We won so for now at least Lambert's decision to omit Bent can be justified in a way i suppose he can at least point to the fact we won but as soon as we start loosing and need goals to criticism will start and questions asked with more weight behind them,

Why does there always have to be drama at Villa its never ending i tell ya lol

which is why we should just sell him. Get the problem out of the road now.

I think there is always drama because there has been a culture of players thinking they're in charge. Lambert has been making it very clear they are not. Very refreshing. Once everyone accepts that or leaves if they can't the drama will stop. So will the half arsed lazy performances of the past.

It's the nature of football. It's a soap opera for the lads. We're on the up, we're on the down. He's a hero. He's a villain. Yeah! Boo!

with ticket in my pocket i walked or hobbled into redditch college and said any chance can finish at 7? was asked if could manage 7.15, i sighed .... later on a text arrived and looked at the phone for it say 7.20!! by i was starting the bike up it was half past!! jeez i thought, hope the old bill or coffin dodgers aint on the road .... lol hit the bypass and opened it up, overtaking up the pershore road and the odd undercut. traffic was empty under the queensway and by the time i parked up in villa park it was 7.50. though by the time i managed to get to my seat i did miss the first five minutes.

though out the first half villa were nervous, balls not going to feet, no high tempo, just lack of direction on the pitch, did hear the rumour of bent, and wondered if that affected the team? chances were happening and just poor finishing from our attack.

was informed gabby was captain and my eyes rolled as i explained to the bloke sat by me, why i dont think gabby is leadership material .... he did ask who should be though and thought ireland would of started, as well as a chance at the armband to dictate the flow of the game.

the second half was again very .... drab, and even remarked it was just hoof ball over again, reading knew this also, as double marked young ben, but still he fought for the cause (again still consider him to be the young carew and will be loved by the holte, but will struggle to keep him at villa).

from my point in the holte i also noticed a bald bloke in a green not so waterproof jacket was late in getting back to his seat, maybe because they thought he was the reading manager ....

nerves were a twitching until the subs were made, ireland hustled and began to impose his authority and get the tempo improving, marc tried to do his bit aswell.

then the magical goal which sent the holte and lambert off their seats, relief all around!! young ben songs were sung around the ground and he wanted more.

with the last 7 minutes to go .... villa again sat back when they should of been exploiting and grabbing the killer goal, young ben was using his brain and dragging the ball and half the reading team towards the corner flag, using his footballing brain ..... gabby take note!!

with match over and pat on the shoulder from my mate, plus first one back at the club get the beer in. the ride back was greeted with a smile all the way back underneath the helmet, weaving in and out of the traffic to be in the kebab shop in the ditch for half ten, with couple of pints on way, in all not a perfect night of footballing class but its three points end of!!

points have been made about the amount of the crowd but tell you this .... those that turned up were the true supporters, not the plastic man united or arsenal crowd!!

Edited by badge73 28/11/2012 16:35

Badge don't give up the day job , Glensider you ain't !

Plus you will soon be in hospital or a coffin mate , cemetery is full of suicide jockeys.

oh trust me i dont want to be glensider listening to guns and roses whilst slicing your way through the traffic is the way, if it kills me .... then i go with a smile on my face, part of the enjoyment and why quite a few bikers are known to be nutters

game changer was ireland. should have started.

With one clean sheet in ten matches and no away wins on the board, a nervy relegation six pointer at Aston Villa was perhaps not the mid-week game Reading would have wanted. Given that they are due to

Click here to read the article

Some geekery from Football365.com: http://www.football365.com/f365-features/8294096/Numbers-Stats

Aston Villa
* Barry Bannan created five chances v Reading. His record of 1.8 key passes per game is the same as Wayne Rooney and Raheem Sterling.
* Matthew Lowton made six tackles and six interceptions v Reading on Tuesday.
* Villa's starting line-up v Reading had an average age of just 23 years and 324 days - the youngest side in their PL history.

And yet a lot of people on here say he had a 'shocker'.

I thought I was going mad for a minute for thinking he had a decent game.

We obviously all judge performances differently. I think creating chances is quite important for a midfielder. Others on here probably judged him on how big his bum looked.

He has to learn that not every pass has to be a Hollywood pass BUT that EVERY pass should reach a member of your team.

Giving the ball away too cheaply is one of our main problems this season, once they stamp that out, it should help us greatly.

I think most of his "5 chances created" came from corners, which were excellent on Tuesday. He lost the ball far too often in open play just because he's always looking for the so-called Hollywood pass. He needs to play possession football a bit more, keep the bloody ball, pass it sideways now and again, and only play the hollywood pass when you've got a good chance of making it count.

Saying all that, his attitude impresses me more this season, i like him, and I think he can have a real future at VP if he settles down a wee bit and plays simple football.

I think he is learning .

To me he seems to be trying less Hollywood passes this season and he looks a better player for it.

can remember one pass in the second half where HE had to tell gabby where to run!! one of the biggest disappointments was gabby as he never took on hardly anyone on tuesday and spent most of the time with back to goal .... gabby has one good game then 2 average or poor ones.

The game was exactly as I said it would be. As I said beforehand, people thought we had to just turn up to win this, it was always going to be nervous, it was always going to be difficult - Reading had only lost 2 in 8.

It turned out that way.

It was a bloody awful game, lets not pretend, but who cares, it was 3 points and thats all that matters. I will be ecstatic if the next 4 games are exactly the same.

I thought Christian Benteke was absolutely unbelievable. People mention Carew , he is far better than that. I liken him to Allan McInally , he is just so strong. Which in a way was a minus point, as we just lumped it up to him time after time, expecting him to hold it up against 4 defenders whilst he waited for someone to run 50 yrds to be anywhere near him - and he succeeded time after time !.

I will say this , if he carries on, by the time Brazil 14 has finished - he will be where-ever Mourinho is !.

Other performances, I thought the back 4 did very well, especially as Roberts is a handful, and I was gobsmacked he was subbed and Westwood looks the real deal.

I thought Gabby was absolutely abysmal and I just can only see 6 million reasons why he is in the side instead of Bent. Weimann is a young kid who will be inconsistant, he wasn't that good, but you always get the impression he could score so always worth keeping on, didn't deserve to go off.

I agree Ireland should have started , big mistake not to and he better be on Saturday

All in all, I think relief summed it up at the end. I hope its the same come 5pm Saturday