I’m doing something a little different with this today. Any of the news links that crops up between now and kick off will appear here on the first page, with the latest at the top. The live blog will be embedded on the second page (there’s also a link at the bottom of the page) so you don’t have to load that up if that’s not what you’re here for.
Once again, the live blog will be mostly fed
When Aston Villa won the 1957 FA Cup we became the first team to win it 7 times, a feat now matched or surpassed by Liverpool (7), Tottenham (8), Arsenal (10) and Man Utd (11). Small wonder really, we’ve made it to the final just once since; the 1-0 loss to Chelsea in 2000. You’ve got to be in it to win it after all.
The game has changed a wee bit since 1957 though. Martin O’Neill was just
It’s just 50 hours until kick off. On Saturday afternoon we’ll be at Wembley for the second time this season. This time it’s the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea. It’s no small game.
And yet, I haven’t managed to create the build up I was expecting this week. I’ve changed the background image (which you may need to refresh your cache to see – either hold down Ctrl + F5 or Shift + click on your browser’s
It was close, but I was expecting Ashley Young to come out on top for the Player of the Month award for March after a string of consistent performances signalled a return to form. In the end, Milner’s man of the match performance in the only win of the month, the 2-1 victory over Wigan, made the difference.
It’s notable that this is the first month of the season that a defensive player has not appeared in the top 3
This doesn’t require a great deal of narrative, it was never going to be a classic. The statistics reflect a very even affair and, though it may be easy to claim after the event, I really don’t think that Villa did much more than was required.
Young’s 11th minute goal is worthy of mention beyond the merits of being the game’s only goal. It was a very fitting finale to a series of 6 or 7 shorts passes in
I’ll go from the sublime to the ridiculous and keep this super short and to the point. The Times published the graphic below which is available in PDF format here. However, the Aston Villa numbers might not look familiar and there’s a good reason for that.
The numbers that The Times use are correct, but they’re from the Aston Villa FC 2008/09 accounts, not the Reform Acquisitions accounts. The difference between the two, besides the headline numbers you
Preface
You know you’re in trouble when a blog post carries a preface! This post is hefty by blog standards, even mine, and it is statistically and graphically rich, but that’s not the reason for this quick heads up. That said, don’t start reading expecting a quick 300 word blog!
I had most of the data here at hand and this is a post that I’ve been meaning to pull together for some time. However, I’ll be perfectly straightforward and
I’m extremely excited to have the scoop on this, although I should admit it’s through a friend connected to the sponsor rather than any inside information from Villa Park.
I’ve just got off the phone with my friend in San Francisco (yes, it’s just after 5am there right now, she’s not overly happy with my guerrilla tactics) and she confirmed to me that her employers are in advanced negotiations with Randy Lerner to put their name on the front of Aston
Here’s what has been catching my eye in the last couple of days.
Little Impressed
One of our better managers during the Premiership years, an ex-player himself, Brian Little says that he’s impressed at Villa resurgence over the last few years and happy that we’re back in the mix among the top teams in the table. [Sporting Life]
He’s Not The Messiah
Gabriele Marcotti, who is a competent, but not outstanding writer, makes the case that MON is a competent, but not outstanding manager.