With us having survived the drop, it’s easy to say this game doesn’t really matter, but it actually does, in that each league position is worth around £1.2 million.
We can finish 14th at best and 17th at worst. The difference between those two positions?
A cool £3.8 million (£4.9 mill for 17th and £8.7 mill for 14th), although the Daily Mail has it at £6.2 million, with some maths I don’t quite understand.
Whatever, it’s a good few quid.
In an ideal world, that could make the difference between a good player and a very good player.
I don’t think it’ll quite work like that under our current ownership, but the point is, there’s still a fair bit to play for.
Not that many of us care too much about the money side of things.
Tim Sherwood gave an interview yesterday and said he won’t be resting loads of players and playing the second string by default, as he feels the fans want to see the team going for the win.
More power to him, I say, as surely any team should play the game to the best of it’s abilities and aim to win every match it plays. Anything less is just cheating the fans, in my opinion.
So the manager is going to go with his strongest side, with only anyone genuinely not up to it getting a day off.
He also intimated that there might be kids on the bench, who’ll get a run out if things are going our way.
So what’s the injury situation then?
Richardson and Okore are both doubtful, with both not having trained this week.
Baker, Clark and Kozak are still out.
Burnley have Dean Marney and Kevin Long out with long-term injuries.
It seems Steven Reid will get a runout, with the game being his final bow before he retires from the game.
If your football history only extends to the Premier league, we’ve only played Burnley once at home and we beat them 5-2, so the omens are good in that sense.
And in a stat that surprised me, Burnley have only scored once in their last eight games.
Not that I think this will be easy.
Burnley have only conceded six goals in that same eight games, which is pretty good and might lead me to think that we might scrape a 1-0 win.
While I have no doubt that Burnley will be fighting as strongly as they always do, I see Sherwood wanting to entertain what’s going to be a full house (with the away fans bringing a big contingent from what I’ve heard) and he’ll go for it, full belt.
This approach, combined with the fact that we might see three youngsters coming on, where they’ll be told to enjoy the day and mistakes might happen means I’m predicting goals.
I’ll go for a minimum four goals and a prediction of 3-2 to us.
I’ll be stuck at work again, so won’t get to see it, but for all of you who are going, have a great day people and here’s to a good game of footy.
Up the Villa!
Gabby did nothing to convince Sherwood that he should be in the starting XI for the final. We seem to look a lot more fluid with Grealish/Nzogbia/Benteke. Gabby just isnt as good at linking up play. The problem with him is puts in MOTM performances a handful of times and then goes missing the rest of the season.
Its gonna be an interesting summer at Villa. Personally I think we need to look at bringing in:
GK (Heaton wouldnt be a bad bet)
LB
CM (even if Cleverley stays)
AM or Striker (Gabby not good enough and Nzog too inconsistent)
Hopefully we can also keep Vlaar, and if Benteke does leave at least we will have big money to spend on a replacement.
I actually think nzogbia is pretty consistent , consistently shit! Fair enough he was LB today but it wasn’t his defending that was the problem, it’s his passing, crossing, dribbling and shooting that are the problem, his movement is actually pretty good but everything else is crap, although he is better than gabby I don’t think either should start next week. If it was me I would play.
………………..Guzan. ……
Hutton….vlar…..baker…..cissoko
…………sanchez….delph…….
bacuna…..Grealish…….sinclair
…………..benteke. …..
Not sure if cissoko is fit or if any LB is fit so maybe nzogbia will hav to play there again (gulp) and preferably wouldn’t play baker but dont think we hav any other option and would play gil instead of sinclair but we know tim won’t.
Heard that pool is offering Lambert in part ex for Benteke.
I’d be bloody gutted if this happened. I like Lambert but he’s the past not the future. Got a feeling that it’s going to be an interesting close season and I hope that Sherwood sticks with his youth policy. We need to be building for 2 or 3 years time.
With regard to the cup next week I’m not really that surprised at Villa losing against Burnley. Players tend to exert themselves less and avoid any risky tackles knowing there’s a major trophy match coming up. Don’t think it is something they can always control either.
As I’ve said before – it is one match, on one day and if Villa pull out a good performance then anything is possible. I’ve got a feeling that this is our year for the cup.
UTV and believe
Lambert’s not a target of Sherwood, not at all. It’s another joke from the media trying to get Benteke to Liverpool so they’re relevant again. If Lambert was still here, we’d sign Lambert for like 4-5m (not at the expense of Benteke). We don’t do player swaps.
I just read the Lambert swap story – how on earth do journalists get away with writing this guff?
I’ve woken up in a positive mood – Villa to win the FA Cup (this year!!)
TS got us over the line; heaven knows how as the last two games just reinforces the point that this side is just not good enough for the PL. TS implied that in his post match comments but also seemed to suggest that he wouldn’t be bringing in a lot of new players – or did I misinterpret?