Ah monday, Historically the most labourious of days. The start of the working week, the end of our lesuire time.however, Monday the 26 of April 2010 is a glorious contradiction of the normal grind for the claret half of Birmingham, and this is why.....
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Birmingham City!!!!
I am not naive enough to portray a biased opininion of dominance in this game, Birmingham gave us a fright, they are a far better outfit than i thought they were, We were better in the first half, they were in the second. The match was decided by a moment of attacking quality from Agbonlahor, and a moment of liability from Roger Johnson.
It was a penalty, No doubt in my mind, it was a foul, Therefore a penalty. I am not disputing that Johnson made some contact with the ball, but he had not gained either control of the ball or had he removed the threat of a goalscoring opportunity before he played the man. As Roger Johnson made contact he pushed the ball into Agbonlahor's path, whilst not increasing any pace on the ball. I believe had Agbonlahor not then been taken down by Johnsons challenge, he is in in goal.
The 'blue noses' feel hard done by, but thats life. Decisions have cost Villa all season, some massive games for the club have been effected by refferee's making misjudgement. Therefore i can appreciate your woes, However you need to ask yourselves this, was it necessary for the defender to go to ground there? Was he taking a gamble on winning the ball when Agbonlahor is clearly ahead of him?
I think that rather than blame the officials, Roger Johnson has to look at himself and admit that he made a poor judgement there, one that cost his team dearly.
Moving on from that vital win for us, what a massive game we now have up at Eastlands on saturday. If we could win against City we would be in a great position.
I think its a credit to Martin O'niel that he has picked the lads up from the rout at Stamford Bridge and we are still pushing for champions league football.
Thats all for now peeps, we are in europe again next year, so well done Villa, but it would be nice to see the media have to take us seriously if we beat Manchester City on Saturday, in what is now a cup final!!
Good luck boys, and thanks for the six consecutive wins over the 'scum'!!!
Monday, 26 April 2010
Wednesday, 21 April 2010
Villa v Hull, Delfouneso and the summer
Hello all....
whilst i have been away relaxing sinse my last post, we, Aston Villa have had an interresting few weeks. The most dissapointing aspect for me is the loss of Fabian Delph. I am a massive fan of his and think he could have made a massive impact in the 'run-in' and next season, with petrov looking very weary of late. This however has been offset by the emergence of Nathan Delfouneso. Although us Villa fans are fairly knowledgable of his potential, it was in recent weeks that he had seemed to be getting ignored in favour of the 'harmless' heskey, for me most notebly at home against Wolves. Then sunday, he popped up with the kind of predatory instinct that we have lacked all season, and i would love to see this lad get a bit of a run now as when he plays for us, he seems to score. He was also top scorer at last summers Under 19 championships.
Hull City play host to us tonight, and i will be honest, this is another tough awkward encounter. Both sides need a victory, i think this game will suit us. If we set up to play on the counter, we will catch them. I am going to predict a 4-2 away win.
A quick bit on the summer now, i am interrested to see who people would want to replace from the first team, who would be dispensible from your starting eleven to be replaced with players that will improve the first team. In my opinion it would be James Collins, Stiliyan Petrov and John Carew. Carew would be missed but he does not play enough games to be a regular, i will post a poll to vote on this.
whilst i have been away relaxing sinse my last post, we, Aston Villa have had an interresting few weeks. The most dissapointing aspect for me is the loss of Fabian Delph. I am a massive fan of his and think he could have made a massive impact in the 'run-in' and next season, with petrov looking very weary of late. This however has been offset by the emergence of Nathan Delfouneso. Although us Villa fans are fairly knowledgable of his potential, it was in recent weeks that he had seemed to be getting ignored in favour of the 'harmless' heskey, for me most notebly at home against Wolves. Then sunday, he popped up with the kind of predatory instinct that we have lacked all season, and i would love to see this lad get a bit of a run now as when he plays for us, he seems to score. He was also top scorer at last summers Under 19 championships.
Hull City play host to us tonight, and i will be honest, this is another tough awkward encounter. Both sides need a victory, i think this game will suit us. If we set up to play on the counter, we will catch them. I am going to predict a 4-2 away win.
A quick bit on the summer now, i am interrested to see who people would want to replace from the first team, who would be dispensible from your starting eleven to be replaced with players that will improve the first team. In my opinion it would be James Collins, Stiliyan Petrov and John Carew. Carew would be missed but he does not play enough games to be a regular, i will post a poll to vote on this.
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Aston Villa - The Future!!!
I have refrained from posting on this blog since Tuesday as I have reserved opinion on the shenanigans and Villa Park; or should I say 'speculated shenanigans'!!!.
The future for Aston Villa in my opinion is quite clear as there are very few realistic eventualities that will present themselves in the summer regardless of where we eventually finish this season.
The history of the way we have strived to improve and restructure since the arrival of Lerner and O'neil will dictate the path of investment, there would have been a clear and concise plan on arrival, and while I think that this 'project' has proved more difficult than initially predicted, I would imagine the plan would be still relevant and achievable to an extent.
Martin O'neil will be Aston Villa manager in August 2010, Villa will again invest a net spend of between £20-30m on young english players who will improve with time. This is because, should Lerner walk away, or should the club hit a financial crisis, he can re-sell the players he purchased for a profit. If Villa sold Agbonlahor, Milner, Ashley Young, Stuart Downing, Carlos Cuellar and Steven Warnock, it his highly likely we would make a vast profit on the 'investment' (I', aware that Agbonlahor came through our youth system!) This is how Randy Lerner justifies the money he is allowing us to spend.
There has been a disagreement of some sort betweeen the manager and the owner, but I doubt that this will see a impact or change of any sort, if Martin O'neil walked out or was sacked, would a new manager want a figure of cash to make his own changes??, This would more than likely see Lerner being forced to invest more money. More time would have to be given to allow the new manager to succeed.
I would strongly suggest that Lerner and O'neil will be happy to be top 8 every season and challenge for forth, have cup runs and wait for the young players to mature and hopefully mean the need for less investment in the future, if you add a Torres and a Lampard to our side, we would be top 4, a goalscoring midfielder and a match winning striker is essentially what we lack.
Last Saturday was a freak game, we are a good team, the correct buys would see us as a very good side, we need to buy well and invest in quality now rather than quantity, you buy 2 maybe 3 players who improve the first team, you then naturally improve the squad, because two good players like Carew or Petrov now sit on the bench. This summer there will be departures, I for one would like to see Sidwell, Harewood, Heskey, Beye, Salifou, Shorey and Osbourne all go and be replaced with 3 quality players, they are out there, and are realistic, Steven Ireland, Oscar Cardozo and Veloso. Add to that some young flair like Dorrans and Carroll could see us as a lot stronger outfit, the question is, can we buy wiser than Liverpool, Spurs and Everton because eventually Manchester City will become title contenders due to the level of investment capability.
Lets all hope that we bounce back on Saturday, and I am also hoping for wins for Barnsley and West Brom, these are for my two pals 'Uncle Graham' and 'The Yam'.
Final note, Watch Benfica v Liverpool and let me know your opinion on Cardozo and Di Maria!!!
The future for Aston Villa in my opinion is quite clear as there are very few realistic eventualities that will present themselves in the summer regardless of where we eventually finish this season.
The history of the way we have strived to improve and restructure since the arrival of Lerner and O'neil will dictate the path of investment, there would have been a clear and concise plan on arrival, and while I think that this 'project' has proved more difficult than initially predicted, I would imagine the plan would be still relevant and achievable to an extent.
Martin O'neil will be Aston Villa manager in August 2010, Villa will again invest a net spend of between £20-30m on young english players who will improve with time. This is because, should Lerner walk away, or should the club hit a financial crisis, he can re-sell the players he purchased for a profit. If Villa sold Agbonlahor, Milner, Ashley Young, Stuart Downing, Carlos Cuellar and Steven Warnock, it his highly likely we would make a vast profit on the 'investment' (I', aware that Agbonlahor came through our youth system!) This is how Randy Lerner justifies the money he is allowing us to spend.
There has been a disagreement of some sort betweeen the manager and the owner, but I doubt that this will see a impact or change of any sort, if Martin O'neil walked out or was sacked, would a new manager want a figure of cash to make his own changes??, This would more than likely see Lerner being forced to invest more money. More time would have to be given to allow the new manager to succeed.
I would strongly suggest that Lerner and O'neil will be happy to be top 8 every season and challenge for forth, have cup runs and wait for the young players to mature and hopefully mean the need for less investment in the future, if you add a Torres and a Lampard to our side, we would be top 4, a goalscoring midfielder and a match winning striker is essentially what we lack.
Last Saturday was a freak game, we are a good team, the correct buys would see us as a very good side, we need to buy well and invest in quality now rather than quantity, you buy 2 maybe 3 players who improve the first team, you then naturally improve the squad, because two good players like Carew or Petrov now sit on the bench. This summer there will be departures, I for one would like to see Sidwell, Harewood, Heskey, Beye, Salifou, Shorey and Osbourne all go and be replaced with 3 quality players, they are out there, and are realistic, Steven Ireland, Oscar Cardozo and Veloso. Add to that some young flair like Dorrans and Carroll could see us as a lot stronger outfit, the question is, can we buy wiser than Liverpool, Spurs and Everton because eventually Manchester City will become title contenders due to the level of investment capability.
Lets all hope that we bounce back on Saturday, and I am also hoping for wins for Barnsley and West Brom, these are for my two pals 'Uncle Graham' and 'The Yam'.
Final note, Watch Benfica v Liverpool and let me know your opinion on Cardozo and Di Maria!!!
Tuesday, 30 March 2010
Vlla deny O'niel has quit!!!!
Aston Villa are reported to have denied that martin o'niel has resigned.
It is believed that there has been a major fall out over the amount of funds that will be made available to him to strengthen the side this summer, and during the course of the fall out o'niel offered his resignation.
links here
http://www.talksport.net/
It is believed that there has been a major fall out over the amount of funds that will be made available to him to strengthen the side this summer, and during the course of the fall out o'niel offered his resignation.
links here
http://www.talksport.net/
BREAKING NEWS!!!!!!! Martin Oniel Quits Villa
IT IS BEING REPORTED ON TALK SPORT RADIO THAT MARTIN ONIEL HAS RESIGNED FROM HIS POST AS MANAGER OF ASTON VILLA!!
We will have to wait and see how this plays out over the next couple of hours, but if a very big commercial radio station have enough of an idea to report it then maybe there is no smoke without fire!!!
We will keep you right up to date on this blog and 'The Villa Blog'
http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/
We will have to wait and see how this plays out over the next couple of hours, but if a very big commercial radio station have enough of an idea to report it then maybe there is no smoke without fire!!!
We will keep you right up to date on this blog and 'The Villa Blog'
http://www.thevillablog.co.uk/
Monday, 29 March 2010
Aston villa, Martin oniel, and where do we go from here
morning all
monday, start of the new week. unfortunately however, for villa fans, the embarresment of saturday at stamford bridge looms large.
Some villa fans will be abused by birmingham city fans today, Some will be riddeculed by the 'south manchester united supporters club', Which actually was me. All this leads me to think cautiously about where there side are going, i would love to say i think we can win every game left and finish on a high, wherever in the table that would leave us. While on our day i believe we can beat any premier league side, its putting that into a 'run' that i think is the problem.
I spoke to a knowledgable friend today, Not a villa fan i may add, but he felt that maybe it was time for a change at villa,I am going to sit on the fence on that one, what we do need though is a big investment on the playing staff.
Another thing that he mentioned that worried me, although i have yet to find any quotes or evidence yet, is that john terry basically said on a television interview after the game that chelsea felt that they would only get a game for '60 minutes' and that it is widelly agreed that we now 'run out of legs' for the final half hour. It would seem that the cup success has now taken its toll on aston villa and the very few players who have actually played the majority of the season.
I think in the current climate, you cannot rely on 14-16 players to play 50 odd games and be fresh enough to compete at the 'money' end of the season, I cant see why Delph, Delfouneso, Albrighton and Craig Gardner before he was sold, could not have played more and gained experience.
I think we need three first team players in the summer, plus a net increase of 4 players to the squad, so here are my ins and outs. . . .
Transfers in
OSCAR CARDOZO - BENFICA - STRIKER
JOAO MOUTINHO - SPORTING LISBON - CREATIVE MIDFIELDER
ANGEL DI MARIA - BENFICA - LEFT WINGER
GRAEME DORRANS - WEST BROM - BOX TO BOX YOUNG MIDFIELDER
KYLE NAUGHTON - TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS - RIGHT FULL BACK
Transfers out
EMILE HESKEY - 2M
MARLON HAREWOOD - OUT OF CONTRACT
NICKY SHOREY - 4M - FULHAM
MUSTAPHA SALIFOU - ANYBODY
NIGEL REO-COKER - 5M - NUMBER OF CLUBS
The players i have mentioned for purchase are all gettable with the ambition required to improve the squad, and the exits from the club are pretty realistic, we will need more than this but it is a refference to the quality we can bring in
Any way im off now to tidy up have a brew and watch liverpool v sunderland from yesterday, will try to put a poll up for those who want to vote on players to bring in and out. i will also post a player profile on the players i have mentioned for those people who may not have seen them play much.
monday, start of the new week. unfortunately however, for villa fans, the embarresment of saturday at stamford bridge looms large.
Some villa fans will be abused by birmingham city fans today, Some will be riddeculed by the 'south manchester united supporters club', Which actually was me. All this leads me to think cautiously about where there side are going, i would love to say i think we can win every game left and finish on a high, wherever in the table that would leave us. While on our day i believe we can beat any premier league side, its putting that into a 'run' that i think is the problem.
I spoke to a knowledgable friend today, Not a villa fan i may add, but he felt that maybe it was time for a change at villa,I am going to sit on the fence on that one, what we do need though is a big investment on the playing staff.
Another thing that he mentioned that worried me, although i have yet to find any quotes or evidence yet, is that john terry basically said on a television interview after the game that chelsea felt that they would only get a game for '60 minutes' and that it is widelly agreed that we now 'run out of legs' for the final half hour. It would seem that the cup success has now taken its toll on aston villa and the very few players who have actually played the majority of the season.
I think in the current climate, you cannot rely on 14-16 players to play 50 odd games and be fresh enough to compete at the 'money' end of the season, I cant see why Delph, Delfouneso, Albrighton and Craig Gardner before he was sold, could not have played more and gained experience.
I think we need three first team players in the summer, plus a net increase of 4 players to the squad, so here are my ins and outs. . . .
Transfers in
OSCAR CARDOZO - BENFICA - STRIKER
JOAO MOUTINHO - SPORTING LISBON - CREATIVE MIDFIELDER
ANGEL DI MARIA - BENFICA - LEFT WINGER
GRAEME DORRANS - WEST BROM - BOX TO BOX YOUNG MIDFIELDER
KYLE NAUGHTON - TOTTENHAM HOTSPURS - RIGHT FULL BACK
Transfers out
EMILE HESKEY - 2M
MARLON HAREWOOD - OUT OF CONTRACT
NICKY SHOREY - 4M - FULHAM
MUSTAPHA SALIFOU - ANYBODY
NIGEL REO-COKER - 5M - NUMBER OF CLUBS
The players i have mentioned for purchase are all gettable with the ambition required to improve the squad, and the exits from the club are pretty realistic, we will need more than this but it is a refference to the quality we can bring in
Any way im off now to tidy up have a brew and watch liverpool v sunderland from yesterday, will try to put a poll up for those who want to vote on players to bring in and out. i will also post a player profile on the players i have mentioned for those people who may not have seen them play much.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Australian grand prix
morning . . . .
well yesterday i had posted a hope for lewis hamilton to finish in the top 6 in melbourne, and while my desires were matched with result, i write this tinged with disapointment.
hamilton drove brilliantly, and probably deserverd and would have finished at least second place had it not been for the poor desition of the team, and who knows whether mark webber shunting lewis off with 2 laps to go, if lewis could have passed at least alonso and maybe massa, giving him a podium for the second race running. i thought i would feel bitter about the victory off jenson button, as my loyalties are completely in the hamilton camp, but i am reluctantly pleased for him and mclaren.
we have the malaiysian grand prix next weekend and i would love to see lewis on the podium, i think the more points lewis and mclaren rack up early season, the better, as i think it is openly accepted that the develovpment of the car over the course of the season will be such to see the title decideded between massa, alonso,vettel, hamilton, button and maybe webber an outsider.
kubica drove well for renualt, androsberg too, credit to those drivers and teams, a good advert for formula 1 today, bahrain was dour, but this was a far better spectacle. red bull have the qualifiying pace, maclaren have better reliabillity and match them for race pace, ferrari have a blend of the two, and that is why they are early pacesetters. fernando alonso proved very difficult to pass when lewis attacked him in the last 6-8 laps, he is my favorite to take the championship, at this point, followed by sebastian vettel and lewis hamilton.
post again soon enjoy!!
well yesterday i had posted a hope for lewis hamilton to finish in the top 6 in melbourne, and while my desires were matched with result, i write this tinged with disapointment.
hamilton drove brilliantly, and probably deserverd and would have finished at least second place had it not been for the poor desition of the team, and who knows whether mark webber shunting lewis off with 2 laps to go, if lewis could have passed at least alonso and maybe massa, giving him a podium for the second race running. i thought i would feel bitter about the victory off jenson button, as my loyalties are completely in the hamilton camp, but i am reluctantly pleased for him and mclaren.
we have the malaiysian grand prix next weekend and i would love to see lewis on the podium, i think the more points lewis and mclaren rack up early season, the better, as i think it is openly accepted that the develovpment of the car over the course of the season will be such to see the title decideded between massa, alonso,vettel, hamilton, button and maybe webber an outsider.
kubica drove well for renualt, androsberg too, credit to those drivers and teams, a good advert for formula 1 today, bahrain was dour, but this was a far better spectacle. red bull have the qualifiying pace, maclaren have better reliabillity and match them for race pace, ferrari have a blend of the two, and that is why they are early pacesetters. fernando alonso proved very difficult to pass when lewis attacked him in the last 6-8 laps, he is my favorite to take the championship, at this point, followed by sebastian vettel and lewis hamilton.
post again soon enjoy!!
Saturday, 27 March 2010
villa hammered, lewis off pace - hopes are shattered
Today was a day that started with a great degree of promise, second grand prix of the season and aston villa would shock the grumbling fans and upset the odds at stamford bridge!!!
i settled down with a 'brew' to watch qualifiying, anticipating lewis hamilton on pole after an impressive practice session yesterday only to find myself scratching my head as the outragously talented hamilton, toilled to a lowly eleventh on the grid.
i thought, with a manor of superstition of which i base most my hopeful whims upon ' ah, villa will do well today, whenever hamilton does well, villa struggle!! and vice versa'
well for those of you who dont know, chelsea went ahead early at stamford bridge, but big john carew equalised. just before halftime, chelsea went 2-1 up, but a second half capitulation beyond all i can remember, villa lost 7-1.
bewildered by my sporting saturday i hold out for a top 6 hamilton finish tomorrow to cheer my woes, please leave your opinions on my designs!!!
i settled down with a 'brew' to watch qualifiying, anticipating lewis hamilton on pole after an impressive practice session yesterday only to find myself scratching my head as the outragously talented hamilton, toilled to a lowly eleventh on the grid.
i thought, with a manor of superstition of which i base most my hopeful whims upon ' ah, villa will do well today, whenever hamilton does well, villa struggle!! and vice versa'
well for those of you who dont know, chelsea went ahead early at stamford bridge, but big john carew equalised. just before halftime, chelsea went 2-1 up, but a second half capitulation beyond all i can remember, villa lost 7-1.
bewildered by my sporting saturday i hold out for a top 6 hamilton finish tomorrow to cheer my woes, please leave your opinions on my designs!!!
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