12 cup finals

[Legion]

One would have been nice...

Paul Lambert says his Aston Villa side must be prepared for "12 cup finals" as they battle to avoid the drop from the Premier League.

The Birmingham side are currently 17th, a point above 18th-place Reading, as they go into Saturday's match at Arsenal.

"There's no point in looking back and thinking, 'We should have got points here and there'," said the Villa boss.

"From now on in it's 12 cup finals and that's the way we have to view it."

He added: "We lost two-goal leads against Manchester United, West Brom and Everton. It's tough when that happens because those points could have made a major difference.

"We have to be ready for it and win more times than not."

Villa, who did not play at the weekend, go to their 27th league fixture of the campaign on the back of a victory against West Ham.

Lambert is confident his side can build on that success.

"The feeling to try to win is there," said the 43-year-old former Norwich manager. "When you get knocked and knocked at every opportunity, you have to take the game by the scruff of the neck and influence it.

"The last few games we have thought, 'We'll have some of this'. You can't go out and play football like it's a hobby.

"It's your job to win. The confidence is high at the moment."

Consecutive seasons in the top-tier of English football

87 - Arsenal

59 - Everton

51 - Liverpool

38 - Manchester United

35 - Tottenham

25 - Aston Villa

24 - Chelsea

[Michel Sibble]

Just as well they're not cup semi-finals...

[paulcomben]

Have you read the comments after that story on the BBC website?  Better laugh or else you'll cry.

[Concrete John]

Have you read the comments after that story on the BBC website?  Better laugh or else you'll cry.

What on earth is this idiot on about?

Erm....
Aston Villa are going down for sure and deserve too, why?
Teams like Liverpool can change their style of football and stick with it, decent players and a newly promoted team also can try, cause they have momentum..
But the arrogance of the Aston Villa staff, to think they can do the same is beyond all logic!
Dropping older pro's for kids who be sold if good is beyond logic also..

[Stu]

I like the way many Newcastle fans are still blarting after we took the piss out of them when they went down at VP. It was hilarious then, and it's getting funnier the longer they hold onto the grudge. That's what you get for taking yourselves too seriously, lads:

As a Newcastle United fan I would love to see Aston Villa go down purely for the way they celebrated at the end of the game when Newcastle got relegated.They had nothing to celebrate unless finishing another season mid table is worth celebration.

We finished sixth that season and qualified for Europe.

[PaulTheVillan]

12 open top bus trips booked then?

[Chrisupnorth]

I like the way many Newcastle fans are still blarting after we took the piss out of them when they went down at VP. It was hilarious then, and it's getting funnier the longer they hold onto the grudge. That's what you get for taking yourselves too seriously, lads:

As a Newcastle United fan I would love to see Aston Villa go down purely for the way they celebrated at the end of the game when Newcastle got relegated.They had nothing to celebrate unless finishing another season mid table is worth celebration.

We finished sixth that season and qualified for Europe.

There'll be plenty queuing up to take the piss out of us if we make the drop.  If you live by the sword you have to be prepared to die by the sword.

[Irish villain]

Did we go a bit arrogant after Randy arrived and during the push for the Champion's League?

[danlanza]

Did we go a bit arrogant after Randy arrived and during the push for the Champion's League?

I think it was a bit of belief more than arrogance.

[Ron Manager]

Lamberts comments are exactly what you would expect to hear from a relegation threatened manager. Nothing unusual, most of them come out with something along the same lines.

Lets hope the players keep positive.

[Ad@m]

Lamberts comments are exactly what you would expect to hear from a relegation threatened manager.

That's the thing that struck me.  Depressing isn't it?

I expect to hear that sort of comment from Wigan's manager or someone equally crap.  To hear it from the Villa manager hurts.

[Pete3206]

I always hate the cup final analogy, but he has to say something positive I suppose

[Mister E]

I always hate the cup final analogy, but he has to say something positive I suppose

We wouldn't need twelve if we'd treated one or two earlier games like cup finals.

[eamonn]

Dodgy phrase to use the week that some of us would swap the"12 cup finals" for the one next Sunday.

[supertom]

I always hate the cup final analogy, but he has to say something positive I suppose

Me too. It's moronic to be honest, and normally just reserved for teams and managers who are in the shit.