Well, I know it’s easy to think that we should easily whup Burton tomorrow, but we all know it doesn’t necessarily work like that does it?
At least with the Villa, it doesn’t.
Still, given that Burton’s goal-scoring record is the second worst in the Championship (only the scum are worse) and they concede loads of goals, you’d have to think that we have at least a very good chance of winning this one.
I’m a lot less confident than I used to be though and I still think back to last season’s equivalent fixture on Boxing day, where although we won, we seriously struggled.
Then again, I’d say we’re a much better side now.
Did anyone else notice that Burton signed Darren Bent on loan, last week?
I only knew because I’m working in the Derby area and a local told me, but it did immediately make me wonder what the chances of him playing and scoring against us are.
So what do we know, squad-wise?
On Burton’s side, winger Lloyd Dyer should be fit and will possibly go straight back in after a back niggle.
Jacob Davenport might make his debut and Bent might make it after suffering a knock against Reading.
What price Bent getting at least a few minutes, as I’ve suggested?
As for us, we’re in very good shape, with only the regular long-termers out.
Which is a very good position to be in at this time of year, I’d say.
The big question has to be will Grabban start?
I doubt it, myself.
Like-wise Axel Tuanzebe, although I’d expect both to get minutes if we’re in a decent position in the game.
Otherwise, you can probably bet the house on Bruce changing very little and rightly so, in my opinion.
Stick with a winning team etc…..
Prediction time then and even though I hate to be overly confident, I can’t see us doing anything other than getting our 6th win on the trot, which would be the first time since 1990!
And the crowd is bound to be at least vibrant, which will help.
That said, while I’ve got something like a 3 or 4-0 in my head, so I really don’t think it will be that easy.
Burton will be up for this, as much as they’re struggling and I think we still might not be on top form, just as we saw against Sheffield.
I’m going to go for a 2-0 win.
Which will do very nicely, ta.
Just a few thoughts on the loan window.
Grabban’s a very solid signing, who scored plenty in a poor Sunderland side.
Tuanzebe, on reflection, is probably ok too, although I did at first wonder why?
I suspect it’s about his versatility, more than anything, but I am concerned about what promises have been made to Man U and the player himself.
We should not be playing players for the sake of it and they should only start if it’s totally justified, I say.
But Bruce knows best and as long as we keep performing, we can’t complain, can we?
Ross McCormack? I think it’s unfortunate that he’s come back and Bruce’s suggestion that he’ll sit down with the player doesn’t wash with me at all. I’d suggest they just don’t get on and that’s it.
Who’s gone?
De Laet, which has turned out to be a poor signing up to now. Badly injured and then doesn’t get a sniff when he’s fit. That’s a shame and I suspect the club have done him a favour in letting him return to Antwerp.
Elphick, who while he might not be many fan’s favourite defender, performed well when he came back in.
I feel it was harsh to immediately drop him for Terry, but that’s how it is and I wish him well at Reading.
And Tshibola, who I suspect is finished at the Villa. No disrespect, but when you’re reduced to Scottish footy, well…
I’m sure one or two of the kids have gone out on loan too, Easah Suliman to Grimsby, for example, but I forget. Whatever, I of course wish them well and hope they improve.
Regardless, let’s keep up the roll, eh?
Three points, one behind Derby and just nine behind Wolves.
They made us sweat but Burton always seem to cause us problems.
Hopefully another three against the noses next game
Phew. Made it difficult but still 3 points.
Made hard work of it but it is Aston Villa after all! Important win with teams around us all winning
We’ve just got to beat them, I’m a little bit worried that it was hard work today on our own patch. Still a win is a win.
Strange game. Again, that bit of extra quality got us through. Grealish MOTM again. Tuanazabe looks a decent player, interesting he put him at RB. Bjarnasson very tidy again too
Just feel some players are looking a little stale out there. Just need to make sure we keep the team fresh. For me, we should have Green and O’Hare on the bench. These are players that can come on and liven up a game that is not going our way.
I’m not convinced by Onomah and there is definitely no need to have Whelan and Jedinak both on the bench, just a waste of a spot.
However, 6 in a row!
I’ll settle for that. Thought we were far to casual and the ref didn’t help, worst referee I have seen for a long time. Thought Grealish should of had a stonewall penalty and to be fair I thought they should of had one first half too. The ref thought otherwise and booked both Grealish and the Burton lad for diving. I’ll watch it on the box before I hold my hands up if I’m wrong about the ref.
I agree with Benno about Green and O’hare. Other than the goal Adomah was poor and with both Jedinak and Whelan on the bench it limits our attacking options.
Good news is I don’t think we’ll be so casual next week somehow, well not until we’re 4 up anyway.
Next week is going to be a tough one. Small Heath have also hit some form and to be fair they have some decent players.
Here’s to making it the magnificent 7.
UTV.
Great win, decent performance, we deserved to win by two goals. Burton’s both lucky. Our goals were very well worked, three good ones to two scrappy shit one. We were never in danger at 2-1 or 3-2. We’ll be tighter next week. We should not worry about Blues. They are same level as Burton. If it wasn’t a local derby no one would be nervous. Nor should we anyway 1 defeat to them since 2005. I expect a win against blues, Preston and a draw at Fulham. UTV.
Ha ha ha.
After Ol’ Nigel made the claim our bench could currently beat them, Burton were always going to step up their game. They had nothing to lose against a top 3 side. Big credit to Adomah for giving Hogan the first goal. Could’ve easily put it away himself but he knows Hogan needs to keep scoring to keep confidence. But Adomah had a relatively poor game besides a goal and an assist, oddly enough to say. We needed an O’Hare or a Green on the bench over Whelan. No reason Jedinak and Whelan are on there together, and it worries me he’ll be dropping someone else once Grabban is fully fit to be on the bench. Either way it’s 3 more points and we’re 3rd still, though Cardiff have a game in hand. We got the Derby, Fulham and Preston next 3.
“Big credit to Adomah for giving Hogan the first goal”
Ah, is that what happened?
I haven’t seen or heard anything apart from the score.
Fair play to Adomah, he said he’d rather create them, than score and it would seem he’s been true to his word there.
I’d say that this is an indicator that our quality is finally beginning to show.
A goal and an assist is a poor game?
I’ll take that every week, thanks!
But I do know what you mean 🙂
He had to beat the keeper but he could’ve rolled it past him. Instead he squared it to Hogan who had an open net.
Andrew, spot on that was his ply to gee up his player’s, No manager would down play his team, he most likely have said to his team that’s what he would do.looking around the blogs we had fans saying 5-0 6-0, I knew it would be tight,
All our games from now are cup games and I hope Bruce will kick them up the arse because its so tight now.
Next few games are going to be rough. City’s beating teams in poor form in Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland, which will give them confidence. and then there’s Fulham. They have 7 wins in their last 8 games, other game being a draw. Scoring 24 goals in their last 8. By far going to be our hardest game of the season is away to them. Despite what some fans claim (Forest fans in particular who think they’re a top side and shouldn’t lose to Preston), Preston are a very decent side who on their day can rip sides apart. Our next 3 games will give us real problems and hopefully we don’t allow any more goals like Elmo’s today.
Been hearing how crap the ref was today.Just watched the Channel 5 footie and think they are all the same…not giving stonewall pens and giving ones for a dive.
Hope our defence has had enough of giving silly goals away as the small heath club are good at taking advantage….the 3 luckiest goals for one team in a match ever……
I’ve read sales if TCP have shot up in the club shop ahead of next weeks game with Small Heath.
It would be a great idea to see Villa fans all wearing white face make next week!!! Mixing it with the great unwashed makes my skin crawl! Lice. Scabies. Worms. Boils. Acne. Athletes foot. The life of a Scummer…
…face masks…’sigh’…
fans are always underestimating the opponents, but trouble starts when the players start to do this. i think villa just played within themselves which is so annoying. if villa played yesterday game with more tempo with and without the ball. they would have won far easier. burton played very good for burton, they have less ability than us but this never reflected by the scoreline. they gave everything and made it a game it should have never been.
next week will be the game that matters. even if it wasnt against the enemy. its at the stage of season where you shouldn’t look too far ahead. one game at a time. its a worry to me that our team has bad habits of always doing just enough. allowing better teams a chance late on in games will be our downfall.
ppl go mad about the free flowing football man city and wolves play and it is good stuff. but what impresses me most about both is their ability to work as a team without the ball. they hunt the ball in certain areas in packs, very rarely do you see them going in ones or twos. both work the opposition without the ball, starving them, pressuring them to hit harder passes.
to make my point alittle more clear. if you afford burton time and space they hurt us by scoring two goals. they were not put under any real pressure. wolves and city are more classes with the ball than villa. so villa need to work even harder than they do to compete with wolves let alone burton. wolves are better than villa without the ball miles better shape and pressing. thats a shock and a area we need to improve if we are to compete with them and fulham even scum.
we can do better without the ball we have witnessed better, but they seem to not bring this game out unless they need too. then its in patches. i am not trying to be over critical
watch burtons second goal. that type of goal is always our weakness. just behind our defence that type of ball is always on. hutton allowed the runner to run behind terry. burton midfielder had enough time to cook a slow roast before threading a simple ball in behind. if burton can find this joy better teams will too.
yeah 6 games winning, but got to stop making things easy for the opposition. wolves didnt give sheff utd a chance to create, we have the players to limit the opposition is a similar way
One banana skin avoided another one next game – not beating Small Heath would be a big setback. Agree with Andrew – it doesn’t matter who you beat or how you win it breeds confidence and I think Small Heath have won three of last four! They have some decent players and if we underestimate them ……..
“not beating Small Heath would be a big setback”
and losing to them could be a total disaster.
God, imagine if they win and we miss out by 3 points.
We’d never hear the end of it.
I always worry about losing to the scum, especially when I consider that we’ll be going for 7 in 7, which we probably haven’t done since the 80’s.
Omens and all that 🙁
7 out of 7 was in the same run as 6 out of 6 when we were going for the title under Graham Taylor
I forgot.
Leeds have sacked Christiansson (sic).
The mind boggles.
4 losses, 2 draws, out of the FA Cup. They hit a downward spiral at the wrong time being 7 points off the playoffs now. They’re fortunate Bristol City are also playing poorly so they could take over again but being 10th with 16 left. Wasn’t gonna be good for him.
Maybe. But sack him just after the window closes?
Madness imo and doesn’t give Paul Heckingbottom much chance does it?
That’s true. Their owner made a partnership with an academy owned by Qatar but didn’t exactly make good enough signings for them.
JUst a quick stat for the nervy nay sayers – Villa have the second best home record, Blues the third worst away. JUst sayiing. 3 – 0 VILLA sunday!
A lot of fans not impressed with the subs bench including both Whelan and Jedinak for last two games. Bjarnasson has made defensive midfield as first choice now, and rightly so, and Jedinak offers back up to defence as well so kick Whelan out of match day squad and bring in either Green or O’hare for Sunday’s game. Better still both of them and get rid of Onomah who will hopefully be a Spurs player again next season. Surely after 6 consecutive wins Bruce can show more positivity against Small Heath, rather than trying to hang on to win like he did against Burton.
That’s not all Holte, word has it that to unsettle the scrum he might give Abonglahor a run out,
You could be right Bill, definitely would be mind games and Gabbys last chance to shine maybe, because almost certainly he will be offloaded at the end of the season, especially if Hutton has been told this is likely for him
Off topic I have just seen “Premier League consider winter break” scroll across the TV screen….are they mad.
Thought it would never happen if sky held the purse strings.
This is incredibly interesting.
https://www.express.co.uk/sport/football/914845/Aston-Villa-invest-Danish-football-club-Lyngby-BK
Being a huge fan of Italian football as well, it’s been sad watching two clubs go under with no help. Clubs that have been around for 70-80 years if not more. So while Villa would get something out of it, a Scandinavian partnership we’ve apparently wanted, we could very much be saving a club from going under.
I wanted to write something on the Lyngby thing, but didn’t get time.
While I’m all for saving any club, it’s the standard of the Scandanavian game that I’m really not sure about.
Yes, you might get the odd pearler like Laursen and Melberg etc, but generally it’s rubbish.
In which case, I’d rather we helped out a domestic club.
We were supposed to have had an “understanding” with Walsall, but there’s been very little mentioned lately.
They’d be ideal, with them being only 10 mins up the road, but I don’t know the rules and suspect British clubs can’t take over their own (probably rightly so too).
It is indeed interesting though and shows we’re looking to branch out.
While I agree they’re not great leagues, they’re still pretty untapped. Pushing money and better training into Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Sweden, etc and you could find quality talent. Think the likes of Joshua King show you can find talent in there if the leagues were actually scouted. And saving a club is great, whether it’s foreign or in England.
“And saving a club is great, whether it’s foreign or in England.”
No debate to be had there on my part mate 🙂
Sad News Steve Bruce’s father past away today Joe Bruce, condolences to all his family . R.I.P.