An Aston Villa Story.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

12th August - 14th August

Steven Defour had resumed full training, however after just recovering, he wouldn't be fit for the match against Newcastle, However during the Newcastle match, David Luiz took a knock and will be out for the next 11 days. I looked at our first five fixtures to see if we could set a target for points, it weren't a pretty site.

Newcastle - Home

Man United - Away

Liverpool - Home

Chelsea - Away

Arsenal - Home

Looking at these fixtures, I felt 8 points was probably the highest maximum we we're likely to achieve, if we played well, it weren't impossible we could acheieve more, but realistically and going on past results, beating Newcastle and Liverpool was our aim, then hopefully pick up two draws from the other three games.

Premiership Results:

Bolton 2-1 Blackburn

Portsmouth 3-4 Man United

Sheff United 2-0 Chelsea

Man City 4-1 West Brom

Fulham 1-0 Wolves

Everton 5-0 Ipswich

Reading 1-1 Liverpool

Tottenham 3-0 Stoke City

Sunderland 0-1 Arsenal

Aston Villa Vs Newcastle United - Sunday 14th August - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Luiz, Davies, Bassong, Reo-Coker, Barry, Ribery, Di Maria, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Insua, Song, Defour, Rakitic, Krasic, Ibisevic.

Team: In a 4-4-2 formation, with the wingers pushed on in more advanced roles. Ashley Young unfortunatly failed a late fitness test so Di Maria starts wide left. Insua was still suffering a knock from the Uefa Cup tie, so he dropped to the bench as Bassong came in.

The worst possible start as Micheal Owen accelerated past Curtis Davies, before cutting the ball back to Danny Guthrie to side foot the ball into the corner from 8 yards. I couldn't of asked for a better response as Di Maria got down the left and crossed superbly for Mario Balotelli to head in from 7 yards out. Balotelli nearly added to his tally several minutes later as Laurito split the Newcastle defence open, Balotelli was forced wide, but he managed to hit his shot on target, but former Arsenal keeper Alex Manninger made a good save. Then a moment of inspiration as Reo-Coker fed the ball to Balotelli, he just layed it first time to Laurito, who on the half volley from 25 yards out, curled the ball beautifully into the top corner. 30 minutes, Jonas got down the left, he crossed in, Micheal Owen fall down, the Ref pointed to the spot, I couldn't see what happened, although from what I heard, it was Gareth Barry who had hauled him down. Danny Guthrie stepped up and placed the ball off the post and in for 2-2. 7 Minutes later and we we're nearly back in front as Angel Di Maria's corner was headed by Curtis Davies, but the ball re-bounded off the up-right, before the ball was eventually cleared.

A cracker for the neutrals, I'd actually played well, we'd had 9 efforts to their 2, but the score-line was all that mattered. On came Insua for Bassong and Defour for Reo-Coker as we looked for win.

We started quite well as Di Maria swung in another set-peice, David Luiz rose well but could only guide his header just over the bar. Then on 54 minutes, Di Maria set up Defour, but his shot went wide. Again we failed to hit the target on 60 minutes as Federico Laurito had time on the edge of the box, but his shot was lacking accuracy. In an attempt to win the match and partly down to a knock, David Luiz came off and on came Vedad Ibisevic for his debut, he went upfront, as Laurito moved into an attacking midfield role as Gareth Barry dropped to centre-back. Then with 15 left on the clock, Di Maria again got down the left, he crossed, Balotelli volleyed, the ball seemed to be heading straight to Manninger but the ball took a wicked deflection and arrowed into the bottom corner! We we're so close from wrapping the game up and having Balotelli score a hat-trick, as he hit a spectacular free kick which smacked against the post. We held on for a well deserved 3 points.

Although it sounds daft concending two goals, but defensivly we look alot stronger today. 2nd goal was a poor decision by Barry to tug Owen back and their first goal on the counter-attack, apart from that I can't remember them having a single attack. Then there's the more obvious positives of again Balotelli continuing good form and also Laurito getting onto the score sheet.

Aston Villa 3-2 Newcastle United

Mario Balotelli (5, 76)

Federico Laurito (27)

Danny Guthrie (3, 30)

--------------------*****--------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Sheff Utd   |       | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 2     | 0     | +2    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Man Utd     |       | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 4     | 3     | +1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b][color="DarkRed"]| 6th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 2     | +1    | 3     | [/color][/b]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Bolton      |       | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 2     | 1     | +1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Arsenal     |       | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 1     | 0     | +1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[adzy]

Good start to the season mate. Always good to get a win. I will watch this season with interest Looks good with the table and although it seems pointless at the moment i think it will prove more handy to readers when the season get further on, KUTGW

[CAFCIan75]

Another solid season again Perfect Fm'er, hopefully this will be the season where you start to sort out your away day problems as the home form is Champions League quality. Good Luck!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

15th August - 21st August:

I had a selection headache for sure regarding my wingers now that Ashley Young had returned to full fitness ahead of the Man United game.

Angel Di Maria - A natural left footer, and provides so many goals.

Ashley Young - Again a great provider of goals can play left or right and is a little quicker than Di Maria.

Frank Ribery - Probably naturally the best player out of the three, but didn't have a great impact in the game against Newcastle.

Premiership Results:

Liverpool 0-1 Portsmouth

Arsenal 4-1 Sheff United

Blackburn 2-1 Sunderland

Ipswich 0-1 Fulham

Stoke City 1-1 Bolton

West Brom 1-0 Everton

Wolves 0-0 Tottenham

Chelsea 2-0 Reading

Newcastle 0-0 Man City

Manchester United Vs Aston Villa - Sunday 21st August - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Davies, Bassong, Insua, Defour, Barry, Ribery, Di Maria, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Krasic, Young, Ibisevic.

Team: Bassong moves to centre back, as Insua replaces the injured David Luiz. Steven Defour returns in place of Nigel Reo-Coker, while Ashley Young can only gain a place on the bench.

The game started fairly tightly, but it weren't long before Man United we're starting to attack us, Rafael's pass looked for Tevez, Bassong intercepted but the ball fell kindly to Darren Fletcher, he steered a shot towards the corner but Asenjo made a good low save. Then a chance on 26 minutes as Hargreaves corner picked out Ronaldo, he took a touch before smashing a shot, Davies threw himself in front of it to make a great block. Then 10 minutes before half-time, United's persistance payed off as Wayne Rooney threaded a ball through, Carlos Tevez latched onto it before firing his shot past the despairing dive of Asenjo. It was all United this half, and 4 minutes before the break they nearly doubled their lead as Cristiano Ronaldo found room just outside the area, hit shot was a yard wide of the post. Then out of nothing we nearly got back into the game as Defour picked out Barry, he hit a hammer of a shot, Villar did superbly to tip the ball over the bar for a corner.

I told the players that it was clear they we're still in the game, they just needed to keep it tight for the first 20 minutes and hopefully we can go from there. Ashley Young came on for Di Maria to hopefully give us that added spark.

We failed to keep it tight as on 58 minutes, Rafael got down the right hand-side, he got into the box and somehow from the narrowist of angles, he slotted the ball past Asenjo, a very dissapointing goal to concede from our point of view. Then what seemed like a missed chance to get back into the game as Balotelli turned from Evans and fired in a good shot, Villar made the save, but the ball was cleared to Defour, he gave into Balotelli, again he turned to Evan's left and hit a right foot shot, this time Villar couldn't get a strong enough hand to it as the ball crepped in at the front post, game on with 17 minutes to go. On came Ibisevic for Laurito and Rakitic for Defour as we searched for an equalizer, but just 30 seconds later a lapse in concentration as noone picked up Rio Ferdinand, his header from Rooney's cross was a simple one, and it was game over. We failed to give up and nearly got ourselves back into the game when Balotelli linked up with Barry well, but Balotelli failed to keep his shot down.

A poor display, even against the Champions I would of expected a better performance than that.

Manchester United 3-1 Aston Villa

Carlos Tevez (35)

Rafael (58)

Rio Ferdinand (76)

Mario Balotelli (74)

--------------------*****--------------------

[font="Courier New"]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 3     | 3     | 0     | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Chelsea     |       | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 11th  |       | Aston Villa |       | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 3     | [/b][/color]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Sheff Utd   |       | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 13th  |       | West Brom   |       | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 2     | 4     | -2    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/font]

[Spav]

Fingers crossed for a top four finish this time around. KUTGW mate.

[Manxie_Ash]

Those first 5 games! I'd feel sorry for you if I didn't believe you could come off with the results. Your team looks amazing and I am confident this will be the year you'll shake off that poor away record

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Autho's note: Great to see people still following, thanks for your own kind words!

22nd August - 25th August

David Luiz recovered from his injury setback, however I left him out of the squad that flew to Denmark, along with Mario Balotelli, Frank Ribery and Emiliano Insua. In Wonderful news, on the day of the game, It was my birthday and I was now becoming an old man at the age of 39, hopefully the boys could give me a nice Birthday present!

Esbjerg fB Vs Aston Villa - Thursday 25th August - Uefa Cup 4th Qualifying - 2nd Leg (0-6)

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Bassong, Bouma, Rakitic, Ekici, Krasic, Di Maria, Ibisevic, Delfouneso

Bench: Asenjo, Santon, Davies, Barry, Young, Defour, Laurito.

Team: 9 changes from the team that faced Man United, only Di Maria and Bassong keep their places in the team,

What a way to start a game, Rakitic drove with the ball from the half-way line, he was about 30 yards out before firing an unstoppable curling effort past the dive of Mouritsen. We come close to doubling our lead as Angel Di Maria fired in a right foot shot, which clipped the top of the cross bar. Ibisevic then was denied by the Esbjerg keeper as Di Maria whipped in a fantastic ball, however the tall Bosnian striker could only direct his header straight at the keeper. Then on the half hour mark, Delfouneso made a run into the box, he was brought down, the Ref pointed to the spot. Angel Di Maria stepped up and didn't dissapoint to give us a 0-2 lead. It really should of been 3, as Reo-Coker put in a teasing cross, the defender missed it, Delfouneso had to score from 6 yards, but he hit the ball into the ground and Mouritsen got across to make a good save.

It's just all too easy to be honest.

We nearly found a 4th straight after half-time as Ekici crossed, the ball fell loose and in came Wilfred Bouma, but his shot hit the cross bar and went out for a goal kick. 5 minutes later Ibisevic went close to his first competitive goal as found half a yard just outside the area, but his shot went just over the bar. Nigel Reo-Coker then went close to adding a 3rd as he rifled in a shot from long range, but the ball sailed a couple feet over the bar. We just couldn't find that 3rd goal as Di Maria sent in a corner, Bassong met the ball at the front post but Mouritsen made a top quality save to keep it out. It was Esbjerg who nearly found a way through however as Song failed to deal with a long ball and Klaus Hansen fired in a shot which forced Jesus into an acrobatic save.

An average performance really against a poor side.

Esbjerg 0-2 Aston Villa

Ivan Rakitic (4)

Angel Di Maria (30)

[adzy]

Happy birthday! Lets hope you reach your 40th with a trophy to hold up

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Hopefully Adzy!

26th August - 28th August:

In the third round of the League Cup, I was handed a kind draw as we drew Championship outfit Leyton Orient. The tie of the round was to be played at Stamford Bridge where Chelsea faced Liverpool. The players well had basically had a week's rest and hopefully we're refreshed going into a big match against Liverpool. In bad news during the game against Liverpool, Steven Defour picked up a knock and will miss upto 3 weeks of action

Premiership Results:

Sheff United 0-2 Blackburn

Sunderland 1-1 Stoke City

Man United 4-0 Newcastle

Everton 2-2 Man City

Portsmouth 2-1 Chelsea

Bolton 2-0 Wolves

Fulham 0-0 West Brom

Tottenham 1-0 Ipswich

Aston Villa Vs Liverpool - Sunday 28th August - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Davies, Bassong, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Krasic, Di Maria, Ibisevic.

Team: Unfortunatly David Luiz weren't 100% fit so it weren't worth taking the risk for long term damage, so in stayed Bassong, we returned to pretty much full strength after the Esbjerg match.

This was a cagey affair early on, Liverpool had the first effort on goal around 10 minutes into the match, when Steven Gerrard hit a free kick, but the ball sailed well wide. Then a half chance for us 12 minutes later as Barry headered a high ball, it dropped to Laurito but his snap shot went just wide. Then a moment of class nearly brought our first goal as Barry found a pass into Balotelli, he turned on the ball and shot instantly, but the ball flew inches past the post. Chances we're falling to either side as Fernando Torres smashed a shot just over the bar, but the breakthrough came 5 minutes before the break as Steven Defour slipped a clever ball through to Mario Balotelli, he took a touch and then rifled the ball in from 8 yards!

It'd been a good half, but we needed to keep it tight in the first 10 minutes and make sure we didn't concede.

We just about did it, but on 54 minutes, Fernando Torres strode down the left and crossed well, Kuyt beat Ribery to the ball and volleyed, Asenjo made a superb save to keep us in the lead. A mintue later Steven Gerrard gathered the ball 30 yards out and struck a shot, it was bending in but again Asenjo made the save as Liverpool started to grow in confidence. I sensed a goal coming soon, so I brought on Rakitic for Laurito, hoping to sure things in midfield. We we're inches away from making it 2-0, Rakitic found Balotelli, he created half a yard and struck a low shot, but the ball curled agonizingly close. The tactical switch had really helped us take control of the match again and again we come close to making it 2-0 as Ashley Young gathered a Ribery cross, but his shot was well saved by Reina. Then we got a little bit fortunate as Gerrard's free kick ws met by Dirk Kuyt but his header crashed against the bar and Young cleared it away. 2 minutes later they had their goal as Carragher got down the right and crossed well for Fernando Torres to head past Asenjo from 8 yards. Then a minute later, Balotelli recieved the ball in the corner and crossed early and in came Gareth Barry to head home to put us back in front! Get in! We nearly had our 3rd two minutes later in this fantastic match as Bassong found space on the edge of the box and hit a shot just inches over. Then in injury time, Gerrard found space, he hit a great shot, Asenjo saved, but the ball fall straight to Torres who finished the re-bound from 8 yards, heartbreak.

Completly gutted, really am

Aston Villa 2-2 Liverpool

Mario Balotelli (40)

Gareth Barry (77)

Fernando Torres (75, 91)

----------------------*****--------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Man City    |       | 3     | 1     | 2     | 0     | 6     | 3     | +3    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Everton     |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 7     | 3     | +4    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 10th  |       | Aston Villa |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 6     | 7     | -1    | 4     | [/b][/color]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | West Brom   |       | 3     | 1     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 4     | -2    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Chelsea     |       | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 4     | -1    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

Looking at the table is fairly pleasing, alot of the clubs usually around the top 8, Everton, Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea are all around me and considering the start i've had, if I can keep a good level of consistancy going throughout the season, hopefully we can capitalize on other team's slip up's. The target was 8 points from the 5 matches, so far we had 4 from 3. We needed a win at either Chelsea or at home Vs Arsenal.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

29th August - 10th September

Mario Balotelli collected the player of the month award for August, while Federico Laurito was given the award for goal of the month, for his fantastic strike against Newcastle. In very bad news, Mario Balotelli will be out for 9 days missing both the Chelsea and Arsenal game.

In the Uefa Cup, we we're handed an okay group really.

Shahktar Donetsk

Red Star Belgrade

Fc Sochaux

Premiership Results:

Man United 2-1 Liverpool

Arsenal 2-0 Portsmouth

Blackburn 3-0 Reading

Man City 2-0 Fulham

West Brom 2-0 Tottenham

Wolves 2-1 Sunderland

Ipswich 2-4 Bolton

Stoke 1-1 Sheff United

Newcastle 0-0 Everton

Chelsea Vs Aston Villa - Saturday 10th September - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Luiz, Davies, Insua, Barry, Ekici, Young, Di Maria, Ribery, Laurito.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Krasic, Rakitic, Delfouneso, Ibisevic.

Team: gone for a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Di Maria just behind Laurito, as Balotelli is out. Ekici comes in for the injured Defour, while Luiz regains his place instead of Bassong.

Early half chance fell to Chelsea as Mikel picked the ball up in midfield and drove a shot from 25 yards, Asenjo did well to tip it over. Then a big miss by Curtis Davies as Di Maria sent in a free kick, Davies climbed and looked sure to score, but he failed to find a good connection on the ball. We nearly payed as Essien crossed and Lampard found himself with space in the box, but he could only direct his header over the bar. Ashley Young then found a little bit of space and hit a left foot shot, but it was well off target in this tight game. Then a moment which nearly brought bout this first goal as Ashley Young sent in a corner, Luiz got their first, but his header went inches over the bar.

A good first half performance so far, hopefully we could continue with it and build on it, and hopefully try and nick a goal.

Inside 17 seconds of the second half, we nearly found ourselves behind as Muntari played through Drogba, his left foot shot however went just over the bar. Then Lampard split our defence open, Obasi went through, Asenjo came out, Obasi cleverly lifted the ball over him, Asenjo looked on in despair, but the ball somehow fell on the roof of the net. It was all Chelsea now as Drogba recieved the ball in space and struck a great shot, Asenjo pulled off a stunning save to deny him. Then some bad news as Ash Young had to come off with an injury, on came Milos Krasic. It was just wave after wave of Chelsea attacks as Mikel sent in a good corner, Marcano headed for surely the first goal, but again an inspired Asenjo pulled off a cracking save. Then on 62 minutes, Muntari crossed, the ball fell 8 yards out to Anelka, he smashed a shot, but again Asenjo stood strong and made the save. It finally come minutes later as Anelka played the ball through to Lampard, he took his time and slotted the ball past Asenjo. Ibisevic on for Ekici as we went 4-4-2, searching for a goal. Then 12 minutes on the clock, two decent chances, Laurito crossed, Insua headed goalwards but Cech made a comfortablt save, before 30 seconds later, we worked the ball well through to Milos Krasic but from 12 yards he failed to apply the finish. We were nearly caught on the break however as Kalou found a lovely pass to Anelka, he hit a left foot shot across Asenjo, but Asenjo made a flying save to tip the ball over the top. From the corner, Muntari whipped in a decent ball, Kalou got their first, but his header hit the top of the bar. Then one of the best saves i'll ever see, as Cech parried out Santon's cross, the ball 20 yards out fell to Krasic, he smacked a shot, Cech was on the floor, but somehow he got a hand to it and palmed it over, unbelievable. From the corner, Davies rose, his header hit the post, Krasic smashed the re-bound, Cole somehow cleared it off the line. Chelsea held out in the end to pick up a vital 3 points for them.

Honestly thought we deserved something in the end. Not to be however and i'm hoping we can recover against Arsenal. Had we had a more clinical striker to offer us abit more like Balotelli, perhaps we could of got something out of the game.

Chelsea 1-0 Aston Villa

Frank Lampard (62)

--------------------*****-----------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Everton     |       | 4     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 7     | 3     | +4    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 12th  |       | Stoke       |       | 4     | 1     | 2     | 1     | 3     | 5     | -2    | 5     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[b][color="DarkRed"]| 13th  |       | Aston Villa |       | 4     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 6     | 8     | -2    | 4     | [/color][/b]
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 14th  |       | Wolves      |       | 4     | 1     | 1     | 2     | 2     | 4     | -2    | 4     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 15th  |       | Sheff Utd   |       | 4     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 7     | -4    | 3     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[IlikeJellybeans]

Good story, am reading with interest

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Author's note: Sorry for the very short match report, I accidently cancelled the wrong windows, and lost all what i'd written up

also thanks Jelly Beans

11th September - 15th September:

The youth facilities had been finally completed after 3 months of hard work. In more footballing news, Steven Defour recovered from his injury set-back which saw him miss 3 weeks of action

Other Group Results:

Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 Fc Sochaux

Red Star Belgrade Vs Aston Villa - Thursday 15th September - Euro League, Group stages

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Davies, Luiz, Insua, Ekici, Barry, Young, Di Maria, Krasic, Ibisevic.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Rakitic, Ribery, Delfouneso, Laurito.

Team: I decided to rest Ribery and Laurito, give Krasic and Ibisevic both players who knew the serbian game well a chance to impress.

The game was a comfortable one and we had won the game by the half-time whistle, the first goal coming from Milos Krasic with a superb finish into the bottom corner following a clever pass by Ash Young, the second goal came courtesy of a defensive error as Ashley Young crossed, Castillo tried to cut it out, but in doing so could only direct the ball into his own net, and then on the stroke of half-time, we had killed the game off as Ashley Young was played through by Di Maria before rounding the keeper and finishing well. Red Star put up a small fight in the second half and got themselves a goal back through Milos Reljic, but we held on comfortably in the end to get our European Campaign off to a perfect start.

Red Star Belgrade 1-3 Aston Villa

Milos Reljic (63)

Milos Krasic (23)

Segundo Castillo Own Goal (26)

Ashley Young (45)

------------------*****--------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Shakhtar               | UKR   | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 0     | +3    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 2nd   |       | Aston Villa            | ENG   | 1     | 1     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 3[/b][/color]     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Red Star               | SRB   | 1     | 0     | 0     | 1     | 1     | 3     | -2    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard | FRA   | 1     | 0     | 0     | 1     | 0     | 3     | -3    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

16th September - 18th September

David Luiz was injured during training and will miss the massive home game against Arsenal. Mario Balotelli recovered from his injury on the day of the Arsenal game but weren't fit enough to join up with the squad.

Premiership Results:

Tottenham 4-3 Man City

Liverpool 2-1 Arsenal

Man United 1-0 Chelsea

Sheffield United 1-1 Wolves

Fulham 2-1 Everton

Bolton 1-1 West Brom

Portsmouth 2-3 Blackburn

Reading 1-0 Stoke

Sunderland 4-2 Ipswich

Aston Villa Vs Arsenal - Sunday 18th September - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Song, Davies, Insua, Barry, Ekici, Young, Krasic, Ribery, Laurito.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Di Maria, Rakitic, Defour, Ibisevic.

Team: Steven Defour returns to the bench, Song comes in for the injured Luiz and Ribery come in for Di Maria in a match we couldn't afford to lose.

Inside 3 minutes, I'd thought we took the lead as Santon's cross fell to Barry who hit a great shot, the ball curled past Almuncia but it bounced off the post and Sagna managed too hook the ball to safety. 10 minutes later came our second chance as Milos Krasic found abit of space 25 yards out, he hit a good shot but Almunia was equal to it as he palmed the ball away. From the corner, we somehow weren't in the lead as Young's corner was headed down by Davies, but Fabregas hacked the ball off the line. We started feeling sorry for ourselves with the missed chances and Arsenal took advantage as Fabregas found Nasri in an inside right position, he struck a good shot, but Asenjo made a good save at his near post. We tried to re-gain control of the game and we nearly got a goal, Krasic's effort dipping just over the bar. It seemed to be heading 0-0 at half-time but with seconds remaining, Ekici played a wonderful ball through the heart of the Arsenal defence, Laurito latched onto it and placed it beyond Almunia! Looking at the replays at half-time, well I must admit we we're fortunate, he was a couple yards offside to be honest.

Great half, hopefully we could keep it up, and just not get complacement and hit them on the break, Ekici who was very tired came off for Defour.

Good start to the second half saw us nearly grab a 2nd goal as Laurito touched the ball down to Ribery, his left foot shot however was straight at the keeper. Then a lapse of concentration as Insua was disposed by Gourcuff, he got down the right and crossed for Fabregas who finished well into the bottom corner. On 60 minutes I made two changes, bringing off Ribery and Krasic for Rakitic and Di Maria. 6 Minutes later, Laurito drove towards the box, Toure brought him down. Ashley Young lined the free kick up, literally inches outside the box, he bent it around the wall and into the corner!! 3 minutes later, Vela got down the left, he crossed in and again we failed to deal with it as Cesc Fabregas netted his second and again we had been pegged back after taking the lead, dissapointing. Then with 10 minutes to go, Vela whipped in a corner, Senderos got up but could only direct his header over the bar. Then Vela hit a superb strike from 30 yards, Asenjo tipped it around the post, from the corner, Toure met the ball on the half volley but failed to keep his attempt down. Then a real let off with 5 minutes on the clock as Sagna delivered a cross, Eduardo 5 yards out somehow hit his shot over the bar. Then a half chance for us this time as Di Maria crossed from the left, Laurito won the header, but it went straight into the hands of Almunia. Then on 89 mintues, Young evaded the challenges off Radu and Senderos, he crossed...it was perfect, Rakitic surely!? Yessss gooaaaalll!!! Could we hold on!? Yes we could!

Just makes up for all the other late heartbreak i've suffered!

Aston Villa 3-2 Arsenal

Federico Laurito (45)

Ashley Young (67)

Ivan Rakitic (89)

Cesc Fabregas (50, 70)

------------------------******---------------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Man City    |       | 5     | 2     | 2     | 1     | 11    | 7     | +4    | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | West Brom   |       | 5     | 2     | 2     | 1     | 5     | 5     | 0     | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 9th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 5     | 2     | 1     | 2     | 9     | 10    | -1    | 7     |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Chelsea     |       | 5     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 11th  |       | Portsmouth  |       | 5     | 2     | 0     | 3     | 8     | 10    | -2    | 6     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I'd hoped for 8 points, so 7 points weren't excactly dissapointing, hopefully now it's time to build from well a positive start and start picking up some victories on a consistant basis.

[Manxie_Ash]

fantastic result against the Arse

[salkster2102]

You dont get much luck with the fixtures do you mate. At least you got those 4 games out of the way. Just need to make it count now.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

thanks Ash!

Salkster: Nope, not too kind, next i've got Blackburn who are 3rd and won their last 4!

19th September - 21st September

A great buzz around the training ground after our win against Arsenal, we looked at our next 5 fixtures.

Blackburn - Away

Wolves - Away

Ipswich - Home

Stoke - Home

West Brom - Away

We targetted 4 wins and a draw from those 5 games, luckily alot of teams usually competing towards the top had slipped up in their games, so we needed to take advantage of our "easier" games.

Aston Villa Vs Leyton Orient - Wednesday 21st September - League Cup 3rd Round:

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Davies, Bouma, Rakitic, Ekici, Krasic, Di Maria, Delfouneso, Ibisevic

Bench: Asenjo, Bassong, Santon, Barry, Ribery, Balotelli, Laurito

Team: 8 changes from the win against Arsenal, only Song, Davies and Krasic keep their place. Balotelli returns to the bench.

It weren't long until we had our first goal as Ekici found Delfouneso, he turned and fired past the O's keeper. It took us another 20 minutes until our next chance as Ibisevic found Ekici, but he steered his shot wide of the post. It was 2-0 on the half hour mark though as Angel Di Maria hit a wonderful free kick into the top corner from 25 yards. Ibisevic who'd struggled to make an impact and still wasn't 100% settled in England should of made it 3-0, but from 8 yards, he somehow failed to hit the target, and just before half-time we wasted another chance as Curtis Davies headed over Di Maria's corner.

Just comfortable really.

5 mintes after the break, Di Maria had his second as he bent in yet another free kick into the top corner from just a little closer than his last one. 56 minutes and we had our 4th of the game as Rakitic cleverly split their defence, Delfouneso ran onto and cooly finished past the keeper. Delfounso then nearly had his hat trick as he used his pace to get past the defender, but his shot was well saved. The score stayed at 4 for a comfortable win.

Aston Villa 4-0 Leyton Orient

Nathan Delfouneso (7, 56)

Angel Di Maria (30, 51)

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

22nd September - 24th September

Tough game against a good Blackburn side, they'd won their last four, including 100% home record so far this season, a good test for our players. In the league cup, we was given a tough tie against Everton at Goodison in the 4th round.

Premiership Results:

Wolves 4-0 Reading

Chelsea 1-1 Liverpool

Arsenal 3-1 Man United

Newcastle 2-0 Fulham

Stoke 2-1 Portsmouth

West Brom 3-2 Sunderland

Man City 3-1 Bolton

Ipswich 3-0 Sheff United

Everton 1-2 Tottenham

Blackburn Rovers Vs Aston Villa - Saturday 24th September - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Luiz, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Di Maria, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Krasic, Rakitic, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: 4-2-3-1 to counter Blackburn's extra man in midfield, Ribery to play behind Balotelli, apart from that, the team picked itself.

8 minutes in and I was furious, Ribery meant to be man-marking Tymoschuk let his man go, Tymoschuk recieved the ball 25 yards out and smashed a bullet of a shot into the top corner. This was one of the dullest games i'd seen for a while, the second chance come on 40 minutes and it went to us, Balotelli pulling the ball back to Gareth Barry, but his strike went well over the bar. Then a half chance on half-time as the ball fell loose inside the box, Di Maria struck, but Robinson made the save.

Awful, on came Bassong for Luiz who had picked up a knock.

This was just a pathetic game and a pathetic performance, on came Laurito for Ribery on 60 minutes. 12 minutes later Ashley Young delivered a corner, Bassong drove to the front post and flicked it past Robinson, somehow we we're level! 3 minutes later, Santon found space on the right, he crossed, Balotelli found himself 6 yars out un-marked, surely offside? the flag stayed down and he tucked away the finish, amazing!! The game had suddenly livened up and from kick off Blackburn pushed forward and nearly found an equalizer as David Dunn hit a superb shot, which grazed the outside of the post. 2 minutes later, On as a sub came Reo-Coker for Defour and he nearly created a goal with his first touch, setting up Laurito, but Robinson made a good diving save. Then on 87 minutes, Reid found space, he picked out Derbyshire, he shot across goal, Dunn looked to get a touch, but Asenjo got their first and got a fist to the ball, we held on for a huge 3 points!

extremely poor and scrappy performance, but it's 3 points and at the moment, that's all what matters!

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Aston Villa

Anatoliy Tymoschuk (8)

Sebastien Bassong (72)

Mario Balotelli (75)

----------------------*****------------------------

[font="Courier New"]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Bolton      |       | 6     | 3     | 2     | 1     | 11    | 8     | +3    | 11    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | West Brom   |       | 6     | 3     | 2     | 1     | 8     | 7     | +1    | 11    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 8th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 6     | 3     | 1     | 2     | 11    | 11    | 0     | 10    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Fulham      |       | 6     | 3     | 1     | 2     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 10    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 10th  |       | Wolves      |       | 6     | 2     | 2     | 2     | 7     | 5     | +2    | 8     | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[/font]

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Author's note: I've deleted alot of posts from myself with things like "okay thanks", if your wondering why comments tally had gone down, this is for no reason apart from hopefully making it easier for new readers or even encourage has there is about 50 less comments!

25th September - 29th September:

We we're coming upto our second group game of the Europa League, knowing a win here would put us in a fantastic position to qualify. The players we're full of confidence after back to back league wins and I was hoping we could carry that form into the Shakhtar game.

Other Group Results:

FC Sochaux 4-2 Red Star Belgrade

Aston Villa Vs Shakhtar Donetsk - Thursday 29th September - Euro League, Group stages

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Luiz, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Ibisevic, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Laurito.

Team: 4-4-2, with Ibisevic for the first time playing alonside Balotelli. Di Maria drops to the bench.

The game was tight early on, the first chance fell after 11 minutes when Fernandinho picked out Gladkyi, but his shot failed to hit the target, they went closer 6 minutes later as Rasvan Rat his a scorching free kick, Asenjo was beaten, but the ball cannoned off the inside off the post and we managed to get it clear. We weren't playing particularly well but we came close to taking the lead as Barry found room inside the box, but his shot was well tipped over. From the resulting corner, David Luiz come close, but he failed to direct his header on target. Shakhtar then really should of took the lead, a long ball over the top found it's way to Gladkyi, he went through on goal but smashed his shot a yard wide. We we're causing problems from set peices as this time Davies got up well from Young's corner, but his header was well saved. Then a chance for Ibisevic as Young crossed from the right, but his left volley failed in accuracy and power.

I told the players to enjoy the second half, relax and play your football, Bassong came on for Davies who had picked up a knock.

Silviu the Shakhtar keeper was in fine form as again he denied David Luiz's firm header following Ashley Young's free kick. On 60 minutes he was there again, Ribery slotted a clever ball through to Ibisevic, from a narrow angle he tried to beat Silviu at his near post, but Silviu got down well for a smart save. More wasted chances came as Ribery drove in-field from the left, his shot however rolled well wide. Shakhtar held on. Despite our domination our failure to create and then take chances was alarming.

Not a great performance, but on another day we probably would of won.

Aston Villa 0-0 Shakhtar Donetsk

--------------------*****--------------------

[font="Courier New"]| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Shakhtar               | UKR   | 2     | 1     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 0     | +3    | 4     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 2nd   |       | Aston Villa            | ENG   | 2     | 1     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 1     | +2    | 4[/b][/color]     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard | FRA   | 2     | 1     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 5     | -1    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star               | SRB   | 2     | 0     | 0     | 2     | 3     | 7     | -4    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| [/font]

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

30th September - 2nd October:

Good news for some individual players as Sergio Asenjo picked up 3rd in the player of the month for September, while Federico Laurito finished runner up in the Young player of the month. The form of Vedad Ibisevic was a worry however, as he had not scored in the 5 games he'd started despite training well.

Premiership Results:

West Brom 3-4 Reading

Fulham 1-4 Bolton

Everton 3-1 Sunderland

Stoke 2-4 Man United

Ipswich 0-2 Portsmouth

Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea

Blackburn 1-1 Liverpool

Man City 3-0 Sheff United

Newcastle 2-1 Tottenham

Wolverhampton Wanderers Vs Aston Villa - Sunday 2nd October - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Luiz, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Ibisevic.

Team: Laurito returns to the starting line-up as Ibisevic drops to the bench.

Wolves started the game with two early chances, first Kightly's cross was perfect for DeMarcus Beasley, but he headed over, before Falcao was played through one on one with the keeper, Asenjo made a superb save to keep him out. Then 10 minutes later, Defour picked out Barry, Barry 25 yards out looked for a pass, nothing was on so he tried his luck and didn't it just pay off as the ball flew into the corner! 6 minutes later we we're pegged back as Beasley sent over a corner and at the near post was Falcao who headed in. The last 20 minutes really didn't live upto the first 20 minutes as both sides cancelled each other out for the most part, Wolves had the only attempt as Marvin Elliot hit a shot just past the post from 20 yards.

We needed to up the tempo and performance!

That's excatly what what we did as Ribery got down the left, he pulled the ball back to Barry who slid it across to Defour, he matched his midfield partner as he bent in a shot wonderfully into the top corner from 25 yards. Unfortunatly Laurito had to come off with an injury, on came Ibisevic in his place. We seemed to be coping well with their attack but on 75 minutes, Kightly went past Insua, he delivered and Falcao was on hand to head from 6 yards with 15 minutes left. Then a massive chance with 4 minutes to go as Ibisevic played through Defour, he was 8 yards out, but somehow he put the ball wide. Wolves held on for a point.

Dissapointing defending really, should of held on twice.

Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-2 Aston Villa

Falcao (20, 75)

Gareth Barry (13)

Steven Defour (48)

-----------------------*****----------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 7     | 4     | 1     | 2     | 13    | 8     | +5    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Tottenham   |       | 7     | 4     | 1     | 2     | 11    | 8     | +3    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 7th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 7     | 3     | 2     | 2     | 13    | 13    | 0     | 11    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | West Brom   |       | 7     | 3     | 2     | 2     | 11    | 11    | 0     | 11    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 9th   |       | Fulham      |       | 7     | 3     | 1     | 3     | 5     | 9     | -4    | 10    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

I Can't help but feel pleased with our league position, 3 points behind 3rd and we'd already played the 4 best teams in the league. with Ipswich, Stoke (both home) and West Brom (away) I felt it was vital we picked up maximum points as we had some tricky fixtures from there.

[Denther]

Just wanted to say I really enjoy this, as a Villa fan I always look forward to your updates to see how they are doing

KUTGW

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

thanks Denther, glad your enjoying it!

3rd October - 15th October

It was the international break, and I was just praying we didn't get any injuries, we we're pretty lucky in the end, only Vedad Ibisevic and Federico Laurito picked up knocks, but they would be fully recovered for the game against Ipswich. Ipswich at home next up and they were bottom, it was important not only we picked up 3 points but also a good performance, we'd been average in our last 3 matches and it was important we come out all guns blazing. Although in the match against Ipswich, Vedad Ibisevic picked up a knock and will miss 11 days.

Premiership Results:

Sunderland 0-1 Fulham

Arsenal 0-0 Newcastle

Chelsea 2-0 Blackburn

Man United 2-0 Wolves

Reading 1-2 Man City

Sheff United 1-3 Everton

Portsmouth 1-1 West Brom

Liverpool 0-0 Stoke

Bolton 2-1 Tottenham

Aston Villa Vs Ipswich Town - Saturday 15th October - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Ibisevic.

Team: We needed to hit them from the off and I made one changes as Bassong came in for Luiz.

We got off to an absolute flyer, 40 seconds in, Santon advanced down the right, he cut the ball back and Federico Laurito tucked away the finish for just the start we wanted. 5 minutes later and we had a second, Laurito drove inside and slipped a clever ball into Mario Balotelli, he turned onto his right foot and bent a shot into the corner. 10 minutes later and it was 3-0, a long ball, Richard Wright come out to clear, Laurito raced onto it and nipped in before Wright before finishing into the empty net. We wanted more and the crowd urged us on and we nearly got it as Mario Balotelli struck a great free kick which smashed off the underside off the bar. The bar denied us again as Curtis Davies headed Young's corner, but the bar came to the rescue, but on 35 minutes we had our 4th, as Ashley Young had time and space on the right, he picked the perfect pass into Mario Balotelli who superbly curled the ball home first time from the penalty spot. Balotelli moments later really should of had a hat trick, Defour playing a great ball to split the Ipswich defence, but this time he got his shot all wrong again we went close this time it was Ashley Young, as he was put through by Santon, but bearing down on goal, he could only hit the side netting from 10 yards. We had our 5th though on the stroke of half-time as Frank Ribery came inside from the left and smashed a shot past Wright.

Simply fantastic performance and excatly the response that we wanted and needed.

the tempo dropped significantly which was expected I suppose, although the fans wanted more and thats excatly what Balotelli tried to give them as he found space outside the area but his shot flew just inches over the bar. 60 minutes he recieved the ball from Insua, he turned the defender but his left foot shot was well saved. I then tried to inject some pace and life into the game so on came Rakitic and Ibisevic for Defour and Laurito. As soon as Ibisevic had come off, he was back off with an injury, on came Di Maria to replace him. We went searching for a 6th and it nearly came through Rakitic, Ribery set him away with a good pass but Rakitic's shot was straight at Wright and then moment from the end, Ashley Young found space in the middle he ran 20 yards before driving a shot just wide of the post, but the scoreline stayed at 5-0 as the game ended.

A Terrefic first half display, where all the damage was done.

Aston Villa 5-0 Ipswich Town

Federico Laurito (1, 17)

Mario Balotelli (6, 35)

Frank Ribery (45+1)

-----------------------*****-----------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 8     | 5     | 2     | 1     | 19    | 9     | +10   | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Bolton      |       | 8     | 5     | 2     | 1     | 17    | 10    | +7    | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 5th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 8     | 4     | 2     | 2     | 18    | 13    | +5    | 14    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 8     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 13    | 10    | +3    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Tottenham   |       | 8     | 4     | 1     | 3     | 12    | 10    | +2    | 13    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[CAFCIan75]

Cracking result against Ipswich, I have the feeling this season will be the year Fm'er!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Thanks Ian and hopefully!

16th October - 20th October

We travelled to France on the 19th ahead of our Uefa Cup trip to Sochaux knowing a win would put us in a great position to qualify.

Other Group Results:

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-0 Red Star Belgrade

FC Sochaux Vs Aston Villa - Thursday 20th October - Euro League, Group Stages

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Delfouneso

Team: Excatly the same as Ipswich, although Delfouneso moves onto the bench for the injured Ibisevic.

three Chances inside the first two minutes as first Ribery picked the ball on the left and come inside, his shot was well saved, 30 seconds later Mario Balotelli hit a long range shot, the ball slammed against the bar, from the same peice of play, Santon crossed for Laurito, Laurito's shot however was well kept out. It took us 19 more minutes for our next chance and it proved vital as Laurito threaded the ball through to Balotelli, who took his time and then finished well into the top corner. Then 15 minutes later we added a second, as Balotelli played a clever ball one-two with Laurito, Balotelli ran clear and hit a good shot low shot past the keeper. Straight from kick off, we won the ball back, Defour got possesion and played in Laurito, but his effort from the edge of the box forced the Sochaux keeper into a decent save. Frank Ribery then looked to add a 3rd just before half-time, but his shot went well side.

a good comfortable half, just need to make sure we didn't get sloppy.

But we did as Gomis found a pass into Mevlut, he turned and fired in a good shot past Asenjo just 3 minutes after the re-start. 7 minutes later, Mevlut got down the right, he crossed and Madouni headed home from 6 yards, terrible defending. We looked for a reply, it nearly came on 65 minutes as Laurito headed Ashley Young's corner, but the ball hit the side netting, a minute later Santon played a good ball inside to Young, his shot however was kept out well with a fine diving save. Then on 70 minutes, Defour played a wonderful pass cutting through the Sochaux defence to Ashley Young, this time he made no mistake as he finished well into the corner. On 82 minutes, Bassong brought down Gomis, he got his second yellow and was sent off, but it didn't matter as we held on for a big 3 points.

We didn't make it easy for ourselves!

FC Sochaux 2-3 Aston Villa

Mevlut Erdinc (49)

Ahmed Madouni (55)

Mario Balotelli (20, 33)

Ashley Young (70)

----------------------*****-----------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Shakhtar               | UKR   | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 5     | 0     | +5    | 7     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 2nd   |       | Aston Villa            | ENG   | 3     | 2     | 1     | 0     | 6     | 3     | +3    | 7[/b][/color]     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard | FRA   | 3     | 1     | 0     | 2     | 6     | 8     | -2    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star               | SRB   | 3     | 0     | 0     | 3     | 3     | 9     | -6    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

21st Ocotber - 23rd October

The players looked forward to the weekend as we prepared for a massive game against Stoke. They've always been a team, I feel we've struggled to play against and with Heskey upfront, they've caused us alot of problems over the years, but we needed a win and the players knew that.

Premiership Results:

Reading 2-0 Ipswich

Sunderland 1-2 Man City

Tottenham 5-0 Fulham

Liverpool 0-3 Arsenal

Man United 2-1 Blackburn

Bolton 0-4 Everton

Chelsea 2-0 Newcastle

Portsmouth 1-2 Wolves

Sheff United 2-1 West Brom

Aston Villa Vs Stoke City - Sunday 23rd October - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Delfouneso.

Team: Gone with excatly the same team that beat Sochaux in mid-week.

Like I said before the game, Stoke have always been a tricky team to play and break down and we weren't in for an easier game this time around aswell, it took us 20 minutes to create our first opportunity as Ash Young got down the right and crossed well, Laurito was able to get a header in at goal but Keiron Westwood made the save. Westwood was in a good form as he this time denied Young, Bassong found himself on the right wing for some reason, he crossed towards Young, Young hit a good connection, but Westwood somehow kept it out. Gareth Barry then tried his luck from distance with a right footed effort, but the ball sailed over the Stoke bar. A fustrating half.

We needed to really up our game and go at Stoke, no changes just yet.

We started the half okay, 50 minutes in, Balotelli found a little bit of space after winning a challenge, he instantly shot but the ball went well wide. 64 minutes, Balotelli collected Ashley Young's pass, he turned the defender and shot low and hard towards the corner, but again Westwood was there with a great save. On came Rakitic and Di Maria for Barry and Ribery as we frantically searched for a goal. It was just going to be one of those days as on 86 minutes, Young was found with Santon's pass, he turned inside the box and smashed a shot, Westwood was beaten the ball smashed off the underside of the bar and out to safety. Then on 89 minutes, Heskey got down the right channel and cut the ball back to Soares, his shot looked destined for the net, but the ball flew inches over. Then in the last second of time added on, Balotelli curled a free kick, Davies headed..Westwood was beaten and again the ball smashed the bar, Stoke held on.

Dissapointing, Fustrating...A win would of took us upto 4th.

Aston Villa 0-0 Stoke City

---------------------*****----------------------

[font="Courier New"]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Bolton      |       | 9     | 5     | 2     | 2     | 17    | 14    | +3    | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Tottenham   |       | 9     | 5     | 1     | 3     | 17    | 10    | +7    | 16    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 6th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 9     | 4     | 3     | 2     | 18    | 13    | +5    | 15    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 7th   |       | Everton     |       | 9     | 4     | 2     | 3     | 19    | 9     | +10   | 14    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 8th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 9     | 4     | 1     | 4     | 14    | 12    | +2    | 13    |[/font]

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

24th October - 26th October

The games we're coming thick and fast and it was taking it's toll at times especially in the early parts against Stoke, we lacked a tempo, partially for me due to flying back from france just 48 hours before, after a tough game. In better news, Vedad Ibisevic returned to training, although he wouldn't be fit enough for the Baggies game.

Premiership Results:

Blackburn 1-0 Arsenal

Everton 1-0 Reading

Fulham 1-0 Sheff United

Ipswich 1-3 Man United

Man City 2-0 Portsmouth

Newcastle 4-0 Bolton

Stoke 0-1 Chelsea

Tottenham 0-1 Sunderland

Wolves 1-2 Liverpool

West Bromwich Albion Vs Aston Villa - Wednesday 26th October - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Reo-Coker, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Ribery, Laurito, Balotelli.

Bench: Jesus, Santon, Luiz, Krasic, Rakitic, Di Maria, Delfouneso.

Team: One change following our dissapointing draw with Stoke and that was Reo-Coker in for Santon in this must win game.

7 minutes in and Benni McCarthy found half a yard after getting away from Davies, but his shot went just wide, then a massive blow and Mario Balotelli had to be brought off a minute later, on came Milos Krasic to play in behind Laurito. The game was very tight and it took us 23 minutes for our opportunity as Laurito played through Ribery, he hit his shot but Zuiverloon threw his body on the line and made a great block. then 9 minutes later, Laurito moved the ball out to the right where Young was, Young ran in and smashed a ball across the face of the goal and 2 yards out was Milos Krasic to tap in to give us a massive lead! Then in 1st half injury time, Davies headed away Morrison's cross, but the ball fell straight to Valero who hit a lovely shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.

An average first half, Defour and Ribery off for Di Maria and Rakitic.

We started the half well, 3 minutes in Ashley Young bent a free kick from 30 yards, it was heading towards the top corner but Carson made a fantastic save, tipping the ball over. The game was shaping upto be another tight half, Young again had a free kick which tested Carson, but the ball was straight at him. West Brom on 70 minutes then had a chance of their own as Brunt crossed, Valero again found himself inside the box, but his finished this time was comfortable for Asenjo to make the save. 5 minutes later, a big chance as Rakitic put through Laurito, he went one on one, but his shot failed to beat Carson. It was like the 1st goal all over again as Ashley Young found space on the right, he drove a lovely cross into the box and Milos Krasic was there again to tap in from close range! Then on 83 minutes again Young found space on the right he crossed, Krasic was in the middle, he won the header but Carson made the save to deny him a hat-trick. 86 minutes, Miller used his pace to get away from Davies, he was inside the box, he struck a good shot but Asenjo made a vital save. Then again Miller used his pace down the right, he crossed for Dorrans who layed off Koren, he struck a shot, Asenjo again got down to make a fantastic save. Young was causing so many problems as he hit a lovely cross, Krasic rose and headed goalwards, Carson somehow got his fingertips to it and tipped it over. It didn't matter as we held on for a big points!

A massive 3 points, i'd aimed for 13 points out of 15, we'd gained 11 which weren't bad I suppose, unbeaten in 6 league games now aswell.

West Bromwich Albion 1-2 Aston Villa

Borja Valero (45)

Milos Krasic (32, 76)

----------------------*****---------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Man City    |       | 10    | 7     | 2     | 1     | 23    | 10    | +13   | 23    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 10    | 7     | 1     | 2     | 18    | 7     | +11   | 22    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
[color="DarkRed"][b]| 4th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 10    | 5     | 3     | 2     | 20    | 14    | +6    | 18    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Everton     |       | 10    | 5     | 2     | 3     | 20    | 9     | +11   | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Bolton      |       | 10    | 5     | 2     | 3     | 17    | 18    | -1    | 17    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

27th October - 29th October

During the Man City game, Mario Balotelli was injured for 6 days, meaning he'd miss the game against Red Star, which wasn't a big deal, but I was hoping he would be fit for the game against Everton. Once again we had a game just days after our last one, and it really wasn't a game I was excited about, we we're playing Man City, 2nd in the league and had won 10 out of 11 in all competitions, hardly a game that we wanted when players are physically tired. Anyway I sat down with the players and we looked at our next 5 league games:

Man Ciy - Home

Everton - Away

Fulham - Home

Tottenham - Away

Bolton - Home

Realistically, we thought 9 points would be a good achievement, to not geat beat, and then win our last 2 home games.

Premiership Results:

Arsenal 7-0 Stoke City

Chelsea 1-1 Wolves

Liverpool 0-0 Ipswich

Man United 4-0 West Brom

Portsmouth 1-2 Everton

Reading 2-1 Fulham

Sheff United 0-0 Tottenham

Sunderland 2-1 Bolton

Blackburn 2-0 Newcastle

Aston Villa Vs Man City - Saturday 29th October - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito

Team: Laurito comes out for Krasic as we line up 4-2-3-1, Santon comes back in for Reo-Coker, while Ribery drops onto the bench as Di Maria comes in.

We started fell, Young carrying his form from the West Brom game it seemed as he run down the right and drove inside, but his shot at the end was straight at Fabianski, then on 10 minutes, he bent in a decent corner, Davies got their and volleyed towards goal but the ball sailed marginally over the bar. Then 8 minutes later, Defour picked the ball up in midfield and fed a beautiful ball into Balotelli who turned onto his right foot and smashed a shot past Fabianski! Balotelli was really upping his game against his former club as again he turned Gamberini but this time his shot rolled past the post. Then on 32 minutes, Man City on their 1st attack, Zhirkov showed good pace down the left, he crossed well for Witsel, he powered a good header at goal, Asenjo made a top quality save to deny him, springing to his left and holding the ball. Then on the stroke of half-time Robinho found space between the two centre backs and ran at goal, he was one on one, he found a good angle and from 8 yard surely would equalize, but Asenjo stayed big and made a crucial save.

Bad news at hallf-time, both Balotelli and Santon failed to shake off knocks and with Barry suffering from fatigue on came Ribery, Reo-Coker and Laurito in their places.

We started the second half well as Di Maria swung over a corner, Bassong got his head onto it, but Richards cleared off the line, before Ashley Young had a good shot saved from just inside the box after a darting run from Milos Krasic. Man City we're coming back into the game and on 53 minutes, Gabriel Obertan got past Insua, but his shot was fired just wide off the target. Robinho then tried his luck from distance on 60 minutes, but his shot finished well over the top. We we're just about holding on as Man City came piling forward, Richards crossed from the left, Inler met it with a volley but failed to keep it down as we entered the last 20 minutes. Then 77 minutes, Srna stood over a free kick, he bent it towards the top corner, it had beaten Asenjo, but also just missed the post, 5 minutes later Inler found space in the middle of the pitch, but his shot was fired just wide. Nervous times as we approached 7 minutes + injury time. Then on 89 minutes, Reo-Coker to my anger got forward, Man City had 4 forward, he crossed the ball aswell, "what are you doing!??" I yelled, keep it, but he turned round and looked at me 5 seconds later when Federico Laurito nodded in from 6 yards, making sure of the win!

Fantastic 3 points, the good form continues!

Aston Villa 2-0 Manchester City

Mario Balotelli (19)

Federico Laurito (90)

----------------------*****---------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 11    | 8     | 1     | 2     | 25    | 7     | +18   | 25    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 11    | 7     | 2     | 2     | 23    | 12    | +11   | 23    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 4th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 11    | 6     | 3     | 2     | 22    | 14    | +8    | 21    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Everton     |       | 11    | 6     | 2     | 3     | 22    | 10    | +12   | 20    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 11    | 6     | 1     | 4     | 17    | 12    | +5    | 19    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

30th October - 3rd November

A good month for the players again as Steven Defour finished 3rd in the goal of the month competition for his strike against Wolves, while Federico Laurito won the young player of the month award for October. In injury news David Luiz was told he'd miss the next week because of a foot injury. In the Uefa Cup, we knew a win for us and Shakhtar would mean we would both go through to the knock-out stages.

Other Group Results:

FC Sochaux 1-3 Shakhtar Donetsk

Aston Villa Vs Red Star Belgrade - Thursday 3rd November - Uefa Cup Group Stages:

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Davies, Song, Bouma, Ekici, Rakitic, Di Maria, Ribery, Delfouneso, Ibisevic

Bench: Asenjo, Insua, Santon, Barry, Krasic, Young, Laurito

Team: alot of changes, only Di Maria and Davies play from the team that beat Man City.

A moment that i'd been waiting to see as Di Maria sprant down the left, he put in a magnificant cross and in came Vedad Ibisevic with a diving header to give us the lead after just 9 minutes. It took us another 30 minutes until either side created anything, but the attack was lethal as Ekici found Ribery on the right, he hit the ball across the face off the goal and coming in at the back post was Nathan Delfouneso to tap in from close range. 5 minutes before the break we came close to adding a 5th as Di Maria swung in a free kick from the left, Ibisevic brought it down but could only hit his shot against the side netting from a narrow angle.

An okay first half, comfortable and easy, on came Young for Di Maria

A good start to the second half saw us nearly add to our lead as Delfounso turned on the edge of the box, but his shot went over, but 4 mintues later we were nearly caught out, a long ball over the top, Reljic beat Bouma for pace, he went through on goal, but Jesus pulled off a mirac...good save. Ashley Young then missed a good oppurtunity, he found space inside the box, but his left foot shot was straight at the keeper, but we finally added to our lead on 66 minutes, Young crossed, Delfouneso's shot was blocked on the line, but Vedad Ibisevic was there to finish up the re-bound! 10 minutes later and we'd gifted Red Star a goal, Reljic curled in a corner, Song mis-judged the flight and Manucho was on hand to tap in the volley from 6 yards out, it didn't matter as we picked up the 3 points.

We are through with a good performance and goals for Ibisevic and Delfouneso which is pleasing.

Aston Villa 3-1 Red Star Belgrade

Vedad Ibisevic (9, 66)

Nathan Delfouneso (38)

Milos Rejic (76)

---------------------*****-----------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Shakhtar               |       | 4     | 3     | 1     | 0     | 8     | 1     | +7    | 10    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   | Q     | Aston Villa            |       | 4     | 3     | 1     | 0     | 9     | 4     | +5    | 10 [/b][/color]   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard |       | 4     | 1     | 0     | 3     | 7     | 11    | -4    | 3     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star               |       | 4     | 0     | 0     | 4     | 4     | 12    | -8    | 0     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[Spav]

You appear to be building the foundation for a decent title challenge this season, TPF. Good luck and keep up the good work.

[williamshankley]

Runners up I predict. You conceed to many goals for my liking. KUTGW

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

thanks to both of you, I doubt i'll make a title challenge but who knows, 1 game at a time

4th November - 6th November

Well we travelled upto Everton, hoping we could mantain our unbeaten run, Everton we're currently 5th and had won their last 5 games, so it was always going to be a tricky game. Mario Balotelli was declared fit on friday, but it was clear he wouldn't be 100% for the game.

Premiership Results:

Tottenham 2-2 Reading

West Brom 1-2 Liverpool

Man City 4-1 Man United

Newcastle 5-3 Sunderland

Bolton 3-0 Sheff United

Ipswich 0-0 Chelsea

Stoke 1-1 Blackburn

Wolves 1-0 Arsenal

Fulham 1-0 Portsmouth

Everton Vs Aston Villa - Sunday 6th November - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Davies, Bassong, Insua, Defour, Barry, Young, Krasic, Di Maria, Laurito

Bench: Jesus, Song, Reo-Coker, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Balotelli.

Team: back to usual 11, although Balotelli is only fit enough for the bench. Di Maria again starts ahead of Ribery.

Everton started the better and they we're playing with alot of confidence as Faubert crossed, Fellaini out-jumped Insua and headed goalwards but Asenjo made a great diving save to keep the ball out. We then created half a chance as Krasic picked the ball up in midfield and drove a shot, but the ball flew over the bar. A mistake by Bassong then nearly gifted Everton a goal as he dallied on the ball, Cahill snatched it from him and hit a shot from 20 yards, Asenjo dived to his left and palmed the ball away. Then on 20 minutes, Yobo give the ball away to Defour, he slipped a great pass through to Laurito, Laurito took a touch and then fired in the shot from just inside the area, 0-1! Everton responded well, from Kick off Faubert drove inside and threaded a ball to Vaughan who turned Davies, but his left foot shot was way off target, but it weren't long till they had their equalizer as on 34 minutes, Leighton Baines drove in a cross from the left and Tim Cahill rose highest to head home from 6 yards. The same man nearly scored 2 minutes later as Baines again crossed, he beat Bassong in the air but the ball this time went inches past the post. 4 mintues later we had a half chance as the ball dropped to Barry 25 yards out, he hit it with his right, but his shot ended up in the stands. Everton we're coming at us and had another chance on 39 minutes as Vaughan was given too much time in the box, he struck at goal but Asenjo made a fine save. Then on the stroke of half-time, a long ball by Meite, Baines challenged Bassong, he beat Bassong, he beat Asenjo and tucked the ball away into the empty net. ****** awful.

Bassong (4.7) had an absolute mare, off he came for Song. Barry was struggling with a knock, on came Rakitic.

This half started alot tighter and on 57 minutes it was Everton who nearly gave themselves a 2 goal lead as Fellaini found himself Un-marked outside the area, he hit a rifle of a shot, the ball flew past Asenjo but smacked off the under-side of the bar and we eventually cleared, on came Balotelli for Krasic as we searched for a goal. Then on 62 minutes, Ashley Young crossed from the right, the ball went past everyone, Di Maria was coming in he was at a narrow angle, everyone expected him to just put it back into the box, but he smashed the ball low and hard and it flew into the corner past Howard to bring us back on level terms! Defensively is an absolute joke today, Davies and Bassong usually solid, just awful. A long ball flicked on by Vaughan, Davies tries to head it away, it falls straight to Vaughan, he goes clear on goal and lashes the ball past Asenjo. One thing we do posses is tons of fighting Spirit, a long ball looking for Laurito, Howard came out, Laurito tried to flick it past him, Howard got the block, but Laurito re-gained the ball and passed it 20 yards to the right, Defour had space, Howard was running back into his goal, but Defour struck it superbly into the far corner from 30 yards giving Howard no chance to get back and make the save! We held on for an important point!

What a game, defensively awful though, more of a case of individual errors, which I tend to find is better than just conceding goals constantly because we're easy to play through.

Everton 3-3 Aston Villa

Tim Cahill (34)

Leighton Baines (45)

James Vaughan (71)

Federico Laurito (20)

Angel Di Maria (63)

Steven Defour (82)

----------------------*****---------------------

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Man City    |       | 12    | 8     | 2     | 2     | 27    | 13    | +14   | 26    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 12    | 8     | 1     | 3     | 25    | 8     | +17   | 25    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]4th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 12    | 6     | 4     | 2     | 25    | 17    | +8    | 22    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Everton     |       | 12    | 6     | 3     | 3     | 25    | 13    | +12   | 21    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 12    | 6     | 2     | 4     | 18    | 13    | +5    | 20    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

7th November - 9th November

We decided to go back home before once again travelling to Everton on the Wednesday. Breaks we're hard to come by, so again I decided to give the players who hadn't been playing as much a run out.

Everton Vs Aston Villa - Wednesday 9th November - League Cup 4th round

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Song, Bouma, Ekici, Rakitic, Ribery, Delfouneso, Ibisevic, Laurito

Bench: Asenjo, Insua, Bassong, Santon, Young, Di Maria, Krasic

Team: Pretty much all changed, only Laurito starts again from the team that drew with Everton. Lined up in a 4-2-1-3 formation.

It was us who had the first chance of the game as Laurito picked out a lovely ball to Delfouneso, but his shot was well kept out by Howard, but we got sloppy and we gifted them a goal as Osman's corner found it's way to the un-marked Fellaini who from 7 yards out, couldn't miss. The game after that, well it was just horrific, the only peice of action was when Vaughan slipped a pass through to Cahill, he finished but was flagged offside.

A poor first half, a game that we could actually win.

3 mintues after half-time and it was game over as Tony Hibbert played a direct ball over the top of our defence, Vaughan latched onto the pass, ran through and smashed the ball past Jesus. 2 minutes later a half chance as Ibisevic put through Delfouneso, Delfouneso drove into the box and hit a good shot but Howard made a decent save tipping the ball over. Fellaini then went close twice, first a long range shot was well tipped over, before he headed Baines corner, but again Jesus made a good save, although on the whole he looked nervy from crosses. 63 minutes perhaps there was life in this game after all as Laurito drove inside the right hand side of the box and hit a shot low, Howard parried but Ibisevic was there to tap in the re-bound. Then on 73 minutes we nearly equalized, Laurito down the right again, he pulled it back and Ribery hit a shot, but the ball hit the inside off the post and Meite cleared it. Everton held on however as we we're out the cup.

A good effort from a 2nd string side.

Everton 2-1 Aston Villa

Marouane Fellaini (12)

James Vaughan (48)

Vedad Ibisevic (63)

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

10th November - 19th November

A Nice 9 day break added onto the fact we didn't play a full team against Everton in the league cup meant we had a nice break, giving us a chance to refresh and also prepare for a must win game against Fulham at home. Sergio Asenjo worried me when he picked up a knock in training, but it was nothing serious in the end.

Premiership Results:

Man United 2-0 Everton

Arsenal 8-0 Ipswich

Blackburn 0-1 Wolves

Liverpool 1-0 Man City

Sheff United 0-3 Sunderland

Stoke 0-2 Newcastle

Chelsea 0-0 West Brom

Reading 2-1 Bolton

Portsmouth 0-2 Tottenham

Aston Villa Vs Fulham - Saturday 19th November - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: Back to probably at the moment what was our strongest team.

We started the game quite well as Di Maria strode down the left and crossed well for Krasic, but his header was well saved by Kuszcack. Then 7 minutes later, Edu gave the ball inside to Beanayoun, he flicked a clever pass through to Nugent who smashed his shot past Asenjo first time to give Fulham the lead. How would we react? perfectly was the answer as Young recieved the ball from Santon, his cross was decent and Mario Balotelli sneaked round the back post un-noticed to tuck in the equalizer just 4 minutes later. Then on 30 minutes, Insua got the ball from Defour, he got to the by-line and cut the ball back to Gareth Barry who smashed a shot from just inside the area into the top corner to give us the lead! 5 mintues later, Ashley Young went close to adding a 3rd as he found space outside the area but his shot went well over. Defour went even closer a couple minutes after, Barry drove a pass into his feet he controlled the ball well and hit a stunning shot which bent and dipped but the ball smashed the bar and out for a goal kick.

At half-time, on came Ribery hoping for a response after being dropped on for Di Maria.

The second half started fairly slowly and it took the game 10 minutes to produce the 1st effort on goal as Defour tried his luck with a shot with the outside of his foot, but the ball didn't have enough bend and ended yards wide off the post. 64 minutes, Young got down the right and found Defour, he touched the ball off to Barry who switched a pass into Ribery, he came inside his man and beautifully bent the ball in from the edge of the box to make it 3-1, that's the class i'd been waiting for. Off came Krasic and Balotelli and on came Laurito and Ibisevic. Perhaps that was a mistake as on 74 minutes, Easton released Zamora down the left, he crossed superbly and at the back post was Yossi Beanayoun to stab home to give Fulham a life-line. 78 minutes, Ribery tried a repeat of his 1st goal as he come inside his full back and bent a shot towards the far corner, this time the ball sailed inches past the post, but in injury time he did have his second, Young crossed, Ibisevic met it, the defender made a good block but there was Franck Ribery on hand to smash the ball into the corner from 10 yards.

A good performance, a little shaky though.

Aston Villa 4-2 Fulham

Mario Balotelli (18)

Gareth Barry (30)

Franck Ribery (64, 91)

David Nugent (14)

Yossi Beanayoun (74)

--------------------*****---------------------

| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 13    | 9     | 1     | 3     | 33    | 8     | +25   | 28    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 13    | 8     | 2     | 3     | 27    | 14    | +13   | 26    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 4th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 13    | 7     | 4     | 2     | 29    | 19    | +10   | 25    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Everton     |       | 13    | 6     | 3     | 4     | 25    | 15    | +10   | 21    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Tottenham   |       | 13    | 6     | 3     | 4     | 21    | 13    | +8    | 21    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[EvilDave]

I don't remember commenting on this thus far, so let me congratulate you on one of the easiest reads on the forum. Great work so far and at such pace, looks like you've got the makings of a good team there as well. Finally, what is going on at Arsenal -7-0 and 8-0 wins broken up by a defeat at Wolves? The speed of updates tells me that you're obviously enjoying playing, and I'm definitely enjoying reading.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Evil Dave, great to see another person reading and thanks for your kind comments , Yep I love playing this game at the moment, so much that sometimes I can't get off it, I sometimes hold posts back, but then I soon feel the urge of posting! Not sure about Arsenal's form, look pretty immense at home though 15 goals in their last 2 home games!

20th November - 26th November

Again it was good to have another week's rest after such a busy couple of months, but they we're soon going to clog up in a big way, as we had 8 games in December which was really going to stretch the physical and mental strength of not just the first 11, but our whole squad too, who would all need to play a vital role if we we're going to come out of this month with a successful points tally.

Premiership Results:

Everton 1-2 Liverpool

Bolton 1-1 Portsmouth

Fulham 0-1 Man United

Ipswich 0-3 Blackburn

Man City 2-0 Chelsea

Newcastle 4-0 Sheff United

Sunderland 1-0 Reading

West Brom 0-3 Arsenal

Wolves 2-0 Stoke City

Tottenham Hotspur Vs Aston Villa - Saturday 26th November - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: Same side that beat Fulham 4-2, hoping for a slightly better performance.

We certainly got off to the perfect start, a mintue and Milos Krasic found a perfect pass into Mario Balotelli, who took a touch and rifled it home, he was never going to miss! The solidness of our defence was very encouraging as in the first 30 minutes, Tottenham could only create 2 peices of action worthy of noting, first Modric found space in the area and shot which hit the bar, however he was given offside anyway, their second chance came excatly on 30 minutes, Marek Hamisk lined up a free kick but failed to hit the target from 30 yards. They started hitting us with abit more pressure, Huddlestone curled a ball into Keane, he hit it first time on the Volley, but the ball again flew well over the bar. Luka Modric then had a half chance but from a narrow angle his shot curled into the side netting. Then on the stroke of half-time, Keane played a little ball through to Berbatov, he turned and hit a shot past Asenjoi, but also just a whisker past the post.

Very good lead, and although they had a couple chances at the end, we we're looking comfortable, just hopefully we could keep going, Balotelli (tired) off for Laurito. Ribery on for Di Maria (tactical)

Then just after half-time, a big 30 seconds as Defour played in Ribery, Ribery went through, his shot however was fantastically saved by Gomes, the ball fell to Laurito who lobbed Gomes but somehow Palacios got back on the line to head it away before 10 seconds later, Laurito played through Krasic, he took the bal in his stride and finished well but he was given offside. Then 40 seconds after that Bale gave the ball away, Ribery went past Corluka, then King and then Woodgate, he was 6 yards out about to pull the trigger but Krasic did it for him to slot the ball into the corner and we found ourselves 0-2 up at the lane! Tottenham look stunned and it took them until 70 minutes to open up another chance as Keane found Berbatov inside the box, he turned and forced Asenjo into a brilliant low save. We held on fantastically and defended like trojan's to pick up a massive 3 points.

Our best away day since I took over, away from home, we'd beaten the likes of West Brom, Portsmouth but never one of the better teams, but finally we had and that made it, 3 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses (Chelsea and United) away from home which really was excellent.

Tottenham Hotspur 0-2 Aston Villa

Mario Balotelli (2)

Milos Krasic (49)

---------------------*****----------------------

[font="Courier New"]| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 14    | 10    | 1     | 3     | 36    | 8     | +28   | 31    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 14    | 9     | 2     | 3     | 29    | 14    | +15   | 29    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]4th   |       | Aston Villa |       | 14    | 8     | 4     | 2     | 31    | 19    | +12   | 28    |[/b][/color] 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 14    | 7     | 2     | 5     | 21    | 14    | +7    | 23    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 6th   |       | Wolves      |       | 14    | 6     | 4     | 4     | 17    | 13    | +4    | 22    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[/font]

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

27th November - 1st December

The 3rd round of the Fa Cup draw was done and we didn't have an easy game as we faced Bolton at Villa Park. In good news again for Federico Laurito, as he finished 2nd in the Young player of the month, I haven't used him as regularly as the 1st season he spent with me, but he has still been pivotal, scoring 7 in 13 in all games I believe. We travelled the Shakhtar without too much incentive, well I suppose finishing first but we weren't too bothered, it was just a chance for people who don't usually play to show that they deserve to be playing.

Other Group Results:

Red Star Belgrade 1-1 Fc Sochaux

Shakhtar Donetsk Vs Aston Villa - Thursday 1st december - Euro League, Group stages.

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Luiz, Bouma, Ekici, Rakitic, Ribery, Delfouneso, Ibisevic, Laurito

Bench: Asenjo, Santon, Insua, Davies, Krasic, Young, Di Maria

Team: Alot of changes, as we started with a 4-2-1-3 formation with Ribery behind the forward 3.

Worst start possible, 8 minutes in a long ball from William bounced over our defence, Jesus come out, Castillo nipped in before him and slotted the ball into the empty net. We come back with a good response though as Delfouneso crossed from the left but Ibisevic's header was straight at the keeper. Then a mintue later, Ekici put through a lovely pass into Ibisevic, he turned but his shot went wide off the mark. Shakhtar then came at us and on 15 minutes, Remy got to the by-line and pulled the ball back to Kucher, but his shot smashed against the bar. 6 minutes later and Kucher was again denied by the bar this time after a header from Castillo's deep cross. Then on the stroke of half-time, William hit a long range shot Jesus saved, Fernandinho collected the re-bound, he got past Bouma and crossed, William met the ball with a volley this time, but again Jesus pulled off a good save to deny him.

Half-time, well keep going and hopefully we could get back into the game.

Shakhtar started the second half the better, Ilsinho played a clever ball inside to the influential William who hit an early snap shot, but the whistled just past the post. Then 2 minutes later, Reo-Coker burst down the right, he crossed well and up went Federico Laurito to head in the equalizer. 10 minutes later and we came close to taking the lead, Mehmet Ekici bending a free kick just past the post from long range. Then on 71 minutes, Reo-Coker again down the right, he played the ball inside to Rakitic, who took a touch and bent a fantastic shot past the Shakhtar keeper and into the top corner to give us the lead. It was all us and 5 minutes later a Di Maria corner was met by Alex Song, but his header smashed against the bar and was evemtually cleared, but then on 89 minutes, Castillo made a run down the right right and recieved the ball from Gai, Castillo crossed and charging in came Ilsinho to head Shakhtar a late equalizer.

A good fight back, unlucky not to collect the 3 points.

Shakhtar Donetsk 2-2 Aston Villa

Nery Castillo (8)

Ilsinho (89)

Federico Laurito (50)

Ivan Rakitic (71)

--------------------*****-----------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Shakhtar               | UKR   | 5     | 3     | 2     | 0     | 10    | 3     | +7    | 11    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   | Q     | Aston Villa            | ENG   | 5     | 3     | 2     | 0     | 11    | 6     | +5    | 11[/b][/color]    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard | FRA   | 5     | 1     | 1     | 3     | 8     | 12    | -4    | 4     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star               | SRB   | 5     | 0     | 1     | 4     | 5     | 13    | -8    | 1     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

2nd December - 4th December

I had a nice chat to former Villa legend and still a good friend in John Carew, he was currently playing in America for the New England bagging 12 goals in his first 17 appearances in the MLS. We also prepared for our vital home game against Bolton, a chance to really try and secure a top 4 place.

Premiership Results:

Reading 0-0 Sheff United

Chelsea 1-0 Everton

Stoke 3-0 Ipswich

Wolves 3-3 Newcastle

West Brom 5-1 Blackburn

Portsmouth 2-2 Sunderland

Arsenal 1-1 Man City

Liverpool 2-1 Fulham

Aston Villa Vs Bolton Wanderers - Sunday 4th December - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: Again excatly the same line-up and bench, consistancy is the key!

We started the game well as on 3 minutes Di Maria got down the left and crossed well, Krasic met it, but his header was over. 6 minutes laer, Milos Krasic this time turned provider after splitting a beautiful pass into Balotelli, he took the ball under control and smashed the ball into the corner, to give us the lead. Then on 22 minutes abit of magic nearly gave us a second, Balotelli ran past 1, 2 then 3 defenders before striking a good shot, Jaaskelianen made a fine save to deny him. 2 minutes later, Di Maria crossed from the left once again, Young met it with a superb volley but the ball cannoned back off against the post. It took Bolton 36 minutes to conjure up their first chance off the half as Guarin whipped in a corner, Micheal Turner rose highest but the ball flew wide, meaning we went into half-time with a 1-0 lead.

We needed more tempo to our game and a better end product.

We got off to a perfect start as Ashley Young sent in a corner from the left hand-side and at the back post was Curtis Davies to head us into a 2-0 lead. Then just 5 minutes later, Angel Di Maria this time whipped in a corner from the right however, again Davies rose highest and again Davies found the net, a double from the centre back in 5 minutes! On 62 minutes, Young whipped in a corner, it seemed to go over everyone, Davies managed to volley it back into the danger area and in came Mario Balotelli to tap in from 6 yards to give us a 4th just after the hour. Balotelli nearly found himself with a hat-trick as he curled a free kick from 25 yards just inches wide off the post. Milos Krasic then came close to extending our lead, but his shot from just inside the area flashed inches over the bar. Bolton found a late goal though as Ricardo Gardner crossed from the left and Johan Elmander headed in from close range.

Another good win, and another good performance, league table looks pretty at the moment!

Aston Villa 4-1 Bolton Wanderers

Mario Balotelli (9, 62)

Curtis Davies (49, 54)

Johan Elmander (87)

---------------------*****--------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 14    | 12    | 0     | 2     | 34    | 16    | +18   | 36    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 15    | 10    | 2     | 3     | 37    | 9     | +28   | 32    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]3rd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 15    | 9     | 4     | 2     | 35    | 20    | +15   | 31    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Man City    |       | 15    | 9     | 3     | 3     | 30    | 15    | +15   | 30    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 15    | 8     | 2     | 5     | 26    | 15    | +11   | 26    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

The table looked fantastic, we'd set ourselves a target off 9 points from our last 5 games, with 2 wins and 3 draws, but we beat our targets by some distance as we collected 13 points (4 wins out of 5) to see us move now into the top 3, and 9 points off 5th place.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

5th December - 10th December

After a fantastic last 5 games, it was again time to try and set realistic expectations for our next 5:

Sunderland - Away

Portsmouth - Home

Sheff United - Home

Reading - Away

Newcastle - Away

Well if we could beat Sunderland, we believed then winning 3 out of 4 was very realistic and we're hoping for 10 points from the final 4 games, with Sunderland being a game we really targetted as one of those "Big games", a performance their could really see us in a commanding position.

Premiership Results:

Fulham 1-1 Chelsea

Everton 2-3 Arsenal

Ipswich 1-5 Wolves

Man City 2-1 Blackburn

Newcastle 3-0 Reading

Sheff U 1-2 Portsmouth

Tottenham 1-0 Liverpool

West Brom 0-1 Stoke

Bolton 1-1 Man United

Sunderland Vs Aston Villa - Saturday 10th December - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: Again excatly the same line-up and bench, consistancy is the key! (2)

We started the match very well as Insua threaded a good ball into the box, Krasic found space but guided his shot over the bar. Then another chance 4 mintues later as Di Maria sent through Balotelli, he shot low but Fulop made the save, a bright start by us but Sunderland soon replied as McFadden out of nothing found himself through on goal, Asenjo came out and made a good diving save to deny him however. Sunderland then went close again in this fantastic game as Antonio Valencia picked the ball up and drove a low shot which again forced Asenjo into a very good save. 17 minutes gone and somehow we hadn't seen a goal, again another chance this time to us as the ball fell loose inside the area but Milos Krasic failed to apply the finish. 6 minutes later another opportunity presented itself as Santon burst down the right and found Young, but his shot was straight at Fulop. Then finally on 25 minutes, Mario Balotelli beautifully skipped past two challenges before smashing the ball beyond Fulop for a wonderful goal. Sunderland replied superbly as Valencia swung over a corner, McFadden at the front post darted into the box un-marked and placed his header beyond Asenjo. With 10 minutes to go until half-time we we're nearly back in front as Di Maria's free kick found Davies but his header came back off the post.

An entertaining first half, awful marking by us for their goal.

The second half started off very lively as Ash Young had time just inside the area, he smashed a shot low, Fulop made a good save but Defour followed up well and tapped in from close range to put us back into the lead just a minute after half-time. Then on 50 mintues, Defour had a knock, so off he came for Rakitic, also on came Ribery for Di Maria. Rakitic nearly made an instant impact as he curled a shot from 25 yards, but Fulop made a great save diving to his left. Sunderland we're fighting though for an equalizer and nearly had it as Waghorn moved the ball to his left where Matty Taylor was, he drove a shot, Asenjo however was equal to it. Then a more defensive subsitution as we look to hold on, Reo-Coker came on for Young on 65 minutes. Sunderland really started to press and Asenjo was again keeping them out after this time he tipped over Andreason's spectacular half volley. Then a big moment on 75 minutes, Andreason crossed, Taylor headed, Asenjo somehow kept it out, but the ball fell straight to Murphy who from 3 yards surely had to score, but no! somehow Asenjo blocked his shot and Insua finally cleared, what an important moment that could be. It seemed it was going to win us the match, then on 90 minutes, Murphy was picked out with a great pass, he had space in the area and hit a shot through a body of players, Asenjo reacted late....he saved it, a great save diving low to his right and pushing the ball away, the whistle soon came after as we picked up a massive 3 points.

Sunderland 1-2 Aston Villa

James McFadden (28)

Mario Balotelli (25)

Steven Defour (46)

---------------------*****---------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 15    | 12    | 1     | 2     | 35    | 17    | +18   | 37    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 2nd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 16    | 11    | 2     | 3     | 40    | 11    | +29   | 35    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 3rd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 16    | 10    | 4     | 2     | 37    | 21    | +16   | 34    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Man City    |       | 16    | 10    | 3     | 3     | 32    | 16    | +16   | 33    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 5th   |       | Blackburn   |       | 16    | 8     | 2     | 6     | 27    | 17    | +10   | 26    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|

[IlikeJellybeans]

Nice mate, still reading with interest

[Manxie_Ash]

Look at you all the way up in third place :D

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

IlikeJellyBeans - thanks and hope your enjoying it.

Maxnie Ash - I know, i'm fairly suprised myself. As you know my first season I was lucky perhaps not to be given the sack, but it's been a succesful building proccess, the challenge is staying in the top 4 now!

11th December - 15th December

It was Euro League/Cup...whatever time as we faced Sochaux, if we could better Shakhtar's result, we would move to top of the group, although the chances of Shakhtar not beating Red Star are very slim!

Other Group Results:

Red Star Belgrade 1-3 Shakhtar Donetsk

Aston Villa Vs FC Sochaux - Thursday 15th December - Euro Cup Group Stages

Team News: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Luiz, Bouma, Ekici, Rakitic, Ribery, Delfouneso, Ibisevic, Laurito

Bench: Asenjo, Santon, Insua, Davies, Krasic, Balotelli, Di Maria

Team: Alot of changes, as we started with a 4-2-1-3 formation with Ribery behind the forward 3.

It was Sochaux who started the better, and they had their 1st chance after 20 minutes, when Gomis fired in a free kick and Ibara rose highest, but his header went over the top. 5 minutes later they come even closer to a first goal as Boudabouz struck the bar with a stunning free kick from 30 yards. It took us 31 mintues for our first half-chance as Laurito drove into the box and shot low, but his effort was well saved. We were playing dreadful, on 37 minutes Ekici came off injured so I brought on Balotelli and went 4-2-4..and it brought instant Success, a long ball into the box 4 minutes later found it's way to Ribery, who smashed a low shot into the bottom corner from 12 yards out.

Boring game really, 1-0 and Shakhtar were drawing!

6 minutes after the re-start and we were so close to adding to our lead as Ribery fired a shot, their keeper made a sharp save, the ball bounced to the edge of the box, Balotelli smashed in a volley but the ball crashed off the under-side of the bar and out to safety. We went close again on 57 minutes, Ribery flighted in a corner and Ibisevic rose highest, but his header skimmed the bar. Then on 62 minutes a sucker-punch as Ibara moved down the left and crossed well, Mevlut rose over Song and directed a firm header into the corner. 2 minutes later we nearly got back into the lead as Balotelli played through Laurito but his shot again hit the under-side of the bar. Soon after Rakitic fired a curling effort from 20 yards into the side netting before Balotelli bent a free kick just over the bar from the edge of the box. 10 minutes remaining and we were in search for a winner, but we couldn't break through as the game ended 1-1

pretty poor to be honest.

Aston Villa 1-1 FC Sochaux

Frank Ribery (42)

Mevlut Erdinc (62)

--------------------*****--------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team                   |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   | Q     | Shakhtar               | UKR   | 6     | 4     | 2     | 0     | 13    | 4     | +9    | 14    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   | Q     | Aston Villa            | ENG   | 6     | 3     | 3     | 0     | 12    | 7     | +5    | 12[/b][/color]    | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | FC Sochaux-Montbéliard | FRA   | 6     | 1     | 2     | 3     | 9     | 13    | -4    | 5     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Red Star               | SRB   | 6     | 0     | 1     | 5     | 6     | 16    | -10   | 1     | 
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

16th December - 18th December

In the Euro Cup 1st knockout round, we were given a very tough tie in Olympique De Marseille, and if we came through that, then we would face the winners of either HSV Or Ajax.

Other Premiership Results:

Chelsea 2-0 Sunderland

Liverpool 1-0 Sheff United

Man United 3-1 Reading

Stoke 0-0 Fulham

Wolves 0-2 Everton

Newcastle 1-0 West Brom

Blackburn 3-0 Tottenham

Ipswich 0-3 Man City

Aston Villa Vs Portsmouth - Sunday 18th December - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Young, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Luiz, Rakitic, Ribery, Ibisevic, Laurito.

Team: Again excatly the same line-up as our last 3 or 4 premiership matches.

We didn't start the game too well and we're nearly behind on 7 minutes as Galletti's corner was swung towards the back post, Scharner got up well but his header re-bounded back off the post. We responded brilliantly, as Young found space on the right, he played the ball into the path of David Santon who crossed with his second touch, Balotelli got their first he headed it, the ball cannoned off the post and hit Begovic on the back and went in as an own goal! 11 minutes and we nearly had a second as Insua crossed well and Milos Krasic rose, but his header went just inches over the top. Portsmouth weren't out of it yet though as Calve found Crouch, Crouch found half a yard, but failed to keep his left footed drive down. Then 10 minutes later, Young's corner was flighted, Davies at the back post got up well to head, Begovic made the save but there was Sebastien Bassong to slide the ball in from 6 yards to double our lead. It took us 15 minutes to carve up another opportunity, as Defour fired a pass into Balotelli, he controlled it and angled a beautiful shot into the top corner to make it 3-0 on half-time.

great first half, try and keep it going for the second!

It was Portsmouth though who started the better as they seeked a way back into the match, Diego Costa went on a mazy dribble before firing over from about 20 yards. A couple minutes later they had another chance as Galletti's cross found Crouch, but he failed to hit the target from the penalty spot with his volley. They we're really pressing and Galletti again created another chance, this time his corner was a decent one and Mollo rose but could only guide his header over the bar. Crouch then found space 25 yards out and played through Galletti but Asenjo stood up strong and made a fine save. Milos Krasic then hit a fine drive from 25 yards out, but Begovic did well to tip over the bar, from the resulting corner, Young whipped it in and in came Mario Balotelli to head home his second of the game. 83 minutes and we had 5, as Young burst down the right with his pace and sent in a wonderful cross in that perfect area, Balotelli went in there but it was Distin who got the unlucky final touch to go down as an own goal.

great performance.

Aston Villa 5-0 Portsmouth

Asmir Begovic Own Goal (9)

Sebastien Bassong (26)

Mario Balotelli (42, 63)

Sylvan Distin Own Goal (83)

--------------------*****---------------------

[font="Courier New"]| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 16    | 13    | 1     | 2     | 38    | 18    | +20   | 40    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 17    | 11    | 4     | 2     | 42    | 21    | +21   | 37    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 17    | 11    | 3     | 3     | 35    | 16    | +19   | 36    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Arsenal     |       | 16    | 11    | 2     | 3     | 40    | 11    | +29   | 35    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|[/font]

[Manxie_Ash]

Blooming Heck....

[CAFCIan75]

The defence seems to have tightened up, the strikers are firing goals, sod top four Villa for the title!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Manxie Ash - How do I reply , err thanks!

Ian - Haha, i'd take the top 4 nicely, we're doing well though, been lucky with injuries though I must say.

19th December - 21st December:

Unfortunatly in the training sessions we had leading upto the Sheff United game, Ashley Young picked an injury meaning he will be out for 3 weeks, while Curtis Davies will miss the next 4 days.

Premiership Results:

Arsenal 2-0 Fulham

Blackburn 1-1 Everton

Chelsea 3-0 Tottenham

Ipswich 0-1 Newcastle

Liverpool 6-2 Bolton

Man United 2-2 Sunderland

Portsmouth 1-1 Reading

Stoke 0-0 Man City

Wolves 1-1 West Brom

Aston Villa Vs Sheffield United - Wednesday 21st December - Premiership

Team News: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Luiz, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Ribery, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Laurito, Ibisevic, Ekici.

Team: Ribery and Luiz come on for the injured duo of Young and Davies. Song and Ekici move onto the bench.

We hadn't started the game too well, in fact in the 1st 10 minutes the only half chance we created was when Di Maria's cross come shot was tipped over from Kamenar the Sheffield United keeper. Then on 20 minutes, Luiz the Brazilian centre back in true Brazilian style found himself inside the box, he took on two defenders before winning the corner. Di Maria bent in the corner and darting in at the front post was Sebastien Bassong to glance the ball into the corner! Our second chance came on 26 minutes when again Di Maria whipped in a good corner, this time at the back post was David Luiz to get up highest and head home to double our advantage. Milos Krasic on the half hour mark then went on a clever run, beating 2 defenders but his shot was pushed wide off the post. From the resulting corner, Di Maria whipped it in, Barry's header was blocked, but the ball fell kindly to Milos Krasic who couldn't miss from 6 yards.

To be honest, we were dreadful in the first half, and we're only ahead because of some great set-peices.

We started the second half alot better, Ribery and Santon combined well before setting up Krasic, but his shot was well over in the end. On came Laurito for Krasic on 54 minutes, and it nearly brought an instant goal as a minute later, Laurito found Balotelli, he turned inside the box and shot low, but Kamenar made a fine save. It took 56 minutes for Sheffield's 1st attempt on goal as David Cotterill went on a good run going past a couple defenders, but his speculative shot flew well over the bar. Then on 62 minutes we had the 4th as Mario Balotelli lined up a free kick 30 yards out, he bent it around the wall and into the bottom corner, a beautiful free kick. From kick off, about 10 seconds in, Di Maria intercepted a pass, he played the ball to Laurito, he ran and threaded a perfect pass into the path of Balotelli who took 1 touch and then placed his shot into the bottom corner to make it 5-0. Sheff United nearly grabbed a consolation as Kyle Naughton hit a decent shot just past the post. We nearly finished the game well, but Laurito failed to hit the target from the edge of the box.

Not a great performance, although the result is brilliant.

Aston Villa 5-0 Sheffield United

Sebastien Bassong (21)

David Luiz (26)

Milos Krasic (30)

Mario Balotelli (62, 63)

--------------------*****--------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 17    | 14    | 1     | 2     | 40    | 18    | +22   | 43    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
|[color="DarkRed"][b] 2nd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 18    | 12    | 4     | 2     | 47    | 21    | +26   | 40[/b][/color]    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 17    | 12    | 2     | 3     | 42    | 11    | +31   | 38    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Man City    |       | 18    | 11    | 4     | 3     | 35    | 16    | +19   | 37    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[salkster2102]

I think you jinxed yourself with the injuries 2nd wow! KUTGW long as you stay in the top four you will have had a great season.

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

your probably right Salkster, shouldn't of said anything

22nd December - 26th December

It was Christmas time and I had great cause to be happy, I could of easily let the players have the full day off, but I knew we'd acheived nothing yet this season. I needed to make sure the players knew there was no way I was thinking of letting our form drop, we didn't do any physical work, just went through tactics and watch some clips for a couple hours and made sure each player knew their role for the Reading match.

Premiership Results:

Bolton 2-1 Chelsea

Fulham 1-2 Blackburn

Man City 2-0 Wolves

Newcastle 0-0 Portsmouth

Sheff United 0-2 Man United

Sunderland 1-2 Liverpool

West Brom 3-0 Ipswich

Reading Vs Aston Villa - Monday 26th December - Premiership

Team: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Luiz, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Ribery, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Laurito, Ibisevic, Ekici.

Team News: Same as the game against Sheffield United.

Reading started very bright as Malouda got down the left and crossed well for Morgan Schneiderlin, he shot from 8 yards, Asenjo made a very good save to deny him. Malouda then set up Bauben, but his 25 yard drive sailed over the bar. Then more injury woe as Mario Balotelli had to be taken off injured, on came Laurito and he made an instant impact as on 17 minutes, Ribery gave him the ball, Laurito played a clever reverse ball into Krasic, Krasic first time bent the ball beyond the keeper to give us the lead. Amazingly like our last game, Di Maria about 10 seconds into the half intercepted a pass, he played the ball perfectly through their defence and Laurito finished well to guve us 2 goals inside the first 20 minutes. Reading tried to get back into the game and fired a shot just past the post from 20 yards. Before Liam Rosenior crossed and up went former Villan, in James Milner but he failed to get his header on target. We nearly made it 3-0 though as we looked to punish their miss chances, Di Maria crossed and Ribery brought the ball down well and hit a half volley but Federici made a smart save down low.

Not a bad half, 0-2 up was the main thing though.

Reading came out looking for a way back into the match and they found one from a corner, when Fabio Aurelio's corner picked out Dean Ashton and after a touch to control it, he smashed it into the top corner with his left foot. Then 3 minutes later, Buaben found Orchirosii, he drove down the left and crossed to the front post and with a superb little flick of left boot, Morgan Schneiderlin had found an equalizer. Oh my, what a 5 minutes, from kick off, we attacked early and got the ball into Krasic, he fired a pass into a tightly marked Laurito who turned his man just inside the area and fired his shot into the bottom corner, we were back into the lead, brilliant goal! 6 minutes later he nearly had his hat-trick, a quick free kick from Di Maria found Laurito, he again shifted the ball onto his right foot, but his shot was well over in the end. Then Aurelio lined up a free kick 25 yards out, he struck it superbly, but the ball smashed off the bar and Santon finally got it clear. 15 minutes to hold on. Hold on we did as we gained our 7th straight win.

Great win! we're only 1 win from equalling our away record last year.

Reading 2-3 Aston Villa

Dean Ashton (54)

Morgan Schneiderlin (57)

Milos Krasic (18)

Federico Laurito (19, 58)

--------------------*****--------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 18    | 15    | 1     | 2     | 42    | 18    | +24   | 46    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 19    | 13    | 4     | 2     | 50    | 23    | +27   | 43    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Man City    |       | 19    | 12    | 4     | 3     | 37    | 16    | +21   | 40    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Arsenal     |       | 17    | 12    | 2     | 3     | 42    | 11    | +31   | 38    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[bergtaur]

TPM, I just caught up with reading this today, and you have got one hell of a squad going for you with Villa. I hope that the squad stays good and that you truly cement a top 4 spot this season. KUTGW!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

Bergtaur - thanks for your nice words! Sorry if you had alot to catch up on!

27th December - 28th December

Curtis Davies returned from injury.

Premiership Results:

Arsenal 4-0 Sunderland

Blackburn 3-1 Bolton

Chelsea 3-1 Sheff United

Ipswich 0-2 Everton

Liverpool 1-0 Reading

Man United 0-0 Portsmouth

Stoke 1-1 Tottenham

West Brom 1-1 Man City

Wolves 2-1 Fulham

Newcastle United Vs Aston Villa - Wednesday 28th December - Premiership

Team: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Ribery, Balotelli

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Laurito, Ibisevic, Ekici.

Team News: Curtis Davies came in for David Luiz

Newcastle started well as Guthrie dispossed Barry on the edge of our own box before firing his left foot shot just over bar, but a minute later we were in front as Barry cushioned a volley into the path of Defour and from 25 yards he hit a first time rocket which swerved and dipped into the top corner, a stunner of a goal. Newcastle we're stuggling generally to break us down, although on 18 minutes Adriano went close as he turned inside the area and fired a shot towards the top corner but Asenjo got a firm hand to it to tip the ball over. Then marking his return with a goal was Curtis Davies, as Di Maria whipped in the corner and Davies beat Harper to the ball and guided his header firmly into the corner, but 5 minutes before half-time they were back into the match as Adriano fed Huszti, he drove down the left and crossed for Budzinski who applied the finish well.

A boring 1st half, although 3 goals in the game, not too many other chances, hopefully we could see the game out.

It took Newcastle 20 minutes to conjure up their first attempt of the second half as Budzinski again caused his problems, this time coming inside before releasing the ball into Xisco, he took a touch, but his shot on goal was well wide. On 74 minutes we nearly made sure of the game, Mehmet Ekici who came on as a sub for the very tired Barry, released Di Maria, he drove inside and shot well but Harper did well to tip it over. Then 5 minutes later, Ekici found another sub, Laurito who had just come on for Balotelli, Laurito turned and curled in a shot from distance, but Harper did well to push the ball wide off the post. We were made to pay as Huszti got down the left again and crossed in, Insua just didn't deal with it properly and Xisco was on hand to pounce and slide the ball in from 6 yards. From kick off like so many times before we nearly scored as Ekici drove a shot from just outside the box, but the ball flew inches over the bar. In the end we failed to grab a winner.

really shouldn't be letting 2 goal leads slip.

Newcastle United 2-2 Aston Villa

Marcin Budzinski (41)

Xisco (82)

Steven Defour (2)

Curtis Davies (27)

----------------------*****----------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 19    | 15    | 2     | 2     | 42    | 18    | +24   | 47    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 20    | 13    | 5     | 2     | 52    | 25    | +27   | 44  [/b][/color]  | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 18    | 13    | 2     | 3     | 46    | 11    | +35   | 41    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Man City    |       | 20    | 12    | 5     | 3     | 38    | 17    | +21   | 41    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

Well 5 games had been since we set our realistic target, I said 11 points, with 13 also being reachable, and that's excatly what the players achieved with 4 wins out of 5!

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

29th December - 1st January:

Mario Balotelli came 3rd in both World Player of the Year, and Player of the month competitions. Davide Santon collected the young player of the month award, while I personally won the Manager of the month competition. Although in bad news, Mario Balotelli had injured himself in training and would miss the next 2 weeks. I also looked at our next 5 games for a realistic points target, here's what I came up with:

Liverpool - Away

Chelsea - Home

Arsenal - Away

Man United - Home

Stoke City - Away

Well all games we were going to have to battle if we wanted to win, it was going to be a true test of character these next 5 games. I set 6 points as a goal, beating Stoke and trying to draw 3 out of those 4 against the "Big 4."

Premiership Results:

Arsenal 3-0 Reading

Blackburn 2-0 Sheff United

Chelsea 2-0 Portsmouth

Ipswich 1-2 Tottenham

Man City 1-0 Everton

Newcastle 0-2 Man United

Stoke 1-0 Sunderland

West Brom 1-1 Fulham

Wolves 0-1 Bolton

Liverpool Vs Aston Villa - Sunday 1st January - Premiership

Team: Asenjo, Santon, Bassong, Davies, Insua, Defour, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Ribery, Laurito

Bench: Jesus, Reo-Coker, Song, Rakitic, Delfouneso, Ibisevic, Ekici.

Team News: Laurito in for injured Balotelli, as we line up 4-4-1-1, slightly more defensive than usual.

We started well as Di Maria brought down a high ball, he jinked and played a clever ball into Laurito, but he failed to hit the target from just inside the area. Then somehow we didn't concede as Babel played in Torres, Torres placed the ball beyond Asenjo, the ball rolled across the line after hitting the post and Santon got it away, about 20 seconds later, Afellay found Gerrard but his shot smashed against the under-side of the bar, a lucky escape. Then on 15 minutes Defour beat Alonso to the ball and got it wide to Ribery, he took a touch and floated in a perfect delivery and sliding in at the back post was Federico Laurito who tapped in for his 9th goal in only 11 starts. Then 10 minutes later, Alonso picked out Torres on the edge of the box, 1st time he bent a shot which looked destined for the corner but Asenjo made a superb diving save to keep him out. 30 minutes and we nearly doubled our lead as Krasic went past Carragher but Reina saved well following the shot. 5 minutes before half-time Arbeloa got down the left and cut inside before crossing, Torres beat Davies to the ball and looked to have equalized, but again somehow Asenjo made a terrefic save diving to his near post and palming the ball away. We held on until half-time

I told the players they had to expect the ball going into the box and it's their job to defend properly. Good half of football.

It took Liverpool 5 minutes to create their first opening of the second half as Xabi Alonso found room 25 yards out, he bent a shot looking to curl the ball in at the near post, but his shot went inches wide. 4 minutes later a long ball by Carragher went over the top off our defence, Babel found himself 1 on 1, but his effort was awful as he ballooned it well over the bar from 15 yards. Just past the hour mark, Asenjo was in fine form again and again denying Torres as Torres turned on the area and drove a shot towards the top corner, but Asenjo tipped it over with an acrobatic save. 70 minutes, another chance for Liverpool as Torres slipped a clever ball through to Alonso, he struck a belter of an effort, the ball flew straight past Asenjo, but also straight against the bar! 10 minutes, Torres again created this time putting Babel through but again he struck well off target, dragging his shot wide. We were holding on and then in injury time, Arbeloa found Gerrard, he turned and lined up a 30 yard strike, so many times he'd scored against us from this position, he struck it well, Asenjo didn't move and the ball rippled the net, luckily it was the side netting, we'd escaped and picked up 3 points from Anfield!

Amazing, we got abit of luck along the way, but generally defended brilliantly!

Liverpool 0-1 Aston Villa

Federico Laurito (15)

--------------------*****---------------------

| Pos   | Inf   | Team        |       | Pld   | Won   | Drn   | Lst   | For   | Ag    | G.D.  | Pts   | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 1st   |       | Man Utd     |       | 20    | 16    | 2     | 2     | 44    | 18    | +26   | 50    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| [color="DarkRed"][b]2nd   |       | Aston Villa |       | 21    | 14    | 5     | 2     | 53    | 25    | +28   | 47    [/b][/color]| 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 3rd   |       | Arsenal     |       | 19    | 14    | 2     | 3     | 49    | 11    | +38   | 44    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 
| 4th   |       | Man City    |       | 21    | 13    | 5     | 3     | 39    | 17    | +22   | 44    | 
| ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| 

[The-Perfect-Fm'er!]

2nd January - 4th January

I'd put in a £6 Million bid for Chelsea's Diego Ribas. While Antonio Sole continued his loan spell at Tranmere a further 3 months. Milos Krasic signed a new 3 year contract at the club.

Aston Villa Vs Bolton Wanderers - Wednesday 4th January - Fa Cup 3rd Round

Team: Jesus, Song, Bassong, Luiz, Bouma, Rakitic, Ekici, Reo-Coker, Steiber, Delfouneso, Ibisevic

Bench: Asenjo, Insua, Santon, Barry, Di Maria, Krasic, Laurito

Team News: only Bassong keeps his place in the team, Steiber makes his debut.

despite a much changed team, we started pretty well, Rakitic whipped in a corner and Bassong rose highest, but could only guide his header over. We then went close again as Reo-Coker drove down the right and pulled the ball back to Rakitic, he pulled the trigger from 25 yards, but Jaaskalianen tipped it over. 30 minutes, a short free kick from Ekici found Steiber he tried his luck from distance but again Jasskalianen made a good diving save. Just before half-time, we really should of been in the lead as Delfouneso nodded a long ball down to Ibisevic, but his shot was superbly kept out by the Bolton Legend. Then on the stroke of half-time, Luiz brought down Molinaro, he brushed himself off and smashed the free kick himself into the top corner.

Not a bad half, considering the side we had out, hopefully we could find 2 goals though. Di Maria on for Steiber.

The sub nearly brought us an instant goal as his cross seemed perfect for Ibisevic, but his flick header looped inches over the bar. We really just weren't creating anything so on came Krasic for Delfouneso and Santon for Song to hopefully inject some life into the game on 70 minutes, and 3 minutes later we nearly drew level as Reo-Coker found Ibisevic, he turned his man and fired in a low shot, but the Bolton keeper again was upto the task. Then on 87 minutes, Ibisevic broke into the box, he went to pull the trigger but Cahill came over and took him out, we looked over to the ref....Penalty! Di Maria collected the ball and made no mistake whatsoever tucking the ball home. One thing I didn't want was a replay, so up went Bassong to hopefully try and find us a winner. Our pressure however didn't materialise.

average.

Aston Villa 1-1 Bolton Wanderers

Angel Di Maria (88)

Christian Molinaro (45+2)