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Did Aston Villa outplay Birmingham City on Sunday? Absolutely not. Did they deserve the points? Absolutely.
After successive disappointments at Wembley that saw them bounced from both domestic cup competitions, the 1-0 win over their archrivals will have gone a long way to convincing Villa fans that the stars are not aligned against them after all. In fact, the side has shown such bottle in the face of adversity—which culminated in a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Chelsea in March—that they have taken 13 of a possible 15 points in their past five matches and are now assured a spot in the Europa League at the very least.
They may even do one better. With two matches to play, Villa are level with Tottenham for fourth place in the Premier League and a berth in the Champions League. Of course, Spurs have a game in hand and a run-in that includes Bolton Wanderers and Burnley in addition to Manchester City, who Villa will visit on Saturday. They’re very clearly in the driver’s seat. But the fact that Villa are in the reckoning as the calendar flips to May is an encouraging show of progress, and one that fans of the club have been anticipating for a few years.
A year ago, Aston Villa would not have defeated a very energetic Birmingham City side on Sunday. Yes, they weathered a bit of a storm in the second half; and yes, they were awarded a very dubious penalty. But they took their chance when it came, and remained tight enough in defense (with the exception of Richard Dunne’s braincramp in the opening period) to fend off Sebastian Larsson, Cameron Jerome and James McFadden.
That means something. It’s a sign of a squad that’s maturing, a squad that believes in its manager and in each other. Villa may not finish in the Champions League places, but having it all to play for in the final weeks is a massive improvement and bodes well for the future.
http://twitter.com/peterssoccer
PS: Joe Hart should be England’s starting goalkeeper in South Africa. He is gutsy, confident and a superb shot-stopper.
Comments
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Posted by g smith on 04/26/2010
you cant get any more one eyed than this.
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Posted by bcfcjake on 04/26/2010
Villa didn't deserve any points at all! How can they even attempt to play in Europe with their long balls? They play horrible football and got outpassed by us, can u imagine against the likes of barcelona? They took an underserved chance that was not even a foul! To say they deserved to win is ridiculous! O'Neil is a t**t who has shown he knows nothing of football! SOTV KRO!
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Posted by Steve on 04/26/2010
what a ridiculous article
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Posted by Ian Harris on 04/26/2010
Villa deserved the points ? yeah right !
Villa were the home side where possession was about 50/50, Birmingham completely dominated the second half and had 16 shots on target against a meagre 6 for the home side, unless you are a Villa fan or a blind ref, how can you possibly say that they deserved the points ????
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Posted by SAB on 04/26/2010
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Posted by bill on 04/26/2010
No, my Villains caught a break with the penalty call. But for those who are complaining, you obviously haven't been watching Villa this year or you are wall-eyed Man City or Spurs fans. Villa has been the unlucky recipient of horrible ref decisions the last few months. Just look at the non call vs Chelsea in the FA semi and the no call on Man U that should have been a red by any standards. That said,Villa deserved one. Sorry for Birm City, but better days are coming. Villa-B City will be one of the very best fixtures in the EPL for years to come.....Villa blew 4th when they failed to take 3 at home vs Wolves and Sunderland. Since Spurs shocked Chelsea, this will haunt Villa for quite a few months. Not getting 4th may cause MIlner and Young to think about moving on. This would be devastating, because Villa could be on the verge with a better central defense, a creative MF and a proven striker added next year. Please, Dunne is decent, but he isn't a CL player. Too many critical gaffes.
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Posted by Villan on 04/26/2010
You noses miss the point totally.
The author says in the first line that we never outplayed you. Truth is you were worth at least a point, something even MON agreed.
In fact that was probably one of our worst performances this season.
It's also worth pointing out that Hart was probably your MOM, so it wasn't that clear cut anyway, imo.
The whole point is we still won when playing rubbish, which is what sucessful teams do, whether you like it or not.
As for bringing Barce into it, they'd make 99% of teams look mugs, so it's a non-argument.
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Posted by MoNlies on 04/26/2010
Dear Jarhead take your claret tinted glasses off weathered a bit of a storm ffs what game was you at? It tells you something about the game when your keeper was man of the match, if it wasn't for the tw@ in the middle you wouldn't have scored in a month of sundays
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Posted by Luyimbaazi Dennice Vadim on 04/26/2010
I have lots of hope for our current squad. And I have to say that at their tender ages its pretty incredible how they are handling themselves especially after that 7-1 defeat at Chelsea. One would have thought that we would crumble but we have shown such mental and physical strength that our rivals still don't believe it.
Anyway, I expect us to go all the way to 4th place and even if we don't finish in 4th, our boys have showed that they can handle the pressure whhen it matters.
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Posted by Dave on 04/26/2010
Another set piece goal by the expensive version of an eighties Wimbledon is hardly a positive win.
About a deserved a win as Arsene Wegner admitting he saw an Arsenal foul.
Another dive,another penalty,another embarrassing rant by O'Neill.
A draw was a fair result.Shame it was a hollow victory and how the most expensive team in your history had to dive and get the refs help as you weren't good enough otherwise
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Posted by Rob on 04/26/2010
Judging from some of the whinging above it would seem that small heath lost their Cup Final on Sunday. Gents, a question. Would you say you lost with dignity?
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Posted by Nick on 04/26/2010
stop whinging about the final. nothing to do with blues, villa deserved nothing from the balance of play, just friedel to thank (as well as mister atkinson) and this article is complete shit. Utterly one dimensional and due to it being written by some tit with no footballing nouse not worth the time it took to read.
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Posted by oldbluenose on 04/26/2010
This article is pointless, inaccurate and biased. As a blues supporter I know we are not yet up to the level of Villa, as do most other supporters. The point is we are very quickly catching them up and when we do overtake them I hope none of our fans write such silly articles and try to antagonise Villa supporters.
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Posted by adamnunited on 04/27/2010
why dont all you blues fans stop complaining and start rooting for one of your city's teams who has a possibility of making it to the CL. I know its not your most ideal situation, but maybe if Villa make it to the CL and pick up some new talent in the off-season, you can snag some more of our weaker players like you did with Craig Gardener ;)
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Posted by avfc on 04/27/2010
from what i saw, milner scored a goal, which means that his team deserved to win, as the other team didn't score any goals. someone might have to check that one up in the rules for me.
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Posted by Bill on 04/28/2010
If the Blues fans here could get the concept that Villa making the CL will only help them in the future, they might stop acting like jaded teenagers. Villa making the CL raises the bar for the Midlands, especially the new very, very rich Blues owner. Then you can some reason to hate Villa besides the fact that you have been second best for seemingly decades. Birmingham is about to embark on a new age of challenging for Europe. Just think...Villa, BC, Wolves and West Brom all in the EPL. It's going to be fun in the Midlands again! Of course any Villa fan wants to finish above Birmingham.But Villa's success this year only helps the level of play next few years.
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Posted by Bongo on 04/28/2010
You guys are a laugh. Accusations of bias towards Villa from an Aston Villa correspondent, who would have thought??? Where as I agree it wasn't our best win, it was a win....and over Birmingham no less. I don't care how bad it looked, as long as we beat them (which, to all of those complaining, check out the scoreboard would be my response to you). You guys whinge as much as Roger Johnson. The penalty may have looked dubious, but it was a penalty. Saying "I got the ball first" isn't a valid excuse for bringing down a player. It hasn't been the case for a while now, not just with this game.
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Posted by Ben on 04/28/2010
It's amazing to me the ignorance of the commenters on this article and the writer of this article. What was dubious about a penalty. Five or six different former officials say it was a clear penalty. Touching the ball doesn't make it not a penalty. Read the rule book. I'm so sick of hearing this was a dubious penalty.
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Posted by Conor on 04/28/2010
I think Ben and Bongo summed it up pretty well, people need to try reading and understanding the rules before they run their mouths. I think the only ref who wouldn't call it is Howard Webb...
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Posted by Bill on 04/30/2010
No, fellow Villains...it was a dubious penalty because the player did get the ball first and his follow through tripped the attacking player. If there was a leg whip into the ball and then around to the player, it is foul. Matters not, because Man City will be the test on how far this young team has come. I honestly don't think Spurs will drop 3 points over the next 3, yet alone 4, but this has been a great season. Milner replacing Barry, in essence at CMF, has worked out very well. MON has to keep Milner and Young around. This team is on the verge of a CL place in the near or very near future.Hinges on retaining the young core and Delph developing.Anyway, cheer for the Boys and hope Barry makes a huge gaffe.
Posted by eric on 05/03/2010
dave- it wasnt a dive, agbonlahor fell because there was contact. and yes, as bill says it was a penalyty, but there was no foul play on agbonlahors part
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About
Kevin Hughes spent the best part of ten years working and writing for the football magazine Match; once (sort of) inspiring David Beckham to copy his shaved-hair look, getting lost in Paris after the 1998 France v Croatia World Cup semi-final and other such nonsense. As Deputy Editor, he launched and established Sport, the London-based free weekly magazine, before moving on to become a consumer magazine publisher, a position he holds today. Introduced to Villa by his father and grandfather, he attended his first ever match at Villa Park as a seven-year-old in 1982… and has suffered almost constant disappointment since. You can follow him on twitter @KevHughesie
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