Aside from blotting their copy books by giving up a sloppy goal, Villa ticked all the right boxes today. It doesn’t seem very long ago I was suggesting our slightly jaded looking side needed to deliver an absolute thumping to an unfortunate victim in order to restore some confidence.

What we need, I think, is the confidence that can be derived from dishing out a real spanking. One of those games where everything goes right and finishes in a 4 or 5 goal victory would do wonders. Ash and Milner really could do with goals, as could Sidwell and Petrov. It’s a midfield quartet that really could be doing more to add to the ‘goals for’ column.

The next tie, away to West Ham on Wednesday evening, is another tricky one where a draw could well be the result, but after that Bolton come to Villa Park and with all due respect, they’ve got to be ideal candidates for a confidence boosting romp. (They were soundly beaten 4-0 by Chelsea at the Reebok today).

Almost prophetic. Bolton proved to be the prime candidate for a beating and they duly exposed their soft under belly for our sharpened daggers!!  Not only that, but Villa ended the game with 5 feasting on the carcass – Ash, Gabby, Carew, Milner and even Carlos Cuellar weighed in with his first goal for Aston Villa.

With Petrov and Beye suspended and James Collins apparently picking up a groin strain at West Ham, MON was forced to make a few changes. Cuellar partnered Richard Dunne at the back for the first time and Luke Young made his first start of the season. MON proved water has certainly passed under the bridge between himself and Nigel Reo-Coker by not only handing him a start alongside Sidwell in the centre, but by also handing him the armband. James Milner made a very welcome return on the right.

MON’s 4-4-2 looked comfortable against Megson’s 4-5-1 from the off and the quality of the home side paid dividends in the 5th minute when Ashley Young opened the scoring. John Carew had risen strongly to meet James Milner’s centre only for Jussi Jaaskelainen to parry the shot to his left. Ashley Young was quickest to react and made no mistake firing the rebound into the roof of the net. Ironically, he practically took the ball off the toes of the statuesque Zat Knight.

It was very telling that it was Reo-Coker who was first to join Young in the corner celebrations and, if my lip reading skills are up to much, it looked very much like Young received a quick rendition of “that’s what I’m talking about!” from his captain. Indeed, that is very much what I’m talking about!!

Villa continued to dominate throughout the remainder of the first half and for the first time in a while they looked genuinely capable of scoring at any time. If I had any reservations at this stage, it’s fair to say that the movement of the players still was unimpressive at times. Even James Milner, ever willing to run, appeared a casual observer to play at times. Not often, and this is no criticism of our hardest working player, but we do look static sometimes. It’s a minor gripe, nothing more.

For all Villa’s dominance, we had to wait until the 43rd minute for the lead to be doubled. Again John Carew was involved, picking up on a speculative overhead ball from Ashley Young down the left channel. The big man chased down what looked like a lost cause to the byline, shadowed by ex-Villan Gary Cahill, who was more concerned with trying to block the Norwegian’s path. Carew deftly maneuvered his torso as he kept the ball in play so that Cahill’s momentum took him helplessly out of contention and he fell in a heap on the ground. From there Carew was all alone and had all the time in the world to pick out Gabby, who smartly drilled his shot through the legs of Jaaskelainen for 2-0.

Villa possibly fell asleep 2 minutes later as a long free kick from inside Bolton’s own half fell to Cahill, probably trying to atone for his hapless attempts to marshal John Carew, who’s shot scuffed off the post perfectly into the path of Johan Elmander. Half time, 2-1.

I’ve no idea what MON says at half time, or why he couldn’t say something similar before kick off, but Villa almost always play better in the second half and this game was no exception. In all fairness, Bolton really didn’t look at all likely to score with Villa almost completely in control.

John Carew got his reward for his hard work in the 53rd minute after James Milner played the simplest of passes to the striker with his back to goal on the edge of the box. Carew was able to easily turn and shrug off Zat Knight and charge tank-like past the flat footed Cahill before blasting in from 6 yards. He was certainly having one of those “unplayable” games, which is unfortunate for two ex-Villa centre backs returning to Villa Park.

Carew again became the provider, in a fashion, in the 72nd minute when a shove in his back by Kevin Davies was adjudged by referee, Clattenburg, to be a penalty. Milner confidently stepped up to dispatch an effort from the spot which was probably a poorer effort than Ashley Young’s at West Ham. Jaaskelainen saved, but the ball rebounded to Steve Sidwell who had an entirely empty goal to put the ball into, but somehow managed to find the post. Fortunately, Milner was alert enough to pick up the second rebound and make no mistake with the third chance.

Sidwell saw the funny side, as did his team mates, but it sums up his form for me at the moment. He could certainly do with a goal as much as anyone at Villa at the moment.

Just three minutes later Carlos Cuellar had joined the attack for a free kick which instead of being lumped into the box was threaded to Milner on the left. He whipped a ball in and Carlos Cuellar headed on as he often does at the near post at corners. Carew was making a run to the far post to collect the ball, but his touch wasn’t required this time as the ball went straight in and this officially became a rout.

Cuellar’s first goal for Villa was a popular one for his team mates and the Villa Park crowd who gave an enormous cheer to the announcement on the PA. If there was an award for biggest smile of the afternoon, then Carlos would win it.

With 10 minutes to go, the game was dead. John Carew made rare use of possession by having a shot from 30 yards. Hey, why not?

MON gave Nathan Delfouneso a run out to cap recently signing a new contract in place of James Milner. Even with less than 10 minutes on the clock, the youngster may well have fancied his chances of getting on the scoresheet himself, but he would have stood a better chance if MON had played him up front instead of on the right.

MON also introduced a new central midfield partnership of Craig Gardner and Fabian Delph in place of Reo-Coker and Steve Sidwell for the final 5 minutes plus stoppage time. Richard Dunne took the armband as Reo-Coker was warmly applauded by the home crowd.

Fortunately there were no more lapses in concentration and the game finished 5-1. There’s still plenty of areas for improvement, but it was fantastic to see such a strong performance today, notwithstanding the fact that Bolton really are poor.

It was especially pleasing to have two strong full backs who are really capable of adding to the attack, which is, after all, one of the main advantages of playing 4-4-2. You could tell this was Luke Young’s first game back, but he still gave a good account of himself and was close to scoring himself late on.

Ash and Milner again had moments where good positions were squandered by wasteful deliveries, but they also seemed to improve as the game went on and the confidence grew.

John Carew will probably be the man of the match for his goal, assist and generally giving the Bolton defense an absolutely torrid time they will want to forget very quickly. Cahill in particular has some humble pie to eat after blowing his own trumpet a little too loudly lately.

Frustratingly, as is becoming a bit of a pattern, Villa put in a fine performance right before an International break. MON would probably like to take this side, thriving on confidence, to Burnley as soon as possible, but will have to hope that the players can pick up where they left off in a fortnight.

For now though, Villa occupy fifth in the Premiership and remain among the runners. Hopefully, with confidence restored, that can continue and we look forward to Carew terrorizing more defenses!!