Sidwell scores, Aston Villa beat Chelsea and it's all in reserve

Nice one.
It is all coming together bit by bit. Sidwell is a class act and has had an unfortunate run of injuries since joining Villa. He will certainly feature in the first team at some point once fully match fit. It can only improve the competition for places in our midfield and may even give Mr Barry the jolt he seems to need to wake him from his temporary slumber.

All we need now is greater competition for our strikers, Kevin Doyle, good old Emile perhaps? and we are well on our way. A great result and all bodes well for the future.

The future is bright indeed.

Nice to see that Sidwell got a goal, wheather he can forge himself a starting place now is difficult to call though. I reckon out of Barry, Petrov and NRC, our Gareth has been the only one to dissapoint so far this season. But would it upset the balance if he (or any of the others) were to be dropped for Sidwell at this present time? I'd like to think that Sid could add something that Barry just isn't giving at the moment but would a stright swap work ?
Regarding the reserves, I watched them destroy Arsenal last week and they were great. Where was the fair haired lad toight who played at right mid against Arse and scored two ? Also, where was Fonzy ? Hope they're not injured.

UP THE VILLA

Well done men. Not total revenge for the Prem defeat, but a start. Excellent news about Sidwell, I can't wait for him to in the first team starting XI.

_AV33 --- The Fonz was on England duty, don't know where the "fair haired lad toight who played at right mid against Arse and scored two" AKA "Albrighton" was though.

At the risk of looking a complete arse here, I thought it was Collins who scored the goal and that Sidwell was pretty hopeless. We have got a very promising centre half in the boy CLark though.

clark is the u19 england captain very good player

It is nice to see there were no fringe players in that team either (Sidwell excepted due to return from fitness). No Knight/Routledge/Gardner etc....really does show that we have some great raw talent coming through the ranks. Excited by the look of Albrighton (Dunno why he didnt play any ideas?) Stieber, Bannan etc. Bright Future!!!

JP it appears you are an arse

Sidwell scored the goal and Barry had better wake up or he will beplaying reserve football before long.

Stick Sidwell in the centre and stick Barry at left back instead of Shorey......let's see how much Barry wants it then?

that sounds very good indeed damian

Joey....don't you ever go to school?

Kids don't go to school these days keef!!! Too busy stabbing people, mugging old ladys and causing havoc!!!

Is anybody going the England game tonight?

We need to get Sidwell in the team, and IMO he should it should be inplace of Barry.Sidwell is prepared to go forward and have a shot at goal inviting the forwards to fight for the scraps.Barry is not agressive enough to be our attacking midfielder.Milner needs to be given a game too,our prefomances have dropped in recent games.

Lads,

If MON drops Barry for anyone I'll eat my villa shirt.

Wanna see Sidwell in the team though. Just not sure how.

Completely agree with StickyAV. Cant see MON dropping Barry im afraid. Would love to see both Milner and Sidwell in the team but who do you drop, Petrov or NRC who have both played fantastic this season?

Do you think this means that Sidwell makes the bench this weekend against Portsmouth. And while MON may not drop Barry, I can see Sidwell subbing in for Barry in games where he's struggling (like the Chelsea and Stoke games for example).

I am looking forward to seeing Aston England U-21s qualify this evening. Come on Gabby and James!

I watched the game last night and it was good to see a lot of your youth team (from last years FA Youth Cup semi-final) again play.

It would have to be Sids that scored last night, but what a whipped in cross from Stieber.

Credit must be given to Villa for allowing the game to be moved from its original date.

GB played vey well last season, better than for some years. That form attracted a lot of attention which we all know about. This year he's gone back to the level which we've seen over the years. Damian would argue that we ought to have grabbed Rafa's hand off. I wonder, if Sidwell was fit, if he would be GB's replacement. Let's see.

andy

barry, for me anyway, has always been a just above average player and while even i saw him have some really good games last season they were to few and far between and even at times last season quite a few agreed ... but its like the spurs manager said the other day - he has 2 good results and he's the best manager in the league again ..

we should have taken the £18mn if it was offered and o'neill will come to regret that but it was a principle thing and the perfect excuse you'll start to hear from some about barry is 'his head is in liverpool' when more and more start to question him

damian do you even go and watch the villa and pick up on what a player does when not on the ball and the camera is not on him. i am getting sick of reading this blog with arm chair fans ranting on about players who have given good service to the club, and yes one of our better players even being just above average and it didnt take much for that to be the case a couple of seasons ago.
can anyone remember that git yorke kissing his man ure badge in front of the holte end on his return, no one wrote about that did they probably because they where in damians house watching it on tele...

Saw the U21 game and thought Milner worked hard despite not exactly settting the world a light. Gabby off at HT with hamstring strain. Did I hear right?Has he been called up to the senoir sqaud with Hart and flying out tonight, injury permitting???

Easy lads, Mr. Barry is a player of quality who can control and dictate the pace of a game. Agreed, he was outstanding at times last season which obviously raised his profile, price and personal expectations. His behaviour over the summer though, hardly endeared him to die hard Villa fans who have supported his service over the years, which is why we have those who like to have a pop.

I was merely suggesting that Sidwell's return to fitness may prompt a return of form for our former captain which can only be good news. MON will not drop Barry unless he has some complete scouse induced implosion. I don't know where Sidwell fits into the picture with Stan and Nige playing great football and Milner raring to go, However I do recall MON saying he was happy to have these kind of problems now.

We are moving forwards and it is a great time for the Villa, and yes Paul I can remember what Yorkie did, it broke my bloody heart.

Bring on Pompey. Up the Villa.

I saw the game last night and i just cannot see why we paid £12m for Milner. No pace at all and very rarely managed to put any balls into the box. He really should be standing out for the u21's. One player who did though was Aoran Ramsey. Class act and only 17. Thats the type of player MON should be trying to bring here. Im hoping that the Gabby hamstring is all a con so as he doesn't have to travel to Belerus just to make up the numbers tonight.

Ak-27 - So he had a bad game, your gonna judge his quality on one performance...give the guy a chance and stop being such a tiny minded fool!