Okay, so Bolton and Derby may not be the strongest opponents. But common wisdom has it that relegation-threatened sides fight for everything and relegated sides play for pride.

Often, these are not the teams you want to play at the end of the season. Villa have played well and filled their boots against both.

I think we now need to forget about the temporary dip in form and confidence which cost us against Middlesboro and Sunderland, and get behind the boys next Sunday. Another big-scoring win, this time against the Scum, would put an even bigger smile on all our faces.

We all have the right to be disappointed about the Boro and Mackems games which, effectively, sunk our challenge for this season's 5th place. But we cannot fail to be impressed by the way in which MON has picked the team up and got them playing with confidence and scoring goals. 10 goals in two games is top stuff by anyone's standards, especially with two clean sheets.

Almost more importantly, the goals are coming from all over the park. When a team scores six, it's not often that those six come from six different players. That says something about the confidence with which Villa are again playing. Sure, it says something about poor opposition too: but as Damian said earlier, poor opposition has to be beaten too. For the record, Everton beat Derby 1-0 at Goodison last week.

It may well be too late to mount a serious challenge for fifth. And sixth may be a stretch if Pompey beat Keegan's revitalised Magpies this evening. But if we finish seventh and end up with more than 60 points......is that not great progress? Any other season, it would have guaranteed UEFA Cup football, and O'Neill cannot be blamed for the fact that none of the Big 4 have won the two cups. If we continue to improve by 8 points a season, the Champions League itself only two seasons away.

If we make the Inter Two-Bob, that would be a bonus. But instead of thinking about that let's feel confident about beating the Bluenoses (again), and then take pride in a successful season which has taken us to the next level.

If it's not UEFA, it's not UEFA. But 60 points plus is a landmark, and with a decent transfer budget in the summer 70 points next season shouldn't be beyond us.

And also, with Petrov seemingly bang in form and Harewood the Premier League's official "super sub", it doesn't look to me as if MON's transfer record so far is quite as bad as some might have suggested.

Up the Villa!

Comments (32)

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martygra808 said:

always felt petrov was a stud, if he could impress mon enough on the training pitch while not performing gameday....has to show the potential anyways bouma is a must keep!

April 13, 2008

avfc-anthony said:

if we win all our last games including everton. and everton loose 2 of theirs most likely against chelsea and arsenal we can still win 5th. and if they draw to us and then draw to newcastle whilst also inevitably losing to the chelsea and arsenal and we win the other 3 we still beat them to it. this is possible.

April 13, 2008

JonnyW said:

10 goals, two clean sheets. You are bang on, thats a good return whoever the two teams are, especially when you are Aston 'don't keep too many clean sheets' Villa

April 13, 2008

mickey86 said:

sham the papers dont recognise the win yesterday, if man u beat derby 6-0 they would still get a double page spread and the headlines saying how great they are, in the news of the world pull out we dont get a headline on th cover, and inside we get a single page which is a third filled with a sky sports advert at the bottom, the left hand side is filled with a notw advert, it doesnt give any match fact. whereas newcastle v portsmouth, finished 0-0 and gets the first double page spread.

April 13, 2008

vogra said:

Petrov plays two good games in 2 years and people now start thinking he's a world beater, people....we played against Bolton and Derby, the man cant produce on a consistant level, he's a squad player, in the next tranfer window IMO is make or break for MON, we need at least minimun 5 players... id like to see us get...Kenwyn Jones, Arron Lennon, Matty Derbyshire, and a decent centre back.........and for gods sake MON a friggin right back, MON dropped the ball big time in Jan and we should not forget this, 4th place was for taking this year....and before you all say we just won 6-0 and give MON a break, sorry, Derby are the WORST side in Premiership history.

April 13, 2008

Jonesy2k8 said:

Rumour has it, is that Martin O'neil will bid to try and sign Van Der Vaart in the summer. Wilfred Bouma is supposed to have been talking to Van Der Vaart about a possible move and telling him all about the club. Now if this rumour is true and its turns out in the summer that O'neil will try and sign Vaart then that would be a massive signing for the club and a step in the right direction, well a leap lol. Because the Van Der Vaart's of this world is what Villa needs to improve, move forward and progress. Also i would love to see Bentley, Santa Cruz, Kranjcar, Robinson, Nelson, Bridge and a few squad players come in to bulk up the numbers

April 13, 2008

Jonesy2k8 said:

answering Mickey86. Everyone should no by now that the dont like us they hate the fact that Villa are making strides towards the top four. The press only want north or south to dominate and thats why they dont give us credit when were on good runs. Its always like oh it wont last it or they are playing above their level. They will never give us credit but will have the last laff.

April 13, 2008

taglor said:

mickey86 I totally agree, I live in Dorset and the newspapers rarely have much print about Villa even if they are at home they will talk about the other team.

April 13, 2008

brett said:

im over the moon with this season no matter where we end up its been a great effort, only sore pint was the leicester game i agree with what mick mccarthey said on sky, its s a strange year where every team has something to play for with 4 games left, and its a shame no youngsters can get a run out cos the games mean too much if wigan/west ham meant nothing it'd be nice to see bannon or delfeunso get a game

April 13, 2008

Bouma is a ledge said:

we have a small but very good squad with several players coming in the summer at GK,RBX2,CB,RW,ST AND players like o'halleran & delfouneso breaking through im very happy & very excited!! @ ppl who keep having a go at reo-coker he was excellent yesterday and looks good in this new midfield diamond. UTV

April 13, 2008

chris_rabz said:

Please do to Brum what you did to us (Bolton). I won't argue you were far better than us last week, but I'll forgive you if you can do the same to Brum and give us a fighting chance. Plus I can't stand Brum anyway. UTV! A desparate Bolton fan.

April 13, 2008

ste23 said:

@ chris_rabs im sure the boys will do their best to beat the wa***rs

April 13, 2008 | url

tonebone said:

we are now 6 points behind everton. if we beat Blues next week and they lose to chelsea we will be going into the game against them only 3 points behind and 2 goals in goal difference behind so a win would take us ahead of them. even a draw may be enough with them playing arsenal and us playing wigan gthe week after

April 13, 2008

Mobious said:

It's great to see so many positive posts approaching the end of the season. I agree with the posts that say regardless of whether we are in the UEFA cup we should be pleased with our season. We have shown real improvement and lets hope we get the transfer window the club deserves. However lets manage our expectations. If we don't get in to UEFA, then don't expect the world class players. I also think at this stage it is unrealistic for us to be looking at the likes of Bentley although I would love to see him in a Villa shirt. I think Wes Brown is going to be a real possibility, although it wouldn't surprise me if he joined Newcastle or Sunderland. Lets all keep our positive hats on and lets hope we can get one over them. However I am very wary of certain Argentinian who might get them our of jail!

April 13, 2008

tonebone said:

Mobious, U mention Brown and a few others have. I really dont understand where people are coming from with this. He has played more games for Man Utd this season than any other player. Why would he leave and why would ferguson get rid of the player he selects more than any other. its not going to happen.

April 13, 2008

Dizzy Mugs said:

Even if we finish 7th, as long as it's Pompey ahead of us in 6th, we will be in the Intertoto cup and challenging for that UEFA Cup spot because Pompey haven't applied So i'd be happy with 7th, but 6th would get us about 5 million more and a slightly higher seeding in the Intertoto.

April 13, 2008

Arrlui said:

If we don't sign Bentley, Lennon, Downing or Bendtner this Summer then we have failed. Those are my picks, in order.

April 13, 2008

Leroy said:

@ Aarlui - Spot on about Bendtner, hes arrogant as, but has loads of ability. We should be in for Nzogbia too, he could be good under MON. Bentley will be going to Liverpool if he ends up going anywhere at all. Lennon - Newcastle and Downing has just signed a new deal with Boro. We will get Jaaskilainen, Nelson to start with, then its anyones guess

April 14, 2008

villadaz said:

Agree with a lot of what has been said. We do need to add to the squad, especially with obvious exits. I have a hunch that Crouch will be back and /or McDonald from Celtic. Apart from that I can't imagine who Mon will sign. We really should have moved heaven and earth to get Glenn Johnson ahead of pompey....he is starting to look the part.

April 14, 2008

eoin1981 said:

The reason that we are linked with Brown is his contract with united expires in the summer and he has turned down their 'final' offer much to the annoyance of Fergie. I think he would be an excellent signing - anyone good enough to be a certain united starter is good enough for villa. His experience in the division is also a plus compared to the proposed portugeese alternatives.

April 14, 2008

Jimmy Villain said:

With Liverpool and Chelsea reported to be interested in Bentley there's little chance of him coming to Villa. You can't compete with teams playing Champions League football, but we can certainly work on making that happen in the next few years. Carson needs to go back to Liverpool, I favour Taylor over him any day of the week, I actually feel pretty bad for Taylor, what has he done to be sitting on the bench all season? Jaaskilainen looks more likely, and we could do with a decent goal keeper, the last decent keeper we had was Bosnich… The good English players, Defoe, Lennon even Crouch come at a hefty price tag and MON is not prepared to pay the inflated price tag and whopping salary. There's a lot of speculation surrounding Defoe, my take on it is that he didn't want to live in the midlands. I think MON will be looking over seas to find reinforcements, I expect a few surprises but am optimistic that next season we'll have a real squad that can be challenging for that 4th spot, I watched the Blackburn, Everton and Pompey games this weekend and to be honest with a few more players in our squad we'll be beating them both home and away. We have a pretty decent record against Everton, so I expect that game to be a close one, as far as the rest of the games, they should be 3 pointers. I just hope we do to Blues what we have done the last 2 weeks… UTV

April 14, 2008

Not so Silent Bob said:

brown, fletcher & saha from united with the exeption of brown they are not getting games ok saha has had a bad injury season and when hes fit i cant see him getting back into uniteds team, 3 major players who mon could help get back to their best... mon will go after celtic keeper again. id also like to see bently in a villa shirt but highly unlikely hes prob gonna go to liverpool and pennant to blackburn... realistically i think brown fletcher saha and the celtic keeper will be on mons wish list 4 players in key areas GK /RB-CD / ATT MID / STRIKER

April 14, 2008

Leroy said:

Jimmy Villian - What speculation is there about Defoe?

April 14, 2008

Villadad said:

Have I got this right? If Everton crumble which I beleive they will with their current form, injuries and daunting run in and Pompey come 5th and win the FA cup - does not the next EUFA cup place go to 6th? We need to win all our remaining games - a definate possibility - and 6th place is definately within our grasp.

April 14, 2008 | url

villa4evaza said:

Up the villa!All way the from Za!

April 14, 2008

Jonesy2k8 said:

I was just thinking today about Portsmouth in the F.A. cup. Can anyone clarify that if Portsmouth get 5th and win the F.A. cup would Cardiff then get the extra Euro spot instead of the Premiership, which would then maybe deny us the intertoto spot beacuse Everton would be infront of us.

April 14, 2008

Not so Silent Bob said:

cardiff would only be granted a wild card entry to uefa cup only if they win it and thats still under consideration from fifa because they are a welsh team playing in an english league the uefa place available are for english clubs only...

April 14, 2008

Not so Silent Bob said:

however if barnsley had beeten cardiff and lost to pompy in final the uefa place would go to the fa cup runners up if that team is an english team so barnsley would have been in europe hope this helps jonesy2k8

April 14, 2008

Jonesy2k8 said:

cheers not so Silent Bob. Was just wondering really but thanks for clearing it up now. hopefully Villa can get 5th now COME ON YOU VILLA BOYS

April 14, 2008

Dr Jebend said:

Does anyone know any local pubs/clubs that will be showing the derby on sunday. Cant believe its not on tv. Cheers

April 14, 2008

Jimmy Villain said:

Leroy, there's been a lot of talk regarding Defoe's wage demands and MON not prepared to meet it. But I think it's more that he didn't want to move too far from home and Pompey gave him a chance to prove he's worth a big club investing in him at the end of the season (he's on loan at Pompey).

April 14, 2008

neil walker said:

wot woz full squad list

April 16, 2008 | url

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