Written by Damian Friday, 01 May 2009 09:11
You've got to fancy this match is three points for us don't you? Marky Mark is even predicting a 2-0 win suggesting we've broken the back of the bad run.
I'm not convinced we've broken the back of it yet, I'll only feel like that after a couple or three victories and certainly not after Hull on Monday night. It's just one game that they are probably going to make it very difficult.
The chances are we'll go into this game on Monday night in 6th place and while some might say it will give us something to play for, we had top four to play four and that didn't turn out to be much of an incentive, despite the managers man management skills. Hull might also have more of a reason to get something out of this game so it's a tough one to call.
I'm sorry if this post has started out negatively, but it's just that I don't feel very positive about things Aston Villa at the moment. This season, a bit like last, despite seeing progression, has been a bit of an anti-climax. I know we've seen progression and I accept that it's all good, but we've sort of accepted that it is going to be slow and difficult when actually it doesn't have to be. When did I get the options?
Look at it this way, January was a great opportunity to strengthen as was last January and we didn't. We have to this summer and for the life of me, if we're in a good position next January too, we've got to bloody strengthen then too.
I've really gone off the rails now, so back to the match. Hull have lost their last three matches and only won one match in the last eighteen. We've drawn our last three so you've got to fancy things are going to change for both teams and the more likely of any scenario, is a home victory, but then when you factor in that Hull are better away from home, much like us, everything becomes even again and a draw looks the most likely.
It would be a sad state of affairs if we couldn't beat this side and like I've suggested you've got to fancy it is a home win. Last time we met Hull in the league we won 5-0 in the old Second Division on New Years Day 1988. A repeat of that would be impressive and long overdue.
Another interesting stat from the stat bank which could continue after this match is that we are the only two clubs not to have lost any of our league games in which we've opened the scoring, so whoever scores first, you fancy might get the three points. I'm predicting a John Carew goal on nine minutes and that it will be the first.
We do need a win and I fancy we'll get it, if only because Hull are so poor and you've got to fancy our eleven players are going to be of a higher quality than the eleven they put out.
I think it is massively important that we finish in fifth this season. If we do that, it's been a step up from the previous campaign. That would be great. As long as there is a progression made, everyone - the fans, chairman, manager and players - will be upbeat about the coming season.Brad Friedel, April 28th 2009
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VillaDude
said:
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... I'm finding it pretty tough to as a Villa fan at the moment, I haven't watched SSN, MOTD, MOTD2 for a long time. I hate to say it, but another draw at the weekend? I can see Hull scoring first and Villa dominating the game to get an equaliser. hull will definetly be happy with a point. |
colm tarpey
said:
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... um....I would also be looking to this game to return to winning ways but to be honest I would'nt be surprised if it ended in a draw....oh, and don't call me Shirley..... |
Woz
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... We'll get an early couple and than be all over them like a rash getting another 2. Set your Sky+ if your going to the game because you'll want to watch it again when you get home!!! UTV! |
Michael
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... if its on on monday then - may the 4th be with them  its our last televised game of the season so lets hop we win, im struggling to see why both villa v hull games have been on the tv this season. i hope we have guarenteed 5th place with games remaining so we can give some of our youngsters a run out in the leage to give them more experience, and possible experiment without barry, and play players in there correct positions. id like to see this formation put out if this is the case guzan young cueller clarke o'hallaran bannan reo-coker gardner young delfouenso forrester and all the bench should be youngsters. |
Paul Egan
said:
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... I was going to this match until Sky moved it to the Monday night. Bastards. I think of Hull as an inferior version of Bolton, so I reckon the last game will have been good practice for us. Hopefully we'll knick an ugly win. |
Michael
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... paulE - if your saying hopefully then shouldnt you say hopefully we will beat them 6-0 like we did derby this time last year? lol |
Damian
said:
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... Cheers Panos Tested in latest Chrome (no issues), Firefox (no issues), Safari (no issues) - in IE though, it's just issue after issue, but we've put live for now as we should get to fix them much quicker when live .. |
Smyth
said:
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... Looks Classy, glad you kept the white. Brain says Villa by two but i've got a weird feeling... |
Chris Harper
said:
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... Im really optimistic normally but going to Villa Park all season has put a bit of Taglor into me of late (not like that Keef!), we just can't seem to win games we've dominated at home. 4-1 Villa! |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... looks great damian. you say above that we have made progess/improved this season. I really dont see this? i dont know how people think we have whatever happens from here on in. we have the same points at this stage last year, have scored less goals, conceded more. our standard of football hjas been worse than last year where we won games in style - this year even on our good run we won playing ugly. oneils signings in geneeral last summer have turned out to be pretty dreadful - pointing to the 40m spent on defense. we are going to qualify for a competition we didnt even try to ein this year which all potential signings will know about. on that moscow fiasco it embarrassed the club in general and gave us a lot of bad publicity. our mananger has nade baffling decisisions this season, playing players out of position, formation buying heskey etc. Laursens career now seems over. um cant think what else - i just dont see any progress???? |
VillaDude
said:
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... The blog looks great damian, I work in online advertising and SEO enhancement and your blog should do well within search engines. It already ranking for good search terms. Keep up the good work. |
Steve Badger
said:
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... Site's looking good mate. This is the typical sort of game that we should be winning comfortably. Draw at best then  |
Damian
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... Tonebone As it stands now I think we can say we've made progress but if we finish 6th, I'll happily agree with you and I will be singing it from the rooftops ... and while I think Martin O'Neill is the right man for the job, if we don't actually see a real improvement in the football next season, I fear some will start questioning him also .. VillaDude .. we're doing our best, thanks. |
Keith
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... Tonebone...... I can see the points you are raising but surely, even if we do finish 6th again, we have progressed because we did challenge the dominance of the top 4. This should alone be a selling point to young emerging players, Delph, Surman, Fox and to established players at clubs not as big as Villa, Glen Johnson, Downing, anyone at Spurs !! |
daniel wheeler
said:
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... like the new look damo as for the game, 2-1 to the villa. gotta win. if we can't beat hull at home then no progress has been achieved imo. no disrespect to hull but come on, must win. |
gregdavillain
said:
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... tonebone- pessimistic but thru, i think our first season we finished with 52 points n came 12th r 10th r sumthin, we 55 and unless we get maximum points to take us to 67 i for one dont see progression, but because of our great run of results and were giving it to da top 4 teams for a few month and gave em something tp think about it over exaggerates the feeling of progression. i hate all this uefa cup rubbish, we were in a strong position to go for a champs spot, we'd da smallest squad in the premier league, i think o neills priorities were straight but ultimately backfired. at least he tried. Im sure well have a squad stong enuf next year to compete on all fronts and give the uefa cup the respect it deserves. Think because of the investment and at last spurs have a manager who can get good players and get em playing well and with their financial backing and city i think we'll find ourselfs competing for top 6 not top 4 unless me get 60-80 million spent on real footballers with technique class and pace |
john franey
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... After hearing brads comments on finishing 5th it really sunk in how we threw 4th spot away this season,but all in all the four sides above us are probably the best 4 teams in europe along with barca.I can see mondays game ending in a draw.BTW congrats on the site damo it looks great.  |
DAMIEN REYNOLDS
said:
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... If Villa dont win this i cant see us winning any of the other remaining games.We just cant keep a clean sheet |
gregdavillain
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... come in fairness we'd have been humilitaed in the champs league if we got it this year, if we got it yes we would have brought in a couple of quality players, but look how we did against the top four and how man city destroyed us at eastlans, we give the ball away far too often and would be wooped by possesion football teams, im taking off the rose tineted glasses now and ive just been on other blogs and sick of reading the same old shite. some fool on teamtalk says :carew,l young, laursen, bouma, ashley young, gabby, petrov, barry,milner would walk into arsenals team. so would sagna, fabregas, van persie, walcott, arshavin, diaby, clichy n adebayor not inprove us?? what an anal jerkoff, it was great being up fourth but oneill always says u finish where u deserve, and although it got under my skin when i was in the height of my hope, arsenal fans were on here sayin hahaha howd we fall and theyd finish 12 points clear well the bastards were right. why didnt we break the bank in jan and go for gold knowing were up against a full strenght and probably improved aresenal next year not to mention everton man city and spuds, ffs i hate these mood swings with this club i dont know whether to laugh or cry |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... what did u reckong the team will be tomorrow. no change from last week? this is what annnoys me for 3 months we havent won and oneil hasnt changed the team apart from when forced though injury. it shows how feeble our squad is. we simply dont have a plan B. I am getting more and more concerned for the summer. laursen and barry look like they will be gone for next year. if you add to that NRC could easily move on and maybe Gardner. thats 2 of our best players and 2 players that should if used correctly be good squad players. I just cant see how we are going to progress in the summer and be in a stronger position than we are now in terms of quality and quantity. |
steve
said:
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... herman herradairson is a done deal for next year he will be a good addition to the squad |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Gregdavillan, who says we would be humiliated in the Champs League? We have played probably 4 of perhaps the best 5 teams in Champs League twice this year and only got a beating twice in 8 games. There are plenty of teams we would compare favourably with. Anyway, Man U struggled to begin with in Champs League, you've got to get in there to fail and learn from it. It's a bit like becoming a parent, you are never going to be ready, it's always a shock but you do adapt. Tonebone, Jesus, you're wearing me down. Try and find a bright point, you might like it Daminan, you are a little bit transparent. The whole backing the regime until proved wrong is not very convincing. If you think the club is not progressing, Randy is not going to provide any money, MON is not good enough and the players are not good enough that is a reasonable point of view but say it. This hinting and standing on the side line ready to stick the boot in is uncool. If I have misinterpreted your position I apologise but that is the impression I am getting and I know a bit about interpretation of prose. |
DAMIEN REYNOLDS
said:
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... Herradairson ,He would have been a good signing a few year's ago to old now he must be 34 or something, Breda Hangeland is a must this summer, |
Steve Badger
said:
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... Ha, I'm loving the Firefox recommendation Damian. And yes, it does suck, imo. Does IE still not follow the proper protocols? I thought they'd sorted that? As you can probably tell, I'm bored  I've got a wedding to go to tomorrow. Bloody good job Villa ain't playing, otherwise I wouldn't be going Fair play though, I think they're Villa fans and have planned accordingly  |
Steve Badger
said:
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... Sid, Daminan, you are a little bit transparent. The whole backing the regime until proved wrong is not very convincing. If you think the club is not progressing, Randy is not going to provide any money, MON is not good enough and the players are not good enough that is a reasonable point of view but say it. This hinting and standing on the side line ready to stick the boot in is uncool. I think Damian thinks pretty much the same as me, in that you have to trust the manager or get rid, simple. It's not about sitting on the fence, it's more give the bloke a proper chance. I concur with Damian again, in that, give him the dough to make another push. Then he has to live or die on next seasons result. Or maybe that's too simple, I don't know. Do you let him push on or let him go now and bring another manager in? Either way, it has to cost a lot of dough. Seeing as it's pretty much proven that short-termism doesn't work, you have to wait and see, imo. I can see where all the negative posters are coming from re poor signings, but very few of us were bleating when we were doing well, were we? Yes, we were riding our luck while playing crap, but how often do the top 4 do that? Liverpool were shite early on, for example. Man U are shite now and we should have beat them at OT, imo. As JG says "it's a funny old game". And fwiw, I don't really swallow the small squad stuff either. How many players did we win our last title with? And don't give me "the game's moved on" rubbish. It's all about the best 11, imo. Sorry Sid, that's not a rant at you, it's just an answer that's turned into a rant |
James
said:
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... Like it Damian. I too am feeling rather negative at the moment so I'm avoiding Villa discussion. |
Paul Egan
said:
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... Damian - Stylish new template. Nice (Firefox user). Tombome - I think you're forgetting that last season we were VERY lucky with the lack of injuries we benefited from. This season we have been VERY UNLUCKY with injuries. Half of our defence has been missing for half the season. If we'd have lost Laursen last season, we'd have done much worse. Also, we've played a lot more games with pretty much the same number of players available. We're all disappointed with how things have gone in the last few months, but let's give them a break now. They've done as well as we could have realistically expected them to. |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Badger understand where you are coming from. I am just struggling with what Damian's motivation. I understand Tonebone. He is a bit down for my liking but he is consistent and can back up his arguments and I respect that. With Damian it feels like he is coming up with some positive stuff and backing the manager because he thinks he ought to but doesn't really believe it and is waiting to get stuck in. Feels a bit false - sorry Damo I know it's your gig and all but that's the vibe I'm getting I'm not a sheep - I never bought this top 4 finish nailed on and can challenge for the title (although I did hope) but I think people have forgotten that we are a million miles better than we were 3 years ago. Can we get to the next stage under Lerner and O'Neil? Who knows but can we get there without them? |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Nan, now is not the time to turn your back. Now is the time to face your fear, get behind the team look for that turning point. Now is the time for strength of will and courage Come back to us |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... we havent been v unlucky with injuries at all. look at arsenal they had 11 players out at one point thats unlucky! or west ham had 10 out at one time. we just dont have a squad that can cope when 2 or 3 players are out! only one man to blame for that! who have we had laursen yes, carew and bouma but that was known about before the season. apart from that who has been out long termt any point. a few players have missed a game here and there. in fact we have prob been v lucky again with injuries! i dread to think what would happen if we were unlucky. |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... at one point arsenal were missing fabregas, walcott, van persie, adebayor, eduardo, rosicky etc etc all long term. can you imagine us without gabby, carew, young, barry and milner say for that length of time. relegation!!! |
Andy Scarborough
said:
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... Someone made the comment a few weeks ago that RL appears to be like Doug with a bit more money. Whatever we say about Doug, he kept us relatively solvent and in the top flight, he provided funds when necessary, and sold to who he thought was the best buyer for the club. When MoN was on his way here the euphoria from the fans was incredible, you'd have thought that we'd acquired the services of the real Messiah! So what's changed? Why the thump of claret clad arses returning to earth? We have realised that life at the top ain't easy. RL and MoN must know this. RL has experience in sports franchises, MoN has experience of life at the top. I was as caught up with the top four hopes as much as anyone on here, a little dose of reality has not made me depressed, it has not shaken my faith in Villa, MoN or RL. After all, the drama of the EPL has only four stars but many support players. Each year two clubs go down, their fans get on with it and would probably give their eye teeth to be in our position. Those of you lucky enough to be going to VP on Monday are needed by the players, they need you to get behind them, to shout, sing, cheer and clap every move. Show your love, don't boo, these lads are as fragile as you and me. Give them a chance and you will be rewarded. COME ON YOU VILLA |
bob
said:
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... well said numbers regardless of what we think of martin o'neill and randy learner and we all have different opinions. we as fans need to spur the players we have on to victory as much as the management team to secure that 5th or 6th spot. 4 games left europa league pretty much secured is it time to test out our squad and system tactics? create a plan b for next season when things may go belly up etc... |
Martin Clabon
said:
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... Andy and Bob - spot on boys ....... except Deadly dismantled a league and European Cup winning team and manager for his own ego taking away our chance to become a dominant team. Keeping us solvent and selling to a decent buyer does not make up for that But forget all that, you are the type of fans the team needs on Monday and when the chips are down |
Nick
said:
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... The blog looks awesome Damian. I can feel a big win coming. I felt it last week, and the week before that, and the week before that and the week before that but seriously this is the weekend we thrash someone and that someone is Hull. Ashley Young to show us why he was the young player of the year. |
Jeremiah Wood
said:
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... I think building up a consistent Top 4 challenger will take time. ManU, LIverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal get the 40m cash injections every year from the Champions League, so they are able to build up strong squads. It just isn't possible to do it without spending 200 million in one summer. Look at Man City - they're paying ridiculous money for players who might not be worth it, and they're not necessarily any better than they were last year. I'm pretty down on how we've finished this season - two years in a row of flirting with Champions League and then crashing in the second half of the season - but the club is more stable and in good shape to compete than we've been in a long time. As for the small squad issue, last I saw we only had used one less player than LIverpool this year. It's more a matter of the quality in the squad. Nothing against players like Salifou and Harewood, but they'd struggle to make the LIverpool reserve team. We're certainly better off than we were three years ago, when we had Didier Agathe starting on the right wing and Gavin McCann as our holding midfielder. |
Jeremiah Wood
said:
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... By the way, The Daily Mirror has us linked with Raul Albiol from Valencia - he'd be a great signing. |
RayK
said:
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... finally a rumour to get genuinely excited about - i'm really hoping that there's something in the Albiol story. He had a decent game against England recently and is exactly the sort of player we should be going for - young, tall and already a Spanish international. Sounds like this lad is not another Cuellar but the real deal and apparently both Arsenal & Liverpool have been interested in him in the recent past. To me if we sign a player like this then we're really sending out a message to the top four that we'll be back stronger next season. The Mirror are quoting a figure of £6m for this lad which is nonsense - it'll be double that if not more but we have to spend that to get a player of the right quality. |
Anthony Laud
said:
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... by the sounds of it this Albiol would be a great signing and pretty cheap at 6m. def the sort of player we should be looking at. I worry though with liverpool in for him and them having so many spanish players and benitez already will he go there? How many defenders do they need anyway - i swear its up to around 15 international defenders in there squad most that never even get a look in |
RayK
said:
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... A player like Albiol for £6m would be a bargain. However, just read that when Liverpool and Arsenal were interested it was a fee of around £18m.... I see Agger is close to agreeing a new contract at Liverpool so hopefully that means they're happy with what they've got and not going to be interested. |
Damian
said:
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... RayK That must be a browser issue then and it must be IE6 ... we are going to work on getting it better but for now, sorry, just too much work and we have other stuff on also .. |
Daniel Wilson
said:
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... I had a dream and i was 1.1, they scored first... I have had dreams about Villa resluts before and they were always complete bollox. So I predict a 4.0 whipping of the hull boys. Loving the new look Damian, and for the first time it hasn't crashed out on me in IE.7 today |
Damian
said:
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... We might have fixed the issues for IE7 and 8 with script conflicts .. so that should be better. |
matt reeve
said:
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... villa will win if oneil doesnt ply donkey heskey he should put gabby up front wiv carew and then bring in sidwell 4 barry. c if we can cope wiv out him 4 next season. |
arsenal fan
said:
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... hhaahaahahaha ooh tah be ooh tah be ooh tah be a goonah 4th place secured wheres all your gobby fans now.......ssssshhhhhh! |
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