Two Pundits Wax Lyrical About Aston Villa

Another game, another pundit opinion and this time, the opinion is a positive one.

As many of you who read my guff will know, I hold little ... err, I`m actually not sure what expression I was after there... errm. Ok, I`ll start again, I hate the victim mentality of fans and the 'that pundit hates us` sort of response when Villa (or other teams) are criticised!

Pundits, most often ex players or managers, so they do know a little about the game, are there to analyse and say what they see. We might not always like it but quite often they are spot on.

Alan Hansen the other week on Match Of The Day was right to say Villa should be worried and that the team were so bad they were embarrassing. He`d not have said it if we performed like we did v Man Utd yesterday though. See: Alan Hansen - Villa Were Embarrassing

Then we had Lawro before the game questioning the quality of our team (see: Click Here ) You can be sure next week he`ll praise our performance. It isn`t hatred, they just say what they see.

Ramble over.

Alan Shearer proves the point though. He`s said a few times this season that he thinks we might be in trouble because he couldn`t see where our goals were going to come from. Not a thought unique to non Villa fans is it?

Last night though, on Match of the Day, the all time Premiership top scorer waxed lyrical about Villa:

"Paul Lambert will be devastated to have lost that but he can be so proud of his young boys who went out and performed because particularly first half, they were all over Manchester United and never let them settle at all"

He pointed out the two full backs Lowton and Stevens, Bannan in midfield and Benteke + Weimann up front saying the forwards "caused them {Utd} all sorts of problems".

Gary Lineker chipped in (or should that be crisped in) saying "despite the defeat, Villa can take a lot out of that, they are youngsters, it was really encouraging for them."

Shearer ended, "The future looks bright for them, it might take a little bit of time for them to get there experience wise but particularly Benteke and Weimann were fantastic"

"It was a great game, plenty to work on for Aston Villa. I`ve been saying for most of the season I`ve been worried where the goals are going to come from, but he`ll {Lambert} take a lot of heart from that performance".

Amen to all that. Must admit, it gave me heart, personally I expected a total tanking yesterday and so did a good few other fans I spoke to before and at the game. I just LOVE to be proved wrong. Thing is, Villa now need to play like that EVERY game, not just raising their performance v Man Utd, they need to play like that v all teams and there are a good few teams who would find it hard to contain us. Do that v Reading, QPR, Wigan, Stoke etc and we`ll pull away from relegation trouble and the atmosphere at Villa Park will only grow and grow in support.

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