brummie

That's the thing. Why do so many people think that a dreadful side, characterised by high wage mercenaries who quite clearly have not given the first shit all season (and whose chairman has said as much on Twitter this evening) are suddenly going to start giving a shit now they're mathematically relegated, and turn it on against you?

Conceded six, had a key player sent off for a daft tackle and firmly back in the relegation shite. Sounds pretty familiar. i think that'll probably be the most significant outcome of last night for them.

Nah, will it heck as like. The Albion fans in the ground aren't going to be thinking any more about Villa than normal (which, obviously, as they're utterly fucking obsessed with us, is actually all the time). The atmosphere at the Hawthorns will be like it is every other week, moaning, whingey, grumbling and with everyone sporting a gigantic chip on their shoulder. It's not going to turn into the Maracana because of a tenuous link to our troubles. Maybe it'd be more likely had we lost yesterday, but we didn't.

Look at the table and fixture list, and the enormous FAC final distraction, and the five games in fifteen days ..... I really do think they're done for this time.

They just really hate Villa. Same as us (sorry Brummie) I think thats the main motivation. They are safe, nothing to worry about would be happy with Villa going down. Fair enough I guess You're making the mistake of confusing the fans with the players. The fans might hate us (and, they do), but the players won't give a flying fuck about us. They're on for their highest points total for decades, there's no way they're going to let someone beat them just because it might (and it's only a might) make things awkward for us.

Probably.

Anyway, he's gone now, so I am going to stop ranting about him.

That's the sort of thing MON would have done, mostly because he didn't ever have one when he was with us, and I don't imagine he changed significantly up there. His spending record there was abysmal. I would imagine that for the 12-13m he paid for Fletcher, for the same price we got Benteke, Westwood, and Lowton, with a few quid to spare. That's the thing above all that left me with a bitter taste about O'Neill. Under him, it'd be most obvious, zero scouting, no effort signing, every time. The Crewe manager said that when we signed Westwood, they didn't even know how interested we'd been, but it turned out Lambert's scouts had put together a thick document analysing him over 30 games. That would have been unthinkable under MON Sunderland's problem is that they're carrying the dross of Bruce AND the unimaginative two or three signings O'Neill made. We are still suffering the effect of some of his big money, big wage, unproductive signings. I don't think Sunderland will shake that problem off in a hurry.

Didn't Di Canio say something disrespectful about you when he was Swindon manager? Came on the pitch after our game there in the league cup, started gesturing at our fans to suggest we were going to get relegated.

A win at West Ham and there's no way whatsoever you'll be going down.

One thing I will say, I wish it was MON still in charge of them when we gave them that spanking last night.

Here is some more for you, then. It has been horrific for you of late, and the GD situation changing like that over the last three days must be gutting to take, but you've got 37 points on the board, and one of your remaining games is against an already relegated club, whose players haven't looked like they give too much of a shit all season. I know it looks grim this morning, and I know it's annoying when someone who hasn't watched all of your recent games weighs in, but if anyone needs to be worried today, it isn't Newcastle, it is Wigan. As I keep saying, they've five games in fifteen days, they've an energy sapping FA Cup final in the middle of it (thought Gary Neville was spot on when he mentioned the effect of that last night), and have some tricky league games to play.

They're down because their players haven't given a shit all season. They're not going to start now.

One thing I will say for Lambert is he must have balls of steel if he's really never been worried about us going down this season, because I and every other Villa fan have been shitting my pants for months now. I still think we've chucked too many kids in at once, and that is the main thing which has led to an awful season, but I've got to say, some - not all, some - of his lower league buys have been very good. Benteke, obviously, but also Lowton and Westwood have been very good indeed. Apparently Sylla did well tonight, too. It's a gigantic risk, and it is truly fucking horrifying watching us flaunt with destruction, but it's very watchable. If only we could learn to defend. I genuinely can not recall the last time we kept a clean sheet - it can't be in the last three or four months. We are still in the mire, but we at least have a tad of momentum. Looking bad for you lot tonight, but you've got three points largely guaranteed at QPR, and it'll be Wigan who drop, no worries at all.

Yes. Genuinely. How many Wigan fans would swap places with you? All of them.

i think you're nuts. No offence, but I really do. They'll get nothing like that. Having that sort of GD swing against you is awful, but keep it in perspective, Wigan are way behind, and have to get the points.

Shit the fucking bed. Shit the bed, then get out of it, make it, get back into it, and then shit the fucking bed again. I decided to totally detach myself from the world for two hours and just check at the end to see what had happened, and I can't believe it. About to watch the match now, I recorded it, but finally happy we're starting to get the results we've really deserved and not got for months now. There's an element of attacking because we can't defend about it, but that has really only made Lambert more popular amongst us. Long way to go yet, but winning alone is brilliant, to do so and massively change the GD is just truly immense for us.

Definitely good. Five games in fifteen days, with the FAC final in the middle of it, that's bound to take a toll on Wigan.

On the subject of relegation, I am sad to see Wolves in the state they are in, especially given their manager is one of my favourite ever Villa players. It scares the shit out of me when I think about relegation, and what can actually happen, when you just assume you'd bounce back up.

On the bright side, we seem to play much better away from home than we do at home. Norwich are turbo shit really, just decently organised because they have no attacking threat. Wouldn't be at all surprised if you beat them We will win there. I am sure of that. I think we'll win tomorrow night, too, but if i had to stake money one that one or the Norwich match as a win for us, I'd go Norwich.

It depends what side of Birmingham you are from. Villa - Albion is the original traditional hatred, as the teams go back longer than Blues do. However, these days, it is really about the north side of Brum, as there are both Villa and Albion fans living in the same areas there. I was brought up on the south side of the city, and as a result, never ever met an Albion fan, whereas I shared my living space with plenty of Blues fans, and they are the club I loathe. The midlands has some odd rivalries. Albion and Wolves hate each other, but there's next to no ill feeling between Wolves and Villa. Coventry absolutely loathe Villa, but Villa fans wil genuinely give as much of a shit about them as we do Northampton Town, ie none.

The man is brilliant. He's my role model.

Not too sure about that. WBA absolutely hate Villa, can't see them being too fired up for a victory here The fans do, the players won't give too much of a shit. Clark wants them to get their best points tally since whenever (about 300 years, I'd imagine).

On the bright side, we seem to play much better away from home than we do at home.

Did anyone else see C4's sports report on the news tonight, that utter wanker James Nesbitt in with the Man United fans, and have the strong, strong urge to throw the television to the floor and stamp on his smug, gurning fucking head?