It doesn't take a genius to figure out that Liverpool is an important game this weekend and opinion is going to be divided on how best to approach it, so I'm going to skip it for this week as I did touch on it earlier.

What could I possibly write that we don't already know about Liverpool and what could I write about how the three points are vital to us that looking at the league table doesn't tell us?

Instead, rather than look at this game, I'm going to look to the end of the season. Including Liverpool, we have nine games left which adds up to a potential twenty-seven points and there is a point for us in every game if we want it.

I'm not saying we are going to get a point, but on our day we can get a point at Anfield, we did last season and on our day, we can get a point at Old Trafford, we did in 2002. But it's not about those two games, it's about the other seven. They're the important ones.

I'm also not going to look at who Arsenal have matches against, as that doesn't matter, it's how we finish that counts and while the general feeling isn't as positive as it has been this season, we have every reason to be optimistic.

First, we've got Martin O'Neill and you don't get your name thrown about in Soho Square if you're not capable. You also don't get many Manchester United fans happy with the idea of him taking over from Sir Alex, if he ever retires, unless you are more than capable. But the most important thing we need to remember about O'Neill is, he's a fighter and that he'll be doing everything to dig his team out of this slump they've found themselves in and I fancy he'll succeed.

That's the second thing; it's a slump, not the end of our season and if we just look back to his first season, that slump came right in the middle of the season, for quite a few games, but we got out of it. In his second season, it didn't last as long and I don't expect it will last as long this time round.

Yes, I predicted at the start of the season we'd finish sixth, but I think I also changed that to fifth in about December, but fourth isn't out of our grasp - we're on the same points as Arsenal and if ever there was a time to get one over them, it's now.

After these two massive games we've got Everton (H), West Ham (H), Bolton (A), Hull (H), Fulham (A), Middlesbrough (A) and Newcastle (H). Think about those seven games for a minute and pick a number; how many points do you think we'll get?

I think it's too difficult to predict myself, but had you asked me in December, the only match that would have scared me would have been Everton and maybe Fulham. As of today, it's too frightening a thought to think of what could happen if we don't dig ourselves out of this slump, but then I remember; Martin O'Neill.

This won't go on for much longer. We might get something out of one of the two matches, maybe even both, coming up and imagine if we did. Belief would be restored and we could go into the Everton game full of confidence. Imagine then, how it would feel if we beat Everton at home - we'd all be looking to third place again.

Third is stretching it but all the teams above us have quite a few more games than us coming up and that will take it's toll more at this end of the season than if it was at the beginning and a game of football is only 90 minutes - anything can happen.

But why have I posted this? Well, it started as a match preview, then I changed my mind as you'd basically be reading what you already knew. It then turned into what you've just read, but now I've decided to add a poll to the right, which I think is quite a topical one at the moment and while I fancy I know how it will end up, it's going to be interesting to see by what margin.

But finally and to top off the title of this post; at the end of the day, the season isn't over and we've still got it all to play for.

Comments (43)

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Lee Jelley said:

... It's nice to see a bit of optimism, every Villa fan I speak to at the mo talks as if our season is already over.

Comment 1, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.12 pm

Damian said:

... The thing with all slumps - they bottom out. I fancy ours has bottomed out, but we can't look to the next two matches - we have to look a little further than that.

Comment 2, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.14 pm

croni said:

... yes that's optimistic we have different personnel now to when we were playing well and beating the likes of arsenal in their home ground. i just can't see it happening, not with zat knight on the pitch. arsenal are getting stonger and with fabregas back they'll keep 4th spot. eduardo and arshavin have also given them extra impetus. the only way i can see us grabbing 4th now is if they get a few injuries and progress to at least the semis of the champions league.

Comment 3, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.25 pm

Michaell Lockey said:

... Mint post damo. totaly agree, Villa fans should get used to our seasonaly slump they happen all the time. it does for every team. man u just had a 1 match slum at livershite. newcastle have hit one and so have hull. its just life. no matter how good the players our aome matches they just dont get the run of play. If we draw at livershite then that will boost us great but even if we lost the next 2 we have so easyer (not easy just easyer) games ahead. All i can say is back the team. stop the gabbi hate and the carew leaving talk. just consentrate on boosting our team till may then let the crap hit the fan !! for now be a true villa fan!!!!

Comment 4, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.29 pm

Marcus Smith said:

... Nice to see the real blog back. Didn't know what to do without Damo

Comment 5, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.30 pm

Michaell Lockey said:

... Croni Zat is a good player. he has a heart for villa and always trys. the reason our back 4 or shocking at the mo. is davis has a fucked shoulder and ML is gone, plus we have lb at rb and cd at lb. I cant believe im saying this but get shorey on the pitch and LY back hopefully reo will get a shot im cm for a change.! Shorey Zat Cull L.Young Milner Petrov Reo Barry A.Young Carew

Comment 6, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.37 pm

Michaell Lockey said:

... OVB BF in goallll!

Comment 7, made on March 19, 2009 at 2.38 pm

Chris Harper said:

... I think Sundays game will be the end of our slump and we'll win, kick start our season again and finish on a real high! I don't know what people's problem is with Zat, he's been the best CB since lion heart Laursen has been out!Also, its rubbish blaming Davies' dodgy form on his shoulder, I think he's just dodgy full stop. Damian, can't believe Ole Ole published all the details of the contract...just seems wrong to me. Oh well who cares anyway?!? I certainly don't (Unlike Rambo and AA!)

Comment 8, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.08 pm

Damian said:

... They published what they wanted to publish Chris.

Comment 9, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.11 pm

daniel wheeler said:

... thought of a number,and its not 21. i'll go with 11, that wont be enough for 5th never mind 4th. like i said earlier,WE HAVE BLOWN IT!!!!

Comment 10, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.16 pm

Keith said:

... Reading how much they paid you, is that why you use a photo of Harry Enfield then Damian? Because you're considerably richer than me?

Comment 11, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.18 pm

Andy Scarborough said:

... Off topic, sorry Damian, but I have just got a banning order from OléOlé for my abuse and spamming of their wonderful site. Oh well.

Comment 12, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.19 pm

Lordofthewing said:

... Welcome back mate

Comment 13, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.21 pm

Damian said:

... keefvilla I'm just showing off my good looks .. andy5759 I don't know what to say .. Good luck to them.

Comment 14, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.22 pm

Chris Harper said:

... Ha ha nice one Keef....good joke! Not sayin you look like Harry Enfield at all though Damian!

Comment 15, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.25 pm

andys said:

... Been logging onto ole ole for ages thinking what was going on!! Was so bored at work without the blog, love seeing all the banter!! Good to have it back Damian. Keep it going mate.

Comment 16, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.31 pm

Chris Harper said:

... Looking at the poll results Damian, I don't think Mr O'Niell would be a very popular man come Sunday afternoon if he doesn't start with Carew! I was going to suggest a poll section on here, its good to see peoples thoughts nice and clearly like that....nice one!

Comment 17, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.45 pm

adam curley said:

... jesus your names shite on the old site damo theres some rather bitter people out there its hilarious

Comment 18, made on March 19, 2009 at 3.59 pm

Damian said:

... adamskin b30 I think the whole thing is an eye opener for a few.

Comment 19, made on March 19, 2009 at 4.03 pm

fastbackace said:

... Mlockey89- i totally agree with your lineup! shorey looked good those few weeks ago when he had a look at uefa and fa. i wanna see reo at rcm, with petrov at cdm, and barry at lcm, i think that, with, ash and milner, would be a great wall of villains. with carew on scoring fire up top. play it mon. we have faith still. UTV!!!!

Comment 20, made on March 19, 2009 at 4.19 pm

john franey said:

... Im really optimistic about our next 2 games especially liverpool we can end their title hopes on sunday.we wont be beaten all runs come to an end good and bad and ours will end.

Comment 21, made on March 19, 2009 at 5.03 pm

Jimbo Daventry Villa said:

... If we can stay on par with Arsenal over the next two games I can see us finishing 4th but we have to get a result Sunday. Liverpool are playing out there skins and we are playing like relegation candidates but sooner or later something will have to give as were not as bad and there not as good as we both look. Going onto to the ongoing topic of Damian & Ole Ole I think this needs to be put to bed now. We all know what happened now and yes there are some small minded people on the other site slagging him off but I think them people are very bitter that Damian made a lot of money from writing about the Villa, something we would all like to do. So lets forget that now and get back to doing what we do best - Aston Villa.

Comment 22, made on March 19, 2009 at 5.22 pm

crazyhobo said:

... looks like avfcblog.co.uk has been sold off to a domain company

Comment 23, made on March 19, 2009 at 5.45 pm

Keith said:

... Damian Obviously Harry Enfield is an extremely attractive man. Andy5759 Looks like its just _AA_ on the old site then!

Comment 24, made on March 19, 2009 at 5.50 pm

steven haynes said:

... cant keep a good man down hey

Comment 25, made on March 19, 2009 at 5.59 pm | url

steven haynes said:

... damn wheres my old picture

Comment 26, made on March 19, 2009 at 6.04 pm | url

steven haynes said:

... any different

Comment 27, made on March 19, 2009 at 6.05 pm | url

Damian said:

... ste23 that is a scary one - i had to look twice the domain name is basically now at godaddy.com, waiting for them to pick it up in a timely manner

Comment 28, made on March 19, 2009 at 6.06 pm

steven haynes said:

... no ill try again

Comment 29, made on March 19, 2009 at 6.06 pm | url

steven haynes said:

... fuck it i give up

Comment 30, made on March 19, 2009 at 6.07 pm | url

villafandan said:

... i tend to agree damo and, given the next two fixtures, it's likely to get a little worse before it gets better. while we don't have an easy run in by any stretch, we have a very good chance of picking up more points than arsenal & everton if MON keeps the players' heads right. FWIW, my pre-season expectations were a solid 5th, closing the gap on 4th in the process, which would give us another season of UEFA, or Europa, or whatever the hell they're calling it next year!! with the right strengthening, we might be able to seriously compete domestically and in the second-tier european competition at the same time. perhaps jumping up to CL next season might be too much too soon?? on the other hand, not making CL means we'll more than likely lose barry and it would be a shame not to see how the team we displace from the top 4 manages without CL!! lmao!! btw, best of luck with the new site. as i said the other day, aside from potentially losing your content, you're clearly much better off without O****e. (what's going on over there at the moment is pathetically unprofessional!!)

Comment 31, made on March 19, 2009 at 7.16 pm | url

villafandan said:

... love the word filter on O****e btw!!! lmao!!

Comment 32, made on March 19, 2009 at 7.18 pm | url

Nigel said:

... If we don't go 451/443 then I believe we will get slapped silly. But I'm quite optimistic that MON will make the right moves regards formation, which means we could well pull off a shock victory

Comment 33, made on March 19, 2009 at 7.28 pm

CSM said:

... I feel a lot more relaxed about the run in than I did a few weeks ago. I somehow like the underdog tag better. We are not expected to get anything from Anfield or the theatre of dreams. So the pressure is off. Lets hope the players feel the same. I am fed up of Liverpool fans on the radio spouting off about how they have beaten Madrid and Man Utd and now have the fat waiter for the next five years. I really hope we can step up on Sunday and give Rafa a punch to the Kidney stones!

Comment 34, made on March 19, 2009 at 9.22 pm

Marcus Connolly said:

... Liverpool are a team who, on their day, can loose to any one, much like us I fancy if we come out of the blocks fast enough on Sunday could beat them welll. How many times have we had a result against a top side only to loose to a team out of form the next week. Pool are prone to the same fault. A good start for us and I can smell a 2-0, 3-1 Villa. UTV

Comment 35, made on March 19, 2009 at 9.31 pm

Nick said:

... I also think we're going to win. And I cannot give you too many good reasons why, but I will try. Rafa tinkers with his selection way too much, and it costs them many points over a season. Sunday could be another example of that, and it could be 3 points dropped instead of the usual 2. The last time we were in a slump was earlier this season after losing to Newcastle and boro, we came back from that by beating arsenal and then drawing man united. It seemed like the big games got us out of the slump, which I believe will happen again. Playing the big teams allows us to break quickly, Young and Agbonlahor will have to be at their best. Both have hit a rough patch of form, they both have the ability (And hopefully will have the space)to turn it around. We are still the best road team in the prem. I also always predict a Villa victory. So why stop now?

Comment 36, made on March 19, 2009 at 11.00 pm

Ramon Maklouf said:

... I'd just like to say I don't appreciate being called an arselicker or whatever was mentioned of me. The funny thing is I study law and know that what was said on ''The Site which cannot be named'' was legal, I just thought it was overboard. Contracts are generally confidental arrangements... But shit what would I know? I'm an arselicker. I was just sick of people obviously having difficulty in leaving things as they are. [AA and Jaf] Anyway back to the content. For a reason beyond my rational belief I have great hope in these upcoming fixtures. Whilst my head is telling me I set for heartbreak, my heart is telling me that everything is possible. There is something about Liverpool that tells me we deserve to get the wood over them. The whole Barry saga, suggests that maybe rveenge is around the corner? Whatever it is I hope we win. I've read your last two posts Damo and am impressed with the optimism. I find great hope in what this team can achieve. I'm going to probably cross a few wires here but I honestly believe the team deserves to be where they are. With that said, they have the ability, in my opinon to beat Liverpool. To me, they have the ability to beat Real Madrid, and whilst it probably would be a big ask, this team, when at it's best is mesmorising in it's attacking flow and counter-attacking movements. Something tells me our run-in to the end of the season will be strong. If I'm not mistaken, we were undefeated in our last 9 games in MONs first season? Our run-in last year wasn't that great from memory but still strong until the last two games. I have hope. I hope our boys are up for it. It would give me great pride to be able to rub it into my cousin who is a Liverpool supporter and my mates. Living in Australia, Villa fans are few and far between. I'm not going to predict a result. I predict tho, that if Gabby starts he will have a blinder. Something tells me MON will get into his ear, and whilst I'd prefer 451 with Carew, Gabby has goals in him... For the record, if i was MON, which I'm not so this is pointless I'd probably play: [From L to R] The Brad Shorey Davies Cuellar L Young A Young Barry Petrov Sidders/NRC/Gardner [I'd play Gardner, but our games won with Sidders in the team is actually very good] Milner Carew

Comment 37, made on March 20, 2009 at 3.30 am

Damian said:

... Ramonicus It's all good. One of the things that is going to be requested fairly soon, as a form of guidelines is, 'basically keep it clean'. Banter is good but when it gets directly personal, even if banter, it does open up the conversation to more personal comments We're going to try and make the comments section about the content, not the person commenting

Comment 38, made on March 20, 2009 at 7.17 am

Michaell Lockey said:

... Nigel if we don't go 451/443 then i believe.. 443? JC is big but cutting him in half!! he'll be even slower

Comment 39, made on March 20, 2009 at 7.36 am

TechnoTurkey said:

... I can't see us winning on Sunday, as much as I would love us to. After out last few performances we look tired and as soon as defenders put Ash out of the game we also look to be devoid of options.

Comment 40, made on March 20, 2009 at 7.40 am

rosco1977 said:

... Good to have you back Damian

Comment 41, made on March 20, 2009 at 8.03 am

SuperBox said:

... Damo The title says pun-tastic, but there are no puns in the article!

Comment 42, made on March 20, 2009 at 11.24 am

Nigel said:

... Mlockey89. Well spotted mate. Just hope the ref dose'nt count the players!!

Comment 43, made on March 21, 2009 at 2.07 pm

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