Current form

[astonvillan]

That bloody Fulham draw in there could still kill us!

Or the penalty that shouldn't have been in the home game to Southampton ...

Or the four points that Newcastle somehow managed to take off us....

[nigel]

I think we are not too far off just need 2 or 3 very top quality players especially in central defender and playmaker role. Now if Richard Dunne is fit and healthy and hungry and Stephen Ireland is in the mood and hungry we are almost there.

Don't even go there!!!!

**I shall assume you're joking, though**

[mikeb1982]

We've had some crucial players come into form at the just the right time, gabby, Benteke, Lowton, and Bennett is no longer the liability he has been, I was very impressed with him against Sunderland. And, at long last, it seems the Heskey type power that Bannan had seems to have waned and he's not getting anywhere near the team. Delph is a far better player

[basavfc]

I hope to never see Stephen Ireland anywhere near a Villa shirt again. Ever. Ever!!

here fucking here

[Ads]

If (yes, I know) we had held out as we should have done at Swansea, Everton and the Albion, we would be finishing above the self-title pride of the Midlands.

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

The better we get and the more good football I see us producing, the more I look back and think about what could have (and should have) been against Bradford - what the fuck happened there?!?!?

Still, better to come good than not at all.

Looking forward to next season!

[Mister E]

Survive this, stengthen the squad, offload the dead wood and next season might be an interesting one.

[olaftab]

Current form is great however it's over a small window. We should take this in our stride just as we should any setbacks. The thing that has most impressed me about this team in the last six weeks or so is  that whenever we have been up against it we have come out on top. The games against West Ham, Reading, QPR, Stoke, Sunderland and Norwich were all  'do or die' and  our boys DID. These games were  attracting attention on TV, radio and Press almost to an unbearable level.  All were hyped as 6 pointers and our Coach and Team stood up to the test.
I had no regrets even in our darkest period post  Chelsea, Spurs and Wigan and cup humiliations about Paul and what he was trying to do so today as we stand a step away from happiness I am content. (as the French would say)

[Steve R]

We done well for more than the 6/8 games most current form tables are based upon. 20 of our points have come from the last 12 games. That's almost a third of the season.

Our first 25 games yielded just four wins, in the next 11 we have won 6.

We haven't really played one season, it has been three mini seasons strung together where different teams and formations have been employed.

We started with a diamond 4-4-2 as the new players got to learn each others names. By the end of November the team seemed to settle down and was starting to get results. Lambert promptly moved to 5-3-2 which at first yielded two good results (Norwich and Liverpool) but then went spectacularly sour with big defeats in the league and embarrassing cup exits.

Finally we switched to something akin to 4-3-3 and there has been no looking back.

What we are seeing has been too consistent for too long to be a temporary upturn in fortune. We have a wobbly defence but are a good bet to outscore all but the top teams. That is genuinely where we are at the moment.

It probably means we will lose to Chelsea but have no trouble getting whatever result we need against Wigan, which is fine if you are OK with scooping your intestines up off the floor after each game.

[eamonn]

It's a great summation Mr Rose.

[Irish villain]

What we are seeing has been too consistent for too long to be a temporary upturn in fortune. We have a wobbly defence but are a good bet to outscore all but the top teams. That is genuinely where we are at the moment.

It probably means we will lose to Chelsea but have no trouble getting whatever result we need against Wigan, which is fine if you are OK with scooping your intestines up off the floor after each game.

Agreed. I think we have found this particularly difficult to take because villa teams, with one or two rare exceptions around the mid noughties, have always been built around a solid defence. Scoring goals used to be our problem, not leaking them.

[robbo1874]

Current form is great however it's over a small window. We should take this in our stride just as we should any setbacks. The thing that has most impressed me about this team in the last six weeks or so is  that whenever we have been up against it we have come out on top. The games against West Ham, Reading, QPR, Stoke, Sunderland and Norwich were all  'do or die' and  our boys DID. These games were  attracting attention on TV, radio and Press almost to an unbearable level.  All were hyped as 6 pointers and our Coach and Team stood up to the test.
I had no regrets even in our darkest period post  Chelsea, Spurs and Wigan and cup humiliations about Paul and what he was trying to do so today as we stand a step away from happiness I am content. (as the French would say)

I think you must have forgotten the Man U game, but I take your point.

[olaftab]

I think we are not too far off just need 2 or 3 very top quality players especially in central defender and playmaker role. Now if Richard Dunne is fit and healthy and hungry and Stephen Ireland is in the mood and hungry we are almost there.

Don't even go there!!!!

**I shall assume you're joking, though**

Honestly after the help Dunne and Ireland have given us this season when we needed it most they can F off to the end of thd earth and jump.

[SoccerHQ]

The better we get and the more good football I see us producing, the more I look back and think about what could have (and should have) been against Bradford - what the fuck happened there?!?!?

Still, better to come good than not at all.


Looking forward to next season!

It just followed on from the horrendous xmas run and where every set piece was a goal to the opposition.

If we played that game now, we would win 1-3 at Valley Parade.

[SoccerHQ]

What we are seeing has been too consistent for too long to be a temporary upturn in fortune. We have a wobbly defence but are a good bet to outscore all but the top teams. That is genuinely where we are at the moment.

It probably means we will lose to Chelsea but have no trouble getting whatever result we need against Wigan, which is fine if you are OK with scooping your intestines up off the floor after each game.

Agreed. I think we have found this particularly difficult to take because villa teams, with one or two rare exceptions around the mid noughties, have always been built around a solid defence. Scoring goals used to be our problem, not leaking them.

It's the Lambert way. Look back to his time at Norwich and even when they were promoted from league 1 and championship, they didn't have the best defence in the division.

Have no problem with this continuing next season, 07-08 was one of the most enjoyable seasons I've had following us, so many highscoring games that season and think we only kept 7 clean sheets that year.