Aston Villa Vs Blackburn

[Florida Rover]

Well, here is the preview for Aston Villa I signed up for well before Christmas when there was still optimism we could

progress to the League Cup final,a glorious FA Cup run and a slot in the European automatic qualification place.since the

deplorable exit from the FA cup against Coventry,I took a moratorium from the internet for seven days because it was

just sick reading about that match,thinking about that match and reliving that putrid mess.Anyway as they say football is a

funny ol' game and now we have that firmly in our rear view mirror.Winning over Bolton certainly left a better taste in the

mouth.We come up against an Aston Villa team that in my mind has underperformed greatly in the last several years

considering the resources they have at hand.Some interesting factoids about the Villa :

*have provided more England internationals than any other club( 66 to date)

*one of an group of seven clubs that has played in every Premiership season (including: Arsenal, Chelsea, Everton,

Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur)

*hold the record number of league goals scored by any team in the English top-flight; 128 goals were scored in the

1930–31 season(this record is probably unassailable as we know it as a requirement of 3.4 goals per game would have

to be met)

*the first club ever to beat Bayern Munich in a final (May 26, 1982 in Rotterdam, beating Bayern Munich 1–0 thanks to

Peter Withe's goal European Cup final)

*Aston Villa have spent 98 seasons in the top-flight( the only club to have spent longer in the top-flight is Everton with

105 seasons)

Living here in Florida most of the footy fans are Manc scum ,Scouse supporters,Arsenal or Chelsea bandwagon fans.(I

suppose it is like that all over.)Nonetheless at our local football club we have a real life Villan with whom I directed the

following questions:

1.What is the most memorable Rovers v Villa match you recall?

Villa were relegated to the Old 2nd Divission in 1988? and my Brother and I and some friends travelled to Blackburn to watch the game,David Platt made his debut and Villa lost 3-2

2.Randy Lerner,Yank owner good or bad?(It might be hard to be worse than Deadly Doug though agree?)

So far so good with new ownership of the club; Ellis wasn't in charge when we had our only real success; winning the league in 1980/ 1981 and the European cup! Ellis never recognised this success. Lerner took over and invited all of the Eurpoean cup players to the 1st game of the season so that they were recognized for their success. Lerner made a great decission bringing O'Neil to Villa Park and it also appears that he has patience and won't fire a great Manager after only 24 games in charge; the future looks great under Lerner, good riddance Ellis!

3.Is this years team living up or down to your expectations?

I watch more live football living in the States than I did in the UK; Fox Soccer sports shows 3 live games on Saturday and usually 1 or 2 on Sunday and I have watched Villa play exciting football this season; they are playing with confidence and enthusiasm, Ashley Young and Martin Laursen have been outstanding; if we qualify for Europe this year we will have exceeded my expectations

4.What is the most frustrating thing being a supporter of Aston Villa football club?

Not having too much to cheer about since winning the European cup and the League Cup against Man Utd in the 90's under Big Ron Atkinson; Villa fans have high expectations and it has been exciting watching the team play under O'Neil; hope we can keep hold of him!

5.Obviously ,Gareth Barry is the one player you would not want to do without but would you sacrifice him for in a transfer for any player in the Prem if you were king for a day?

Ronaldo at Man Utd would be a fair trade?

6.What is your perception of Mark Hughes and the job he has done at Blackburn Rovers?

I think he has done really well and has the team playing an attractive form of football. The signing of Roque Santa Cruz was a good one

7.What Rovers player(s) cause the most consternation for you in this match?

Santa Cruz, David Bentley But I think Bentley might be kept busy by Gabby and Ashley

8.What is your prediction for the scoreline?

2-1 to the Villa

(Cheers to Stu for the help on the Q and A)

It is with trepidation that I predict a scoreline as our recent results away as they have beaten us at Villa Park 5 of the last

6 league matches there{the lone match we won being 20-03-2004 when Steadinho was banging them in and Flitcroft still

roamed the middle and both scored in a 0-2 to the good guys}.I would be satisfied with a scoreless draw but a victory if

it comes will be "wafer thin" to quote Mr. Creosote

[philipl]

Nice preview.

Either a transformation in the way we are organised, reciprocal suspension of the offside law when we attack and continuation of the good fortune we enjoyed at the back against Boro or Villa 3 Rovers 0.

[jim mk2]

Aren't we away to Villa on Saturday ?

[philipl]

Yes we are- got moved from midweek because both sides are out of the FA Cup.

Profile of a quiet American of the sort we might hope for.

[jim mk2]

Aren't we away to Villa on Saturday ?

So why isn't the thread title Aston Villa v Blackburn Rovers ?

[joey_big_nose]

Um, Villa are the guys who started our downward spiral. They are also the team, along with Portsmouth, who seem almost tailor made to expolit our weaknesses. Compact, extraordinarily fast, have width, sit deep and like to counter attack. Nelsen will be worried.

It will be a miracle if we win this one. If I was Hughes I would go there and sit deep too and not play into their hands.

[bubblerrovers]

We will be murdered, can't see us getting anything at all. apart from a whooping maybe. The boys just don't care, and to be honest neither do i at the moment

[joey_big_nose]

We will be murdered, can't see us getting anything at all. apart from a whooping maybe. The boys just don't care, and to be honest neither do i at the moment

Thats the spirit! We are, according to the table, the ninth best team in the country.

[daveoftherovers]

Thats the spirit! We are, according to the table, the ninth best team in the country.

All too true though, they will have been watching us versus Boro and going "Yep, we'll have some of this lot"

Match report from scout on Rovers:

Inept going forward if we take Bentley out or keep him busy going backwards chasing 2 x racing snakes, need to keep an eye on that Santa guy though.

If we can play wide, quick and plonk balls between an absent midfield and a defence that consists of the captain holding his arm up or losing his man at set pieces then we should do well, especially on the counter attack, oops, yes, That sounds VERY MUCH like the villa operating model doesn't it?

They have everything that opens our locker, pace, width, good on set pieces and they have the Midfielder & leader we don't (In Barry)

O' Neil is no mug tactically, as proven against us on previous occasions ! Easy pickings for them for me, gloomy but honest appraisal of our very thin chances, will Rovers suprise us? Only if they don't turn up, we do and the ref. has a mare ! Odds of this are.... Yes, I'll keep my money for this game thanks.

(Rovers please suprise me!)

[1864roverite]

1-1 bore draw

[JAL]

All too true though, they will have been watching us versus Boro and going "Yep, we'll have some of this lot"

Match report from scout on Rovers:

Inept going forward if we take Bentley out or keep him busy going backwards chasing 2 x racing snakes, need to keep an eye on that Santa guy though.

If we can play wide, quick and plonk balls between an absent midfield and a defence that consists of the captain holding his arm up or losing his man at set pieces then we should do well, especially on the counter attack, oops, yes, That sounds VERY MUCH like the villa operating model doesn't it?

They have everything that opens our locker, pace, width, good on set pieces and they have the Midfielder & leader we don't (In Barry)

O' Neil is no mug tactically, as proven against us on previous occasions ! Easy pickings for them for me, gloomy but honest appraisal of our very thin chances, will Rovers suprise us? Only if they don't turn up, we do and the ref. has a mare ! Odds of this are.... Yes, I'll keep my money for this game thanks.

(Rovers please suprise me!)

Excellent! i'm feeling extremely negative on this one whatever happened to our optimism, Hughes has to harden up our soft centres and try reverting to the bully boy tactics, but without Savage leading the charge i somehow doubt it.

This game is a massive test of our aspirations should be interesting, and if we lose, i dont want to hear Hughes complaining about the officials.

[Hughesy]

We havent been bad away from home, and we usually do well when not expected.

2-1 Rovers

[b12_simon]

We've made Villa look good for the last few seasons (at least as far back as the 1-0 defeat on Baros's debut) and I don't expect anything other than a Villa win and a miserable time for me playing 5-a-side the following Friday.

If anyone wants to share my optimism over a pint or several I'll be in The Anchor on Bradford Street (quite near New St Station) from about 11.

[revolutionrock!]

2.1

Last minute RSC Volley= Mental.

[frosty]

I think Villa will win but I hope we can snatch something.

But we are better away from home having only lost twice so there's a reason to be more optimistic.

[Iceman]

We wil beat villa.rovers is my team,and i wil not have this negative talk.we a good team,and we just need to sort our defence out.2-0 to ROVERS.Thats my opinion on that,c'mon u ROVERS stick it up them villas candy ass on saturday.lol

[Plastic Head]

We have only scored in 1 of the last 6 visits to Villa Park.

So Rovers 0...

Villa played on our weeknesses at Ewood and we don't seem to have learned any lessons.

So Villa 4

[alexanders]

It is kind of disturbing that Villa are so good and effective on set pieces, and the fact that we suck at it !

They are up by 1-2 Away at the Scousers. We have to cut-back on the making free-kicks all the time at our half, to be able to win this game or get a point.

[1864roverite]

2-2 at Liverpoo - another poor home result by them ! Seems they have the same problems as us then !

[Ben-2000]

Full Time... shame for Villa after coming from behind.

I hope we can find a good performance from somewhere on Saturday

[Hasta]

If we sit deep and don't give away many free-kicks around our box we may get away with a 1-0 defeat at Villa Park.

Seriously though they seem to either score from set pieces or hit teams on the break. They very rarely play through the centre of midfield. Tonight at Anfield they were poor except for a 15 minute spell. If we were in the same form as early season I'd fancy us for this one. Unfortunately at the moment I can't.

[Jordan]

We've made Villa look good for the last few seasons (at least as far back as the 1-0 defeat on Baros's debut) and I don't expect anything other than a Villa win and a miserable time for me playing 5-a-side the following Friday.

If anyone wants to share my optimism over a pint or several I'll be in The Anchor on Bradford Street (quite near New St Station) from about 11.

Get into New Street station at 11:04 so will see you in there. Will call you when I land.

Will be pleased if we come away with a draw however this is a difficult tie against a much improved Villa team.

Hopefully Hughes will remind them of the home result and the players will be up for this one.

[Presty On Tour]

i've got fond memories of villa park, only been there once in the f.a cup 3rd round tie where we won 4-1, taylor was in charge of villa and jansen and yorke had 2 each. after the 4th went in after 70 odd mins, villa park just emptied! happy days

was the last rover to score there gary flitcroft? we could do with him on saturday.

anyway as for the game this saturday, i'm going for 2-0 rovers. pedersen and nelsen to score in a hard faught win.

[Roar of the Rover]

Not the best of records at Villa Park

Villa to win 2-0

Fantasy Football Captain - Laursen/Mellberg

They're good at set pieces we're rubbish.

[LeChuck]

Really, really not looking forward to this one.

As people have mentioned, Villa are fantastic from set pieces so we'll do well not to concede there. Even if we do hold out on set plays, they have terrific pace with Agbonlahor and Young, and we don't seem to deal well with pace. We need to make sure Nelsen doesn't get left isolated with Carew as well, Nelsen looks more like a frail OAP than a commanding centre half recently and I fear Carew's physical play would be too much for him...Samba should be able to contain him though as long as his heads in the right place.

I'd be happy with a draw, astonished by a win. McCarthy must start in place of Roberts, we won't out-muscle Villa but we might be able to out-think them.