brummie

Kinda makes some of your rubbish home results look bad though. Everton and Chelsea are the same, it's quite strange. If you'd beaten Boro, Fulham and Liverpool, all games I watched and think you should have won, you'd be top. It's not the right way of looking at things really - this why Man Utd are Champions fifty times over and Villa aren't. We had them games aswell, can remember losing at home to Leeds, Spurs and at Bolton. Games which we should have won. Then there ya go, nine more points - we should have won it! Doens't quite work like that unfortunately. *Thinks about Bobby era * Another reason Man United, Chelsea and Liverpool do so well is that they consistently win matches - frequently with last minute goals - which most other teams wouldn't win. *pause for thought*

^^ it is definitely a very, very weird season so far, can't disagree with that.

Seven wins away from home by Christmas. Not wanting to sound like I am crowing (I'm not, I am aware of our faults), but given some of the posts above, that is why we are where we are. That's really excellent.

Hull today just sat and defended. I wonder if their early season spirit has gone and they've gone in to panic mode where they just try not to lose. That's a one way ticket to the CCC ordinarily. They probably have enough points on the board now to survive.

The ref had an absolute fucking stinker today.

Quite right. It is all luck. That's why this is looking like 7 wins from 10 away matches. Pure luck. Last 2 games against WHam and Hull you have been shit. Not even defended well as West Ham should have had 3 or 4. Would love to know what O'Neill says to the big guy upstairs What about the game against Arsenal (ie the last game) where we should have had 4 by half time? And if they "should" have had 3 or 4 but didn't, then maybe we actually did play well? As i said on the "story so far" thread, we have played well within ourselves for most of this season, but have still been good enough to end the year in fourth, three points ahead of Arsenal. If you want to suggest that's all about luck, then fair enough. Personally, I think it is a litte more complex than that buy hey ho.

Quite right. It is all luck. That's why this is looking like 7 wins from 10 away matches. Pure luck.

They have more points than all but three other teams Quite correct. Sad indictment of the premiership Is it actually upside down?

We're not, we're fifth. Did you see us own Arsenal who are fourth the other day?

They have more points than all but three other teams Quite correct.

We've played quite well (we've owned the ball), we're just faced with exactly the thing we struggle with - a team set on defending and nothing else.

Laursen? Friedel? Davies? Milner? (obv the last one is a joke)

That's a slightly unsympathetic view of things. To suggest we just hit it long for those two to sprint on to is misleading. In fact, the only thing I've seen Young sprint on to and finish was jagielka's back pass at Goodison. We have a problem unlocking teams who stick men behind the ball and defend. This season, most teams who come to Villa Park do that. We struggle to unlock them. Away from home, teams tend to have a go at us which gives us space to hit them on the counter. Hitting a team on the counter doesn't consist of hoofing it for Young and Agbonlahor, though. In fact, the obvious target for a hoof (Carew) has been injured for a while, so that tactic wouldn't get us very far. On our day, we play great-to-watch football. Our Achilles heel is that when teams just defend, we struggle to unlock them.

Surely it doesn't matter. If it gets to court, "Stevie" will just appoint himself judge and dismiss the charges.

You didn't produce much of a result against us, mind, and the chips were down then, weren't they? If you want a team that battles to the end, look no further than us. Bizarre though it sounds, I KNEW we wouldn't lose that match, even with 5 minutes left. I just knew it. We're so resilient. How we didn't win that match, I really don't know. I said the other day on here, we've consistently played well within ourselves this season so far, but we are still fourth or third or whatever we are tonight. If we play like we did most of today for the rest of the season, then we really could be on for a good year.

Team: Aston Villa Current Position: 3rd Where did you expect your team to currently be: 5th or 6th Best player so far this season: Agbonlahor or Laursen. Agbonlahor has a new wiliness about him, added to his pace, and always was an excellent finisher. Laursen is just brilliant week in, week out. Worst player so far this season: Marlon Fucking Harewood. Nigel Reo-Coker doesn't impress me much. Milner is struggling a bit, but needs time, and will get it. Best game so far: Ajax at home, Spurs away, Wigan at home. I much prefer watching us away from home. Worst game so far: Newcastle away. We just didn't look bothered. Everton away we played poorly, but still won, and scored 3 goals away from home, so that can't really be the worst away match, but i thought our all-round performance in that one was poor. Who would you like to sign in January: We've two issues. Firstly, we need more strength up front. So I'd like Roque Santa-Cruz. Secondly, when we can hit teams on the break, we're lethal, but when they come to Villa Park and just defend (as they do increasingly) we sometimes struggle to unlock teams. I'd like Gordon Cowans for that one. Who would you like to sell in January: Marlon Fucking Harewood. Thoughts on your manager so far this season: He bamboozles and bewilders in equal measure, but every time I see him interviewed, a little bit of me melts and I think how incredibly glad I am to have him as our manager. Relegation certainties to third place in a little over two years. There have been some oddities along the way (Harewood, Knight) but you've got to have faith in someone who delivers that. General thoughts on your team so far: We've played well within ourselves for much of the season. To listen to the media wankery over us, you wouldn't think this was true, but we've not played anything like as well as we could. Losing Bouma for the season so far was a great loss, and the recent loss of Carew was the same. At times, we can be absolutely devastating, and I really enjoy watching us. I think we could have a really good season if - as I firmly believe we will do - we pick up the pace for the second half of the season. Where do you think you’ll finish from this point to the end of the season: Probably 5th, quite possibly 4th, outside chance of 3rd. If we put a run of form together like we did the second half of the season before last, and for a big chunk of last season, then .... really, who knows. I'm also convinced we'll reach the UEFA Cup final, but that's not based on anything resembling rationality.

We've got them at home on Boxing Day. Looking forward to that one. How did it end at The Emirates? Was it 3-1 to Villa? Agbonhalor scoring a couple if im not wrong? 2-0, Agbonlahor and an own goal

We've got them at home on Boxing Day. Looking forward to that one.

I really don't see why you can't do it tbh. Liverpool & Chelsea have been doing as much as they can to hand Man Utd the title lately, Man Utd are dropping points when they get the chance to close the gap, Arsenal have been sh*t, and you're just going about your business. Similar to us in 01/02. I was actually joking, however, if we could put together a decent run where we played as well as we did last year for long spells, I would fancy our chances of doing very well. We've been playing badly for several weeks now, but we keep getting results somehow. Everton away and West Ham this weekend. Poor performances. Six points. We've played 9 away games and taken 18 points from 27, won 6, drawn 3. That's impressive, but what worries me is that we've played really well about 3 times this season at maximum. It could go either way for the rest of the season.

Five points off the top. I'm predicting the big trophy in B6 in May if the "top" teams carry on being this shit. Oh yes.

Only twice this season have we played as well as we did very frequently last year. If we start playing for the rest of the season as well as we did last year - and it really could happen - then God knows what we could do. Liverpool are top of the league, and have looked absolutely average most of the season.

This is his third season. What I am most happy about is that we're playing badly at the moment (Everton away, today) and still picking up three points. First half we were quite good, and could easily have been two up at the break. Second we were shite. Who fucking cares. Third in the league. I'll take that.

Entirely undeserved, but when things are going well, they're going well.

I understand we will play one of Udinese, Wolfsburg, Galatasaray, CSKA Moscow. But I may be wrong. Either way, it could be worse.

Our first choice are a decent match for Arsenal's first XI. Our second XI probably aren't.