We lost today probably because the team we were playing wanted Premier League football next season more than we wanted a hope of automatic qualification to UEFA Cup football next season. Nothing more, nothing less.

In fact, I could say we were poor but that might be an over statement, but if it was, it wouldn't be by much.

I'm not going to look at specifics but if Gabby had scored one of the two very good chances he had in the first half the scoreline today may have been different, but he didn't and it basically summed up our day.

On a somewhat bright side, there was loads of Swedish shirts, Swedish flags and somebody did a huge copy of our flag, which you can see on the homepage, and it got hung up for Olof to see.

I'm sure Mellberg will remember the day as there was lots of yellow and blue; it just would have been nicer if he could remember it for a win.

A match report will follow, but 2-0 at home to Wigan is quite embarrassing.

Comments (45)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

goalcentre.com said:

Catch the highlights of the match:- http://www.goalcentre.com/aston-villa-vs-wigan-highlights/

May 03, 2008 | url

goalcentre.com said:

Catch the highlights of the match:- http://www.goalcentre.com/asto...ighlights/

May 03, 2008 | url

tonebone said:

poor poor result. if we dont wn next week we are going to have to rely on the scum to get something against Blackburn or we'll mis out on intertoto even!!!

May 03, 2008

Badger said:

I'm highly disappointed that we seemed off the pace and too slow in winning the ball, given what we were playing for. I totally agree they wanted it more, as simple as. Why do we always seem to lose to teams we really ought to be beating? I have a nasty feeling we aren't going to get much at the spam and suspect we may well have blown it for the two bob, which will be totally gutting, as we'll have nothing to offer GB. Liverpool?

May 03, 2008

RSamVillaFan said:

The difference between a good team and a great team: A good team will get you within touching distance, A great team grabs the prize and hangs on. We are a good team, but we have to believe that some day we can be great....I still believe!! Come on the Villa!!!

May 03, 2008

Mick70 said:

And now let's spend some cash, had we bought a couple more quality players over the past 2 transfer windows we wouldn't be here discussing yet again glorious failures. Gloss it over any way you want, we could have secured that 5th place 2 weeks ago with a suitable squad. Over to the optimist brigade.

May 03, 2008

maccam said:

was a well below par performance today. wigan were definitly up for it more than villa a touch of de ja vu this season just like against sunderland at home was the same. gareth barry's body language at the end of the game seemed to suggest his future lies somewhere up north. i personally don't want liverpool reject players (crouch, riise, pennant & carson) but if barry wants to leave £15m i would take and buy some real quality players. bentley would be a perfect option but first things first we need virtually a whole new defence. zat knight is not good enough as said time and time before. bouma has hit and miss days and only seems to play well when the team is playing well and we haven't even got a right back. for a an average crowd of 40,000 this season the fans deserved to be rewarded with europe but if results go against us we could end up as low as 9th next week at the end of it all if blackburn, portsmouth, man city and everton all win and we lose?

May 03, 2008

matt-the-villan said:

I can't believe we lost to Wigan. We are supposed to be challenging the top 4 but can't even get a result on our last home game of the season against a team who wern't even assured of premier league football next term. I don't think we will get any European football next season now as the blue scum wont get anything out of Blackburn next week and we have to go to the cheats and try to get a result. Everton will be well up for it now so 5th is miles away now. And its not just GB we should be worried about now. Not only can we not offer him European football if we don't get a result next Sunday but it will be another season on missing out on big name players who want to show themselves in Europe. I think we have totally blown our chances of top quality players (but i hope to god i'm wrong) The end of the day we bottled it today and i am disapointed!!! Come on Villa make it right next week

May 03, 2008

nan was a fan said:

We are crap. I knew this would happen when we didn't sign any decent players. MON hasn't got a clue. We will never play in Europe with this team and this manager. Lerner needs to buy a new manager and a whole new team. No wonder barry wants to leave, I would too. 5 year plan is crap. We were better off with Ellis and O'Leary. Any supporters on here who are more positive you need to take off your rose-tinted spectacles. We'll get relegated next season. There, that should save the Usual Suspects needing to write anything after what was simply a disappointing result.

May 03, 2008

irishvillain 100 said:

you wanna know somethin? Its probably best that we didn't win today and it's prob best if everton win tomorrow coz those players didn't give a rats ass about this football club today. They've made a disgrace of themselves, not just of themselves but of everyone of us supporters, what the hell would they turn around and do in the UEFA Cup when they can't beat teams from towns who blow their tops in rugby grounds week in and week out?? Blackburn are gonna get the intertoto space, and they are welcome to it. Also, Schweinsteiger has turned down major offers from top four clubs in France and Spain. Do any of you seriously think he would acept a move to Villa? GET REAL!!The kid wants European football, not mid-table mediocrity!! Get the cheque book out Lerner, let the investor invest and stop trying to paste over the cracks. Let Barry go to Liverpool, cos if he doesn't his mind is gonna be elsewhere anyway when he sees the scousers challenging for a top four finish again next season. They've blown it today and with it broken the hearts of every little nipper who has sported their colours all season, thank you very much Aston Villa.

May 03, 2008

villafandan said:

disappointed with the effort. very disappointed with the result. disappointed to see so many seats vacated before the final whistle. would like to shove rick parry's fax machine up his ass. back to playing Football Manager where you simply buy quality and some algorithm guarantees you results, real life is too complex.

May 03, 2008

johnfraney said:

losing at home to a team like wigan,we really dont deserve to play in europe.gb will be gone in the summer.we will sign a few crap players.next season we will be talking about gabby or ashley leaving when we finish mid table.i had so much hope when rl and mon took over but its fading as fast as our season.

May 03, 2008

andyarkitekt said:

Well, it may be a little premature to say 'I told you so'. It may be Everton lose next two and we win next week...BUT! I put a post on here before the run of recent winning staing that we did not buy in any quality in January and last summer. I did say it's going to bite us in the bum...I bloody hope I'm wrong. I'll remain positive, but ain't it funny how a load of you were getting giddy cos we have been putting a load of goals away recently. Let's face it they were against very poor opoosition and Villa playing generally about their collective ability. Why oh why do us Villa fans always have to put up with cruel dissapointment. Come on, lets get a luck break for once! My prediction. Well finish in 8th place! At least most of the team will be on their way and MON will 'have to' buy a stack load of players to replace them. They say at the end of the season teams end up where they belong and lets face it we are avrage so mid table at the moment is realistic. Up The Villa

May 03, 2008

Tommy said:

On that performance Barry might as well p**s off liverpool. we need to stop playin so many long balls especially against these physical sides. Shame we couldn't win it for mellberg, he was perhaps the only decent player today.

May 03, 2008

Damian said:

andyarkitekt i tink most will agree with you about not buying enough in .. but as long as we get intertoto and a route into the uefa cup, we've got to be happy if that doesn't happen and we end up where you think we'll end up then don't you worry, the manager will have some questions to answer ... from this site anyway

May 03, 2008

Sasa said:

UEFA cup or no UEFA cup, MON aint gonna buy class players. Still we've had a good season. If we finish on 59 points - it's 9 points more than last season. But last season we had a middle 17 games were we were terrible. We've lost 10, last season we lost 10. We've improved by turning a few of those draws into wins. Our season was kept alive because Everton had a poor run. Don't think this team could handle playing away on a Thursday and tring to win on Sunday. We've had entertaining games this season but we're all pace no quality. All MON has to do is bring in that quality, but I doubt it. Still love MON - gracious in defeat as well as in victory.

May 03, 2008

I HATE BLUES said:

Worst performance of the season,Wigan just wanted it more than us end of story.From what i saw its GB's last game for us and on todays preformance i aint that botherd, we need players to preform when were 2-0 down not when were 2-0 up.In my opinion Prtrov can do just as good as Barry can and we'll be 15 mil to the better.Very disapointed and im not intrested in your bull shi,,t excuses ,we were poor and and you know it

May 03, 2008

Kieran McGrath5 said:

now for our next game we should do something for gareth barry as more than likely its going to be his last game aswell

May 03, 2008

anotherjames said:

we were poor - Damian's said it all really. But our season is not over yet, its not yet a failure. I dont think we're going to finish 5th now. But for the squad we have, I would have taken 6th place at the start of the year, no questions asked. 6th place is still pretty good. Not as good as we would like, but still good. After today, the players really should be up for beating West Ham, lets leave the pessimism until after that game.

May 03, 2008

beano123 said:

Ultimatley we need 3 points next game to west ham, can anyonye please tell me last time we got an away victory in london and have portsmouth applied for intertoto ??? Gotta pray for a win next week cant rely on the scum to do blackburn !!

May 03, 2008

Villa_Rules said:

goalcentre.com stick ur highlights were the sun dont shine you really think we want to watch this school boy sunday leauge football again The game was crap and a waste of time played okish for 15minutes the rest was a disgrace i hope martin o neill gives them players the bollockin of a life time Id be taking them to lickey hills sunday morning and have them running the hills for hours as a pushiment

May 04, 2008

brett said:

i cant remember us winning a single 50-50, and when titus bramble dominates anyone they really should be embarrased, there was no bite no desire and no passion it was david o leary in disguise blackburn will pip us to intertoto

May 04, 2008

SuperSeanUK said:

Crappy game, glad I stayed to the end though, Mellberg's little kid was ace in the lap of honour running up and kicking the ball to the Holte! Mellberg had to keep coming back to get the ball off him because the lap was moving towards the North Stand by that point and he got booed We were bad, yes, but in a way that we were camped in their half for the entire game but didn't know how to break them down. We still didn't deserve to lose and I think the manner of the first goal goes some way to showing that. I'm sick of it now, to be honest; "Blackburn are welcome to the inter toto", "played like school boys", "Barry played like a man on his way out", "even gotta question whether Young was up for it" these are some of the comments I've either read here or heard off Villa fans at work. Shove this kind of crap up your arse because it's still been a terrific season and we'd have all taken sixth at the start. We've made progress. Sixth would guarantee UEFA Cup football most other seasons and we still have a big game away to West Ham where we can still make Europe, even if it's through the Inter-Toto.

May 04, 2008

Ghosthunter said:

irishvillain 100 You contradict yourself a little - You say Schweinsteiger won't come to Villa because we're not good enough and then tell lerner to get his cheque book out, I'm not sure who you're expecting us to sign but I've no doubt you would criticise it. As for the ones moaning about not signing quality players in January, get real. I remember you all saying we would fall away after January etc. etc. Well, it's the end of the season, we're still in sixth and, however unlikely, still have a possibility of getting fith on the last day of the season. Humble pie don't taste so nice?? Personally, I think we've had a good season and have much to look forward to.

May 04, 2008

villa120 said:

RUBBISH, no bottle what so ever... MON if your reading this, which id doubt, snap liverpools hands off for a swap deal for Barry....and dont have that waste of space Carson in the deal...he is one of the worst goalkeepers ive seen at Villa Park... id go to Liver-scum and say give us Crouch,Riise and Benayoun.

May 04, 2008

soccerfanbase.com said:

I still believe the team has a chance to get to the Uefa cup , and hopefully Barry will not be lost...this team is good just some little reinforcement will do the trick...any soccer lover who will like to interact with other fans and dicuss any soccer related issues should check out Soccer fan base dot com it is free to join.

May 04, 2008 | url

soccerfanbase said:

I think we still have a little hope of getting to the Uefa cup , it just might happen through interto cup or even atomatic ...I believe in this team I just hope Barry and Laursen will not be lost and with a little more reinforcement we will get there

May 04, 2008 | url

Komnenos said:

Although I was cheering or Wigan and am delighted that you boys pretty much F**ked yourselves by losing to them, I still respect what you have accomplished this season and want to give credit where credit is due. You will get 6th, maybe even 5th if we play like we did against you in the 1st half. An Evertonian

May 04, 2008

nan was a fan said:

Where's Taglor? Surely it's crying out for some ranting.

May 04, 2008

eoin1981 said:

As someone who usually rants and raves a bit - I think maybe a bit of perspective is needed. On saturday morning - practically everyone was happy with our season (at least results wise anyway...) while after the wigan match its all doom and gloom. The trouble for MoN is he has given many of his doubters, myself included, justifiable reasons to be unhappy - lack of rb, tiny squad and lack of quality signings which is all his responsibility. Next weeks game is absolutely massive. As MoN said himself months ago - if we dont get european football then this season will be a failure. I am more worried what missing europe will do for our chances of signing big name quality signings than actually playing in europe iitself!!! So the success of our whole season boils down to one match and thats the harsh reality

May 04, 2008

Az_ said:

I'm not even going to bother talking about the match, other than to say that this is typical of Villa. On an entirely different note, Barcelona are looking for an English club to take Henry. Yes please.

May 04, 2008

andyarkitekt said:

Sorry, but we were doing rather well upto January. Boxing above our weight I would say and an opportune time to buy in some quality. It was there to be had. OK, we may have had to spend a few bucks over he odds, but the only way to inves, especially in the Premiership is spend some money on quality. You generally get what you pay for. If we aint going to be in europe have we missed he boat, because now we may well not be seen as a club going to the top. Some of you say we have done well, but we did not make one single strenthening move in January, so could we have done better. I'm sorry but I'm in the camp where I think we should have at least tried to do better, even if it untimately failed for one reason or another. I would actally rather have won the Bolton, Derby and Birmingham games one - nil. It always seems to happen that the Villa have a feak result, they get to big for their boots and then play like it's expected they should win and that the win shuld be given to them. How many times does that happen - loads of times! It's time for a spring clean MON. Get some motivated individuals that want to play to better themselves. I don't mind if we are a feeder club at themoment, because get real, thats all we are at the moment. I'll start an 'If I Was Manager' thread. And if I was manager, get rid of the midfield, except for Reo, at least he's up for it. Get rid of the defence, except Laursen. Sell Carew, while he's worth anything. Spend at least £60 million at the start of the summer and use Tin Pot Cup to get them bedded in. There you go, easy peasy in't it.

May 04, 2008

steve sutton said:

Barry's performance yesterday coupled with not coming to the media and telling us he is staying says it all. he is off to liverpool and in a way I'm pleased. MoN has made him in the last two seasons and if he would rather head to a debt ridden club crumbling with boardroom revolt to play half a season of games rather than lead a promising young team up the league next year then that shows his true colours. Goodbye Barry.

May 04, 2008

2eq said:

Will we beat or get a draw at WHam? Possibly. Will Blues beat Blackburn at home? Possibly. I will feel a bit strange willing on Blues to get at least a draw next week, but for the sake of getting that Intertoto place, then what the hell.

May 04, 2008

PaulE said:

Wigan got it spot on and we just didn't have the quality to overcome them. They out fought us; they were first to every ball; they got men behind the ball and doubled up on Carew. They then did to us what we've done to others this season - they kept hitting us on the break and put a couple in. Young was not his usual self, which meant we had very little creativity. Kirkland played very well for Wigan and they deserved the win. It could have been a few more when we started playing 3-4-3 and we started to look like we didn't have the energy or determination to track back and stop their counter-attacks. It was disappointing that we showed such a lack of quality and fight in our last game of the season. Let's hope we can get a result against West Ham and get ourselves a top 6 finish. Mellberg's children got the biggest cheer of the day with some fine dribbling skills after the game.

May 04, 2008

Oscars Arse said:

We'll never break into the so called top four if we keep performing like that. Disappointed sure I am and perhaps its better we don't qualify for europe as I don't think we're ready for it unless there is massive spending. We're gonna miss Mellberg as for Barry it's probably best if he takes himself up the M6 in his big Bentley and sits on a bench for half a season. Just a bit worried if manure or arsenal come in for the webcam kid. Better season than last and I for one am hoping for a very interesting summer.

May 04, 2008

satch said:

Well guess we can't win them all, lots of progress still ahead. Disappointing really.

May 04, 2008

Gazzar said:

remember even if we finish 7th and pourtsmouth finish 6th we can still get an intertoto place cus its likly dat porstouth guna win the cup and therefore they have their european place.. i think that intertotto is good but u need a larger sqaud becvasue there would be a lotmore matches, den we can win the uefa cup

May 04, 2008

taglor said:

I'm so upset i don't know what to say, I wanted to be positive and not just think our last good games were against the worst teams in the division but after that and the one true fact that MON not signing a right back when anybody on here would have done it is unforgivable. We needed europe to get good money I bet we will now have half of the funds that would have been available and MON will squander them on more dross, at least next season it will be open season on the men in charge if the goods promised are not delivered. Really upset, I wanted europe so much.

May 04, 2008

villa4evaza said:

At the end of the day I think that it was just a terrible day at the office.I did'nt see the game,but from what i have read on BBC.CO.UK website we came close to scoring on numerous occasions & hit the woodwork once or twice.As a Villa fan till my dying day,I still believe we have a slim chance of getting into Europe,although losing to Wigan hardly helped our cause!If the Gunners can do us a favour and drill the Toffees by 2 clear goals or more our goal diff should be superior to theirs again,then a win next week at the Hammers and if Everton lose their last game,we are in!MON has done a brilliant job with such a small squad,we can only go from strength to strength & if Barry leaves then so be it -bitching & moaning will not bring him back,we will just sign another,better player.UP THE VILLANS!!!!!!!!

May 04, 2008

celtic_villian said:

i think we will nab 5th...

May 04, 2008

andyarkitekt said:

Well the agony is back on for another week! It's either boom or a fig fat bust, especially if we lose and Blackburn win! Then theres not even he Tin Pot Cup to have a warm up on!!! A win next week, plus Toffees losing will do it. I don't think goal diff comes into if we win and they lose cos they will be at least a goal down and us one up at least of they lose and we win. Whhooo Uhhhh, bring on the good times! Yes I am feeling positive and my 12 year old lads says, 'stop worrying dad, were going to do it!' live in Sheffield and get to take him to about 3-4 games a year. When I have taken him (he lives between his mum and me) we have never lost in I think 6 years of taking him! We have had the odd draw, but but I would say over 80% have been wins! I don't know how thats managed, but it's true! So if he says it's gunna happen I have every faith. Ony problem is I don't have a ticket for the West Ham game to take him. I'll leave you all to ponder on that conundrum! UTV

May 04, 2008

Myles said:

terribe result but if this had of being any other year it would have been europe for sure we are still moving in the right direction. UTV!!!

May 04, 2008

the_flabster said:

I disagree with you Andy, we deserve european football and its only by unlucky circumstances that we are not garenteed(sp) it for certain in some form already. Any other year 8th would have been enough to Intertoto and we would have been fighting it out for one of the 3 UEFA cup places. MON has brought some quality, Young is amazing, Reo Coker seems to be fitting in very nicely, Carew when fit is a handful Petrov is playing well at the moment. Ok so we probably wont get 5th but I think 6th would be an amazing second season for MON. Im a negative fan but why would I get on MON's back over this. Yes he should have brought more but he doesnt want to waste money. Would everyone be happy if he spent alot more and we still ended up in the same position because the prices were so inflated? No! Ill be gutted if we dont get europe but this has been a really good season for us regardless. We arnt just going to march into the top 4. We need to establish ourselves in the UEFA cup attracts quality players then we can attack the top 4. Right now what we need is consistency and also a good few more players. We dont really have much to bring on. Wherever we finish I will definatly be one happy Villa fan.

May 04, 2008

andyarkitekt said:

flabster - while I agree 6th (if we get it) is good, considered with the squad we have. Lets get serious, we aint no top 4-6 yet with the quality we have. My point is that we all want The Villa to be in that top 4 when we can generally expect to be be challenging for top 4 places and cups. The only we we are ever, ever, ever going t be in that top 4 is if we spend on quality players. The ones that are generally the bigger names. While I hate the big fat salaries, transfer fees and footballer lifestyle we have to get real. It's the top 4 premiership we want to gatecrash. Thats whats been said about The Villa more than any other club this year. I'll tell you the only way we are going to do it is invest. We should have invested in January. Yes like I say we may have spent and been in the same place, as you alude to Flabster, but none of you can tell me we did not at least try to gatecrash the top 4. I'd be the first to be brassed off if we spent and that player underperformed, but we are never going to get anywhere if we are scared of that scenario are we? Randy, give me the money and I'll invest it for you. I'll give you a decent return on your investment. UTV.

May 04, 2008

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

Add Comment