Matt's picks: (AVFC VS MUFC)

1. 

Hello there:)

Big game tonight that means alot to both clubs

Villa, who were pushing for a euro spot and now find themselves to far 

from that area than they would have liked...

 Manchester United, reighning champs, have alot to do to win this season.

In the last fixture between these teams Aston Villa won in an enthralling game by 1 goal to nil, through Gabi Agbonlahor.

People to watch:

 Rooney:

Man U's man in form at the 

moment. Rooney has scored 23 

goals in this current season

James Milner:

The never-stop-running attacking midfielder has had his best season ever

in the premier league and has, sometimes single-handedly, pushed Villa to win games against the likes of Chelsea and Man U.

Enough beating around the bush bru, whats the score???

2-1...
Sadly, i do think that the form both clubs are in, Man U will be eventual winners,

but by all means don't count Villa out just yet!!!

thanks

Matt

Jared's Tarot: Lookalikes

Hello Reader,

In case you haven't realized by now, we have a certain cycle that we use to manage the blog posts:

Day 1: JT: Lookalikes
Day 2: MP: Memorable Moments
Day 3: JT: Memorable Quote(s)
(Possible review/preview)
Day 4: MP: Lookalikes
Day 5: JT: Memorable Moments
Day 6: MP: Memorable Quote(s)
(Possible review/preview)

Which makes today...
Lookalikes day!

The Count from Sesame Street and "fat" Ronaldo.

(Second Scariest for me) Stephen Ireland and Xerxes from '300'.

Quasimodo and Matt Le Tissier

  (The scariest one for me) Nani and Michael Jackson

Matt's picks: (AVFC VS AFC)

 

Whats to play for?
Alot, actually. This is make or break for both teams.

Arsenal could go top with a victory. A loss, and it could spell the end of title hopes
Villa can go to 4th spot, the position they set out to claim at the beginning of the seasion. Aloss, could also lead to there downfall.


Game Time:
 The Good: 

 Very enjoyable first half for a Villa supporter, not so much for Arsenal. Villa kick started the first half, while it took Arsenal quite a while. 

 Cambell made his first appearance of his second stint for Arsenal in the Prem.

A good Arsenal play in the 2nd half was when Arshavin broke away and Rosicky hit the cross bar.

Clichy was literally useless against Young, Milner and Downing.


 The Bad:
Both teams had chances to capitalize on, but the half ended 0-0.


Gallas tackled Agbonlahor illegaly just outside the area, but it wasn't given.


Other bad news is that Thomas"Michael Scofield"Vermaelen was injured and later subed.



Denilson was very bad. Useless in defence.


And the Ugly:
Almost in blind justice, Vermaelen scissor tackled Heskey and was later injured from another challenge


Arshavin played averagly and because of that he tackled petrov. Literally tackled him in judo like fashion 

 Final Analysis
 All in all, It was a fair contest. Arsenal had the best chances, but Villa had the play.
Arsene Wenger is still waiting for his 300th win and Villa is still waiting for their first goal since before christmas.


Actually Bru, the score was...
0-0,but the escence of the draw came true so congrats to JJ.


The game was nail bittingly exciting

Peace and Lurve
Matt

 

Jared's Tarot (AVFC vs. AFC) "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MEEEE!"

Preview number 3!
A match that is vital for both clubs.
Oh and just so you know, we aren't biased to Villa AT ALL.


The Lowdown

Liverpool drew their midweek fixture, so Villa must feel that this is a match that is of utmost importance in determining the rest of their season. Villa is currently placed seventh on the table.

Arsenal obviously need the win to put themselves in a very threatening position to the other top-flight clubs. This very match may determine whether or not they are crowned champions of England. They are currently places second in the table.


What can we expect throughout the match?

Villa is a very technical, versatile team and are generally the best team ever :). Just kidding, but not really.

One thing I've learned from being an avid Villa supporter, is that they need the opposition to attack for their strategies to play out. Arsenal is famously a very attack-focused side. Wenger recently said something along the lines of "Defence? I'm perfectly happy with us scoring more goals than the other team", so we can expect an extremely fast-paced, exciting game.

Arsenal have consecutive matches against the "big-four" in matches after this, so I assume Villa will try to spread play and attack very often in order to soften up the Gunners for their next few fixtures.


Players to watch

James Milner is in amazing form at the moment. Today marks his 300th appearance for the club, even though he's just turned 24! That's an amazing accomplishment for a player of any age. Expect a holding-midfield performance that may rival that of Fellaini's last week.


Sorry, I forgot this guy's name. He's been in scary-good form as of late, and who could forget what he did to Villa when the clubs last met? He came on for around 24 minutes, scored two goals, and limped off the field with a hamstring injury (<---- YES!!!). (un)Fortunately, he has recovered and we can expect another great performance from the Catalonian youngster.







Enough talk bro, what's the score gonna be?

Aston Villa 2 - 2 Arsenal

 

Matt's picks: Memorable Quotes #1

Hello

We recently started a piece called "Memorable Moments" and going along with that theme we are introducing "Memorable Quotes".

The first "MQ" was said by England manager Fabio Capello after England beat Belarus 3-0.

In this game David Beckham, recently ousted by Capello, came on in the second half and played very well. So well in fact that he was awarded Man of The Match after only playing for 30-odd minutes.

Capello found this quite amusing and was quoted as saying,"Giving (David) Beckham man of the match is like giving President Barack Obama the Nobel Peace Prize"

This is Definitely one of my favourite and most witty comment ever


Peace and Love,
Matt

 

Matt's picks: EPL Transfers

Arsenal

IN: Sol Campbell (free agent), Samuel Galindo (Real America, undisclosed)

OUT: Philippe Senderos (Everton, loan)

Aston Villa

 
IN:  

OUT:
 

Birmingham city

IN: Michel (Sporting Gijon, £3m)

OUT:
 

Blackburn Rovers

 
IN:  

OUT: Elrio van Heerden (Sivasspor, free), Zurab Khizanishvili (Reading, loan)

Bolton Wanderers

 
IN: Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City, loan)

OUT: Nicky Hunt (Derby County, loan)

Burnley

IN: Frederic Nimani (Monaco, loan)

OUT:
 

Chelsea

IN:
 
OUT: Tom Taiwo (Carlisle United, undisclosed)

Everton

 
IN: Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy, loan), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal, loan) 

OUT: Lucas Neill (Galatasaray, £750,000)

Fulham

 
IN:
 
OUT: Eddie Johnson (Aris FC, loan), Adam Watts (Lincoln City, undisclosed). Seol Ki-Hyeon (Pohang Steelers, free)

Hull City

 
IN:  Amr Zaki (Zamalek, loan)

OUT: 

Liverpool

IN: Maxi Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid, free)

OUT: Andrea Dossena (Napoli, undisclosed), Andriy Voronin (Dinamo Moscow, undisclosed)

 

Manchester city

IN: Patrick Vieira (Inter Milan, undisclosed)

OUT: Felipe Caicedo (Malaga, loan), Jo (Galatasaray, loan), Vladimir Weiss (Bolton Wanderers, loan)

 

Manchester United

 
IN: 

OUT:

 

Portsmouth

 IN:

OUT: Marlon Pack (Dagenham and Redbridge, loan), Luke Wilkinson (Northampton Town, loan), Paris Cowan-Hall (Grimsby Town, loan)

Stoke city

 
IN:
 
OUT:  Richard Cresswell (Sheffield United, undisclosed), Andy Griffin (Reading, loan)

Sunderland

 
IN: Matthew Kilgallon (Sheffield United, undisclosed) 

OUT: 

 

Tottenham hotspur

 
IN: 

OUT: Tomas Pekhart (FK Jablonec, undisclosed), Jake Livermore  (Peterborough United, loan) 

 

West Ham United

IN:

OUT: Nigel Quashie (Queens Park Rangers, free)

 

Wigan Athletic

IN: Vladimir Stojkovic (Sporting Lisbon, loan), Steven Gohouri (free agent), Gary Caldwell (Celtic, undisclosed)

OUT: Won Hee Cho (Suwon Samsung Bluewings, loan), Olivier Kapo (Boulogne, loan), Danil de Ridder (Hapoel Tel Aviv, loan)

Wolverhampton wanderers

IN: Geoffrey Mujangi Bia (RSC Charleroi, loan), Adlene Guedioura (RSC Charleroi, loan)

OUT: Darren Ward (Millwall, undisclosed), Carl Ikeme (Queens Park Rangers, loan), Neil Collins (Preston North End, undisclosed)

The transfer window will close at 5pm GMT on Monday 1st February.

Jared's Tarot: Memorable Moments #1

Maradona: Hand of God

For many (me included), this is one of the most iconic moments in footballing history.

Any avid soccer fan will describe it to you as unforgettable.

It was the quarter final of the 1986 World Cup.

Emotions were running high as Argentina was set to play England.

All the expectations were on the man who was considered the best player in the world, Diego  Maradona.

If people were expecting him to give it his all this match, they would not be disappointed. He gave 110% no doubt, but he left a sour taste in the mouth of many football "purists".

Hodge had dropped back to defend, and attempted to clear a botched pass by Argentinean striker, Valdano. Hodge however, got quite a bit under the ball and his attempted clearance ultimately resulted in a scoop-like ball towards his goalkeeper. Maradona was lurking in the penalty area and immediately pounced on the opportunity.

Bare in mind, Shildon stands at 1.85m while Maradona stands at a tiny 1.65m. Therefore, Shildon was the clear favorite to win the ball. Maradona was first in the air, and struck the ball with VENOM with his left fist.

In a later interview, Maradona stated: "I was waiting for my teammates to embrace me, but nobody came. So I told them 'Come hug me, or the referee isn't going to allow it.'"

But it was this quote that is synonymous with this moment: "un poco con la cabeza de Maradona y otro poco con la mano de Dios" (a little with the head of Maradona and a little with the hand of God).

It wasn't all bad though, as Maradona pulled a master-class goal out of his hat. A goal that was later known as "Goal of the century". He received the ball at about 10 meters inside his own half, and began on the most iconic solo goal in the history of football. He dashed all the way to England's posts in 10 seconds, beating 4 outfield players, and eventually faking the shot to Shilton, tucking it away with maximal ease.