John

Only 92% possesion dodgyknees? I expect to see us play 9 at the back and use Holt's pace up front to run the Swansea defence ragged.

A point would be enough for both teams so I trust the Swans will do the decent thing and not be too greedy.

"Would anyone give Ryan'Gigs a chance at our club when Manchester bring in their new manager". No shaggy. You will win nothing with a kid like Giggs as a manager.

One with "Bright Future" written all over it for me although I do like option 2 as well as "We go again" above .

Nigel Spink said on Radio WM tonight "bearing in mind where the new owners might come what about Klinsmann?" He also added (albeit off topic) "Gareth Barry phoned the owner or the manager up and asked to come at the start of the season that's what I heard". I myself cannot see Klinsmann wanting to make the move to B6. But I am sure he could bring in a couple of decent German players if he did. It is also nice to think Barry thought of us before moving to Everton and I am sure we would have been much more comfortable now had we found the money to pay the wages they were able to pay to sign him.

There is no smoke without fire and if the owner plans to tell us there is no deal of any sort at the end of the season then I would guess there will be more than a few fans who will be far from happy about that unless he plans to inject some serious cash himself into the playing side which I very much doubt. I had wondered whether the loss of Lambert's right hand men might have been linked to the news having come out of a potential takeover when clearly neither a buyer or seller would have wanted that made public and had doubted that 3 men who had been together so long could have fallen out so soon but I guess the manager would have been unlikely to have sat tight and accepted those departures had he had a real problem with them. I would expect there to be potential buyers out there. But the questions are will they be prepared to see Randy walking away with everything he has paid or invested in the club or will he be prepared to lower the figure he asks should it bring the right team into the club? I think he does want out but the sticking point may prove to be his asking price. I doubt he wants to retain any part of the club and that if he did major players would be prepared to sink in enough cash under those circumstances to make a difference. I like most want our safety made secure and then changes made without further delay that will prevent us facing season after season of relegation fears. I want that bright future but I do not now know who if anyone is currently willing to make it happen.

I would be very happy to take just two 0-0s from our last four games villa-revolution. Yes daggy-333 Ron had a very good game at the back and is one of the few players who will be sure of a starting spot next season when the big money signings roll up.

Randy also agreed to put £20m on top of the £62m or so he gave HDE for player purchases as his share was valued at £82m.

Spurs away on the last day. I do not want to go there needing anything from the game in the way Small Heath did on their last day ever in the top flight.

I suggest we along with Cardiff are awarded the 3 points. It is only fair after all.

Source: Player Match Ratings: A potentially very precious point!

This rare clean sheet along with the resultant home point it brought may very well prove vital for our survival chances this season. But it has to be said that it is so very sad that our football club has now become accustomed if not quite yet resigned to flirting with relegation each and every season. Southampton’s Lambert had two decent scoring opportunities in the first five minutes. The rest of the first half had the appearance of an end of the season fixture between two mid-table sides that had nothing to win or to lose from the match. But that was only the case for one of the two teams that played at Villa Park yesterday. We showed some level of improvement during the second half but it was the visitors who continued to enjoy the lion’s share of the possession and to create what occasional threat there was to this game ending as a stalemate. It was disappointing if not unexpected that this injury hit Aston Villa team which had experienced a week of turmoil off the pitch was unable to step up to the plate and banish our relegation concerns at a stroke yesterday. But it never really looked like happening did it? We created next to nothing up front and were second best at Villa Park again and that has become an all too familiar situation this season. This time we did not add to the record number of home defeats we have already achieved this season or make it five defeats in a row. But we also failed to press a Southampton side that had little to play for in our penultimate home game of what has been a desperate season. Whilst other teams such as Sunderland this week have fought to take unexpected points against the odds we continue to look for other teams to throw us a lifeline rather than to earn our survival through our own results. The points we now have may prove enough. But we might yet find 37 points are needed for safety and I struggle to see where those extra two points will be coming from if they end up being required. My player ratings from a game that has seen us drop into the bottom six are: Brad Guzan – 6 – Made a good one handed stop to deny Davis on 32 minutes. Leandro Bacuna – 5 – Struggled at times at the back. Ron Vlaar – 6 – Solid, kept things tidy and it was on him that the clean sheet was built. Nathan Baker – 5 – Ducked out of a header on 32 minutes which would have been inexcusable had he not had a call from his keeper. Nathan was otherwise steadier than of late. Ryan Bertrand – 6 – Looked good coming forward and hit in a couple of decent crosses. Might have been a touch fortunate with the ball to hand incident inside of the box late on when he got in the way of an attempted cross from Clyne. Karim El Ahmadi - 6 – Put in a decent enough and hard working shift. Hit a weak shot from the edge of the box on 49 minutes which was going wide in any case when clutched by Boruc. Fabian Delph - 6 – Held things together well enough but some way off his most effective best. Ashley Westwood – 6 – Sliced a shot from the edge of the box painfully wide on 64 minutes after Gabby had cut the ball back to him. Marc Albrighton – 7 – MOTM – Our main if not only threat. Hit our one on target shot from the edge of the box on 63 minutes that Boruc gathered at the second attempt. Gave Shaw the sort of problems he gave us at the back. Andreas Weimann – 5 – Worked hard and ran tirelessly but his goal threat is absent. He was just unable to get on the end of an attempted one-two with Gabby on 10 minutes. Gabriel Agbonlahor – 4 – Disappointing once again as he was at Palace prior to the changes to the background staff this week. Failed to make the impression we would have hoped to see with his pace on the ball and he just does not do enough off the ball given the status and seniority he has at our football club. Substitutes: Grant Holt – Replaced El Ahmadi on 80 minutes. Was not on long enough to gain a rating but was on long enough to stray offside a couple of times. Callum Robinson – Replaced Weimann on 85 minutes. Not given long enough to be able to earn a rating. Stay up the Villa! John Lewis

Sad news. His grandfather won the Scottish Cup with Partick in 1921 and he lifted the League Cup with us 56 years later. A solid defender who played his part in the exciting team that Ron built for the late 70s and played 4 times for Scotland U23s. Gordon joined us after we had ended our first season back in the top flight 16th. We were then 4th and 8th in the following 2 seasons during which he made 85 appearances before moving to Spurs the following season. My thoughts are with his family at this sad time. Holte Ender In The Sky!

Source: Player Match Ratings: How bad must we be?

Bad enough to have been beaten by a team that had started yesterday’s game bottom of the league. Bad enough for that same team to have done the double over us this season and in so doing having won their first league at Villa Park for 41 years. Bad enough for this to have been our 10th league defeat at Villa Park this season and bad enough for us to still be looking over our shoulders and wondering if we really do already have enough points to stay up because we are struggling to see after three successive league defeats where our next point let alone win will come from. Having already lost N’Zogbia, Okore and Kozak we now have Benteke added to our long term injury list. Yesterday we also started the game without Delph, Gabby and El Ahmadi. Our squad lacks anything approaching adequate cover for this level of injury. This was demonstrated by our starting line up and by the lack of options we had to change things on the bench. Before the game it could be argued that the team that started the game bottom of the table looked slightly stronger on paper than we did and so it proved on the pitch. Their hopes of a rare away win would have been higher than normal despite their poor away record given our own abysmal home one. But our list of absentees must have boosted their optimism pre-match as did our first half performance further encourage them at half time. Clubs must really love to come to Villa Park. I think many of us might have taken a point had one been offered at half time if not before the game. But having gone a goal down we did not quite have the belief or confidence to go on to win it having pulled level with 20 minutes of the game to play and we were unable to stop them getting a late second to send yet another set of away fans home happy. A point would have maintained the gap between us and our opponents of yesterday. Three would have made us pretty much safe. Lowton’s superb goal line clearance and the referee’s decision not to give Weimann a penalty when he was brought to the ground inside the box were crucial moments in the game. Their late winner now threatens to have a crucial impact on our season. This was an open game with both teams creating goal scoring opportunities. We shaded the possession but they looked more comfortable on the ball and were allowed too much space. They had more shots on goal, more shots on target and more corners than we did. So our injury hit side has lost another six-pointer and yesterday and it would have been difficult for a neutral to guess from the flow of the game which of the two sides started cut adrift in bottom place. Fans have increasingly called for the head of our manager of late. But who would actually now want the job given the squad they would inherit and the restrictions being placed upon managers at Villa Park by our absentee owner? Fans have added that they would have no trust in the ability of the manager to spend the money they anticipate he will be given in the summer for new signings. But do we really think that the sort of money we need to spend on this team will be made available in the next transfer window or that our owner would consider appointing a new manager who would expect to be given the funds to bring together a team his own making? What we have now is a football club that faces a relegation battle every season. It is a club that looks to stay up to get the money that being in the top flight brings at the minimum cost. It is a club that lacks ambition. It is a club that advertises the availability of season tickets for next season whilst we are losing to a team that were bottom of the league before they did for us for a second time this season. We were promised a bright future. What we have now is a worrying and embarrassing one where continued under investment threatens our place in the top flight this season and should we happen to survive will continue to do so until this apparently endless frugality sees the relegation trap door slam shut with us on the wrong side of it sooner rather than later. This situation is not acceptable for fans who appear to be being again taken for granted and it should not be acceptable for the current custodian of our great football club. My player ratings from a game that has left us only two points clear of the teams that are now fourth and fifth from bottom and hoping that our current 13th place does not prove unlucky for us as we give a passable imitation of a boxer who is on the ropes and waiting for the final bell to sound are: Brad Guzan – 6 – Beaten twice but had little chance with the first and made some decent stops during this game. Matt Lowton – 6 – Had a decent game at the back and when moving forward. Made a terrific last ditch clearance off the line on 75 minutes from Holtby’s side foot after he had side stepped Guzan and had seemed destined to score. Ron Vlaar – 6 – Needs a solid partner alongside him. Nathan Baker – 4 – Played an awful casual pass out of defence straight to Holtby on 21 minutes but a poor first touch inside the box by Kassami led to him not paying the price for that. Joe Bennett – 4 – Replaced on 66 minutes having started well enough but having had his fragile confidence shaken by later mistakes. Could have been made to pay a heavy price for a sloppy half hit pass on 35 minutes that was picked up by Woodrow who ran on before hitting a decent low shot that Guzan did well to keep out. Ryan Bertrand - 5 – Started in an unfamiliar role due to our lack of midfield cover and did not look as comfortable as he does when in his rightful position. Leandro Bacuna - 6 – Westwood hit a sweet pass to find him on 31 minutes, he then cut inside the box having out muscled Kassami and struck a good shot that Stockdale kept out with an outstretched hand. His well hit 49th minute shot thudded against the near post off Stockdale after Holt had chested down a long ball from Vlaar for him. Should start in the middle for me. Ashley Westwood – 6 – A decent game although he did give the ball back to them in the build up to their winner and understandably missed having Delph alongside him. Marc Albrighton – 6 – Tested their keeper with a 75th minute shot and was always willing to try to take people on and to get crosses over. Andreas Weimann – 5 – Headed a 27th minute Albrighton cross a couple of feet wide of the post after Bennett had found the winger inside the box. A ball from Lowton was nicely helped on by Bakuna to Holt who pulled the ball back to Andreas on the edge of the box but his 59th minute shot was blocked by a defender and comfortably gathered by the keeper. Headed an Albrighton cross inches over on 79 minutes and had realistic claims for a penalty 3 minutes later that were ignored by the referee when he was prevented from getting to a Holt header by a defender. Offered some pace up front but we needed goals. Grant Holt – 6 – MOTM - Did as much as could reasonably be expected of him. Age is not on his side and he clearly lacks pace. But he can still hold the ball up, put himself about and showed yesterday that if left unmarked inside the box he can still apply a finish. Headed our equalizer in front of the Holte End (where else?) after Hangeland had moved for Albrighton’s corner and left him unmarked. Did less well when having won the ball in the air Weimann then gave him the ball back on 87 minutes but he screwed the ball well wide of the post. Substitutes: Aleksandar Tonev – 6 - Replaced Bennett on 66 minutes and made a surprisingly positive impression. Weimann found him near the edge of the box on 77 minutes and his shot was curling towards the top corner until Stockdale managed to get a hand to it. Jordan Bowery – Replaced Albrighton on 91 minutes. Was not on long enough to merit a rating but did in making a late appearance demonstrate our lack of game changing options on the bench. Stay up the Villa! John Lewis

Balthazar King & Long Run for me.

Sad news for the player, his country and for our football club. This will be a World Cup that Belgium can do very well in but they will miss him as will we. I am less concerned that it may cost him a "dream move" and if our summer transfer spending was going to be backed by the sale of our best player alone I have difficulty in seeing how that would move us forward as a football club. So the ball is in the owner's court. How about bringing in someone like Lukaku in the summer along with a couple of others for say £30-£35m to play alongside a fit again Benteke? It might have him wanting to stick around and us winning a few more home games next season. In any case get well soon Christian you will be much missed in Brazil and at Villa Park.

"It would be great to have a strong windies again in test cricket." Ditto a strong England test cricket team again PaulC. Having sat through many a stuffing from the Windies I could go another few years of us having the better of them if only in the 5 day game.

"I can't see them beating Everton myself" - Whilst I agree with you PaulC I could not see Palace beating Chelsea either.

Sorry tonyh29 I missed that on catching up on this topic.

"they found stacks of debris ...items, such as a wedding rings and other jewellery, photos, credit cards, purses and their contents, shoes, a wallet and currency, are among seven boxes of identified personal effects salvaged from the site" - Has any reason been given concerning why items such as rings, jewellery and purses were still floating tonyh29?

He looked a cut above at Villa Park pre-season and I would like to think that we have been looking seriously at him since then.

Yes P3te Nicklas has not had many opportunities to show what he can do at first team level but I would have expected him to have been making a strong case for first team selection at Bodymoor by now or to be at least be first choice off the bench. Given our signing of Kozak and his lack of playing time it seems Lambo may have anticipated he would have made a bigger impression himself although once we have secured safety I would hope he would get a chance or two to show what he can do for us.

"he's a winger - play him on the wing.." I agree with that rodigan. "out of interest what has happened to the likes of tonev and helenius?" I guess they may have been considered to have failed to take the opportunity offered them to gain a starting place with us this season and now even a spot on the bench.

Thanks & 110% correct briny_ear we did lose to them back in 87-88 during that promotion year. "I assume all the records mentioned are for the top flight only?" - In the case above yes rjw63. But I think that otherwise the number of league games played between us and this being our record home defeat against them is correct. I agree that we stopped playing on going in front and that just is not good enough. Thanks villa-revolution. You along with danceoftheshamen have come up with some very sound reasoning above on this game and on others. We really lack options on the bench to change things other than in the case of Albrighton