brummie

Sounds like a great idea to me.

But Arsenal have better resources than we do - that's undeniable - so the point at which they use their kids is lower down the football food chain than where we use ours. You mention Guzan, he's actually played in every UEFA Cup game this season, so probably not the best example. The defence (other than keeper) we put out tonight is pretty much the starting PL defence, but there was no point him risking Ashley Young or Barry in a fixture like this - we're struggling with injuries already, we just can't take the chance. MON's job isn't to test us and see what we can do on all fronts, it is to get the best result at the end of the season for the club. If he gets us in the Champions League, that will be an outstanding achievement. He obviously thought that we didn't have the resources to do both, and if he felt that way - can you blame him? Football these days is all about the CL, the difference between the clubs who are in it and those who are not is immense. I don't like that - I prefer winning trophies, you get to put them on your honours list, something you don't do with a fourth place finish - but that's the way football is these days. There's also one major difference between Everton's CL appearance and ours (should we get there, which lets not forget, is nothing like certain). Everton financially didn't have a pot to piss in, they couldn't invest the money to build the squad prior to their CL year. We do have. It is an excellent opportunity, and he's done the rational thing (although I acknowledge the emotional arguments to the contrary)

No offence, but that's nonsense. Oh, hang on, you mean Arsenal who routinely put out their kids if it suits them? We're in with a good chance of CL football, which we didn't expect, but we've a small squad, and we've been playing matches since last July. Arsenal play their kids when they feel they need to rest first teamers. We've done that, but not having their squad depth, we've had to do it in the UEFA cup rather than the Carling Cup. He's had to make a pretty difficult decision today, but he made the right one. We just do not have the squad depth, something had to give. If we were 8th or 9th now, it would have been different, but we're not, we're 6 points ahead of Arsenal in fourth and staying there is the most important thing. Incidentally, I've been to all the home UEFA matches this season, and all the Intertoto games before that, so I've probably got reason to moan (thought not as much as if i had gone to Moscow), but in the long run, it is the right thing to do.

I agree but i want to know who the fuck is Barry Bannan? Kid just out of the academy. Very highly rated. Marc Albrighton did fantastically today too. Great experience for the two of them

Possibly too soon, but it'd accelerate the development of the club. Our midfield has been the problem all season, we just dont look coherent at times and give the ball away too much., Bizarrely, we're doing much better in that regard in Moscow at the moment.

To qualify for the CL, there's a big difference. I still think it's a bit of an insult to the UEFA Cup when Villa have a perfectly reasonable chance of winning it. On a sidenote, do you think you'd cope with the CL? Do you have the financial capabilities to improve your squad in such a small period of time? I dont know if we'll cope, or strengthen enough, but if we don't strengthen, it won't be due to lack of money. He's got pretty much an open chequebook, it will be about getting the right players in. He's done it the right way so far, buying players to improve us in steps, i just dont think he expected to be challening for a CL place this season, so it has caught him on the hop.

To qualify for the CL, there's a big difference.

CSKA reneged on their agreement with Five an dupped their demands last week, in the meantime O'Neill announced he was leaving almost the whole first team at home, so they told them to stick it. We've actually looked alright so far. I am surprised.

That Justin thing.

Good first 25 minutes by the Villa youth team in Moscow. 22 Guzan 02 Young 15 Davies 16 Knight 21 Shorey 45 Albrighton 26 Gardner 17 Salifou 04 Sidwell 46 Bannan 14 Delfouneso

Why the hell do the people who supply the TV feed for CL games INSIST on those really fucking corny slow mo shots of players looking at each other after an incident. Bummers.

Yes, but why would anyone who supports any PL club other than one of the top four (I'm being nice to Arsenal and temporarily reinstating them here) want to see any one of them do well in Europe? All it does is extend the already large financial and hype gap. Fuck them. I hope they all get to the semi finals, having picked up shit loads of injuries, then two of them bum each other to death on the centre circle in the final. Cunts.

If we were "inevitably" going to be put out, then surely there's no need for an excuse, as it was, well, inevitable.

If the game were closer to home, I think he'd have done that, but Moscow is a bit of a hike. Oddly, our defence will look ok Shorey - Davies - Knight - Young (assuming they start), but the midfield has an average age in the teens if you take out Sidwell.

The club made it very hard for us to buy tickets. Only sold them to people with long away ticket history, had to get your visa first, had to call in person etc etc, then sent the rest of the tickets back two days after they received them. It's almost like they knew something they weren't allowed to tell us.

Hadn't noticed your post before i posted, but you've explained it pretty much perfectly, certainly better than I did.

It isn't though, it is about building the club. Sadly, the way football is these days, it is all about being in the top four. If we finish there this season (and I don't think we will, but we have a chance), then next season we can build on that from a position of strength. I say sadly, because we (the fans) didn't make it that way, but we can't ignore it being so.

Talking if which, this is the Villa squad for our game in Moscow this week. Brad Guzan Stuart Taylor Elliott Parish Luke Young Curtis Davies Zat Knight Nicky Shorey Eric Lichaj Ciaran Clark Shane Lowry Steve Sidwell Moustapha Salifou Craig Gardner Isaiah Osbourne Barry Bannan Marc Albrighton Marlon Harewood John Carew Nathan Delfouneso No Friedel, Heskey, Ashley Young, Barry, Milner, Petrov, Cuellar or Agbonlahor. He's clearly made a decision about priorities, by the looks of it.

Liverpool have no chance of winning it. I am a relatively cynical, doom-like Villa supporter in terms of rating our chances, and the way we have played this season, but I honestly think we've been just as good as Liverpool for the vast part of this season, if not better. The difference is that Man United have been significantly better. It is now all about 2nd, 3rd and 4th.

Come on Citeh!

I'm quite worried about Everton in the run-in, so seeing Arteta going off cheers me.

Is that Arteta coming off?

On the bright side, your pre match entertainments bloke is much better than ours. The Stone Roses followed by The Ramones. Impressive.

Come on Newcastle, beat them today.

i know what you mean. I've been to all our home Intertoto and UEFA games so far this season (there seem to have been hundreds of them, but probably about six) and have thoroughly enjoyed them. Beating Ajax was great, and I really enjoyed the CSKA match last night. The problem is that the competition is devalued by the ridiculous format. A friend of mine paid a fortune to go and see us in Hamburg. We'd qualified before, so we played the reserves - as in all of them (pretty much). Cue pissed off fans having spent a fortune to go over there to see us get predictably bum-raped by that not-good-enough-for-Spurs Jol bloke. It is good to see European teams, though. This season I've been impressed by all the ones we've played other than Ajax. They seem to be able to move the ball around so quickly with their fancy continental one-touch football. Wankers.