I feel I owe a bit of an apology. Well, I don’t really, but I’m a nice guy and feel a bit guilty about not commenting much lately.
I want to do a Max Bygraves and tell you a story.
I’ve been with Virgin Media for their broadband for the 25 years I’ve lived here. And probably 10 years before that, when it was Birmingham Cable, then Blueyonder.
And so it came to renewal time. Long story short, they wanted 54 quid a month for 200ish Mb. Which is a total joke. I rang to negotiate, but they weren’t having any of it.
So, sick of this total ripoff, I told them I was done and cancelled.
The reason Virgin have been able to charge so much is because there’s no competition. I remember Openreach installing Fibre down our street about 2 years ago. We’re the last house in the block. I thought they’d done ours too, but they hadn’t and because of that , Virgin knew we had no choice if we wanted an ounce of speed.
Which is where I looked around and Vodafone said we had Fibre installed and they could do me a deal. I signed up and long story short again, They’ve messed me about for 2 months now, with no installation.
They’ve even credited my account with 300 quid for my trouble. Great, except I’ve never used any of their services.
Hence I’m hotspotting off my phone for internet and it’s abysmal. Some days I can’t even get half a Mb.
And so it was for the Brugge game. I saw the first goal and missed the other 3, because of buffering.
The moral of the story?
The big boys have it all their own way and rip you off. Until the customer decides he’s had enough.
And the funny part of all this, is that while I await Openreach giving me a supposed connection, I’m here in Spain for the weekend, where my 600Mb up/down connection is working perfectly at around a quid a day. Go figure. Which one is the third world country, I ask myself? Spain or the UK? I’m happy with my thoughts.
Tomorrow then and I don’t have a clue again.
Squad news is that Unai’s comments confuse me somewhat.
Tyrone Mings, Matty Cash, Boubacar Kamara and Pau Torres are sort of okay, but need to be protected. Barkley is out, as is Onana, who is apparently close. García, Malen and Jamaldeen Jimoh-Aloba {sorry, but who?} are all okay after being ineligible for Europe.
As for Brentford,Norgaard is back after a concussion injury and Mathius Jensen will be involved. Rico Henry is in full training, while Gustavo [Nunes], Igor [Thiago] and Josh [Dasilva] are all running.
I wish they’d just say if they’re ready or not, but hey ho.
It’s quite simple, this one. We’re rubbish, so the best I expect is a 1-1 draw.
Except I think we really ought to start proving that we’re better than what I perceive.
I think we might sneak this, 2-1. I’d love that. A win it is.
UTV!
Great result! Disasi is my man of the match- immense
He’s been pretty awsome in almost every game he’s played; physically very strong and great skill.
Wow! Actually won a game after a CL tie. Brentford played well and battled hard but we battled just as hard and, in many ways, it was a really satisfying win.
Back three of Mings, Konsa and Disasi worked really well and protected Olsen in goal. Disasi especially looked up for it and really enjoyed defending. Is a back three the way forward perhaps?
Credit where it is due to Olsen. His handling under aerial challenge is still bad, but the rest of his game was sound today.
Starting frame for off sides? The law is not in the ‘present continuous’ = playing. It is played. So the starting frame should be the first showing the ball leaving the foot of the passer, not the frame where foot is in contact. Now as for this case the starting frame is correct and Watkins is by then offside. But how often do you see the lines drawn 1 frame earlier when the passer is playing the ball? More often than not. Do VAR pick the frame to suit the favoured team? I reckon so.
He’s not a bad keeper as long as you don’t play out from that back, he just can’t do what Martínez does but then again not many can?
Unia cut his cloth accordingly today and played to Olsen’s strengths but it’s took a while for the penny to drop?
Agree with Disasi being MOTM. I actually thought all our defenders did a great job in protecting Olsen. Tielemans also had his best game in a while.
Brentford looked really poor until the disallowed Rogers goal and then the momentum changed.
Glad to see Ollie score but he still managed to miss a couple of simple chances. Thankfully they didn’t cost us in the end.
Up to 7th but played more games. The key could be getting our squad all fit and grinding out a few more away wins.
I’d also give a shout-out to Mings again today. He barely put a foot wrong, and was driving us forwards all game.
Cracking win and potentially a very difficult game. Could have been 2-0 but the 3 points are crucial.
Still plenty of games to go and 5th or even 4th is up for grabs but we need to be consistent. With all our players now due back, ‘Would you want to bet against us’???? 😁
Love it BB but you’re showing your age matey 😁
Nah – us that watched the great game in ‘82 are still young despite supporting the Villa for so many years 🙂
And also watched that interview with Sir Ron after the Ipswich game!
Just a few more rings on the tree 🤣
🙂
Slightly off track but I admit to getting worried about Canadian Pete’s continued absence.
Someone on here said he was in hospital with pneumonia – anyone got any updates?
this is a post on Facebook from Pete himself ….
I don’t really want to post endlessly on personal heath matters, but I did see my doctor yesterday. He ordered new X-Rays, didn’t like what he saw and put me back on 10 days of antibiotics. It felt like a setback to me.
My doctor emphasized how serious pneumonia is and that I WOULD feel normal again, but it could take 6 weeks or more. Your lungs are clogged, so oxygen isn’t getting to your body which is why you feel exhausted doing even simple tasks. I’ve lost 40 pounds which is…nice, but not the way you want to trim down.
Pneumonia killed my Grandfather in his 30’s so I’m grateful I live in a time where medicine helps most recover. I also know that when I finally come out of it, my energy will be sky high and my immunity really strong.
So, that will be it for updates. The next time you hear from me will be on the channel.
Thanks Third Gen; good to hear he’s on the mend albeit slowly.
Really pleased now that I had the pneumonia jab a couple of years back.
So hope Pete gets better soon he’s great
Woooooo great win but we still haven’t been great.many times this season that’s a bit concerning but we have massive bollocks so all is good on ship Villaaaaa
Gerry what does Trump need to learn about conspiracy theories, lol. (Replying to yesterday’s comments.)
Reading a few media reports today and the one thing that struck me is how supportive of Olsen the players are and were yesterday.
Emery commented how difficult it is for him stepping out of the shadows of Martinez but that he never shirks the responsibility of doing so and is very popular in the dressing room.
As one reporter put it – Olsen has made his mistakes but so has Martinez this season – even on here there have been comments suggesting Martinez has not (always) been at the standard of last season.
Maybe we all owe him a bit of slack – he is a Villan after all.
Great result at the spuds 😁
Spurs doing is a big favor equalizing and we remain 7th. Great to see a little support for Olsen. As I posted, with my correct score yesterday, he needs pitch time.
Fair play Gerry, you were the only one with a positive result although tbf to Badger he started with a win forecast but followed the rest of us on a downward spiral once the team was announced 🙂
We still have to play Brighton, Bournemouth and Citeh – all away.
Win those and we’re really in the mix for top 5.
Have to be an enormous improvement in our away form first though!
Not gloating about the correct score but I am delighted Olsen is getting a little slack. Not gloating a lot that is
Just watched second half Manure / Arse.
Good game.
BUT the amazing stat – United have gone something like 355 games at Old Trafford without a single defeat when leading at half time. Of those games only 33 were draws! They’ve never lost an EPL game at Old Trafford when leading at half time.
The last time they lost a game at OT when leading at half time was against Ipswich in May 1984 (1-2).
That’s ludicrous!
Mystic Hitchens says Villa to break that record this season. 🙂
No more league games this month. Get past Brugge in midweek and we’re into the CL quarter finals. Then a two week, yes two week break before Preston. Win that and we enter a monster April with a Wembley semi final, a CL quarter final, and a few PL ‘six-pointers’ to look forward to. Incredible.
First thing’s first. Let’s put Brugge away on Wednesday giving everything, and then use the two weeks break to take stock, regroup, recharge, and whatever else is needed to get through April!
UTV!!!
“Let’s put Brugge away on Wednesday giving everything, and then use the two weeks break to take stock, regroup, recharge, and whatever else is needed to get through April!”
– and we’re only the ones watching, not playing!!
I don’t know if any of you use this, but it’s my homepage. A great site for simply scrolling through our results and fixtures. I can’t believe how far through the season we are!
https://www.footballwebpages.co.uk/aston-villa/fixtures-results
At least 4 lamentable draws there that would have seen us in 3rd. Those ‘what ifs’ never go away as the years go by!
Massive Wednesday we get through then we will be totally refreshed for the final push this could be another amazing season
UTMV
We’re apparently looking to make the Disasi move permanent.
I’m not surprised, as he’s looked quite comfortable after settling in nicely.
Badger – on the showing so far can’t see why the Chelsea fans labelled him ‘Disaster’.
Sour grapes, maybe?
Yes, very strange.
He obviously did something to put the fans off him, but perhaps it was just a case of they had a lot more players to choose from?
Who knows? Their loss appears to be our game.
Some very strange youtube videos currently being aired. Earlier today I saw a video where Oli was alleged to be criticising Rashford for his poor form and lack of goals. Just now he is reporting that Rashford has collapsed today during training. The videos contain some of the same footage and in both cases there is a voiceover commentary. A few days ago there was a video showing Uni stating how unhappy he was with Rashford’s performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uwwfIfvD-w&ab_channel=VILLAVIBES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awn4JIxNn_Q&ab_channel=VILLAVIBES
Common to both and other videos is the Channel VILLAVIBES
I’m not going to watch them, But from what you’re saying, I’m assuming they’re AI generated. We live in a world where you can no longer believe your eyes. And it’s just the beginning.
Speaking of which, United unveil plans for a 100,000 seater stadium (that looks like a circus tent – which is appropriate), even though they not longer have a pot to piss in and the tealady’s been made redundant. Just when the disastrous news about their finances filters into the public domain. Will it be built in this life or the next? Who are they kidding?
Yep, AI, almost certainly.
There was a story earlier where after the Whitehouse debacle of Zelensky and Trump’s meeting, the Beeb’s commentator was supposed to have sworn when the Mic wasn’t hot afterwards. Checked and came up as fake by an independent company.
Won’t make much difference to me, because I already trust next to nothing on the internet if it’s in the slightest bit debatable.
As for Man U, yes, it all feels a bit contrived to deflect from the shitshow that’s going on there.
Almost something Deadly would have done. Promise everything and deliver nothing.
It won’t appease the protesters.
It’s actually Norman Foster. He did a piece to camera earlier.
Still looks crap and certainly won’t be completed in 5 years!!!
These AI things need taking down. Done by a Bluenose???
Dippers outplayed, out sung and out of Europe 😁😂🤣
F**k you Danny Smurphy you arrogant prick.
Roll on tomorrow and hopefully Emery’s reunion with PSG.
Bring it on!
Villa v PSG.
Love it!!!!!!!
BUM BUM. Watch Villa put you through the wringer tomorrow. It is what they do, never making it look easy when they can make your bum bum squeak squeak.
I shall have a bottle of oil at the ready to prevent any squeakage!!!!
We’ll be up for this!!!