ok pissed off tonight after Citeh but get a grip

[Pat McMahon]

Are the kids running riot?

Theb 5th birthday party starts at our house at 3pm today.

I'm running the door, checking guest lists, searching for drugs and weapons and enforcing the strict dress code policy

Ah, the family are coming down are they?

[WikiVilla]

Why rest our best players, we only have 2 more games over the next month FFS !!!!

[myf]

Actually i agree with you Louzie0, it ent the end of the world, we'll get over it. Worse things happen..

Like getting beat by Bolton tomorrow...

[WikiVilla]

Actually i agree with you Louzie0, it ent the end of the world, we'll get over it. Worse things happen..

Like getting beat by Bolton tomorrow...

Christ, imagine the carnage on here from 5pm onwards tomorrow

[Lambert and Payne]

Actually i agree with you Louzie0, it ent the end of the world, we'll get over it. Worse things happen..

Like getting beat by Bolton tomorrow...

Yeah, then id eat my words and apolagise. But ill reserve that for 5pm sat

[Meanwood Villa]

The result tomorrow is irrelevant. I fundamentally disagree with putting out weakened teams in any game. I was saying the same after Moscow as well.

[Karl Bridges]

.

Again I think this 'at least we'd have had a go' theory is pure conjecture. I can say if we had played the players that were rested they would have had even less of a go and it is just as valid.

so therefore in that case why bother against anyone better than us?
 if football was that easy to predict we would all be millionaires

That's not what I said is it. I said there is no guarantee, like some people seem to be presuming, that a different set of players would have 'had more of a go'. 

[Concrete John]

For me it's not a case that the players missing would have 'had more of a go' - just that they would have had more of a chance of winning! 

[WikiVilla]

At least a few hundred people got steak & chips last time this happened and further patronisation from the incumbant manager of the time. What will the Manchester 3000 get ? Free Balti pie at the Wolves game ?

[Small Rodent]

Tell you what boils my piss. People telling me what to think, telling me to take a reality check, telling me to get a grip.

That's fair enough.

Sorry GH happy clappers,

But this....here we go again. Villa fans not happy unless they're infighting and pigeon-holing each other.

[Rico]

Houllier's the one who needs to get a grip! Get a grip on reality! Our one and only chance of silverwear in what has been a disaster of a season, and he just dismisses it. Total lack of respect for our history, total lack if respect for the fans and a total lack of respect to the FA cup.

I'd be happy for him to go now, and if we have to wait till next season for a replacement then so be it. Let's not forget that he's been in charge for most of this cock up of s season, and lets not forget Anfield, and the other man city capitulation.

He's never going to win the fans over now, and in my opinion he just doesn't get ffs ethos of AVFC.

Go now!

[Pete3206]

Tell you what boils my piss. People telling me what to think, telling me to take a reality check, telling me to get a grip.

That's fair enough.

Sorry GH happy clappers,

But this....here we go again. Villa fans not happy unless they're infighting and pigeon-holing each other.

Fair comment SR.

[KevinGage]

I kind of swerved the site after seeing the result as I knew it would not be pretty. The reaction I have seen from some seems to suggest that the first team would have walked it if we'd played them, the thing is I travelled up to see the first team get battered 4-0. Did we really have a go at them that day, with the first team playing?

OK, so what about Sat Jan 22nd -less than a month later- with a very similar squad?

Sorry Karl, but similar justification was offered post Moscow 'as if we'd have won with the first team anyway' and it was guff then too. For two reasons. Firstly: in both games we didn't necessarily even have to win -  a battling draw could have sufficed. And secondly: the reaction of senior players being dropped for such a big game -effectively told their manager had little faith in them- can't be good for team morale.

It impacted on our finish to the 2008/09 campaign and could have a similar spill over into our remaining league games this time out. With the added bonus that it's demonstrated to the likes of Ash and possibly Downing -if they were in any doubt- that any trophy winning ambitions they may have will probably be better served elsewhere.

[dave.woodhall]

Something to debate:

If we'd beaten Stoke the Sunday after Moscow we would very likely have got into the Champions League and the decision would have been hailed as a master stroke. In that case, might we now accept weakened teams in cup competitions as a necessary evil?

[KevinGage]

It was mentioned before, and yes, had we nailed 4th it would have been seen as a wise move.

But as soon as we made that call, the momentum shifted. We'd played down our chances of 4th and enjoyed the role of outsiders. All the pressure was on Arsenal to maintain their status and profile.  Once we picked that side for Moscow though, the eyes of the world were upon us, almost willing us to fcuk up and any pressure we may have faced was ramped up tenfold. Those sickening goals by Stoke in the last ten minutes were to all intents and purposes the footballing gods flicking the V's at us.

The players who missed out that night (and indeed some of the senior players who did actually play) were also miffed. They had to come back early that summer, and had  watched their teammate pick up a horrific, potentially career-threatening injury in -what turned out to be post CSKA away- a meaningless game against Odense.

We genuinely don't know what could have happened had we gone with a stronger side that night, I don't think it's by any means a given that we'd have gone much further.  For the first time in my Villa-supporting life though we were one of the favourites for the comp, the likes of Jol and Van Basten highlighting us as potential winners. Certainly there weren't many teams we should have feared in the latter stages.

More than that though, even just a morale boosting victory away to CSKA and possibly a good result in the next round -even if that's all we had managed- could have provided us with a crucial fillip going into the latter stages of the league campaign. Teams doing well and winning often have a curious capacity to somehow stay immune from tiredness and fatigue.