Aston Villa Feels Important

I don't know how many will agree with me, but Sunday's defeat to Manchester City just didn't feel that bad. Maybe it's because it's nearly Christmas, maybe it was because it was a significantly better defeat than our last trip to Manchester. Whatever it was, I just didn't feel as gutted on Sunday evening as I usually do after a defeat. I suppose it goes back to what I said before the match about us being underdogs.

Further mitigation came from the fact that we not only have no fit full backs, we also lost Djourou mid-match. Miquel came on and there was a reshuffling at the back, but City's goal came not long after. I blamed Koscielny at the time, as he gave Balotelli far too much space down our right, but I suppose it's only natural that he would be drawn into his natural position in the centre. If we are to blame anyone, it should be that clown Phil Dowd. The habitually-useless tubber failed to give what I thought were two pretty evident penalties, Micah Richards' handball, which was admittedly arguable, and the very obvious foul on Ramsey in the box. If that sounds like bitter excuses, that's because it certainly is. We didn't deserve a win, but I think a point would have been pretty fair.

As it was, though, we lost, Spurs, City, United and Liverpool won. Chelsea drew (ha) but still gained a point on us. My fear now is that, because the City defeat didn't feel as painful as some of our others this season, we will take for granted that we will get back on track against Villa and continue our rebuilding. That is a dangerous assumption. I know that Villa are dire, and that they have no forwards. I know that watching them play at the moment is akin to watching a pay-per-view paint-drying marathon. But make no mistake, to keep this top-four push going, we need three points tonight. Spurs and Chelsea play each other tomorrow. so one or both of them will be losing points. Only three points tonight will do, otherwise we will go into tomorrow four or five points behind Spurs and two games out of hand. Not a position I fancy at Christmas.

So, whilst I am glad that the loss against Man City was not the kind of loss we suffered twice earlier this season- namely the confidence-sapping, month-ruining disasters of United and Blackburn- I hope that we can ensure it is just a blip in a run of form that was beginning to look really impressive. That starts against McLeish's yawn-inspiring bore-circus tonight, and continues on Boxing Day.

In other news, we drew AC Milan, as everyone knew we would. Anyone surprised? The gloss of coming top of the group is certainly lessened when you come up against a team that came second only because they were in a group with Barcelona. Milan are a great team. We will have to see if we can do what we've done in the San Siro the last two times we've had the pleasure of visiting. More on that nearer the time. For now, let's focus on collectively asking Santa for three points tonight, and hopefully a foul-ridden goalless draw between Spurs and Chelsea tomorrow.

Until then,
Joe