Aston Villa vs Chelsea (NextGen FINAL) Mega Thread

[Karlos96]

Fantastic stuff indeed. Was on the Chelsea tour at the weekend (my friend begged and paid me to come along, honest) and at the start the guide asked us all who we supported. It was mostly foreigners who gave their home team (Rapid Vienna, Juventus etc.) and then "Chelsea in England". When I said I was a Villan he said "Really? Why? Oh, you're no fhreat(sic) to us anyway".

So, Jack, surname unknown, have some of that you philistine!
Oh, there was a bloke from Thailand who was wearing an Arsenal baseball cap but said he supported Yanited much to Jack's chagrin.

P.S. Anyone know why Mikey Drennan wasn't involved in this?

I had a similar thing happen when I took my missus on the tour about six years ago.  They went round asking who everyone followed there were fans from various clubs in Europe included some Bayern fans who gave me some dirty looks when I said I was a Villa fan.  The guy basically took the piss when I said who I followed and it was along the lines of why do you follow them?  To which I replied "Well at least we've won the European Cup"  obviously couldn't use it now but it felt good at the time and soon shut him up.

[PeterWithesShin]

[Mister E]

Only the Daily Heil has anything on their website about this victory.
Doesn't speak well of other football media outlets.

[DeKuip]

Only the Daily Heil has anything on their website about this victory.
Doesn't speak well of other football media outlets.

Real Madrid had won the European Cup several times before the British press cottoned on to it.

[Hoppo]

Lewis Kinsella and Janoi Donacien were both superb and depending how things end up this season could do a job next. Carruthers would have had a run but Lambert would be crucified if we lost the game. Robinson and Grealish both will make it.

[Salsa Party Animal]

Hurray, and I forget to watch this game arrghh but there is repeat at midnight on Eurosport 2 HD (Channel 526 on Virgin)

[shipscat]

I think there was an incident involving Carruthers at the start of the season which Lambert took exception to,and he's never really been involved first team wise since.Hopefully,he might have learned and Lambert might be ready to forgive.

Grealish really could be involved first team wise,next season

[TonyD]

Great win.   Very Proud.

[Billy Walker]

Here's the Guardian match report - maybe I'm imagining things but it seems a little bit pro- Chelsea?  As others have said on this thread,  the Eurosport commentators were pretty shocking and this smacks of the same mentality.  There is certainly an institutional media bias against Villa/(the city of)Birmingham/the Midlands.  It's as though journalists and media commentators'  brains are all set to a default mode that thinks: "Anything from the midlands = shit."

Anyway, enough of me ranting on, what is, a lovely evening. The report:

"Two second-half penalties for Aston Villa decided the destination of the NextGen Series trophy, the Under-19 European competition reaching its climax on the banks of Lake Como in Italy.

Chelsea had a tough passage through the knockout stages, where they defeated Barcelona, Juventus and Arsenal, and in the first half especially they gave Villa plenty of problems with pacy attacking play. However chances were not taken and Villa, coached by the former Chelsea player Tony McAndrew, deserved credit for their resilience and the way they matched the London club in the second half.

Chelsea's confidence was dented after going behind soon after the interval, with the second goal coming right on the final whistle and shortly after they had been reduced to 10 men. More used to the bumpy pitch, having beaten Arsenal at Stadio Giuseppe Sinigaglia three days earlier, the signs were Chelsea would get off to a good start in the final.

A Villa shot did clear the bar by some distance after a Nathan Ake error in the opening seconds but Chelsea hit back quickly with Lewis Baker playing Alex Kiwomya through the middle. Bradley Watkins, the Aston Villa goalkeeper, was quickly off his line to smother at the winger's feet.

Islam Feruz had a fierce shot saved inside the first 10 minutes, Jérémie Boga's confidence on the ball having created the chance. But when Villa did go forward Graham Burke shot tamely wide of Mitchell Beeney's goal. Chelsea should have gone ahead on 21 minutes. Ruben Loftus-Cheek won possession and Baker played the perfect pass inside the Villa left-back Lewis Kinsella. However, Kiwomya struck his shot just wide of the far post.

Chelsea were hit less than four minutes after the restart. Callum Robinson was near the byline when Alex Davey made contact with his leg. Robinson went down and Burke converted the penalty.

Kiwomya's day got worse on 88 minutes when he earned his second booking of the game. And Villa completed the task when Burke scored his second penalty with the final kick of the game, after Daniel Pappoe fouled Joshua Barton."

[Ron Manager]

Same for the 1957 Cup Final . We were expected to cave in to the might of Duncan Edwards etc etc....but we didnt. We played as a team and won.

Just like today!!!

[neo_Villan]

I think there was an incident involving Carruthers at the start of the season which Lambert took exception to,and he's never really been involved first team wise since.Hopefully,he might have learned and Lambert might be ready to forgive.

Grealish really could be involved first team wise,next season

Bringing in your phone to training isn't really serious enough to exclude someone from the first-team for a whole season is it? And to have someone like Dawkins ahead of him FFS!

[TonyD]

Same for the 1957 Cup Final . We were expected to cave in to the might of Duncan Edwards etc etc....but we didnt. We played as a team and won.

Just like today!!!

And against the Germans.

[Ron Manager]

I think there was an incident involving Carruthers at the start of the season which Lambert took exception to,and he's never really been involved first team wise since.Hopefully,he might have learned and Lambert might be ready to forgive.

Grealish really could be involved first team wise,next season

Not wise to upset Mr Lambert it would seem. I mentioned on the other related thread that in the semi against Sporting, Carruthers came across as a bit of a big head . But he played very well today and if he continues to impress Lambert will have to give him a chance to shine.

Grealish will need to develop his frame a bit. He appears to have the Chris Waddle skills lets hope they dont let him take penalties!!

[danno]

I thought that with having such a young first team, Lambert might have been a bit reluctant to introduce
any more academy lads to the squad just yet.

Its been stated before that blooding  Clark Bannan Albrighton etc when we did, may have harmed their
long term development.

Maybe the plan is to wait until we have a bit more of a steadier season before we try to bring through
the likes of Carruthers Grealish Kinsella etc 

[WALTERS WARRIORS]

Thought Kinsella had a great game ......

Is he any relation to Mark or Brooke ?

Definitely not Mark? He's an Aresenal youth team reject. Ha ha.

Arsenal had an abundance of LB when he was 16 but he has earned his spot now in the team and has made great progress. Scored a vital goal against Fernabahce and totally out fought one of there top players tonight. Great performance all round .......