Aston Villa v Birmingham City

Dions_Bald_Head wrote:Can we allow ourselves to be optimistic tonight & say that some of our new players might be building some confidence which will see a turnaround?

Maybe...?

villajk wrote:Change Veretout he is not up to speed for Gardner and get a striker in the next window and Grealish is Great

De Kuip wrote:3-1 Villa

Lets give it to the blouse - right up 'em - they don't like it up em.

Corporal Jones was a Villa fan - he was always on about fighting the Zulus ha ha.

(Actually Private Pike  - Ian Lavender - really was - that claret & blue scarf round his neck in Dad's army was Ian's real Villa scarf - fact!)

Anyway - message to trotters - don't worry about missing the game - there's always Cricfree if you want to pikey a stream

Villa_Dan wrote:coming down with flu so beer and jumping about the Holte didn't help)

Aston Villa team was leaked, says Birmingham boss Gary Rowett

Aston Villa's team was leaked to Birmingham City the day before their League Cup third-round encounter, Blues boss Gary Rowett has claimed.

"I actually knew their team yesterday funnily enough," said Rowett, who saw his side knocked out by Rudy Gestede's second goal of the season.

"That often happens - you often get a little tip-off. Sometimes they're right, sometimes they're not."

Villa manager Tim Sherwood said he was unfazed by Rowett's "strange" claim.

"Of course it's not," Sherwood replied when asked if the leak was worrying.

"Did he tell you who it was? It's interesting why he even mentioned it. It's strange."

Gestede's goal with just over an hour gone clinched victory for the Premier League side, after second-tier Birmingham had dominated the first 45 minutes - leading to boos from sections of the home crowd at the break.

"I felt, in the first half, tactically we got the game spot on, got some runners into some great positions," said Rowett.

"I have heard Tim said he purposely let us do that in the first half so they could change tactics in the second half, but I'm not sure a tactic of getting booed at half-time would particularly be a good one."

Saturday's 1-0 derby defeat to West Brom had increased the pressure on this match but Sherwood insisted his side knew what they were doing in what appeared a lacklustre opening half.

"I think we deserved to win by a lot more," he said. "We showed a lot of bottle, even after a first half like that - even though it's how I wanted them to play.

"They took a lot of criticism out there but in the second half they were brave enough to get the ball."

Villa boss thinks class told against Blues

Delighted Villa boss Tim Sherwood insisted his side had shown their class as they took the bragging rights with a 1-0 win in the Capital One Cup Second City derby.



Sherwood insists he always intended to change tactics in the second-half and reckoned rivals Blues were unable to cope.

He said: "First-half, we were a bit direct then in the second were made changes and our midfield got on the ball. We were popping it around and they couldn’t handle it.

“The plan worked. We always like to play free-flowing football but we showed that we can mix it up to get a result. We showed our class.”

Match-winner Rudy Gestede praised Sherwood for the half-time changes.

Gestede said: "It was so important to get the win because it was a big derby. We changed things at half-time and tried to get the ball a bit more. We did that well and got the goal, so it was good management.”

The striker knew Villa could cope with the pressure despite losing back-to-back league matches against Midlands rivals Leicester City and West Brom.

He said: "The pressure was OK because it is normal. We just had to be focused.”

Blues boss Gary Rowett claimed his side had “more than matched” their Second City rivals for long periods.

He said: "We were undone by one moment of quality. Jack Grealish changed the game for them with some of the areas he was in, and the goal was a brilliant finish.”

Rowett rued a late chance for striker Jacques Maghoma that was kept out by Villa goalkeeper Brad Guzan, adding: “If that had gone in it would have been interesting."

Villa_Dan wrote:Haha cheers Villa Ranger. I'm soldiering into work, can't let the other side realise I feel like someone has drop kicked me in the swede during the night. 

As for that Rowett claim the team was leaked - surely that makes him look shitter for losing then? He knew what team we were putting out but still couldn't score. Regardless of whether it was preplanned to make those changes at halftime, they worked. We've seen Tim out thought in recent weeks by willy older managers but last night against a good, up and coming young manager Tim was the one out thinking him. Great changes and management. 

If Tim can keep improving and learn from his fuck ups there's no reason to think our season can't still be relatively successful. We are far from in the mire when you consider Soton are 1 place and 2 points above us, that's all, and 6th is only 5 points away.

Trotters wrote:On a darker note, I heard the Aston Social got smashed up during an organised meeting of Villa hoolies and zulus. Broken bodies all over the road apparently. (?)

I hope those people are proud of themselves this morning having proved who the biggest fuckwits in the city are.