selective. We will all have different memories (some longer than others for example). Many of us will also have been hit harder by some defeats and will have taken more from some wins than others might have (for example the win at Forest in 96 was not a great game in itself but it was significant to me as it got us past R6 for the first time in so long). These are the games that stood out for me whether for positive or negative reasons. There will be other games as has already been shown that stand out for others on VT that are either included in my list or are not (such as the Reading win in your case). Each of us know which games stand out for us and this offers an opportunity to share our opinions. They may differ but they are all relevant and jog the memory nicely for me.

More lows than highs. Lows: 1968 R4 Rotherham (h) 0-1, 1970 R1 Torquay (a) 1-3, 1971 R1 Southend (a) 0-1, 1980 R6 West Ham (a) 0-1, 1990 R6 Oldham (a) 0-3, 1992 R6 Liverpool (a) 0-1, 2000 F Chelsea 0-1, 2002 R3 Manchester Utd (h) 2-3, 2010 SF Chelsea 0-3, 2013 R4 Millwall 1-2 & 2014 R3 Sheffield Utd 1-2. Highs: 1969 R4 Southampton (h) 2-1, 1974 R4 Arsenal (a) 1-1 & (h) 2-0, 1982 R3 Notts Co (a) 6-0, 1996 R6 Forest (a) 1-0, 2000 R5 Leeds (h) 3-2.

I agree 100% that having the semi-finals at Wembley devalues the final. It is all about recovering the millions the FA spent on building it and it is the fans that pay as usual in money terms, in being able to get to and from the game and in the seats they cannot get hold of because so many are set aside for sponsors, corporate clients or Wembley club members.

At home and then against Reading, Blackburn or Bradford. Villa vs Reading Liverpool vs Arsenal Blackburn vs WBA Bradford vs Preston/Manchester United SF: Villa vs Blackburn Bradford vs Liverpool F: Villa vs Bradford (we get even and they have a nice day out)

Source: Player Match Ratings: Wembley is just a win away!

Bring on anyone at home in the draw for the next round of the FA Cup! That is as long as they are not from the top flight of course! We claimed our third win of 2015 year yesterday and all three of these have come in the FA Cup. We have scored five goals in the three games that have seen us progress into the FA Cup quarter-finals compared to the twelve we have managed from 25 league games this season. We now need to get some goals and wins from our remaining 13 league games to secure our top flight status. That along with three more FA Cup wins would make this a season to remember rather than one to try to forget. Scott Marshall won his one game as our caretaker manager so has an enviable 100% win record to his name as he steps aside for the new boss. We started the game with an unfamiliar energy which can be attributed to a desire for players to impress the new boss who was watching from the stand. But after the first 20 minutes or so it was Leicester who had the better of what remained of the first half as we increasingly reverted to passing sideways or backwards having ran out of ideas and confidence. Tim Sherwood left his place in the stand before the half time whistle. He did so not to beat the rush for a half time pie but to get to the home dressing room. His positive intervention did the trick as we emerged from the tunnel for the second half a reinvigorated team. We had purpose, urgency and were willing to get players forward during that second half which brought the reward of a place in the last eight of this cup competition that we could yet win for an eighth time this year. My player ratings from a game that has left Tim Sherwood 90 minutes from leading us out at Wembley within 2 months of being appointed manager are: Shay Given – 8 – His two goal saving saves yesterday might put some unexpected pressure on Brad’s starting place for future league games. Shay was fortunate that Mahrez could only deflect the ball out of play when he intercepted a risky attempted pass to Cissokho on 23 minutes that would have been better cleared downfield. But on 32 minutes he made a world class save to stop us going a goal down. James hit a splendid shot from the edge of the box which had goal written all over it until Shay somehow got a hand to it and turned the ball around the post. He palmed a 73rd minute Mahrez cross and bravely got down to push the resulting loose ball away from Kramaric as he was about to hit it home. Alan Hutton – 6 – Kept trying to get us moving forward but played a loose ball which found Schlupp who went on to cross for their late goal when Row Z was the better as well as the safer option. This led to some late concerns that we might be unexpectedly pegged back to face a replay having looked like comfortable winners up till then. Ron Vlaar – 8 – MOTM - Ron was back in the first team, was as solid as concrete, led by example and claimed an assist for our opening goal yesterday. Made a great saving tackle on 73 minutes when Mahrez was about to pull the trigger inside of the box. Might he have an eye on lifting the trophy for us at the end of the season? Ciaran Clark – 7 – Solid again and his crunching yet fair 73rd minute tackle on Schlupp near the centre circle was something to behold. Aly Cissokho – 6 – Aly is reliable enough at the back but can be so reluctant to get forward. Leandro Baccuna - 7 – Started brightly and hit our vital opening goal on 68 minutes. Vlaar did so well to pick up the ball and play it between 2 defenders through to Leo near the edge of the box who then hit a superb curling shot inside the far post and into the net. Ashley Westwood – 6 – Worked hard and hit some decent balls but a few that were less so. Tom Cleverley – 6 – A surprise selection but he gave a better performance than of late particularly in the second half and might be one of the players looking forward to the opportunity for a fresh start. Fabian Delph – 6 – A quiet start but his contribution and performance level got better as the game wore on. Fab’s connection on a nice 48th minute cross from Baccuna was with his shoulder rather than with his head so the ball bounced onto the top of the net rather than flew into it but he is no Andy Gray in the air. Andreas Weimann – 6 – Got under the ball which as a result sailed well over the bar after Hutton had pulled the ball back to him on the edge of the box in the 6th minute. Had the ball in the back of the net on 71 minutes after Benteke had unselfishly played the ball to him inside of the box rather than continue his own run on the edge of the box but Andi had strayed offside before he finished the move. Christian Benteke – 7 – Showed signs of getting his mojo back yesterday and played with the odd smile rather than grimace. Won the ball in the air more often than of late and went looking for the ball rather than stood around waiting for it to come to him. An example of this was when he ran in behind defenders on 51 minutes after Hutton had headed the ball into the box and looked to turn the ball into the net only to be denied by the leg of Schwarzer who was within a few feet of him. He found the net on 45 minutes with a shot he curled inside of the far post from just inside of the box after a good first touch but was correctly flagged offside having failed to stay level with defenders as they had moved forward. Got in between two defenders on 65 minutes to head a Hutton cross wide of the post and ran onto a long ball out from Cissokho 8 minutes later that he hit well over having been put under pressure from Upson. Got some much needed support in the second half. Substitutes: Scott Sinclair – 7 - Replaced Baccuna on 77 minutes and hit what proved to be the all important second goal (one is rarely enough for us) on the 89th minute. Benteke chipped a nice ball through to Scott who ran between 2 defenders got the ball under control and hit a shot that Schwarzer saved with one hand at his left post but unluckily helped in with his other. Jack Grealish – Replaced Weimann on 83 minutes and was not on long enough to earn a rating. Up for the Cup Villa! John Lewis

It is a very difficult situation for these two and it will be tough for them to motivate the players given their futures will be in question once an appointment is made. In view of the urgency of the need to get a replacement in it would have been nice to have seen a new manager in the stand for Sunday at the very least with a view to his coming down to the bench if needed as did Pullis when he watched his first WBA after his appointment. I wonder whether the club gave any thought to taking up Peter Withe's offer to come in for nothing to help out for this game at least pending a new appointment being made?

Lambo did not get the backing in the form of cash from our custodian or from the team he picked in recent months. The end has been coming for some time now and it was the best move for both manager and club as we were in a slide and there seemed no way of him being able to halt it. I wish him well in "going again" somewhere else and hope his replacement can somehow keep us up. It is a pity the custodian's post cannot come under threat as the new boss will be unlikely to be backed with $'s either when he is charged to take the heat of him. Nice words from Lambo though on parting and respect for that and for taking a job that others did not when it was made clear what was expected of them.

That or because Lambert takes the heat off him and/or he does not want to pay up the 4 year contract he gave him. The extra TV money is gone if we go down. But he is on the beech at the moment and his thoughts are not on this, his custodian role at the club or on the bright future he once promised if they have been at any point in recent years.

He's not a good manager at all - that's why he's in Qatar. Who do you propose then? Who will come in at this stage of the season with the position we're in? Rumour has it that he may be prepared to go to QPR. But they are in London and not in the bottom 3.

Once a Villa fan always a Villa fan and a Villa fan will always care. But where is that bright future we were promised? I am sure relegation was never expected to be a part of that!

Still no assistant manager and Phelan helps Hull to take 3 points from us. Lambert did not need help? I guess we must have saved a few pounds by not appointing anyone yet but it could cost us a lot more next year. If he did not need help I wonder why Keane was brought in?

Hull really were poor but we are the team that are in the bottom 3. We did not look like scoring until stoppage time when it was too late and you are not going to win games if you cannot score. Randy is in the Caribbean on holiday I hope he was watching but I doubt it and far too many of the team looked like they were on vacation tonight. We are looking up at the likes of Hull & QPR now which says it all!

Both?

"Ah, I do miss Rioch's netbusters. TBF, most of them ended up in row Z of the Holte, but still... SHOOOOTT!!!" - I seem to recall more of them ending up in the back of the net than in row Z but he was happy to hit them and "SHOOOOTT" brings back some very happy memories.

I agree we should be looking for double figure points from these games onmeedson and we are. But given the points we have picked up since mid September it is not unreasonable to fear the worst but to hope for more. Having seen us in Division 3 we were not "crap" then. We were at a very low point in our history but we had hope because we were on the way up rather than in a nosedive as we were when relegated from Division 2 and as we are now. We still have hope and desire. I do not see that many more of us accepting the level and wading in it than was the case in 66/67, 69/70 or 86/87.

Thanks for your comments momo. I think Clark and Okore were as good as each other at the back but Okore gave us a rare goal so got an extra mark for me. I do not think that after 16 minutes & stoppage time our new boy Sinclair deserved a 5. I did give Westwood a 6 so given you said above that "all the midfielders were ok enough, and I would have given each of them 6" I guess we are not too far apart on that one. Our views on Gabby's performance are different as is the case with Delph, Clark and Okore. Both of our opinions are equally valid and your thoughts on this are welcome albeit somewhat different from my own.