Match Prediction: Red scouse at Villa Park
Thursday, 28 August 08, 03:30 AM · Comments (84)
For several reasons I'm really looking forward to this match. The main reason is because I think it's a match where we can pick up three points.
Our game raises against the bigger teams and Liverpool are a big team; not one of the top three but big enough for our game to raise. I've also got a feeling that the atmosphere for this game is going to be a little different than what it usually is and that will be good for our players.
We all know why the atmosphere is going to be a little different and I hope that Barry has his head screwed on properly for this match and doesn't allow anything to put him off his game. This is actually a great opportunity for him and I suspect he'll try and grab it with both hands.I hope he succeeds.
But to the reason why I think we can win. In my season preview I made a special mention of the importance of Steven Gerrard to Liverpool. Well it turns out he wont be playing on Saturday because he's having surgery on his groin today.
Liverpool do have other very good players but Gerrard is the engine room and whenever I've seen Liverpool play a really good game, it always seems to be because Gerrard has had a good game.
I'm not saying they can't have a good game without him or that they won't this weekend, only that, it's advantage Aston Villa with him not playing.
The other main reason why I think we'll win is because we're at home and the team need to make up for last weekend. There are no excuses for last weekend and while they'll never admit it, some of them maybe went out thinking it was in the bag - the first half display certainly adds weight to that argument.
None of them will think this game is in the bag and we'll see a very different team performance to the one we saw last weekend.
Some nice team news ahead of the match is that Carlos Cuéllar could very well be available and while I'm a huge fan of big Curtis and Laursen, I think they'd both accept it if one of them made way for the Spaniard after letting in four goals in two matches.
However, we'll probably not know until Sunday if he is going to be in the team, but I suspect if he's not, he'll most certainly be on the bench, if he does regain match fitness.
So, all that to one side and my prediction, in case you hadn't guessed, is a home win and I'm having a tenner on it. It probably wont be a hugely entertaining game but it will be bloody excellent to beat them.
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3-2 simple as mainly because we wont have many good players on.
UTV
2-1 to villa. Think it will be close but we'll edge it. Gerrard is a massive blow for them. Without him they are most definatley weakened, as you said Damian, he's their engine room and match winner....... oh, almost forgot about Torres then!
Then again, we kept him quiet in his debut last season 
5 goals in 2 games.
Despite that, too big a game to let Carlos make his debut, I'd expect him to play tonight, and I think we need to show a little more faith in ML and CD.
Carlos can't play tonight because he missed the register deadline sparkatron
Good point Chris, still too important a game to make a debut coming back from injury no?
Hello hello. Good blog this. You can tell it's been tweaked around the edges. Only thing was it won't let me log on so I have re-registered under a new name in honour of Carlos.
I used to be TT77
If Gerrard's out then at least we have a chance of not losing it in the last minute after Stevie Mbe has felt up the ref. But then again, I think I predicted 4-1 Villa last weekend, so I'm basically shutting up.
It has been very good of Liverpool to take the place of the Blues this season in the dark recesses of Villa fans hearts.
We will win this match, not because we will have had an easier weak beating HF hafldkfjlkjgkjg, or because Gerrard is injured or because they played extra time and are a little pooped.
We will win because it is ordained in the stars and will have 12 players, 11 + the crowd. MON will get the boys organised and Liverpool won't turn up.
The Gods have ordained it so, we cannot do anything other than their bidding.
Don't believe me? 2-0 to Villa.
TOO BIG A GAME TO MAKE HIS DEBUT - HE PLAYED IN THE UEFA CUP FINAL last season??? its too big a game not to give him his debut in my opinion. our defence is shocking - if stoke score 3 liverpool could score 7. cuellar has to start but oneil is so weak when it comes to dropping players i doubt he will.
I took my nipper to the Planetarium at the Science museum yesterday in Brum and I think you're right.
Reply to sparkatron:
Yes i think it is too. The current defence: Young, Davies, Laursen and Shorey are still trying to gel, get to know eachothers game. That only comes with time and they've had a couple of games now so changing that for a game against Liverpool wouldn't be too clever really.
From what I've heard about Carlos, I think he will defiately force his way into the team soon.... Lets hope he strikes up an amazin partnership with Laursen when he does so!
tonebone, you'd drop Davies then would you?
we are not as good as you all seem to think we are. Its the same at the start of every season. we will be lucky to get a point against Liverpool, they are way ahead of us. They would not loose 3-2 to a soon to become championship team. The main dif is they are a top premiership side who going into every game the general public would expect them to win. 60% of our games could go either way. blackburn, spurs, pomp, newc, ars, chel, liv, man utd, evert,sund are all teams that jo public would not confidently predict villa would win. We need to realise what stage we are at now, we are not ready to challenge the big 4 and wont be for another 2 years. We are however making great headway and o'neil has done a fantastic job. I would be delighted with 6 place finish again and a point against the idiots on sunday.
I love this finally my coments show up nice n quickly villa 1-1 liverpool now cmon tht wudnt be a crap result???
I cant go to the match
but im gna watch it on tv
Hi, prediction is 2-2 draw for sunday with a late goal from Tores
Just a quick note on Milner. Seen a few have said they would rather have swp. Think SWP would be great as an attacking player on the wing but not for villa! Milner will be much better as he will cross the ball from the wing all day so our forwards have a great service... cant remeber the last time i saw SWP cross a good ball to the box?! He can take on defenders but cant cross!
Milner anyday over SWP. Lets have 2 wings giving great service from young players of the future!!!!
I'll be predicting 1-1. I think that the ref had a howler in yesterday's game - so many pro Liverpool decisions were made - and that masked the fact that the full backs were clumsy in their tackles. Young will be walloped time and time again and from that we'll get free kicks. I hope we can edge it but I suspect Torres will pick up a goal from something. Alonso will also be trying to ping a goal or too in to make a worthwhile point.
they have played badly at the moment.They only won yesterday because a left-back called Datne who let kuyt pop it in the net!And there premireship match against Middlesbourgh,they had an own goal and a goal at the 93 minute,lucky aint it!
UTV
Lots of new faces on here, some familier ones too! Has taglor got lost in the changeover?
Prediction...Obviously want The Villa to win but I'm afraid the prediction is 2-1 to Pool and we score first!!
oh btw i was joe the local villan
does anyone know any livepool blogs tht we can now go on cus we have users for oleole.com if they have one it cud be a laugh
..
villa 2-1
milner to score on debut.
sorry.. i agree with 'i hate the blues'. we are not as far advanced as the majority seem to think. yes we haev improoved but we are no where near the quality of liverpool. we dont have a striker for one. we have 2 quality midfielders in gb and ay, the rest are mid table standard. ml is a great player and perhaps carlos will be great too but apart from that we are really lacking. on the up though, come on the villa.
Henrik Larsson anybody?? He maybe 36 but surely a one year deal would be worth it?? Setanta are reporting that Helsingborg's have fallen off the pace in the Swedish League and that they need to offload some players to save some cash and Larsson could well be one of them!
Well looks like Gerrard is missing from sundays match due to groin surgery so that is a massive boost, think we will win 2-1
Reply to wheelo2020:
Disagree....
Bouma- World class
Laursen- World class
Friedel- One of best keepers in the premier league
John Carew- World class (didn't score 20 goals but his overall play is immense for us, plus he was injured for about 7 games last season)
It reamins to be seen whether the new additions (as talented as they are) will gel with the squad and ultimately improve us. On paper, despite having the same numbers we've improved immensely over the summer.
The positves for me are definitely :
*Natural proven right back
*Top notch replacement for mellberg
*Proven experienced keeper with talented young backup
*Gabby started the season with a hattrick
*Ashley seems to have picked up where he left off
*Barry still at the club
*Sidwell if he finds his peak will be a great engine for us in midfield
*Routledge seemed to find some good form in pre-season and would be great to see him given chance to replicate that on bigger scale.
I think on our day we can beat anyone. It just depends what our mentality is to approaching this game. If we can't tighten our defence, Torres would still rip us apart even if his form were indifferent.
villachris - agree with you about Brad. carew is not world class, i don't think he would play in many other teams in the prem? he does a job as a target man but not the level we need to push on.
I think he is because:
1. Plays International football, of which I believe he does very well for Norway
2. Hes played in 7 countries/leagues (I think)
3. Played Champions league football (knocking arsenal out 1 year and getting into the final with Valencia)
4. Our top goal scorer last season(even after missing games)
5. still only 28!
I predict 3-1 villa, can anyone else understand why we havnt been linked with huntlaar,think he looks the dogs gonads every time you watch him, a bit like doyle (not)
Don't wish to be gloomy, but if the Poo can win their last 2 games, what makes everyone think that their Jam Jar is empty? I think a draw with a Jammy goal by Torres in the 97th minute from a free kick against our best defender on the day. who was 20 yards away at the time it was awarded.
But then again it could be 6-0, Ashley gets a hat trick and Rafa resigns after the game! UTV
The football gods have called this one, Villa won't win cause it's all politics, the ref just got a call from the lodge, my crystal ball says there will be a few strange decisions in favour of Liverpool. (Petrov fouls thin air again)No. They will use the penalty or offside "trap" in 33rd minute.
Can I volunteer to perform that operation on Stevie G
with a fcuking angle grinder and a bottle of vinegar
Liverpool should beat us. Does that mean everyone is gonna whine on about the gulf in class blah blah? I think we all agree there is a gulf in class so let's move on. Hopefully we have a fantastic afternoon and stuff them and it launches our season. If we lose - so what? It won't be earth shattering.
VILLA CHRIS NONE OF WHAT U HAVE SAID IS CRITERIA FOR BEING WORLD CLASS
Being world class as a striker is scoring 20 goals consistently season after season. as for bouma being world class dont make me laugh.
Reply to tonebone:
can anybody see this post as i dont know if they are visible or not
In all honesty Gerrard being out doesn't fill me with confidence. On last weeks game it wasn't so much a penetrative midfielder that brought us undone, it was more long ball to a hard running striker. I think that what Fuller did to us could be very much on the cards with Torres, despite them not being the same player. I think that The Fat Waiter's tactics may run a very similar line to Pulis' without Gerrard, and if we havn't learnt the lesson we could be in for an even more punishing one on Sunday. Mind you if we put it on the park Villa 2-1. UTV!
just watched some pool fans being interviewd on ssn about last nights game, and the mouthyest twat had a brum accent,TOSSER
Reply to tonebone:
Ok I might be deluded from all of last seasons antics, but it makes me happy to think in that manner. Its better than slaughtering villa and making out we're doomed for losing a game as a lot of people did after last weekend dont ya think?!?
Whhhoooooww guys...What's the title of this post 'How do you define a world class player and my dad's bigger than your dad?' No, didn't think it was!
Who cares who's the best...
Now put your handbags down and play nicely...!
Did anyone hear Ashley Young's brother (Watford youth) claiming he will be better than Ashley? Snap him up MON.
Do you notice that when you say "Snap him up MON", you can't help but sound Jamacian?
Liverpool have played very poorly since the start of the season, they have been lucky in all the games i have seen them play especially last night. They are due a good whipping and I know Villa are going to want to run there fucking noses in it for that bollocks over the summer. Torres and Keane look worse than Crouch and Defoe so they can start all day for me, Gerrard is missing in midfield so no dodgy 95th min goals from some gammy refereeing.
With Shorey injured I can see GB playing left back for this one, I hope that Routledge gets a game this evening so that he gets a chance to show what he's worth and perhaps be in with a sniff for Sunday but I can see MON going for Gardener on the right with Coker Petrov and Young. I think the key to this game is Petrov stepping up in midfield and controlling the game, they are missing key players, but we have to stop them going through the middle of us. I hope we get to see Cuellar as well, the defense needs a switch after the last 2 games.
If we can score early we could really rattle the scousers, it's not going to be nice in there for them and I can see the crowd also playing a big part in this one. My prediction 2-1 Villa…
Woulfman said 2-0? How do you "lodge" we'll keep a clean sheet.
it will be 1-3, Master Grand made call today.
Reply to __AA__:
andyanarchist:
put the spoons away mate
sorry to waste people's time,, but i cant log on and my forum posts are now underder the name of someone called real4eva who has a penchant for attractive men with their shirts half off. this is a poor reflection on my taste and if a moderator reads this and could reset my profile i'd be really grateful. cheers, word.
at least we all agree we hate them and a result will make our weekends!!
a great performance tonight will egt us back in the mood , all be it against a poor team but a win is a win and we can push on.
Does anyone have any realistic idea if we are gettign a striker??? there has to be someone out there for us.
I'd love to see us stuff them but with our defence, I can't see it. Whilst Liverpool are not on the top of their game, their defence is as solid as ever. Sorry fellow Villa fans, I'm going for an away win.
Although I won't accept that until the result is done and dusted.
I am still a little sceptical, I think we have a really good team in the making, but the back line with the new additions need to gel, and until that happens, I can see us leaking more goals. Liverpool are one of those teams that we can never seem to beat, but I really hope we stick it up em'!!!!
>> Damian, I metioned on another post that the RSS feed in igoogle was not working properly, I deleted it and went to re-add it in "add stuff" but cannot find a plugin for the blog anywhere!! Is there anything you can sort out about this, I miss having the feed on my google homepage
Reply to EvilDaz:
does this not work:
LINK
Hi Bob mi old mucka
Well someone had to get on here and to stop the playgorund fighting. What would the fans of other teams think of all us Villa fans squabbling over 'my dads better than your day' banter. I thought stupidity like that was what we discussed in the forum where the other fans can't read..
Has my Karma been restored in there yet Bob, cos I'm not going back until my Karma is restored and Damian's turned the lights back on..I'm scared of the dark..Chesney help me!
Hi Damian
Thanks, the link works, but not sure about how to get that in igoogle, you click on add stuff and find the various plugins, but doesn't appear to be a way of just plugging in normal rss feeds, I will look into it a bit further.
Another thing is that i use firefox, and when I submit a comment it just says "now submitting your comment" and just stays like that. i have to Ctrl and F5 to get the page refreshed and see my comment. Nothing major, but a tad annoying
I meant 'dad' not 'day'...doooooh!
EvilDaz....Your in the same boat, but I'm on IE so it looks like it's a problem for everyone. I reported to Damain this morning and hopefully it will be fixed by the morning I am told?
LoL, I'm a dumbass. There is a blindingly obvious link on the left hand side in the "add stuff" main menu in igoogle that says "Add feed or gadget" and you can put the link in there and it works a treat
D'oh
Reply to EvilDaz:
thats a bug on the list to get fixed
Liverpool's defense looked solid. Not according to the minute-by-minute reports I've read. It seems to me the only reason they kept two clean sheets was poor finishing and good saves from Reina. And I still think many of you are underating the effect a 6-3 physically commanding presence like Cuellar will do against the long ball game. He would've made a big difference on the long throws last week against the Potters and he will make a big difference this week. The Villains will be avenged, no $tevie MBE to save them with a late free kick after a dive, 2-1 to the Villa!
nice work, all that S.W.P talk is now scraped, how can he go back to shitty city? 2-1 Tonight
Lets just hope we land Milner now, being as though our back up was most likely S.W.P
This is very odd, I haven't seen any "Holier than thou" comments from scouse supporters on this thread laughing at any suggestion we could beat them and how much of a bigger and better team they are than us and how they deserve to win the Premier league and Champions leage ever year for eternity because they are "Liverpool"!!! WTF is going on? Can they not find the blog now its moved Damian?
They will have to sign in again, fill out the registration and won't know how to spell their name!
Reply to EvilDaz:
i specifically didn't put liverpool in the title so it wouldn't be picked up by any of the news services
i'm actually got a bit fed up with the scousers this summer
The bottom line is that this game will set the tone for the season.
3-2 Villa
LINK
My only prediction is that Barry will withdraw from the match
Definatly a score draw 2-2. They have been lucky to get through to the Champions League group stage and have been lucky in both their Premiership games, i can see them getting an undeserved equaliser in the 93rd minute.
And i'm glad Man City have got SWP, in my opinion Milner would be a far better longterm signing for us.
Come On The Villa!
.....But luck must run out some day
Come on you villa boys stick it up the scousers no better time than the present
adamskinb30
no better time than the present
we said that last season thou......
Reply to notsosilentbob:
true but if man u can do their bogey team surely we can lol
please can anyone see this,im fcuked if i can
Reply to talusmanvillafan:
see what exactly?
my predicted line-up:
gk taylor/guzan
rb gardner
cb baker
cb knight
lb barry
rm routledge
cm reo coker/petrov
cm salifou/osbourne
lm stieber
st delfouneso
st harewood
UTV
Reply to talusmanvillafan:
see what exactly?
That's two superb signings Man City have made recently Kompany and SWP. I dare say they are beginning to look stronger than us now, all they lack is a goal scoring forward, but if Jo is that player then I'm afraid that's another team making up more ground on the top 4 while we lag behind.
Hopefully we can come away with the three points here. Especially with Gerrard out. To be honest, I'd even take a point.
lost money last week so gonna have a tenner on scouse scum and still be happy if i lose. that jut leavea draw,
Liverpool looked very average last nite,they have 2 be the luckiest team in europe over the last few seasons,take gerard and torres out and there just a bunch a crap foreigners.lets stuff them sunday for there arrogance over the whole barry affair.P.S.Does anyone think barry needs to lose a few pounds?
Hi all.Liverpool havent conceded much so far and i dont expect that to change too much on Sunday.Gerrard missing is a bonus for us but our record against the pool is poor.lets hope our defence plays better this weekend and if they do i can see us nickng this 1-0.I know a clean sheet is asking for a lot.Big john to score.
yes we may beat liverpool in a one off game but how can anyone say we are gettign closer to them. we are way behind. we finished 16 points behind last year and with transfer dealings for us and them are prob further behind.
merson summarised the gulf on sky sports perfectly. liverpool have played poorly in 2 games but still taken 6 points and gone through in champs league playing bad. villa played good in one and bad in one and took nothing out of it. thats the difference we cant play bad and get results where as they can.
if you think we have a hope of finishing above liverpool you are very much deluded! We are in a huge fight to be ahead of pompey and man city, both of whom have improved there squad and 1t 11 more than us. i dont think we will even finish above them and to be honest 9th place is prob where we are looking at. we need signings urgently but o neil is a fool!! where are they u irish pric??
our inability to keep a clean sheet, concede 3 at stoke and an equaliser against a part time team. this game does not giv me confidence, even if gerrard is missing for them. a draw at best.
don't know about world class playersbut it's definitely the World against the Villa looking at the line up for Liverpoor
Reds to be given a masterclass
Pool playing badly but still winning, they can only play better which is a worry.... best chance for villa is use pace down the wings and attack their full backs (who aren't the best). Only 1 goal in it, i suspect Torres may be the difference. 1-2.
I think we need to be confident and keep our heads up. Not the best start to season but guys we av 36 games left so have faith. At least wait till xmas to judge where we'll finish and how good our team is. Remember they need time to gel.