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….he’s gonna score one or two! (or three!!)

So we are going back to Wembley thanks to a hat trick from John Carew, but no thanks to an absolute terrible first half. We deserved nothing but a 2 goal deficit after that abysmal 45minutes, but whatever MON said in that dressing room at half time should be bottled and sold off for millions, because it couldn’t of worked better.

A quick goal is what we needed, and a quick goal is what we got thanks to Ashley Young slotting it in at the back post after only about a minute of the second half kicking off. After that two goals in five minutes from Carew put us ahead and in the driving seat, if Villa could play like that for a whole game we wouldn’t be battling for fourth, we’d be going for the league. Villa then slowed down and Reading staged a great attempted come back, and had their fair share of corners, even forced a goal line clearance by Ashley Young but nothing serious was to come from it. Then in injury time Carew showed his tremendous hold up skills and won a penalty, which he then converted for his well deserved hat trick and to send Villa to Wembley yet again. Final score Reading 2-4 Villa.

Key players for me were Warnock, god knows why he didn’t start for England but played a blinder today, and of course Carew, who never fails to score goals, which is why, for me, he should be paired with Gabby in front of Heskey, and I think he’s given MON something to think about.

So there it is, Villa have won, in March, now lets win EVERY game in March, now that would be a treat wouldn’t it?

See you at Wembley.

R x

My twitter : StagediveRy
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So there it is, we are into the quarter finals of the FA cup. A place MON has never been before which just says how fantastic this is. Villa beat Crystal Palace 3-1 in a much deserved win at Villa Park, we had countless chances in the first half (I say countless, I think the stats were 10 attempts on target to palace’s big fat 0) but only went into half-time with a 1-0 scoreline. The second half wasn’t as great, but still fantastic, bar Warnock giving away a penalty which ended up bringing the equaliser for Palace. (although Warnock was smacked in the face about 2 seconds prior….. controversial) But fate would even itself out when Carew was brought down in the box after his shirt was tugged, expertly put away to give Villa the lead. With only 8 minutes left and a Carling Cup final to think about, the boys started to wind down, with Carew simply holding onto the ball in the box, the Palace defender hacked away in frustration and gave ANOTHER penalty away, again expertly dispensed by Carew to finish the game nicely.

We now face Reading in the next round, after they beat West Brom in extra time, so we wont be seeing Scott Carson this season. Also just to mention City are out after losing to Stoke in extra time, leaves only Spurs and Chelsea as teams to look out for….. this could be Villa’s year.

Rx

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Aston Villa 5, Burnley 2. We can take a lot from this game, an awful lot. It was a must win game as far as our top 4 chase is concerned, but not to mention a much needed confidence boost in front of goal ready for the Carling Cup final next weekend.

The first half was dire from a Villa point of view, no real chance’s made, a goal conceded and a very lucky equalising goal, looked like another game we could be losing points in. The second half started very similar, that is until Downing scored his first Premier League goal since May 2008 I think it is! Confidence was bottled and dished out to the whole of the squad and the assault began, with Downing scoring his second just a few minutes later, followed by goals from Heskey (why does he only score when everyone else has scored?) and our boy Gabby. Then a miracle happened, MON used all 3 subs, taking off Gabby, Heskey, and Young, to be replaced with Carew, Delfouneso and Sidwell. This is crucial as we have the Carling Cup final next weekend, and the FA Cup replay against Crystal Palace, who I’m still in doubt who will start.

This couldn’t of gone better for Villa (apart from the two goals conceded obviously) we have the ability, we were just lacking confidence, and a similar result against Palace would catapult us to a win at Wembley…. (IMO of course) especially after United losing to Everton.

I for one cannot wait until next week.

Rx

My twitter : StagediveRy
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What a roller coaster ride in what should of been plain sailing for the Villa. When we went one goal behind after a rare Brad Friedel error, I had faith we could come back, it was just a case of when and thankfully for my health it was in the first half from a clinical header by James Collins. That took us to half-time, no big deal, minor hiccup from which we recovered, second half should see another goal or two and finish the game nicely right? WRONG, a thunderous free kick from Crystal Palace’s Ambrose saw Friedel beat from 36 yards! To say I was bricking it would be an understatement, after numerous decisions not going our way (like an outrageous offside call to say that Nathan was offside when in fact he was about 4 yards ON side) we had a decision go our way in the form of a corner, which in turn led to our second equaliser from the head of our captain Petrov.

Now we have a replay in about 3 weeks time, which happens to be a couple of days before the Carling Cup final, not exactly ideal but I’m sure we can handle it, with the winner of that having to play either Reading or West Brom in the next round, even though Villa will be away again, its probably the best draw we could of hoped for.

Couple of things to note from this game:

1. Our strike force, I’m not sure if its the fact we only play either Carew or Heskey for a half or less, or the fact they are both off form, but it isn’t working for us, Carew kept giving away free kick’s and didn’t really seem a threat, and Heskey’s confidence is lacking, what do we do? Delfouneso came on in the second half, showed some skill, but no clear chances from the youngster, ideal replacement for Gabby though.

2. Delph, really liked him against Manchester United, but failed to impress today, played a lovely ball into Milner but apart from that, quite a few sloppy passes.

3. Do we field a strong team in the replay? It’s at Villa Park, but with Wembley only a couple of games away, MON has got some difficult decisions to make.

All in all I’m proud of the boys from coming from behind twice, and Crystal Palace played really well, but we should of sailed it today, we shouldn’t of let palace play, but instead, they stopped us playing. Oh and that’s my £5 bet gone out the window

Rx

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Another draw, are we seeing a repeat of last season? At least it wasn’t a goalless draw again, and in fact we scored twice, shame Collins’ was the wrong net huh? Na to be fair to him it was a very unlucky goal, and if it wasn’t for that then it would of been an exact repeat of Old Trafford. Apart from Nani being sent off of course.

Now, the key part of this, apart from that sending off of course, is Delph’s start. We played VERY well with Delph on the field and a 4-5-1 formation, we saw a lot of possession and a few chances, and of course Cuellar’s goal! Sure we didn’t have an aerial presence directly up front, but in the second half, when Carew came on, I cannot even remember a single cross coming in from the wing, up until the 85th minute when Sidwell had a header on goal, which amounted to nothing. We got outplayed by 10 men, as always we defended tremendously with as many as 4 players making blocks on each strike, but there was absolutely zero attack on United’s goal, we should of stuck with Delph.

Positives? Delph’s start, our ultimate defence, keeping Rooney at bay, and a point against United, Friedel being an absolute brick wall.

Negatives? Not taking advantage of 10 men, the crowd’s frustration with Villa’s lack of attack (it doesn’t help guys), not going forward in the second half.

All in all, I’m happy with a point, but we should of taken advantage, even if we tried and failed I would be happier, but that second half was not pleasurable to watch. I hope you were happy with my stream link, I shall try and do it for every Villa game, so make sure you come back and check!

Rx

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So here it is, the unofficial dress rehearsal for the Carling Cup Final, or is it? Sure it’s Villa Vs Man Utd, and both squads will be at maximum strength but don’t read into anything that tonight’s match brings, this and the Carling Cup final will be completely different. So what does that mean for tonight’s match? Well you can bet your bottom dollar that both squads will be going for the win, with a tough game for Chelsea this could be United’s chance to go top for more than just one day. And with Liverpool having a tough game against Arsenal, this is Villa’s chance to get back into the running for that elusive top four spot.

The most crucial part of this match? The first goal. If Villa get it, we could see a repeat of Old Trafford, with our defence I’d say we would have a pretty good chance of that too. But if United get the first goal, we COULD see a repeat of the Arsenal match on Boxing day, with us chasing the game, committing men forward, Rooney would destroy us. It’s not great football, and I’d like to see us get more than one goal, but with our goal scoring form at the moment, it just isn’t going to happen, feel free to prove me wrong boys!

My prediction? 1-0 to the Villa. But I always predict a Villa win.

I will be watching this on an internet stream, I will post the best link I find here and if it fails at any time I will post a new link, so watch this space. You will need to install Veetle, and probably Sopcast to see the links, google either if you don’t know what they are. I don’t have control over these links, they are just links to other websites, and myself or theoffside.com cannot vouch for the legality or reliability of any link to a stream I post on here.

STREAMS :

Veetle (seems great, usually stable! Happy viewing!) : http://www.veetle.com/viewChannel.php?cid=4b728277d56bc

Rx

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(’’)

Another goal less draw, with nothing much to report. Villa’s defence took the gold star today, like they have most of the season, we were just let down by everyone else. Wild passes, bad touches, no luck, all led to about 1 real chance on goal, which came from Milner’s strike in the first half which resulted in a great double save from Gomes. Heskey went off injured, replaced by John Carew, who failed to make any sort of impact. Tottenham had a lot more chances including a penalty decision going against them, but a draw was probably right in the end, I’m just a little disappointed we couldn’t take advantage of Man City’s loss. Liverpool on the other hand must be jumping for joy, and we are heading into another season with a typical top four.

Manchester United up next and Rooney’s on fire it’s going be a tough one, but it’s at Villa Park, and lets not forget the result from the last time we played!

Question of the day, can we seriously challenge for a top four spot with just a solid defence? Answers on a postcard, or just leave a comment.

Rx

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(’’)

A first half brace from Gabby Agbonlahor means we are still holding onto that top 4 hope… just. In the middle of a difficult run, this is exactly what we needed, and I’m glad we won, I’m glad we kept a clean sheet, but the second half left me with a lot to think about.

Few noticeable points :

1. MON didn’t make a single substitution, this is a team we play week in week out, did we not learn from last season? If we don’t play other players, they will soon get sick of the bench and move on, like a few players already have lately. Not to mention giving the first team a break.

2. We stopped playing in the second half, I don’t know what MON said, but we had, what, 2 chances on goal the whole second half? Fulham could of easily come back into it if it wasn’t for our solid defence and the signing of the season Dunne. We are aiming to be a top 4 side, you would not see Chelsea, Man U, Arsenal take the ball into the corner, play short corners etc to run down time, they would finish them off to the point Fulham wouldn’t even bother.

3. Heskey. He’s been playing well lately I must admit, but again no goal and no real chance of getting a goal, sure he wins some important balls etc, but he has a short fuse, and we need a goalscorer, I’m getting increasingly worried about our demand of goals from Gabby, even though scored two wonderful goals today, if he has a dry spell, Villa have a dry spell, we need someone to take that weight off him, then I reckon we would see even more from the youngster, and really challenge for top 4. Our goals scored is pathetic, and its only our defence keeping the challenge up.

Spurs drew, but Liverpool won, mixed bag, but if City lose then I’ll be happy.

R x

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(’’)

Goal-less draw, doesn’t exactly scream excitement does it? But in reality it was an alright game, and a bit of an eye opener for the Villa. It was very fast paced, especially in the middle of the second half, an Ashley Young ran rings around Clichy, it was a pleasure to watch. Unfortunately, we failed to capitalise on all the possession, with crosses flying in left right and centre, you would of thought we would of had at least one goal, and if Downing was to put his head through the ball when it came to him at the back post, we could have. This is a bit of a recurrence for Villa, goals aren’t coming, when they should be.

Man of the match was Young, we exploited Clichy on that right flank and Young really took him to town with some great crosses coming in, much like the Young we loved from last season. Sadly I cannot say the same for Downing, now I like Downing, but he just didn’t look like he wanted to win, and he REALLY should of scored that goal.

Talking point of the match? Tiredness, we looked VERY tired towards the end, so tired in fact that Dunne had to run from his own half towards the Arsenal goal, and to be honest done very well, fouled by old man Campbell, but wasn’t given. He had zero support, and it wasn’t because of orders from MON, we just didn’t have it left in the tank.

If you had asked me if I would of taken a point from this match, I would of said yes after the way Arsenal have been playing, but after watching that, I’m disappointed we didn’t take all 3, when we should have.

Just finished watching the Man U / City game, and I’m pleased to tell you we will be playing some real opposition in the final of the Carling Cup, Manchester United beat Manchester City 4-3 on aggregate. What’s that Gareth Barry? No you cannot come to Wembley with us

R x

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(’’)

A great show of what our youngsters are capable of, Albrighton went off early through injury, which is a shame as I really rate him, great player and it showed with the first goal, making a great run and finishing it with a cross to find Nathan, who of course finished fantastically. Other goals from Young and Delph, his first goal for the club, not seen much of him since his transfer, definitely one for the future.

Game finished Aston Villa 3-2 Brighton, and we are in the 5th round of the FA Cup, along with the final of the Carling Cup, could we be seeing Wembley more than once this year?! Some big names out of the Cup already, making it a realistic thought. At what price though? Could we be giving up on top four fight in order to win some silverware? It wouldn’t be the worst, it about time for some silverware, and hey, there’s always next year!

So the draw has just taken place, and we have got Wolves or Crystal Palace away. A great tie either way, would of been nice to have it at Villa Park though! Back to normality for a while, next four matches, Arsenal, Fulham, Tottenham, and Manchester United….. DOH!

R x

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