John

Roy: "This watch was set to Fergie Time by the man himself so where the hell did my extra 14 minutes injury time go?"

Got tickets to see the Aussies but not SA or the other 3 games I tried for.

"Would much prefer them to be humiiated by a non league side at the sty, a la Kiddy". Or Altrincham turnbull? It will be back to Round 1 of the FA Cup for them next season. Rowett will be playing and getting beaten by his old club next season should he make the mistake of taking the job.

We badly need a win but I would take a point given we are on such a poor run during which we have leaked goals without scoring them.

I had to laugh the other night when a caller on Radio WM suggested Nigel Clough for the job. When asked why he would leave Sheffield United for Small Heath he said because they were the bigger club. History, trophy cabinets, current form and attendances suggests otherwise! The poor deluded fool...

He has left us so what he does now means nothing to me as it seems does the club he left to him.

I see Jasper Carrott wants them to check on Moyes availability. You have to admit it he is a funny man and if they did that would make even Moyes laugh. I have to admit that the idea of TF crying on the pitch once again at Small Heath does have a lot going for it..

Pity they changed I thought their now ex-boss was doing a fine job! I would back Francis or Fry to do just as well as they did last time or might they go for someone like Mick Harford, Tom Ross, the manager of their ladies team or for someone from the Far East given the people who will be making the decision? I would guess they will be looking at someone who is out of work as they are unlikely to want to pay anything to any current club to take their manager off their hands. Any new manager would have to be desperate to join them and will need a lot of luck to keep them up. I will be wishing them lots of luck for the rest of the season (none of it good)...

I think most of us would have taken 3 points from those 5 games and would have been expecting less than that before a ball was kicked this season. The test is now the coming few games where we will not start each of them as underdogs and we need to get some points on the board from them to stop the slide down the table.

I arrived at the Holte End at our usual spot behind the goal to be greeted by a very quiet "Welcome to Glasgow" from my mate to find we had Rangers fans rather than our usual Villa mates around us (1 out of 3 of which seemed to sport a scar on their face and most of which were at least twice our age with a bottle of Scotch in their coat pockets). I recall they started having a go at each other at the top of the Holte due to a lack of Villa boys up there at half time. We spent the first half in our usual position. But our cover was 99% blown when one of the lads we knew waved at us as he was being escorted out of the Holte wearing our colours by the boys in blue. The Rangers fans looked back to see who he was waving at as did we (a little too late I suspect). A couple of minutes later we moved towards the front, climbed onto the pitch and then made our way from Holte End goalmouth to the safety of the Witton End walking past the players as they came out for the 2nd half (their captain was among the Rangers players that looked far from happy to see us on the pitch). This "Battle of Villa Park" was a long time ago and it was a sad day for both clubs. Our club officials took way too big a risk in arranging the game in the first place and a large proportion of visiting Rangers fans took the opportunity they were given to prove how unwise the invite was. Things were crazy that day, fans safety was at real risk and we were fortunate that a bigger price was not paid for the errors made back then. When we do meet again in Glasgow or Birmingham or at both grounds things can surely only be better than they were way back then,

Thanks Jimzk5 they are an interesting couple of pages.

Sounds more like Small Heath @ £40m than us Jimzk5 or say a mix of the situation at the 2 clubs over recent years. Unless the secret footballer is Becks or his books sell as fast as the Harry Potter ones did I doubt he is likely to be in a position to own us any time soon unless he knows a fake sheikh or two.

"He never knowingly underscores" Generous as charged Dr_Panglos. I gave greater weight to the bulk of the game when I felt we gave everything we had rather than the last 12 minutes after we had gone behind to what was an offside goal. "My view of Weimann was that he ran around a lot to little effect and fluffed the couple of half chances he got". I see your point briny-ear. He runs for fun but had a difficult task for me yesterday and I am sure he would have expected to get more on the couple of openings he had only one of which could have counted. I think a 5 would have been harsh for any of the lads given the work they put in and as Spoony has pointed out I can have some difficulty in underscoring.

Source: Player Match Ratings: Villa unable to keep Citeh’s Yaya out!

A goal with just 8 minutes of normal time remaining gave the reigning champions a win yesterday and Yaya Toure his third goal in his last three games against us. It took one brief painful moment to undo 82 minutes of dogged Villa resistance yesterday. Yaya Toure was left in space and neither Cleverley nor Delph had enough left in their tanks to put in any sort of challenge as he ran between them towards the edge of the box. Neither Senderos nor Hutton having also already given all they had then made any forward movement towards his run so he was left free to pick a spot between Guzan and the post for his first goal of this season. A goal had been looking increasingly inevitable during the preceding 81 minutes as we conceded possession all too often. But as each minute ticked by the belief that we could cling onto a hard earned point grew as did Manchester City’s frustration. One goal was always going to be enough and so it proved. A second six minutes later was cruel given the effort our players had put into getting something from the game. But our heads understandably dropped and the pace of the game told on our players because hopes of an equalizer have become next to none when we go behind against opposition of this quality. So we have now conceded 8 goals in losing our last three games. We have scored no goals and have seldom looked like doing so. But these games were against teams that finished in the top 4 last year and will no doubt do the same this year and were preceded by a win at the home of another top 4 team from last season. Our big test will come following the international break when we meet teams that we should be expected to get points from and against whom he will not start as underdogs. Parking the bus and hoping for a rare break-away goal will not be enough then as some of our opponents will be looking to do the same. We have Benteke back at long last so we will now have a goal threat that given the right service can along with our more solid defence of this season get us some good results in the coming months. Make it happen Villa! My player ratings from a game that left us outside the top six and with a chasm rather than a point between us and yesterday’s opponents are: Brad Guzan – 8 – Given no chance with their second and may have got a late sight of their opener which should in any case have been ruled out because Aguero was offside in the build up to it. Brad got down well at Aguero’s feet to pinch the ball on 23 minutes after Silva had played a nice pass through to him and then pulled off a splendid one handed save after Silva’s on target 48th minute shot had taken a deflection. Held a low shot from Aguero on 72 minutes and kept out a Mangala header from a corner 2 minutes later. Alan Hutton – 7 – Did well to get out towards an unmarked Kolarov and get a touch to his 11th minute shot that helped it onto the post. Alan was solid at the back and decent when he was able to get forward. Philippe Senderos – 7 – Very dependable again and has produced consistent displays for us. Nathan Baker – 9 – MOTM – Did not put a foot wrong all evening and was an important cog in what was for so long an apparently impregnable defence. Nathan made a superb challenge on the edge of the box on Aguero on 21 minutes. Showing increased confidence this season. Aly Cissokho – 7 – Cleared a Dzeko header wide of the post on 45 minutes and gave another good performance. Charles N’Zogbia – 7 – His runs provided some source of threat to the Manchester City defence. On 25 minutes he picked up the ball in his own half and went on a strong run before hitting a shot from outside of the box that curled some feet past the post. 27 minutes later he did the same skipped past 2 challenges on the way and was only stopped by 2 defenders on the edge of their box. An encouraging 70 minutes. Ashley Westwood - 7 – Hit a couple of wayward balls but he was not alone in that and otherwise worked hard appearing to relish the responsibility of wearing the armband. Fabian Delph – 7 – Another excellent hard working display. He now needs to sign a contract to continue his development with us rather than risk stagnating on a bench as his career passes by but the extra money rolls in somewhere else. Tom Cleverley – 7 – Looks a very good signing and we need to make it a permanent one. A hard working player who does what is needed with a minimum of fuss and is a good fit for us. Kieran Richardson - 6 – Might have given us a crucial lead on 47 minutes when N’Zogbia played a nice ball through to him but his first touch was not the best, allowed Zabeleta to get a challenge in and Hart all too easily blocked his resulting effort. A decent overall game and we missed his covering following his substitution. Andreas Weimann – 6 – A late replacement for Gabby who reported ill during the warm up so his preparation was not as he might have wished. Provided us with some pace in Gabby’s absence, worked tirelessly in the lone striker role and also worked well when they had possession which was frequently. Flagged wrongly offside when he got on the end of a 22nd minute N’Zogbia cross but his first touch was heavy and Hart gratefully gathered it when Andi might have been better advised to look to have hit it first time. His last touch of the game prior to his substitution came on the 60th minute when he was not able to get enough of his head to a decent cross into the box to trouble Hart. Substitutes: Christian Benteke - 6 – Replaced Weimann on 61 minutes. His appearance gave the crowd a big lift and he did show glimpses of the player we all know he is. But he is some way off being fully fit and so being able to put himself about in the way he does so well. His presence even when some way below match fitness produced a rare cause of concern for our opponents although the service he got was very limited. Jack Grealish – 6 - Replaced Richardson on 71 minutes. It was a brave call to bring Jack on in a game like this one and it demonstrates the faith the management team have in him. Unable to make the impression on the game he would have hoped to have made in the short time he had on the field to do so. Leandro Bacuna – 6 - Replaced N’Zogbia on 71 minutes. Did well enough during the time he had on the pitch. Up the Villa! John Lewis

We will not be seeded so would face the bigger teams early doors so I would expect us to fill the ground from game one onwards. We will all find out next season in any case...

"If we're not on 42ish points come the end of that Swansea game, we'll have failed" - Worst case I have us on 36 points by then P3te and on 45 points at the season end which is progress albeit not as much as we would have liked. Better case I have us on 48 points and on 59 at the end of the season. Best case I have us clinching the title with a last day home win against Burnley.

I can see where you are coming from VillanousOne and as Tomsub has said above I might have been a bit generous here and there. It was tough to pick a MOTM Tomsub and a case could be made for and against each of the 7s. I selected Delph on this game but there was little in it. Thanks for your comments both.

Source: Player Match Ratings: Back down to earth with a bump!

Two teams that were evenly matched during the first half hour of the game were divided by a rapid fire three goal within 4 minutes salvo by the Gunners. Those goals ended the game as a contest and left our unbeaten league start to the season in tatters. So Arsenal remain unbeaten at Villa Park this century against us and we will need to beat them once again in the return fixture to compensate for this disappointing home defeat. If Clark had scored with his 23rd minute opportunity Arsenal may have had their confidence dented and feared a second defeat within a week. But two goals is hard enough to come back from and a third was way beyond us against a team like Arsenal. Fortunately they were content to retain possession and by so doing keep their 3 goal cushion during the second half. We offered little to no threat to their defence and our goal was one of damage limitation once they took the game away from us. They ended up having a very comfortable afternoon at Villa Park and the ball was rarely at the feet of a Villa player during the last hour of the game. Our home form does continue to be a major concern. We have a 100% record away from home this season but have claimed just one win from 4 home games in cup and league this season. This was always going to be a tough game for us. We would all have been more than happy with 10 points in the bag at this stage of the league campaign before the season got under way. But it would have been nice to see us top the table. Our confidence level at Villa Park remains at a low-ebb and the goals we conceded yesterday shattered our brittle confidence. We ended this game performing in the way we have done more often than not in recent seasons. We had arrived in numbers hoping to see us give something approaching the display we produced at Anfield but were undone by Arsenal’s crisp passing. This was a bad day at the office but it can be seen as a one off as things stand. We should not concede three goals too often this season or be struck down by a virus and we should take confidence from what we had achieved up until yesterday rather than dwell on one defeat. Our title race is not over yet nor is our quest for a top 4 spot or to finish in the top half of the table. We missed Westwood yesterday and continued to be without our captain along with his replacement of last week. But our start to the season continues to mirror our start to the season of 1980-81. We also lost our fifth game back then. Our aim is now to produce another solid away performance against the table toppers next weekend and to avoid emulating our last league champions by losing our sixth game as well. My player ratings from a game that left us still standing above yesterday’s opponents in the league table are: Brad Guzan – 6 – Beaten three times but had little chance with them. Alan Hutton – 7 – Another solid display. Headed a Weimann corner wide of the post on 17 minutes. Philippe Senderos – 6 – A decent performance against his former club. Ciaran Clark – 6 – Started well and might have scored on 23 minutes when a Cleverley free kick found him and his header was kept out by Szczesny at his near post. He might have had more luck had he tried for the far post but was unlucky to see his strong shot charged down by Oxlade-Chamberlain on 57 minutes from a Cleverley corner. Aly Cissokho – 6 – Stuck out a foot to turn a Gibbs shot that was going wide in for their third. But he had Oxlade-Chamberlain behind him and waiting to pounce had he done nothing. Kieran Richardson - 6 – A steady enough display. Carlos Sánchez – 5 – A last minute replacement for the ill Westwood so his preparation would not have been as he would have wanted. Carlos was not given the space he was looking for and did look off the pace of the game for much of it. Fabian Delph – 7 – MOTM - The best of our midfield unit. Played a nice one-two with Weimann on the edge of the box and forced a decent save from Szczesny on 3 minutes. Tom Cleverley – 7 – A solid display on a difficult afternoon. Andreas Weimann – 7 – Andi was replaced at half time. We missed his energy, hard running and potential goal threat in the second half. Gabriel Agbonlahor – 6 – Not the type of display he would have hoped to produce to celebrate his new contract at Villa Park but he was starved of service. Two good runs one in the first half and the other on 55 minutes led to bookings for opponents who had clearly identified his pace as our main threat. Substitutes: Jack Grealish – 6 – Replaced Weimann for the second half. It is never easy to come on when the game is already all but lost and Jack did take a little time to get into the game but he was not alone in that. He showed some nice touches, posed some threat to defenders and was not overawed by the situation he found himself in. Charles N’Zogbia – Replaced Richardson on 77 minutes. Not on the field quite long enough to merit a rating. Leandro Bacuna – Replaced Sánchez on 86 minutes. Another who did not get the game time to gain a rating. Win the league Villa! John Lewis

So we win 16, draw 22, score 21 goals and let 2 in over the whole season but still end it 5th with Swansea and Southampton above us? If we go the season unbeaten and only have 2 goals scored against us I think the title belongs to us . I suspect those "expert number crunchers" have not put much effort into their calculations, are some way off being either experts or number crunchers and should have their calculators taken off them. I guess they will have us as champions after our win this weekend or at least in the top 4. It also looks like we will be singing 1-0 to the Villa on a regular basis in the coming months..

"I'm not saying we are going to win the league" - As Mrs Doyle often said GeordieVillan "Aw, go on! Go on!, Go on, go on....

You can still get 5000/1 on us ending the season with the trophy in our hands at Corals, Top 4 is 150/1, top 6 is 25/1 and top half 9/4. They still have us only 5/1 to be relegated. I thought they tended to get these things right?

"I'm still counting to 40 points no matter what." I do the same CannockVillan & Villa89. But if we did happen to get those 40 points before the end of December can we agree to up our target to 80 by the end of the season?

Too early for this weekend I suspect. Just having him within sight of a first team outing will send a shiver down the spine of those who still expect to end the season above us.